VISTX Business Improvement Blog

2009-08-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

TO HIRE OR NOT TO HIRE, THAT IS THE QUESTION

CEOs around the country are anxious and busy analyzing this option? I keep hearing from them, “How do I hold onto cash and support the growth in customers and revenues?” The Wall Street Journal on August 12th sited the Labor Department reporting non-farm productivity gains of 6.4% at an annual rate last quarter, the most since the third quarter of 2003. Unit labor costs fell 5.8% last quarter at an annual rate and costs were down 0.6% from a year ago. Companies have laid-off enough people to bring their costs in line with revenues. These gains are not sustainable if a company’s strategy is to grow market share.

The question I have is how many companies have changed processes resulting in higher productivity? Improving your processes, policies, practices and procedures will result in sustainable productivity gains. This is how you get results that last.

Sustainability of your business is achievable with the right tools and people in place. Here are three areas you can focus on to improve your business and position it to sustain productivity gains.

1) Start with automating manual processes and knowledge capture. The money you invest will have a strong ROI if you stay focused on critical processes and human centric areas of delivery. Take on the low hanging fruit and quick hits first to get your organization in the ‘change management’ groove. Ensure you document all your processes and work flows. The tools you use should support data repositories for the whole of your organization with virtual access so all your constituents, both internal and external, can access data. The platform should enable management and operations to work relatively independent of one another while enforcing governance. The system must provide situational awareness that monitors measures and helps you manage your business processes giving your team visibility to their work loads, performance with the knowledge to improve.

2) Organizing your people is where you will get the most bang-for-your-buck or the opposite if you don’t manage it properly. Document the talents and competencies of your workforce against the tasks and workflows necessary to fulfill each function in your organization. You should already have the right people on the bus, so get them into their seats. By organizing the business functions and positioning people to their strengths you will see tremendous productivity gains without a single new hire.

3) Set your target revenue growth out 3, 6 and 12 months. The goal of your improvement strategies should result in lower unit labor costs so you have money to grow your business. Use that money to gain market share. Develop marketing and sales plans that take market share from your competitors and grow the business. While everyone else is hording cash you are winning customers and positioned for the recovery.

One Way Schools Can Save Themselves

2009-06-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

K-12 Schools Can Lower Administrative Cost with Technology

Here in Arizona and across much of the nation schools are about to feel the shock of losing tax revenues. The legislature is determined to balance the budget and it likely will lead to layoffs and a lowering of services. Scottsdale Unified School District has a $190 million budget and is trying to trim $21.4 million in operating costs based on the state budget cuts.

Administrative costs to run schools average between 2 and 6 percent of the total operating budgets. Districts running a lower cost administration pride themselves for getting the most dollars into the classrooms they can. How are they doing it?

Like America’s businesses that saw huge productivity gains over the past 20 years, school districts that embraced technology and implemented software and hardware solutions effectively, have seen enormous financial benefits.

Automating Administrative Processes

When you visit a school you see lots of manual paper form processes that could easily be automated. From sports sign-ups, permission slips and medical release forms, grading and test scores, expense reports, the list of opportunities seems endless.

Software technology has matured and standardized making the cost of implementing solutions much more affordable, within the reach of many school districts, non-profit organizations and small business. Now is the time for organizations to invest in technology that will in many cases save them the cost of the investment in less then a year. With solutions being offered over the web and hosted, the costs of ownership are lowered even more and the ongoing costs are known and manageable.

Contract Lifecycle Management is Good Value

2009-06-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

Some Thoughts… Our team at VISTX has spent a considerable amount of time these past few months developing and delivering a powerful Program-Project Management Solution on our ePaaS technology platform (VISTX ePaaS for PPM) for a global client.

The solution enables multiple partners, vendors and the client with an integrated fully automated solution for the virtual management of activities, workflow, progress reporting and includes a fully scalable, easy access content repository.

From the executive level to the detailed task level, the system provides real-time governance through controlled access helping our clients manage their complex – global initiatives. As we extend the value of ePaaS, we have been asked to incorporate the ability to manage the lifecycle of the associated contracts.

What is Contract Lifecycle Management?

Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) is a systemic approach to the proactive and methodical management of a contract from initiation through award, to compliance and renewal.

Key areas of CLM are:
Central Repository – Contract Information & Documents
Risk and Compliance – Pro-active Management of Deliverables
Pre-Contract Management – Feasibility, Capture & Qualify Management
E - Decision Support – Sourcing, Agreement, Evaluation & Selection
Document Management -- Storing, Linking, Accessing & Versioning
Contract Development – Standards, Templates & Workflow
Reporting and Analytics – Dashboard Views & Reporting
Virtual Access - Executive Level to Contract Deliverable Details
Integration and Services – Management Control, Governance & Oversight
Utilization of a Proven -- Methodology & System Architecture

Why CLM:
The key benefits of a contract lifecycle management system are in ease of access for both sides of the agreement in relation to the progress of the agreement.

Businesses that have situational awareness of key deliverables in agreements are able to pre-empt and take action on critical contract milestones and triggers. Clients and Partners are able to certify payments to suppliers and ensure delivery of contract obligations. Vendors can maximize the relationship with their Client, while Clients can better manage the array of participating Vendors. A systemic approach using a proven methodology of consistent workflow with integrated activities will mitigate the risk of lost revenues and over-expenditures to occur.

Further, managing contracts should be considered a full time engagement without overload of work for those charged with oversight. A system designed for end-to-end traceability, manage-ability and contract milestone monitoring to mitigate the risk of and liability in potential legal action allows executives peace of mind. Combined with a program – project management system, CLM easily manages compliance with the obligations of agreements commercially critical terms and conditions for all contracted parties. FJH

Training as Cover for Poor Software Architecture

2009-05-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking… After developing corporate education programs to support a new software rollout, have you ever wished you had more influence on the architecture of the database software your employees must use to get their work done? Do you spend the majority of the time training people on software procedures that have no connection to the learners experience and knowledge about the business? How is it that virtually anyone can pick up an iPhone and begin using all the features and applications without pulling out a manual or reading online help? Folks today expect intuitive design in the software packages and solutions they use and most of us don’t have the time or much patience for anything less.

