Company Culture - PaperCut

I have posted many individual posts talking about culture, leadership and office politics.  Since I have been looking for the perfect role for me over the last three months, I came across an ad by PaperCut today.  Although I had encountered their software before, I had never actually investigated the company.  I urge you to have a good look around their web site.  Here's a link to their blogs...  www.papercut.com/blog/2013/05/

I love the way they run their office, a flat management structure, and anyone that knows me, the coffee part of course.  It shows that even in our sometimes "stuck up" world, you don't have to be dressed in $2,000.00 suits to achieve results, it's all about aligning goals and having a great team culture, where individuals are empowered to achieve, because that's why they were hired in the first place.

Now, I hope Chris and Matt don't read this post before meeting with me, as they may see it as brown-nosing, but then again, they may not.  In any case, I know if I do get  chance to meet them, I won't be wearing a suit.  I should probably ride my bike there and walk in with bike shorts (no, don't worry - I'll spare you that vision).

As I said, please have a look at their site, and as always, don't be scared to send me comments at roland@matador.net.au or through LinkedIn.

Their site:  www.papercut.com

The Most Successful Leaders Do 15 Things Automatically, Every Day

The following article from Forbes highlights many areas  I have previously discussed.  But does it really only relate to leaders?  At the end of the day we are all leaders in one way or another.  Every person can adopt these in their every day routine to make them a more efficient and better employee or even person.  Sometimes you cannot communicate expectations to others, but you should be clear in your mind what your goals are, and what you want to achieve.  

You don't have to challenge other people to think, but challenge yourself.  Look around you and learn from others.  See what works and what doesn't.  We don't always succeed, but was makes us stronger is when we fail.  We can see why and how, and work even harder to ensure success in the future.  Stay positive!  By doing so you will unlock infinite possibilities for yourself and put people around you at ease, to either help you, do business with you, or even admire you.

Try it, and let me know your thoughts.  The best way to contact me is through LinkedIn (link to your right).

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By Glenn Llopis | Forbes – Sun, Apr 14, 2013 4:52 PM EDT

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  The Most Successful Leaders Do 15 Things Automatically, Every Day

Leadership is learned behavior that becomes unconscious and automatic over time.  For example, leaders can make several important decisions about an issue in the time it takes others to understand the question.   Many people wonder how leaders know how to make the best decisions, often under immense pressure.  The process of making these decisions comes from an accumulation of experiences and encounters with a multitude of difference circumstances, personality types and unforeseen failures.   More so, the decision making process is an acute understanding of being familiar with the cause and effect of behavioral and circumstantial patterns;  knowing the intelligence and interconnection points of the variables involved in these patterns allows a leader to confidently make decisions and project the probability of their desired outcomes.   The most successful leaders are instinctual decision makers.  Having done it so many times throughout their careers, they become immune to the pressure associated with decision making and extremely intuitive about the process of making the most strategic and best decisions. This is why most senior executives will tell you they depend strongly upon their “gut-feel” when making difficult decisions at a moment’s notice.

Beyond decision making, successful leadership across all areas becomes learned and instinctual over a period of time. Successful leaders have learned the mastery of anticipating business patterns, finding opportunities in pressure situations, serving the people they lead and overcoming hardships.   No wonder the best CEOs are paid so much money.   In 2011, salaries for the 200 top-paid CEOs rose 5 percent to a median $14.5 million per year, according to a study by compensation-data company Equilar for The New York Times.

If you are looking to advance your career into a leadership capacity and / or already assume leadership responsibilities – here are 15 things you must do automatically, every day, to be a successful leader in the workplace:

1.  Make Others Feel Safe to Speak-Up

Many times leaders intimidate their colleagues with their title and power when they walk into a room.   Successful leaders deflect attention away from themselves and encourage others to voice their opinions.  They are experts at making others feel safe to speak-up and confidently share their perspectives and points of view.   They use their executive presence to create an approachable environment.

2.  Make Decisions

Successful leaders are expert decision makers.    They either facilitate the dialogue to empower their colleagues to reach a strategic conclusion or they do it themselves.  They focus on “making things happen” at all times – decision making activities that sustain progress.   Successful leaders have mastered the art of politicking and thus don’t waste their time on issues that disrupt momentum.  They know how to make 30 decisions in 30 minutes.

