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The Change Maestro’s Management Tip – We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are

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When we look at a problem. reality is not our companion. We tend to look at things in the way that creates the solutions to our problems in the easiest way. We are biased towards looking at the way to resolve the problem that entails the least amount of effort. But that is not how […]

Is that all there is?

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In the continuous process improvement world, we consistently here about the need to listen to the voice of the customer when trying to resolve organizational problems. The problem is that this approach is primarily retroactive in nature. According to Wikipedia, Voice of the customer (VOC) is a term used in business to describe the in-depth process […]

What was the last book you could not put down?

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In the past year I took the opportunity to join the Next Best Idea Club and part of the benefits is the delivery to your home four times a year. In the box that just arrived was a copy of the new book Uncensored by Zachary Wood. It is one of those books that is […]

Are you safe?

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I recently conducted a two-day training class for business managers in the six-sigma methodology at a major university in which one of the participants stated that the least beneficial part of the course was having to create a project centered around an issue from their individual workplace. One of the participants responded that the project […]

TLS Continuum Part 87: Processes Gone Awry

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First of all, let me extend my regrets for not keeping better in touch but I and my family have been fighting this bug that is flying around. Not the flu but close to it. It sucks to be under the weather. This past week has been filled with more irony then I would want […]

TLS Continuum Part 86: 5 ways to bring business skills to the classroom

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We constantly read in the media and hear our elected officials espousing that our schools are in turmoil. However, if we bring the TLS Continuum and its associated business skills to the school environment we can counter these messages of gloom and doom. So how do we make that happen? Map your processes Both from […]

TLS Continuum Part 84: Are you in real time or in a bubble?

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In Part 84, I posed the question as to whether your organization viewed the global workplace from looking in the mirror or looking out the window.  I suggested that the view from the mirror is what you think you do and the view from the window is what your clients tell you what you do […]

TLS Continuum Part 84:The organizational view of the world via a mirror or a window?

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The other day I was listening to an installment of the Voice of Experience from the National Speakers Association in which the presenter talked about the different view one gets from the mirror versus the window. There is a direct applicability to the TLS Continuum. In order to achieve sustainable process improvement, you must begin […]

TLS Continuum Part 83: The HR Missing Link;Have you found it as yet?

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In Part 82 of this series, I posed the question whether or not human capital management was dead or not. In this part I want to suggest that there is a vital path to your survival both as an HR professional and as part of your organization. The C-Suite office holders of the 21st century […]

TLS Continuum Part 82: Is Human Capital Management dead?

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As I listen to the Internet scuttlebutt I have cause to stop and consider whether the HR profession, as we know it , is thriving or either dying or has already died. I have a fellow consultant who told me that the reason why I am not getting the interest in some of my programs […]

Do you diagnose What Goes Right?

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Paul Michelman, Editor in Chief of the MIT Sloan Management Review discusses 6 steps to diagnose what you as an organization do right in the Spring 2017 issue. The full article appears at http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/do-you-diagnose-what-goes-right/

What problem are you trying to solve?

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Solving organizational problems begins with understanding the problem in the first place. Nelson Repenning et al discuss how to identify the real problem in the business in the Spring 2017 issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review. Read the full article at http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-most-underrated-skill-in-management/

Beware the Cycle of Doubt

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Projects fail when support dwindles due to shifting organizational priorities, changes in leadership, and distrust of information. Karen Brown et al discuss to reverse the cycle of doubt in an article in the Spring 2017 issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review. Read the full article at http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/protect-your-project-from-escalating-doubts/

TLS Continuum Part 80: Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell

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This blog post does not refer to the former government policy regarding sexual orientation in the military. Rather this refers to a vital part of the TLS Continuum and the voice of the customer. We can’t improve our processes without the input from our customers. However it does no good for you to ask the […]

TLS Continuum Blog Post Reprise: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery and today is present

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Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery and today is present You read that real quick didn’t you? But go back and really consider the implications of the words themselves to the human resource professional in the daily exercise of their responsibilities. Yesterday is history There is no organization that is free from having made really […]

TLS Continuum Part 78: Obstacles are pathways to Opportunities, Not a Dead End

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Let me begin with a few premises. Whether we are talking about our personal lives or your business workplace, everything we do is based on a process of some type. Each process is constructed of a series of steps, which lead us to the end result. The second premise is that although we would like […]

TLS Continuum Part 77: The Dark side of TLS Continuum Part 2

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I had made a commitment to you, the readers of this blog series to try and post a new segment every Friday. So far in 2017 I have gotten away from that to some degree and I promise to be better through the rest of the year. At the end of Part 76 of the […]

TLS Continuum Part 75: Where have we been and where are we going?