My view, a good tool has ‘user guides’ built into the architecture, naturally guiding the employee through the software as the employee’s needs are defined. Architecture that follows workflows, governance and process, so users can focus on the things they know, need to know and to truly help them accomplish their activities. Additionally, optimal architecture enables linking to additional tools and support environments for enhanced learning. If the design of the database interface is intuitive, then the user will receive feedback and prompts to learn more about how to work well within the system. The learning is rapid, flexible to user needs and effective for the organization.

AT VISTX we encourage our clients to use learning professionals early in the design and development phases of software projects. The learning professional will influence the software architecture to maximize the intuitiveness of the application. They will introduce a strategy to support early communication with a focus on hands-on learning. The software is designed with feedback mechanisms to support continuous performance improvement. Introducing or upgrading new software into your organization is always a daunting undertaking, take advantage early in the process to begin to lower your total cost of development and deployment.

A poorly designed tool is more than a pain in the …, it can be the difference between true ROI and optimal employee performance or it can be an internal challenge for years to come.

JLS

Business as a Project

2009-05-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

Some Thoughts... I have had a number of discussions in the past couple of months that are driving me to conclude that most businesses are really operating as a series of projects that flow through functional areas from concept to customer.

Some folks concede, that is how their products or services flow and they can see some similarity in, say - how an IT development project is conducted. You know there are stages, resources, tasks, timelines etc. but most dismiss this for their business as a whole.

If you cut the typical business into parts, we see roles/responsibilities, functions that have activities and tasks that need to follow process (so everyone knows what comes first, second etc). There are requirements for reporting, there is a need for research, requirements for developing or building some deliverable for either internal or external use. These are typical steps in your business, whether structured or not. You get the drift...

Whether you are a start-up entrepreneur or a seasoned executive in a well established business your employees and the 'stuff' you need them to do is far closer to the steps, governance and objectives of a project than a unique collection of to-do's that only your business knows to preform.

We suggest you take a look inside your company and begin to apply some of the basic blocking and tackling procedures and practices that are used in well versed Project Management Offices. A good PMO manages their portfolio of programs and projects with methods and tools to provide timely and accurate situational awareness. They are designed to improve the clarity in visibility, to advance the accountability, enable flexibility and hold specific responsibility to the project or in this case the business. We see this applying to Sales, Marketing, Finance.... you should be able to receive daily measured results end-to-end.

A sound approach to aligning strategy and objectives to tactical deliverables is what every executive strives for -- at VISTX we have a suite of Solution Accelerators that can help you begin the process of establishing the techniques, implementing the methods and deploying the supporting tools to get your business aligned to what it really is - a portfolio of projects!
FJH

Is the 'Office' Your Office?

2009-03-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

Some Thoughts... I just finished reading an article in Science Daily published from research co-authored by a Brigham Young University business professor. The gist of the article is the value a Dwight Shrute type individual brings to the organizations ability to have more success in solving problems.

Dwight Shrute is the Beet Farming Volunteer Sheriff's Deputy/Paper Salesman on the NBC show 'The Office'. Dwight is an awkward and socially distinct (not inept) peer to the Dunder Mifflin Paper team that continually keeps the group off balance - out of their comfort zones.

Socially distinct newcomers are normally considered -'outsiders' and their style, past work experiences and approach to business challenges generally do not fit the organizations preferred world view. Most would consider this person as an impediment to problem solving and a not so positive contributor in the overall effectiveness of the group.

But the research suggests just the opposite; that folks who are inserted into a group's decision process, with a unique social distinction, not aligned to the fraternal or social harmony of the organization, are much more likely to force the hand to get folks to step outside of their collective - group think and deliver better results.

Diversity in the workforce is proven as a value over and over, the statistics prove it. But there are different ways to diversify, and the Socially Distinct folks are adding an interesting twist to more than just comedy on Thursday nights.

To read more follow the link to Science Daily -http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090330091700.htm

Enjoy... FJH

Results take more than rhetoric

2009-03-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Some Thoughts... Vision statements in the business world are most often considered statements of long term goals that management wants the organization to focus on. How true is that in today's trying economic cycle?

I just read where GM this morning announced (good news) it will not need $2bn from the government to survive the month of March, with no idea what April will bring. I wonder how focused GM is on those vision statements... if the long view is only a matter of weeks.

Reading between the lines, (using war as a metaphor), what is really going on is a series of battles - where organizations are in the bunkers engaged in a daily barrage of fire-fights with no idea of what will come once this day of fighting ends. Will it be just more of the same tomorrow, death, surviving for another battle or will the smoke clear and those in the bunkers be able to see beyond their line of defense?

We hear a lot about how continual doom and gloom rhetoric contributes to lowering expectations, re-enforces fear and extends pessimistic views. So the natural response should be to change, think positive, focus on the good news, be happy... which is always easier said than done.

How can you win a war when you are bogged down in the heat of battle? Well of course you have to think positive, but we all know that is a first step not an end. My thought is to be innovative, to drive yourself and your organization to positive actions. Reduce the over-thinking (as with GM, it is often a matter of weeks), focus beyond the initial smoke and fire...

The other day I was reviewing a proposal for an investment opportunity that one of our partners has on the table; a very good, well thought out business plan to optimize processes and become a leader in a specific industrial platform. The proposal is solid and the ROI is near-term with considerable upside for the long-term. I view this opportunity as positive for the investor and the seller, but the real story will be the vision and positive actions taken by the leader who invests in this opportunity - positive results will ensue, risk will be rewarded and the battle lines re-drawn for this visionary individual or group.