3.  Communicate Expectations

Successful leaders are great communicators, and this is especially true when it comes to “performance expectations.”   In doing so, they remind their colleagues of the organization’s core values and mission statement – ensuring that their vision is properly translated and actionable objectives are properly executed.

I had a boss that managed the team by reminding us of the expectations that she had of the group.   She made it easy for the team to stay focused and on track.  The protocol she implemented – by clearly communicating expectations – increased performance and helped to identify those on the team that could not keep up with the standards she expected from us.

4.  Challenge People to Think

The most successful leaders understand their colleagues’ mindsets, capabilities and areas for improvement.  They use this knowledge/insight to challenge their teams to think and stretch them to reach for more.   These types of leaders excel in keeping their people on their toes, never allowing them to get comfortable and enabling them with the tools to grow.

If you are not thinking, you’re not learning new things.  If you’re not learning, you’re not growing – and over time becoming irrelevant in your work.

5.  Be Accountable to Others

Successful leaders allow their colleagues to manage them.  This doesn’t mean they are allowing others to control them – but rather becoming accountable to assure they are being proactive to their colleagues needs.

Beyond just mentoring and sponsoring selected employees, being accountable to others is a sign that your leader is focused more on your success than just their own.

6.  Lead by Example

Leading by example sounds easy, but few leaders are consistent with this one.   Successful leaders practice what they preach and are mindful of their actions. They know everyone is watching them and therefore are incredibly intuitive about detecting those who are observing their every move, waiting to detect a performance shortfall.

7.  Measure & Reward Performance

Great leaders always have a strong “pulse” on business performance and those people who are the performance champions. Not only do they review the numbers and measure performance ROI, they are active in acknowledging hard work and efforts (no matter the result).    Successful leaders never take consistent performers for granted and are mindful of rewarding them.  

8.  Provide Continuous Feedback

Employees want their leaders to know that they are paying attention to them and they appreciate any insights along the way.  Successful leaders always provide feedback and they welcome reciprocal feedback by creating trustworthy relationships with their colleagues..   They understand the power of perspective and have learned the importance of feedback early on in their career as it has served them to enable workplace advancement.

9.  Properly Allocate and Deploy Talent

Successful leaders know their talent pool and how to use it.  They are experts at activating the capabilities of their colleagues and knowing when to deploy their unique skill sets given the circumstances at hand. 

10.  Ask Questions, Seek Counsel

Successful leaders ask questions and seek counsel all the time.  From the outside, they appear to know-it-all – yet on the inside, they have a deep thirst for knowledge and constantly are on the look-out to learn new things because of their commitment to making themselves better through the wisdom of others.

11.  Problem Solve; Avoid Procrastination

Successful leaders tackle issues head-on and know how to discover the heart of the matter at hand.    They don’t procrastinate and thus become incredibly proficient at problem solving; they learn from and don’t avoid uncomfortable circumstances (they welcome them).

Getting ahead in life is about doing the things that most people don’t like doing.

12.  Positive Energy & Attitude

Successful leaders create a positive and inspiring workplace culture.  They know how to set the tone and bring an attitude that motivates their colleagues to take action.   As such, they are likeable, respected and strong willed.  They don’t allow failures to disrupt momentum.

13.  Be a Great Teacher

Many employees in the workplace will tell you that their leaders have stopped being teachers.   Successful leaders never stop teaching because they are so self-motivated to learn themselves.  They use teaching to keep their colleagues well-informed and knowledgeable through statistics, trends, and other newsworthy items.

Successful leaders take the time to mentor their colleagues and make the investment to sponsor those who have proven they are able and eager to advance.

14.  Invest in Relationships

Successful leaders don’t focus on protecting their domain – instead they expand it by investing in mutually beneficial relationships. Successful leaders associate themselves with “lifters and other leaders” – the types of people that can broaden their sphere of influence.  Not only for their own advancement, but that of others.

Leaders share the harvest of their success to help build momentum for those around them.

