Oxygen Pockets in a Corporate

You must be wondering this post is about a Yoga or a Fitness centre in a company.

This post is about the important functions in a corporate which equate to the mangroves in a real world scenario.

Just like the mangroves inhale the various unhealthy and waste gases released in the air to exhale fresh oxygen for our survival, functions like Operational Excellence or Business Improvement Teams perform similar functions for us.

• So what happens when your company wants to improve its reduced bottom lines?
• A company which wants to increase its throughput?
• An organisation who wants to cut waste and rework?
• A start up which wants to identify new opportunities for growth?
• An firm which believes in propelling innovation and promote out of the box thinking?

The epitomized answer to the above is 'Effectively driven Business Improvement Teams' which not only help achieve these objectives for an organisation but also identify these opportunities for a firm.

The techniques adopted by these units may include Six Sigma, Lean, TRIZ, Kaizen, ISO and so on.

So do you believe that these units become unequivocal Oxygen Pockets for a corporate and if these are necessary to have in a company?

Cheers,
Tina

Do You Have The Bullets But Not The Gun ?

I saw this movie called 'The Burning Bride' a while back, an absolute must watch for thrilling movie lovers.  A lady is trying to save herself from a ferocious and hungry tiger lurking in the house as a part of a conspiracy by her stepfather to kill her. 

Wait on! This post is not about movie lovers but an example for working executives.

A scene in the movie triggered a thought in me.  The girl in danger of being eaten alive by the tiger finds some bullets in one of the rooms amidst all the drama and voila the audience feels she will have her way through, but guess what !

She has the bullets but cannot find the Gun.

 

Does this example relate to your working lives as well?

 

Take an example of a busy work morning.  A Business Operations Executive walks up to his desk, looking worried.  He hasn' t slept through the night, upset with something. He continuously vacillates with a cuppa coffee in his hands and you know what's troubling him?

 

He has the bullets, but doesn't have the gun!  Well, before your mind starts wandering elsewhere, the bullets in this example represent the process data available to him, a whole load of it, but he doesn't know what to do with this data.

 

A few questions rattling his mind since night:

• How does he utilise the data to identify why his process is not performing well?
• Which factors in the process are impacting his Service Levels the most? 
• Which team members are consistently performing and must be recognised?
• Which factors should he work upon to improve his service levels even if he identifies them?

Well, it is always better to investigate rather than discover; to infer rather than conclude; to prevent rather than control !

The Big Gun in this case is an adept knowledge of basic statistics and tools to calculate results for you.

And for all the executives who hate to do maths, the good news is a basic understanding of Six Sigma concepts and knowledge of tools which automatically work out the desired statistics for you will help you in taking precise data driven decisions rather than go by hunch !

So are you prepared to get your GUN in place and fire the Bullets you have ? 

Always here,
Tina

On Examiners Panel - QIMPRO CONVENTION 2010

Hi,

It was a pleasure to be on the Examiners Panel for QIMPRO CONVENTION AWARDS 2010.

http://www.bestpraxclub.com/convention/examiners2010.aspx




About QIMPRO:

http://www.bestpraxclub.com/convention/index.aspx

Regards,
Tina Arora

Measurement system analysis

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Measurement system analysis

View more presentations from Tina Arora.

NLP and Project Management

• Do you think Neuro - Linguistic Programming has any role to play in managing projects ?
• In which phase of project management does NLP help the most?

The answer to the above two points are:

NLP is a skill which allows mastery over understanding human behaviour.  It can only be learnt by application.  A person who understands NLP has a higher chance of clicking with people more adeptly as compared to someone who doesn't know what NLP is all about.

NLP can be successfully applied while managing projects.  Projects is all about people management.  A debatable statement, isn't it? I say so because with my experience I realised that though a project is a temporary endeavour to achieve a result, product, or service, it wouldn't be possible for a project manager (PM) to achieve these results unless he clicks with people who are suppose to act or deliver.

While a project passes through Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Control and Closing phases, a savvy NLP project manager can use his skills dexterously in all the stages.

Fathom this !

In Initiating stage unless the PM senses through his NLP tact what the sponsor is looking for to be undertaken as a project, the project charter may go in infinite cycles of getting approved.

In Planning Stage - unless the PM senses those weird reactions coming through stakeholders in developing the Project Management Plan, the project may fail to take off !  Sad...hmmm !

In Execution Stage - the most important area of showcasing people management skills by a PM, wouldn't you agree that NLP combined with this skill can be killer combination?
" Boss, done".  How much you wanna listen to these words as a PM.

In Monitoring and Control Stage - NLP would help to develop relationships with Quality Auditors.  How would they ever understand and accept the technical deliverables unless you catch their nerve !

And, finally, in Closing Stage - A Big Party for all, though is a partial display of NLP, but ofcourse persuading the team to share their individual learnings while in all stages wouldn't be entirely possible for a PM.  You get them to talk through your NLP skills.

Wow ! Isn't the skill amazing to have.

Try blending NLP next while managing projects and share with me the difference you experience.

A good definition of NLP could be found on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming

A great reading on NLP which prepares you in 7 days can be found on my reading list.

Cheers,
Tina Arora