To get out of the bunker and see beyond the lines of defense, leaders need to focus on the basic principles (defined as; a general or fundamental truth in deciding conduct or choice) as they manage their products & services, their employees and attend to their customers needs. They need to take action, be positive, that is vision. FJH

Governance & Controls... are you taking risks?

2009-02-26T10:40:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts... risk and reward are terms we use to put context and value into the reasons for deciding to change or improve. In business the major initiative, project or program is put through a filter of how much risk are we taking - the negative what-if's and the how well we will be rewarded for this effort -- the positive what-if's.

For a business that provides outsourcing services, (transactional activities whose services can and in most cases do impact the control environment of customers), it is very helpful to mitigate risk, to have a substantial ability to show transparency to the businesses that your service organization works with. In addition, it shows your prospective clients that your business has been thoroughly checked and deemed to have satisfactory controls and safeguards.

At VISTX we suggest a SAS 70 audit, which you can considered as an important resource to show the effectiveness of your organization's internal controls and data security safeguards. SAS 70 is an acronym for Statement on Auditing Standard 70; it was developed and is maintained by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants).

Specifically, SAS 70 is a "Report on the Processing of Transactions by Service Organizations" where professional standards are set up for a service auditor that audits and assesses internal controls of a service organization. At the end of the audit, the service auditor issues an important report called the "Service Auditor's Report".

There are two types of SAS 70 audits, Type I provides reports which describe the degree in which the service organization fairly represent its services in regards to controls that have been implemented in operations and its inherent design to achieve objectives currently stated. Type II reports are very similar to Type I but contain a more thorough understanding, with a written opinion on how effective your controls are, testing them over a period of time (approximately six months) to ensure an understanding of the working correctness and compliance of your processes and systems.

Getting back to risk and reward -- whether you are a customer of a service organization or a service provider, knowing that the controls stated in your contracts are actually working to safeguard information and data, should be very important to you.

On the risk side -- compromised, missing or misappropriated information with the associated liabilities can, at the least, be costly to fix, especially after the fact. The worst case is the liabilities are so great as to cripple your business.

On the reward side -- proven effectiveness of controls and governance lower direct operating costs. Certified results increase the value of your services, proving you are focused on true customer service, providing safety and comfort to your clients. Add that to your sales pitch.

Looking for ways to lower day to day risk while creating immediate opportunities for more reward... consider a SAS 70 Audit, you will sleep better. FJH

2009-02-19T15:47:00.000-08:00

Layoffs and the Fallout

Are You Prepared? - Today a common strategy being employed by small, medium and large businesses alike is the furlough of employees. How do executives, managers, business owners and boards make the best decision? Do the managers use a disciplined approach with clear measurable goals? Are those goals going to achieve the best results for the company?

Over and over again, I am hearing how companies are planning and executing a lay-off that ends up costing far more then it needed to. In one example an owner had a $350,000 decline in sales profits and decided to lower payroll to offset the decline. This was a simple goal and strategy but one fraught with unintended consequences. This business didn’t have a plan in place and didn’t think they had the time to plan.

The American Management Association surveyed 700 companies that had downsized between 1989 and 1994. In 34% of the cases productivity rose, but it fell in 30%. Many of these layoffs were implemented with the intent of becoming leaner and more productive. A good plan should include goals of increasing productivity and retaining your top performers. How to achieve these goals takes some time to plan and execute but is clearly a better long term result for the survival of a company.

Best in class businesses have a lay-off strategy framework standing by in their file cabinets, giving them a leg up. Many of the elements of the plan do not change. A good plan includes a formal transition program for employees who are laid-off, a communication program to raise motivation of employees who stay and coaching of staff executing the lay-off.

Another set of documents and measures should also be readily available to management as they decide who to layoff. Your company should know who your best performers are. You should also have projections about how the business will look 3 and 6 months out.

The process should take a balanced approach. Set performance standards for each function in your business. For example, if you are projecting sales to level off at the current numbers, what measures do you expect to achieve in sales, order fulfillment, accounting, inventory control, shipping and receiving, customer service, IT, etc.

Think outside the box - consider the alternatives. Explore reorganization, re-engineering processes, new systems, adding new lines of business, closing low profit lines of business. -- JLS

Going Green....

2009-02-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts -- Going Green seems to be the hot phrase these days. Many of the things I read and hear that folks are doing to be ‘Oh so Green’ just doesn’t cut it for me. Maybe, I don’t get it, but then again I tend to think of myself as being 'Green' since very early in my life.

I had a paper route when I was a young lad, being from Pittsburgh (how about those Steelers!!) you had to deliver papers via a twisting road map of hills, valleys and lots and lots of stairs. Everyday I walked my paper route, pulling a wagon full of newspapers, no motorized vehicles for me.

As I moved through my career, I was constantly charged to be more efficient, to find ways to make things work with less; less space, less energy usage, less paper generation and so on.

Today, as a Practice Principal with VISTX; I focus on helping businesses enable and sustain a culture, capability and capacity for continuous improvement. We believe businesses that educate their workforce, build and operate their systems, processes and functions more efficiently and effectively, with a focus on strategies, investments and efforts toward balancing their business will puts them well on the path to ‘Green’.

At VISTX we may live in the desert but we operate ‘Green’ – we are a virtual organization, we use technology and communication networks to unify our folks and we conduct our business collaborating with leading edge (no carbon footprint) tools, this eliminates the need for office space – lowers our costs -- no wasteful energy or space. This also enables us to tap into the best experts and information from anywhere in the world at virtually no cost of travel or operation, definitely no cost to our clients.

So when I hear – ‘You need to Go Green’, I know that the Team at VISTX is doing their best and with each engagement our clients get a lower cost benefit to their solutions and take a couple of steps toward ‘Going Green’ – sounds like a WIN – WIN! FJH

Solution Accelerators

2009-02-05T12:24:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts -- I have been very busy these past few weeks collaborating with my team and working with our partners continuing to push what we do at VISTX to even higher value.