15.  Genuinely Enjoy Responsibilities

Successful leaders love being leaders – not for the sake of power but for the meaningful and purposeful impact they can create.   When you have reached a senior level of leadership – it’s about your ability to serve others and this can’t be accomplished unless you genuinely enjoy what you do.

In the end, successful leaders are able to sustain their success because these 15 things ultimately allow them to increase the value of their organization’s brand – while at the same time minimize the operating risk profile.   They serve as the enablers of talent, culture and results.

Culture, Productivity, Kaizen, Lean, Business Improvement

All the above are current buzz words, especially productivity.  No matter which of these areas we focus on, I think we would agree that leadership is of utmost importance.

When talking about the above we mention empowering individuals, and allowing for innovation from within.  But how can we achieve this without effective leadership, and a culture that thrives on the excitement of being involved in creating a better department, company or economy.

The Australian prime minister’s task force came up with a report on manufacturing entitled “Smarter Manufacturing for a Smarter Australia”. (http://www.innovation.gov.au/Industry/Manufacturing/Taskforce/Documents/SmarterManufacturing.pdf)

While looking at the challenges that face the manufacturing sector, the report also focuses on the opportunities that this creates.  It discusses the importance of manufacturing to Australia, the economy and most importantly our people, you, me and our children.

One comment in the report, also made directly to the Prime Minister, Ministers Combet and Shorten was: “We are particularly concerned that leadership and judgement is brought to bear on the ‘perceptions issue’ about Australian manufacturing.”

Again we are talking about leadership and judgement, but the report further outlines the importance of broad-based Australian economy, built on competitiveness, productivity and innovation.

Figure 1.1 below highlights the importance of policy in achieving the above objective through a strong direction created by a solid strategy.  The total report spans over 117 pages and contains detailed data on the manufacturing industry.  I would recommend that you have a good read of it, if you are interested in the future of our country.

Figure 1.1 SMARTER MANUFACTURING FOR A SMARTER AUSTRALIA – POLICY FRAMEWORK

The bottom line however is that while policies can be set, strategies discussed, and recommendations presented, it is up to the individual’s leading the businesses within the sector, as well as the ones supplying the sector, and finally the consumers to ensure the path is sustainable.  Associations and industry councils, advisory boards, the education sector and we as individuals also play an important part.  We all have a hand in shaping the future of this country, as insignificant as it may seem.

At the end of the day, it will be the voice of many that will create a better future.  I think none of us can be under the illusion that it will be easy.  We must accept that severe changes will be required about how and where we do business.  And the “pessimists” must stop the negativity and winching, and should focus on the opportunities that are presented to us.  The faster this happens, the sooner we will move on.

Change can be exciting, although scary at times, and it will mean entering a zone that we are not comfortable with.  But if we are big enough to accept that there are other options, and that we need to open our eyes, we will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

There are many tools that will help us achieve better productivity, leaders, culture and so on.  Not all will work for everyone, but they will allow individuals at the front line to help pave our way to the future.  Together with the right leaders these individuals will create companies that are efficient and sustainable.  There are already many programs available to businesses that will support change financially.  These could be initiatives to support sustainable practices, reduce environmental impacts, or purely arm individuals with the skills required to affect the necessary changes within industry.

For more information on initiatives, leadership, or any other comments, please contact me at Chase Performance on 1300 880 338.  I am located in Melbourne, but regularly visit our offices in Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney, and am always happy to have a chat and discuss any of the items above in person over an Espresso.

Best regards

Roland Weber

Lean Leadership

The following information is from a presentation out of the lean leadership series by Factory Strategies Group LLC. (2009).  I have previously discussed the differences between management and leadership, as well as traditional and modern variations.  The following further highlights the importance of leadership, and the direct distinction from management.  Changing from wearing one hat to the other, and combing both takes practice, but will allow for a better organisational culture and increased efficiencies.  Although the following doesn't discuss energising and motivating employees, it is an area that will stem from good leadership.

Leadership Influences Change

ENGAGEMENT

“People don’t resist change.  They resist being changed.” - Peter Senge

REALISM

“Culture does not change because we desire to change it.  Culture changes when the organisation is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day.” - Frances Hesselbein

DETERMINATION

“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone getsbusy on the proof.” - John Kenneth Galbraith

Leadership versus Management

Leadership is not management

3 Tenets of management

Planning and budgeting
Involves creating timetables to meet commitments and developing specific action steps.