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As we enter a new year and we begin a new round of postings to the TLS Continuum blog series, I want to wish you and your families a very happy new year. Further if you are experiencing some humps in the life road, as I am, I hope they are short lived. During our […]

TLS Continuum Tip of the Week

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Crowds are only wise when the group has access to everyone’s individual information. Think organization for crowds. Jonah Berger “Invisible Influence.

TLS Continuum Part 74: I want it and I want it now

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I want to apologize in advance for some of what I have to say in this segment of the TLS Continuum Blog series may make you uncomfortable. If we look at society as a whole, we find that our lives seem to be surrounded by the need for instant gratification. Earn an MBA and expect […]

TLS Continuum Part 73: I think I can

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In part 66 of the TLS Continuum Series I discussed that the missing ingredient in process improvement was the buy in to the process by management. There is another critical element that we did not discussed in the earlier segment. In reviewing the evaluations from a recent seminar presentation one individual stated that the least […]

TLS Continuum Part 71: HR TLS Continuum Reading List

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Lately I have been asked about a reading list of titles that can be accessed to learn more about the components of the TLS Continuum. Over the next seven segments I will provide you with a list of titles that appear within my personal process improvement library. The first part will deal with the area […]

TLS Continuum Part 70: It is the process not the end result

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Think about your organization carefully and what do you see? Whether you are a manufacturing operation or a service organization you each have the same basis for the success or failure of your organization operation. That basis is a collection of processes that are unique to your individual corporate culture, visions and missions. The problem […]

TLS Continuum Part 69: TLS Continuum, Innovation and Society

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A couple of weeks ago I posed in the weekly blog whether you are transactional or transformation based. While I contended that the new climate we are in mandated that you shift your focus from being totally transactional focused to being transformational focused, the events of the past week tells me that to some degree […]

TLS Continuum Part 68: What ever happened to the Cadbury Model?

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I had the opportunity last week to attend the monthly meeting of my local chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management, which covered a legislative update for its membership. I am from a family of lawyers so I understand they have a role to play. But every time I come away with the same […]

TLS Continuum Part 67:The question for the day: Transactional or Transformational?

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If we look back in time, we find that whether you call it HR or personnel it has always it seems been our job to put out fires. It has always been our job to be the go to person when a problem needs to be resolved. That means that we respond to a given […]

TLS Continuum Part 66: The Missing Element in Process Improvement

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The United States as a country is losing its way. Many global businesses are losing their way. The educational system is losing its way. This is not the prelude to some political office campaign. This is a fact of life. We have become accustomed to becoming in essence, a nation of robots. By the nature […]

TLS Continuum Part 65: Ten Commandments of Process Improvement

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 Commandment #1: Thou shalt become one with the customer/client internally or externally Commandment #2: Thou shalt remember that the customer is the one that pays the bills Commandment #3: Thou shalt become engaged in constant communications to all stakeholders Commandment #4: Thou shalt never stop questioning everything Commandment #5: Thou shalt never end the improvement […]

TLS Continuum Part 64: What Works? The Customer Experience

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In this final installment in this four part series we have reached the step, which the TLS Continuum looks at the Six Sigma segment of the process. We have to this point looked at the problem, developed our metrics and the voice of the customer, and introduced potential solutions to the organization and the stakeholders. […]

TLS Continuum Part 63: What Wows? Present meets the Future

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In last week’s blog I discussed the response to What if? What does our future organization look like to the marketplace? By doing this we have established the gap analysis between what the customer wants and what we are providing to them. In this next installment we look at the introduction of solutions to resolve […]

TLS Continuum Part 62: What if? Imagine the Future

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In last week’s blog I discussed the response to the question What Is? The intent was to present you some tools on how to determine what your organization looks like in its current state. It is that determination which leads to the rest of the process. Ogilvie and Liedtka, in their book Designing for Growth: […]

TLS Continuum Part 61: What is? The Reality of the Present

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Welcome to the first of four posts that explore the interconnection between design thinking and the TLS Continuum. It is a dynamic way to understand your customer and your customer’s expectations. This first installment is critical to the success of the process improvement effort since we need to understand the problem in its basic manifestation. […]