Return on Investment is more important now, than ever and we are doing all we can at our end to optimize our simplified, straightforward, rapid approach to getting the job done for our clients at the lowest cost of investment with the biggest bang of return.

The business concept at VISTX is all about balance and performance - you have seen our fly right visual...

At the highest level we see your business from 4 critical perspectives and we believe to perform optimally a company must balance their strategies and objectives within each area to create a total good for the company. This enables sustainable quality, growth and profit.

How we help you improve performance and balance your initiatives is the secret sauce... not really it is a blend of expertise, methods, tools and focus that we bring to the table -- Our Solution Accelerators.

We know you and your leadership team have a good understanding of who you are and what you do. We also know that your plates are full, demands (internal or external) are greater than ever and that cash, credit and revenue growth are all very tight in this current business cycle.

In our commitment to ensure we are meeting your needs and staying true to balance and performance; across and through the organization (not a one man band) we continue to bring additional tools and expertise into our offerings.

We recently announced a Project/Portfolio Management Suite of Tools to compliment our expert team in this area. Our BPM and Monitoring Tools continue to evolve and integrate to additional information platforms and workflows - higher value propositions.

In the next week we will be introducing expanded capabilities in the Finance area of the scorecard. Tools, like Game Plan for forcasting, planning and executing better cost management. Adding expertise in treasury management, to expedite and improve your cash management or as we are calling it - 'your business wallet'.

Configured or customized for your needs, culture and objectives we offer best in class education, knowledge management and learning systems that take your strategy, cascading-aligning skills throughout your organization. In these times when many of you are having to cut back, this is great place to put emphasis. Winning companies ensure the employees who have to pick up the work loads are properly trained, skilled and emotionally onboard with the challenges and impacts of staff reductions.

This post is to let you know we practice what we preach, we continue to get better at what we do, we plan for your future needs and we are ready and able to get the job done. FJH

One for the Left.....

2009-02-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts --
The morning after the big game and I have some thoughts, you could have called that eh?

The Steelers win last evening gives them 6 Super Bowl Rings, the most of any team all time, so with 4 fingers and a thumb on the right hand covered in rings, the ring earned last night must be One for the Left - Hand.

The game had drama and twists -- a fair share of replay analysis with a number of calls on the field over ruled. There were penalties called for & against that enable fans from both sides to say "if only". Both teams delivered spectacular plays and true to form the Steeler Defense controlled the first 3 quarters and in the 4th quarter the Cardinal Offense got it's Fitzgerald groove on.

I spent a lot of time last week telling my gang of believers and non-believers, this would be a game finally decided by how well the Steeler Offense and the Cardinal Defense played. Turned out the last 3-4 minutes of the game, presented the perfect storm -- with match ups, back - forth ball control and highs and lows for both Teams.

It was exciting and nerve wracking football with brilliance and madness - no matter who you were rooting for to win you were not going to find out till the end, the final seconds ticking off the clock!

The Cardinals and their fans can hold their heads high, they blew away the skeptics, got to the dance and played well. They are now a team you can believe in for next season and beyond, (could not say that before with this franchise). Arizona has a strong core to build off of and they will be back.

The Steelers get a ring for the left hand, the honor of most Super Bowl wins and as they have for the past 30 some years, they will start today planning for a trip to Miami for #44 or is it XLIV?

With 50 years of supporting and believing in the Steelers, today I relish the win and tomorrow I go back to - waiting for next year!
FJH

Lovin Football This Week...

2009-01-28T11:00:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts -- As all my friends know, I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pa. and I am proud member of 'STEELER NATION', they also know that I have spent the last 13 years in Arizona and love the desert!

So this coming Super Bowl Sunday is going to be a great one for me - Steelers vs. Cardinals

In my new home town, I have been keenly watching the Arizona Cardinals and their fans march from total 'NFL' obscurity to having the best Stadium in the league (or is it the world), host a great Super Bowl in 2008 and after recruiting a terrific Head Coach (Ken Whisenhunt from the Steeler Organization), the Cardinals arrived in Tampa this week for Superbowl 43!

This is almost unbelievable when you think about it. But my hat is off to the Cardinals and I wish them well...

When I said, STEELER NATION, you need to understand that this is birth right, an obligation - if you grew up in Pittsburgh in the 50's and 60's - and as you came of age in the 70's you were movin on out of the Burgh... Pittsburgh was not in good shape, it almost overnight went from the home of many captains of industry and wonderful neighborhoods to a wasteland of dreary - closed steel, vacant lots and a town with a lot of very depressed folks.

So most of my generation had to pick up and find a new place to call home. I should note the Steelers were in the founding group of the NFL but not much else to cheer about in the 50's/60's, but who cared it was a great place to live.

When the NFL re-aligned in the early 70's and the Steeler organization was cast to the AFC. The Rooney's stepped up their game and hired a great coach in Chuck Noll and along with his staff and with some of the greatest players of all time, they delivered the Steel Curtain Defense and the miraculous reception... The folks in Pittsburgh and those who had to leave received a great boost in pride... (The Burgh is Back)

4 Super Bowl wins in a decade and you have a Nation!

The rest is history, if (when) the Steelers win on Sunday they will have 6 Super Bowl Rings, the most of any franchise, they will once again show the world that a successful organization is built around structure, talent, grit and determination and most of all built to last!

So - "Here we go Steelers, Here we go!!!

If you love Football or just love to see talent in action... a friend of mine sent this Youtube video, a must see... CLICK to enjoy -- FJH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHH-6ZQktRQ

What is Vision?

2009-01-27T09:31:00.000-08:00

I have spent a considerable amount of time studying leaders, reading leadership books and, in particular the topic of vision. It seems to me that many people tend to confuse vision with mission. From my point of view, Vision, either organizational or personal, needs to be a vivid picture of how things will look at some point in the future. You should be able to close your eyes and see the picture. It is not words that are hanging on the wall, or if you choose to put it in words, it must be descriptive enough that anyone can look at the words and see the picture the same way that you see it.