Organising and staffing
Requires that managers put some structure to the plan which includes staffing requirements, communications and delegation of responsibility.

Controlling and problem-solving
Entails the monitoring of activities, spotting deviations from the plan and organising solutions.

These management processes create and maintain order and predictability within the organisation. - John P. Kotter

Lean Leadership Characteristics

A leader needs to be visible as a role model in order to demonstrate his/her breadth of knowledge and understanding of the business environment and the organisational challenges.

A leader should display an aptitude for logic and a desire to challenge the status quo or “alleged wisdom” in order to facilitate free flowing decision making.

A leader must posses the ability to be a linking agent (facilitator) with a wide array of knowledge and information coupled with an unquestionable trust, professionalism and an open invitation for dissent.

Traditional versus Lean



Lean Leadership:

Good leaders motivate people in a variety of ways, three of which are the basis to the “lean” approach.


1.  Leaders must define the organisation’s vision in a way
     that highlights the values of their group
2.  Leaders must support people’s efforts to achieve the
     shared vision through coaching, feedback, and role modelling
3.  A leader should recognise and reward success


There are five leadership moves, or actions, a leader can perform to provide leadership on the Lean journey.


1.  Leaders Must Be Teachers
2.  Build Tension, Not Stress
3.  Eliminate Fear and Comfort
4.  Lead Through Visible Participation, Not Proclamation
5.  Build Lean Into Personal Practice

7 ways lean healthcare management reduces cost

July 24, 2012 | Steff Deschenes, New Media Producer

Article by: Steff Deschenes

New Media Producer for Healthcare Finance News

Follow Steff on Twitter@Steff_HFN

With the financial pressures that healthcare organizations are facing, many hospitals are using traditional cost cutting methods to save money by looking at layoffs and staff reductions. Many more hospitals, however, are finding ways to reduce costs through lean management methods that don't require layoffs and can improve quality for patients.

"Lean is actually the best alternative to layoffs. It's all about encouraging everyone to participate in process improvement, as well as finding creative and interesting ways to save money for a healthcare organization to avoid those unwanted traditional cost slashing endeavors like layoffs," explains Mark Graban, a lean expert and author of the book Hospital Kaizen. "Layoffs don't lead to long-term cost reduction. And if you lay off people and don't fix any processes, you're risking patient safety and quality. As a result, more and more healthcare providers are looking at lean to break that cycle."

[See also: Reducing cost through clinical redesign]

Graban has outlined seven different ways that lean management can help reduce system cost.

1. Reduce "never events." A "never event" includes falls, infections, erroneous amputations and other small-to-large-scale disasters. Reducing these events is, of course, best for patients, but there's also financial pressure to reduce never events. In 2009, Medicare stopped paying for care from events they consider preventable, and now private insurers are following suit. Pressure ulcers and bedsores, for example, are viewed as preventable. They shouldn't happen if a good process is followed – like patients being repositioned. Improving quality in general saves hospitals more than layoffs since "never events" occur when an understaffed hospital can't be attentive enough to a patient needs.

2. Supply chain improvements. It's important to consider looking at a more effective material restocking process. For example, more frequent smaller batch deliveries or rotating supplies more quickly reduces  both the amount of space used in internal warehouse and cash tied-up in inventory.

[See also: Cost structure for hospital tracking systems must be 'no-brainer']

3. Delay or cancel construction and expansion. A trend in the last few years has shown that hospitals use lean to increase capacity by using current equipment and available space. Lean makes better use of existing resources as an alternative to increasing capital spending. "I worked with one hospital that through process improvement to patient flow – preventing delays from registration through to discharge – they increased the utilization rates of their MRI machines from 40 percent to 60 percent. And they didn't need buy more equipment," said Graban.

4.  Reduce overtime. Reducing overtime is a great opportunity to help make improvements with lean that doesn't alienate people the way layoffs do. Essentially, people want to get home to have dinner with their families in a predictable/consistent way. If you can improve charting during the process, for example, instead of having nurses do it after, you can improve staff satisfaction while trimming down overtime, which results in both morale and cost savings. It's a win-win opportunity.