My favorite description of Vision is from Gary Barnett, former coach of the Northwestern Wildcats Football team. I am not sure how many of you remember, but at one time before Gary Barnett arrived at Northwestern, they were consistently at the bottom of the Big 10. In fact, between 1971 and 1995, Northwestern had a record of 46 wins and 207 losses! And, to be honest, most of the losses were not close at all. Growing up as a Michigan fan, the Northwestern game was one of those games that you just automatically put in the W column. Until Gary Barnett arrived.

Anyway, back to the reason that I got on to the Gary Barnett subject. Coach Barnett wanted the team to get a good understand of the picture of where the team was going and he compared the vision to the top of a puzzle box. Think of when you are putting a puzzle together. At first, you are not sure how all of the pieces fit together. So, most start with the outside of the puzzle, but as you put the pieces together, you always refer to the top of the box to see how to put the pieces together.

That is the same as your organizational or personal vision. It needs to be a vivid picture of where you want to go, a picture that can easily be seen in your head. As you make decision or take on projects, your vision is the top of that puzzle box. The way you know how to put things together and where that piece fits into your puzzle. --GWM

Minding Your P’s & Q’s…

2009-01-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts -- My grandmother had a great knack for inserting the directives, as if programmed she would say, “Now mind your P’s and Q’s”, as we were about to make an entrance or just before she was to introduce me to a very important person in her world. I believe she was assuring herself, delivering on her responsibility to keep me civil in my youth and to best prepare me to be a gentleman when I came of age.

I checked out the history of the quote on Wikipedia and they offer a variety of originations:

HISTORY
One origin story of "mind your Ps and Qs" comes from English pubs and taverns of the seventeenth century. Bartenders would keep a watch on the alcohol consumption of the patrons; keeping an eye on the pints and quarts that were consumed. As a reminder to the patrons, the bartender would recommend they "mind their Ps and Qs."
A second origin story comes from early printing presses. Printers placed individual letters on a typeset to print a page of text. The letters were reversed, making it easy to mistake Ps and Qs in setting the type. A reminder to stay watchful of the details could have come from this time as well.
Another possible explanation is from the study of Classical Mechanics, specifically from the formulation of Poisson Brackets where confusion may arise by swapping the P (momentum) and Q (position) terms leading to a commutator of -1 and incorrect answers if the student was not particularly careful.
Other origin stories, some considered "fanciful", could come from French instructions to mind one's pieds (feet) and queues (wigs) while dancing. However, there is no French translation for this expression. Another origin could be to sailors in the eighteenth century to pay attention to their pea (coats) and queue (wigs).
A possible origin or at least similar expression comes from seventeenth-century slang. "P and Q" meant "prime quality" or "highest quality." It is also possible that the expression refers to the careful reading of Medieval Latin texts: the letters 'p' and 'q' had various abbreviation symbols for different shortened words. For example, 'q' with a dot over it was the abbreviation for 'quod' while 'p' with a line through the tail of the letter was the symbol for 'per'. Minding that these abbreviations were interpreted accurately would ensure the correct reading of the text.

All very interesting but I Harkin (now there is a word you do not see very often) back to what my Grandmother was really saying, or doing. She was giving guidance and using timely and focused reminders for me ‘to remember to watch what I was doing, to pay attention and to always have a proper frame of reference to do the right thing.

We have a methodology that we use when we are working with clients to help folks be more mindful, to avoid typical pitfalls and to simply get the job of making a good decision done properly. (I think that adequately sums up the Wiki options).

At VISTX, P’s & Q’s are not only critical components to our methodology, but also the foundation of how and where we focus our efforts to enable and deliver improved – sustainable solutions.

We focus on the five P’s – People, Policies, Procedures, Practices & Processes. It is our view that in the business decision process, the P’s should not be viewed in isolation from each other, they have a continuous cause and effect relationship to each other; either driving the reason to make a new business decision, the place to fix a current business challenge or are going to be affected by the decision.

Q’s are slightly different; Q’s to us are Questions & Qualifiers. When you make a decision, any decision, you are answering to a set of questions. The challenge is to ensure that you have asked all the right questions. This exercise is simple and straightforward because the language only has a fixed number of question types. Too frequently we see leaders, either assume an answer (passing on the critical question process) or forget to ask a key question.
‘At this point in the process, you are trying to get answers’

Where Questions drive answers, Qualifiers put context into answers. You come to my desk and ask, “How is it going”? I answer, “Good”… Question answered but not much to go on. Answers not qualified, put into context; proper context and qualified to the decision at hand create big problems for a successful decision outcome. Not qualifying answers generally leads to problems (intentional or not) and you will most likely:
· Waste a lot of valuable people time
· Go off course by misleading the direction of the discussion
· Mask the best or true answer
‘Qualifiers are critical to the decision process and under used’

It is important to note – answers backed up by data are just as susceptible to missing the mark when you don’t take the time to ask all the questions across the spectrum, and/or, do not properly qualify the data.

‘Why Levels’ are The 3rd rung on the decision process ladder in our methodology, they ensure your questions and qualifiers are deep enough to get through the symptoms and get to the root of the problem, issue or challenge. You know the ‘why levels’? They are the questions the 5 year old asks just after you give what you think is an adequate answer to a simple question. Now I know we do not all have 5 year olds at our disposal when we are in the conference room working through a decision process, I submit in many meetings maybe we should. The why question used as a drill is powerful in any critical thinking exercise.
‘We suggest you drive through the why levels after each answer’

In my life in business, I have participate in or observed thousands of decision meetings, often charged with delivering rapid and valuable decisions to mission critical challenges… I keep it simple, straightforward and mind my P’s & Q’s.

At VISTX we have formalized this process as our Whiteboard Management ™ Approach, give us a call to learn more. -- FJH

Sports and Project Management

2009-01-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

As you will probably notice, I tend to look at the sports world when it comes to making analogies. In my mind, the sports world is a great example of the ultimate team and how balance can improve your chances at success.

Over the past few months, I have really been approaching project management and business improvement from an ability to execute perspective and by executing at a better rate, you improve the bottom line of your organization. So, as I was watching the NFC and AFC Championship games last weekend, I began to see a comparison to the 3rd Down conversion percentage of a football team with the conversion percentage of a project team. Certainly, if you convert at a better percentage, you will keep the ball longer and, thus, improve your chances to reach the goal line. Pretty straightforward.

But, what is the key to improving the conversion percentage and keeping the ball longer? Certainly, having a great quarterback (project manager/sponsor) can go a long way, but if you look at the teams that survived the championship games, it was their balance that put them over the top. The Cardinals have had a great passing game all year, but suddenly they are running the ball better, which keeps the other team's defense off-balance and gives them a better chance to convert. The same goes for the Steelers. Their running game has stuggled a bit all season, but it now seems to be rounding into shape and they are getting better as the season goes on.

That said, Balance seems to be the key in professional sports and Balance is the key that will give your team a better chance of being successful. So, in football, the balance is passing, running and defense, in Project Management and Execution, it is in Strategy, Processes, Tools, Governance and People. Like football, you being strong in one area, might work for the short term, but to sustain excellence, you must be equally strong in all areas. -- GWM

Are you promoting 'Group Think' ?

2009-01-23T14:47:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts -- We all know the economic times are tough, that businesses are struggling to understand how best to deal with the constant flow of bad news from government and market reports and everyone is speculating on when we will have this all behind us, all while critical decisions must be made.

I was having a late afternoon, let's catch up conversation, with a friend and mentor last week and of course we peppered every topic from family to sports with - how bad the business climate is, inserting our own 'forest through the trees' speculations. My friend mentioned during one of his comments the notion of 'Group Think' as part of the problem, which he believes is far more pervasive and controlling than most will have us believe. We didn't spend a lot of time on this comment that afternoon, but it sure did get me to thinking...

I spend a lot of time working on solutions to bring balance across a business, creating solid alignments and workflows that cascade down through organizations - to model, measure and monitor for improved performance. In order to do this one has to get a firm understanding of how a company is organized; so out come the org charts with the great titles that are meant to show responsibility, accountability, governance and so on. The leadership teams are usually very proud of these documents!

I was reviewing an org chart yesterday and for whatever reason, (one that only my simple mind would know), up pops my thinking about the brief discussion on Group Think. I am looking at a hierarchal organization chart. I just can't help but think; if one were to follow this and I assume the leadership believed that this is a valuable representation (aren't they always vertical displays) of their organization and I start to see ground zero of the where Group Think becomes organized, approved, promoted - legitimized. Or in other words how a business helps itself into the trap of Group Think.

Of course I naturally think back to the number of organizations I have belonged to, how they performed and how often the issue or challenge of the day was self imposed, expanded and perpetuated by the 'boss' saying X and the 'group' singing kumbaya -- happens all across so many businesses everyday. As another friend of mine would say, "the days of wooden ships and iron men are gone".

In my continuous search for the holy grail of management it is on a very rare occasion that a leader pulls out a document with an integrated view of the who, why, where and how employees are inserted and accountable within their organization. I really don't understand why, is this not central to the discussion and decision process when we interview, hire and employ folks to join the company?

Most just bring them on board, place their name - title in a nice rectangular box on the org chart and sow more seeds for Group Think. If you are near or on the top of the page, your charge is to decide, if you are below a certain line you follow, such an easy trap -- for leadership to fail and for employees to miss their point of value to the business.

The critical success factor in any discussion that is attempting to make a good decision or to improve or add value to the business is to get a variety of points of view from a number of angles, to question and qualify the answers against facts, figures and the way things really are.

Actually a business is constantly in motion, cause - effect ripple through organizations from workflow levels effecting the performance of functions and the execution of underlying processes. The view of people should be co-joined as to the specific role & responsibility one holds --views that depict actually what we do. What we do is where one's value is to the business and to those we work with. Why not model, map, document and monitor the way things really are and then see how easy it is to improve.

I am sure most C-Level Leaders view their employees as their most important and valuable asset. So take out that org chart, let it speak (vertical) volumes to you and say a prayer everyone else in your organization hears what you hear....

We know they will see what you see - FJH

To Fly Right Stay Balanced

2009-01-22T10:41:00.000-08:00

I like this version of the balanced scorecard, probably my background in aviation is what draws me to this notion that just as in flying; business leaders are defying gravity, trying to thwart the drag - pushing forward against resistance (market forces - organizational challenges) and looking for lift to FLY RIGHT!

You know, 'you know' - that balance is the proposition that enables and ensures efficient, effective and sustained performance... Do you feel a bit out of balance?

Many of the discussions in our blogs are focused on the 4 key perspectives of the balanced scorecard. To provide value we will drill into daily learnings, problems and questions that every business experiences and talk about the who, what, where, when, why and how folks are keeping in balance. FJH

From Baseball to Business Know Your Stats

2009-01-07T16:08:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts --- We are now about to enter the 2009 spring training baseball season and our National Pastime will have many fans focusing on stats, getting their groove back as they capture, monitor and enjoy the game through the lens of acronyms, formulas and posted results.

I have loved the game since I was a very young lad. I was also a paperboy with the advantage of timely and easy access to the daily paper. Baseball was the fun side of looking forward to the papers arriving and I always went straight to the box scores in the sports section.

Once one masters the terminology and the nuance of the game you can actually read a box score of a particular game and play it back in your mind. You can then look at the larger picture of statistics by league, division, team, player, line-up, and position. As far as I can tell, the structure has been around since the earliest days of the game, so a World Series or a particular game can be measured against a game from way back when.