5. Reduce length of stay. This certainly isn't about pushing patients home before they're ready, Graban notes. Reducing length of stay is done through preventing errors that would extend a stay or delay a discharge when patients are medically ready to go home. Because of miscommunication, poor planning, or when families or nursing homes aren't yet ready to take on the person being discharged, a four-day stay can suddenly turn into a five- or six-day stay. These process related things aren't medical issues, but they often extend length of stay which can cost millions.

6. Reduce unnecessary testing and diagnostics. A number of hospitals are trying to be responsible stewards of healthcare dollars by reducing inappropriate usage of lab testing and diagnostic imaging. For example, through medical evidence it's been shown that when a patient comes in with back pain more often than not what they need is physical therapy – not a fast pass to a CT scan, says Graban. ACOs help organizations benefit from their own cost reduction efforts and will do so in a way that doesn't shortchange what the patient needs.

7. Reduce delays and errors in billing. There are a tremendous amount of delays in billing, including too many people involved during different parts of the process. If there's a better flow, if people are handing off the work to the next person in the chain immediately, bills go out in a couple of days instead of a couple weeks. It's also incredibly important to make sure billing is being done properly. If mistakes are made and proper preauthorizations aren't followed, but procedures are done anyway, hospitals might be voluntarily giving away revenue.

This article was originally published on: http://www.isixsigma.com/share.php?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcarefinancenews.com%2Fnews%2F7-ways-lean-healthcare-management-reduces-cost

To discuss how we can assist you with lean and six sigma in Australia, please contact Chase Performance on 1300 880 338 or visit our web site: www.chaseperformance.com

Leadership and the "Three Levels of Intelligence"

Because I see leadership as a key area of Lean Six Sigma and as part of my MBA in Leadership and Sustainability with Robert Kennedy College and the University of Cumbria, I discussed my own view on successful leadership by examining the effect of the “three levels of intelligence” on leadership.  Please feel free to send me a note if you agree or disagree with parts of the following article.  

Intelligence is traditionally measured by the Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Charles Darwin was estimated to have an IQ of 153, Albert Einstein 160 and John F. Kennedy around 120. But IQ is off course only used as an indicative estimate of the ability to reason logically. While IQ is still very much a factor of becoming successful in most areas of business, it is not of sufficient value for corporate success and will not ensure or even guarantee that you will shine above others. 

I can personally relate to the fact that a good IQ, or being well read even educated, can help you build a strong foundation but will not make you the bee of all. 

Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ) 

There has been much talk about EQ of late, and it certainly seems to be the flavour of the decade. With the key factor of EQ in my eyes being yourself awareness, made up from confidence, a realist view of one’s self, and not being scared of making fun of you, we can apply the above in various ways to make our daily life easier. Applied in the correct situations these can build great first and lasting impressions, and will make people around you feel at ease. Care has to be taken on when to apply which. I would be very careful about making fun of myself, when in a room filled with people of a strong cultural background that differs significantly from the traditional “Western View”. Although when you ask people in their sixties to eighties, they would argue that the western world has also changed and become a lot more accepting, and as such I would be cautious when surrounded by very Senior leaders with these ideals. 

One thing EQ will help you with is to read these situations correctly, so as to apply yourself in a manner acceptable, with the most successful outcomes. 

This brings me to the next cornerstone of EQ which is directly related to self-awareness and works well in conjunction with it, self-regulation. Knowing your limits will help you create trustworthiness and integrity. You will be comfortable in even the most ambiguous circumstances, and be open to change. I will go into more detail on this later when discussing the ability to adobt and change. With the combination of the two items above, we are strong enough to build the foundation of our motivation and drive, having an optimistic outlook, yet realistic in approach, and a full commitment to the outcome. 

Now this is where we start to tap into leadership. Taking IQ and these first few important parts of EQ, we are building a strong foundation, which displays openness, understanding and energy. However, this is where I believe many leaders fail. They stop there, and feel this is enough for them to succeed, forgetting that there are many more elements to be considered before we can call ourselves a well-balanced successful leader. 