Relatively new to the game is the measuring of the speed of a pitch. This is more a modern day capture of data that appears to be quite an effective tool for pitchers, catchers and coaches. Of course, success in pitching is not about speed alone, control and the type of pitch; a curveball, sinker, forkball etc has a lot to do with how well a pitcher performs.

In your business, you need to know ‘who’s on first or what’s on second or how…’ as Abbott & Costello use to joke. I relate Balanced Scorecards and Six Sigma methods in managing, monitoring and communicating how a particular strategy, operational process or metric is performing to the box scores of a baseball game. They are a proven way to get those daily box scores created, out to those who need to know and connected to the larger frameworks of critical-to-success metrics and knowing results.

There is more than baseball as a metaphor to some aspect of your business. The number of similar terms and methods for optimizing the value of each pitch by a pitcher is a good way to think about where to focus your efforts in designing, deploying and managing process improvement projects. When we review and audit hundreds of change management initiatives over the years, we find the correlation of timeliness and accuracy is common in every step or pitch.

Baseball has a structured strike zone, batter’s box and distance to the mound. The pitching objective is get 3 strikes, keep runners off base and retire the side. You have structures with processes, procedures and practices built to deliver products and services to meet or exceed the needs of your clients. Do you - check your lineup, scorecard, know the inning? How often do check? How does your Bullpen look?

We know successful organizations build and use the Balanced Scorecard approach. They develop a strategy map, put in place tight metrics to measure how their objectives, goals and tactics are playing out. They quickly and easily communicate the results. They adjust their game as the innings go by and they play to win.

Let the games begin, build your team with experienced people, train them to effectively use the tools and follow prescribed methods to help you learn and improve each after each play and finally, be willing to play more than 9 innings to insure you a win in each of your initiatives. FJH

Fearless

2009-01-07T16:03:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts --- I have a great friend who is the Founder & President of a solutions delivery company and because it is a smaller more boutique type business, he is their chief salesperson, most times their only salesperson. The interesting thing for me is how very good he is at the art of the sale. He works the long days, cold calling, following up and following up, honing the pitch, waiting for the deal to close and so forth and his efforts pay off quite well.

Since I have known this fellow for as long as I can remember and never thought of him as the sales guy; I have often asked him how do you do it, what is your secret? He generally chuckles and always replies, “You have to be fearless” and does not offer much more advice. It took me awhile, but after a few of these exchanges, I finally started to get what he was saying. The word got me to thinking and I was reminded of a study I read a couple of years ago that talked about why projects and improvement initiatives fail. The title was ‘Silence Fails’ put out by the Concours Group. Their findings, when pointed to a variety of actions that translate to silence as the reason of why projects and initiatives fail so frequently, were staggering, north of 70%.
Webster translates ‘Fearless as without fear, bold or brave’. I like the brave part. He defines ‘Silence as the absence or omission of mention, comment or expressed concern’. I know we all have been there, the project meeting or strategy session where someone or many someone’s do not want to say what they really think or know about an issue or challenge. They chalk it up to some rationale that generally should be saved for the 10 year old caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Silence is a big deal. It affects the efforts to get to the bottom of those tough challenges and issues that businesses face each day. Silence can stifle the momentum of a brainstorming session, it can create the gap that then demands a significant rewrite of a requirements document and it can mislead a team that will now end up off target to plan and so forth.

On the other hand, Fearless is an attribute that can keep the team engaged, can help the group take the risks to drive a great brainstorming session or it can be used to help those who just cannot seem to step up and participate, take that first big step.

A lesson learned, from years of leading and participating in workshops, team meetings, scrums and other inter-active sessions, is whether you are a Program Leader, a Project Manager, a Business Analyst or the Subject Matter Expert -- to put value in a work session requires that everyone breaks the silence and put on the fearless cap.

At VISTX, our associates and leaders use methods and practices that focus on engaging and challenging each team member, driving out the silence and firing up the passion. We see it the way my friend does, success requires everyone to be ‘Fearless’. FJH

Ambiguity is Problematic

2009-01-07T15:59:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts --- The famous comedian Groucho Marx’s joke, “Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas, what was he doing in my pajamas I will never know.” This is a great reminder of the many challenges ambiguity brings to the work place.

There are many ways ambiguity creeps into the written & spoken word and it happens more often than most of us think. It is especially frustrating when one is trying to gather facts, analyze documents, find the deeper issues - opportunities or make the necessary changes that will improve your business.

There a number of different avenues that ambiguity can take -- Semantic, Syntactic, and Lexical etc. the key take away are insufficient context to determine the sense of a single word. Ambiguity does extend to acronyms and it can be intentional or unintentional. So, one cannot always assume that ambiguity is always problematic.

In the context of this blog – ambiguity is problematic – it wastes time, creates far more effort than was planned and more often than not moves attention to places that are not important to the document or the conversation.

There are methods and steps you can use to mitigate the potential curse that ambiguity can bring to a team effort. Leaders should talk to their folks about ambiguity - do not ignore it, it does not go away. Start by looking at the various ways it can misdirect the understanding. Put some imagination into it and share typical examples that are oriented to the types of, or the areas of, communication that the team will be working with. Show them the problems that can arise and put some order of magnitude to the impact you are working to avoid.

The focus should be on using more than words or abbreviations to capture information. In my experiences, a good method is to promote the use of visual sessions to help bridge the team and the thinking across the chasm that ambiguity creates. I find that there is a gaining of efficiency and less time wasted and teams are more thorough in their understanding. Focus early discussions by expressing thoughts on whiteboards with a heavy use of pictures and drawings, you work through the process of establishing an agreed and collaborated position that everyone can see. Use this approach as an early stage tool to assist you as you contextualize your views and this process will ensure a higher level of comfort and agreement within the team. You then have more confidence in reducing or mitigating the ambiguity factor as they begin the process of adding words, acronyms and translations to the final documentation.

At one company, the Chief Enterprise Architect put it this way, “It makes me think of the term ‘abstraction’ that is frequently used in EA (enterprise architecture).” He goes on to say, “what abstraction means (to those of us who have to architect and map the business from end to end - top to bottom) is to back away from the clutter and put the content into context”.

When it comes to Groucho or the use of grammatical ambiguity for humor -- go for it and enjoy the laugh. When it comes to collaborating with your teams and documenting for your project or initiative - put it in context. FJH

Pictures & Words

2009-01-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts --- We all know the adage ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. I recently spent the better part of a weekend with my oldest daughter, a recent ‘Fine Arts’ grad who truly has a gift for drawing and seems to always take a fresh look at our world. On the Saturday afternoon, we talked about the adage and from my daughter’s perspective as the ‘creator’ of the picture; she thinks it is more like ten thousand words. That got me thinking about the challenges of managing a business project, a team initiative or just the way we all tend to communicate at work.

My world has always tended to lean on the visual, it helps me think and understand others much better than when they provide me their reams of prose. The white board in my office more often than not looks more like an etch – a – sketch gone wild than a logical or orderly view of the world, the key is - I put it there through wonderful and enlightening engagements with my colleagues and they knew I got it! In most cases, I was able to share the board and we all expressed our thoughts, revised, revisited, re-aligned, erased, and added… are you getting the picture?

Let us take the position that the equation is correct, the picture is worth a 1,000 words to the viewer and at least one person we now knows believes it is worth 10,000 words to the ‘creator’. So let us turn the dial a bit to recognize that words are just a metaphor for the value of expanded clarity and improved understanding. It allows real time, at the point of collaborative thought, a quick way to adjust direction, change views, elaborate on key points etc. etc. etc. Getting three people collaborating in drawing out the strategy, the process or the quandary by my calculation can be worth 30 thousand words or more.

I submit the white board approach has a stronger case of user buy-in than the laborious hours spent writing out documents that contained 10’s of thousands of words that are generally stuck in a gathering process with required and limiting construct. Our experience shows that far too many hours are spent participating in endless wordsmith opportunities and to little in adding detail to the picture. A picture that can be readily used and adjusted over and over to deliver value from the first steps of developing strategies, objectives and metrics through to scoping, documenting, communicating and managing programs, projects and initiatives.

Authors and researchers that study the field of visual communication point out the power of the picture – simple drawings from thoughtful people, created in challenging workshops can deliver solid results for the tasks at hand.

Those results are usable, factual, targeted views, with knowledge, information and agreement that can lead to great insights, sound solutions and drive an additional level of comfort in the understanding and decision processes.

We at VISTX embrace the visual approach, we see and understand the way these methods deliver value and we continue to develop and improve our visual communication methods to efficiently - effectively support and optimize our balanced scorecard, six sigma and project management methodologies. Our focus is providing clients the additional methods to better control your project costs, improve the timelines of each initiative and deliver successful results. Best of all your organization will add a terrific dimension to their DNA. FJH

M&A Look Deep

2009-01-07T15:44:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts -- There have been a number of interesting articles and papers written recently on the uptick in M&A, (Mergers & Acquisitions) activity. I see a correlation between successful M&A engagements and companies that manage from a ‘Balanced Scorecard’. The notion that the better you know yourself the better probability you will have when selecting a mate, and the easier the life together will be.

My view is that many companies tend to keep service and operating groups distant from the M&A activities. Thus, thwarting a critical early opportunity to drive the execution focus down through to those charged to execute and deliver. There is no question the McKinsey’s and Booz Allen types of the world do a great job of covering the top-level stuff. You better believe the practical challenges of merging and integrating are just as important to a successful acquisition as the price, market value, strategy or ‘art of the deal’.

All too often, the days, months and years go by and the acquisition just does not seem to be taking the legs as was once promised in the myriad of power point decks and strategy selling sessions. One was certain the finance, portfolio and organization views were tight and that it was just a matter of executing… Ah, that famous word ‘execute’ – we know it so well, we put it on every target throughout our organization. Yet, we miss the mark so often, WHY?

Study after study over the past 25 years continue to show very dismal success rates in the areas of change management initiatives, technology implementations or mergers, more often than not we see failure in close to 3 out of 4 initiatives. Moreover, we definitely do not hear comments from the executive office, as Ernie Banks would say after the fun of the first game the ‘Cubbies’ played – “Let’s play 2”

My research shows, All too many companies, business units or departments have not truly tied what they want to do (mission, vision and strategies) to how they want to do it (objectives, goals and metrics) to what they actually do. Tied is a crucial word here. Every organization has the mission statement, the execs have their vision, and most have written out their strategy. As you move down and through an organization, you usually see objectives and goals. Many have dashboards or regular reviews and all have lots and lots of data. Nevertheless, the critical operating questions and the effectiveness of the decision process that separates the successful organization versus the businesses that struggle and fall short, is that the latter can never put the questions and answers together with the required clarity and consistency to break the constraints across the enterprise.

I see far too many businesses struggle for this clarity-consistency when the folks across their organization are challenged with undertaking new and/or major initiatives – scenario after scenario you hear the cries -- What is tied to what? ‘Do it my way’! When? Where? Moreover, Who knows what and is responsible? Or most importantly, Who is responsible and does not know?

Leaders need to develop the processes, procedures, policies & practices that will TIE their business strategies to executing successfully on objectives at all levels of the organization, the Balanced Scorecard approach is a good first step.

Since we know most organizations struggle with keeping their own houses in order and successfully completing their major initiatives, then what are the chances of success and what are the implications of not getting it right when you are integrating a merger or acquisition?

If you are in the M&A game, you have the top level covered, you may want start now to Balance your Scorecard and begin to use the lessons learned and the knowledge gained as part of the tool kit you activate in your merger assessments and post deal projects. Bottom line, get your organization back to where playing ‘2’ comes naturally, intuitively and assures you winning results. FJH