Now although I would still include this following part in EQ, we are relating it to the social quotient (SQ). 

One area where many leaders, and some very ruthless ones fail, is empathy. This will result in not being able to sustain the great first impressions created, and dragging people with you in your “slip stream” of drive. In this world cross-cultural sensitivity is more important than ever. Living in Melbourne this is displayed on a daily basis, with the many cultures who have found a home in Australia, and kept their values. Without empathy, not only will we fail with our “internal customers” but we will also struggle to service our “external customers”. For me empathy is something that comes naturally, but for many people that have not lived in different environments, and/or have not encountered issues beyond their comprehension it is not natural, and this can often be seen as rude and provocative, although these individuals would not understand it, or even comprehend that this is what they are in fact doing. 

If you have ever come across a leader, that is very good at strategy, and running a tight ship, but will not listen to the voices of the customer (both internal and external), you will generally see the frustration that this creates around this person. And although they may have a tick against all of the above, if they fail with empathy, they are most likely doomed as a well-balanced manager, but could still have significant success in other areas. 

This brings me to the last point, the ability to adopt to change – or the change quotient (CQ). 

I briefly discussed the influence of self-regulation earlier which forms the foundation for the ability to change yourself, therefore enabling change around you. If you cannot change yourself, you would find it very difficult to change others around you, or even recognising that change is actually happening all around you. 

Not everyone is comfortable with change, let’s face it, we all get caught up in our every-day lives and routines, and it often takes a lot of strength to do something different. There was a song or ballad around in the 90’s, and one line was, do one thing different every day that scares you. This can be as small a thing as changing the way you get dressed, taking a different way to work, trying different food, wearing clothes that were traditionally seen as not matching. If you can get over this little hurdle on a regular basis, your eyes will widen. I have been practicing this for years now, and although I wouldn’t do it daily, I would relate it to my business world, and try unconventional things. 

One area that I have not discussed, and that sport has taught me is that you need to listen to your mind and body. The more you know about your well-being the more you can feel and take care of it, the more likely you are to translate this to the world and people around you. To many this may seem unrelated to business, but your physical state can affect your work, as it does involve how you feel and look which is directly related to confidence in most cases. Your drive and energy can be directly related to listening to your body, as if your energy levels drop, your mind will slow, and you will go through what most people refer to as “burn out”. Therefore I do believe that this is an important factor to be considered as well. 

In Conclusion 

We are only discussing a very small but integral part of successful leadership here, and I believe there is a lot more to it than just these items. These items do however form the foundation of a successful leader. Depending where this person is in their career, personal life, where in the world geographically, the type of organisation, etc. also play a heavy part in combining the above. You will find that some areas are more relevant in certain cultures than others, and are practiced and applied in different ways. 

A strong and successful leader will know how and when to apply his or her different levels of intelligence for the best outcome. I don’t believe there is one uniform way, or one glove fits all situations, as we are all different. This is the beauty about our world, as when we combine these differences, and listen to the other voices and are able to adopt, we become stronger by the day, resulting in better leadership at all levels. 

Best regards
Roland

Making it Lean - Don’t Underestimate Lawyers’ Resistance to Change

Seyfarth Shaw has learned a lot about lawyers and their resistance to change as the firm embraced Lean Six Sigma, a management approach emphasizing process improvement and efficiency in legal work.

Seyfarth Shaw chairman J. Stephen Poor outlines the lessons learned in an article for the New York Times DealBook blog. “Never underestimate the resistance to change from lawyers,” he writes. “Even more likely, never underestimate the ability of lawyers to describe virtual status quo efforts as revolutionary change. Working through a change management process intended to deal with that push-back has been a core element of our challenge for years.”

Resistance came not just from lawyers in his firm, Poor says. Most of the firm’s clients are also lawyers, and they also showed reluctance. The firm has learned that it had to build a business case for change, working in collaboration with clients.

Two other lessons learned:

• Law firms do need to change how they manage their businesses, with a focus on client demands for better value. Except for a handful of law firms, “the status quo will not drive long-term success,” he asserts.

• Don’t settle for half steps. "Marketing efforts are lovely; certainly, we all do marketing," he says. “But if one is to truly evolve a business model, the only way to avoid having it become simply a marketing effort is to recognize that it must drive through all parts of the organization."

Re-Engineering the Business of Law

BY J. STEPHEN POOR

J. Stephen Poor is chairman of the international law firm Seyfarth Shaw.

True long-term success requires businesses to improve continually and reimagine how they operate in the face of changing competition and market forces. Yet this innovative urge, which drives so much of the rest of the American economy, is largely absent from large law firms.

Instead, the measures become balancing rate growth versus discounted fees, lawyer productivity measured in tenths of hours, recruiting the partner with a book of business from one firm to another and similar yardsticks.

These address the traditional measures of law firm profitability. The need of the purchasers of legal services — at least from large law firms — continues to change, however. The pressure on in-house counsel to deliver better services using fewer resources has never been more intense. In order to meet business demands, corporate counsel are increasingly looking for firms that deliver greater value. Looking out on a landscape that includes a wider variety of choices than ever before – regional firms, national firms, global firms, virtual firms, legal outsourcing providers and contract firms, among others — their purchasing decisions continue to evolve.

If the recent recession teaches anything for the legal industry, it is this: The changing demands of our clients require the legal services profession to find different paths to deliver value to those who buy our services. Lawyers today should be asking themselves nontraditional questions: how to apply resources more effectively, to shorten cycle time and lower the cost of their work product and other deliverables, while raising the level of service. In the end, your client will reward you by giving you more work across more areas, and your relationship will deepen.

The ground on which we walk has been altered. Traditionally, large law firms fit into largely homogenous business models. Whether we recognize it or not, that has changed and will continue to shift. As we navigate a different world, our experience presents three core lessons:

Be Prepared to Examine and Reimagine the Business Model.

Our firm has been on its own, unique path for years. Over the past seven years, we’ve used a version of Lean Six Sigma borrowed from the manufacturing sector to redesign core elements of how legal work process is measured and deployed. This has resulted in a variety of tools, analyses and process improvement techniques intended to drive efficiency into the delivery of legal services – at all levels of the practice. More important, it aligns a way of thinking with the needs and requirements of corporate purchasers of legal services.

What works for us, however, may not work for every firm. Culture, current firm composition and many other factors should drive the way any firm responds to the market. The point, however, is that — other than for a handful of firms — the status quo will not drive long-term success. Change, particularly one involving lawyers, is a painful, prolonged process. Nevertheless, change, driven from innovation and a consistent focus on client needs, must drive how we look at and manage our businesses. Learning from our colleagues in the industry is important, but adapting that learning and innovating in the delivery of our services is critical.

Don’t Settle for Half-Steps.

Too often, I see firms start down a path only to stop at partial implementation or inconsistent philosophies. At Seyfarth, we realized that trying to drive different behaviors would require us to restructure things like associate evaluation (which we did by putting our compensation and advancement structures into a pure competency model) and re-examine our staffing models (for example, we eliminated a traditional summer program and replaced it with an education-based fellowship program). The global reach of our clients and their need for integrated, efficient service delivery across multiple countries, led us to create the largest multijurisdictional international employment practice, among others.

The point is not that our path is for everyone. The point is that the willingness to change and adapt business models must anticipate and address the variables that drive organizational success.

Marketing efforts are lovely; certainly, we all do marketing. But if one is to truly evolve a business model, the only way to avoid having it become simply a marketing effort is to recognize that it must drive through all parts of the organization. This will result in changes and modifications that were not anticipated but which make sense and should be adopted in order to have the overall change work properly.

Never Underestimate Resistance to Change.

Never underestimate the resistance to change from lawyers. Even more likely, never underestimate the ability of lawyers to describe virtual status quo efforts as revolutionary change. Working through a change management process intended to deal with that push-back has been a core element of our challenge for years. We consciously developed methodologies that linked to the history and culture of our firm or used client voices to support and build the business case for change. As we were able to demonstrate success on smaller scales, we were able to build agents for change that effectively permeated the firm.

What we did not anticipate was the resistance from other crucial stakeholders – especially clients. Much of what we’ve done is most effective when deployed in a collaborative change process with clients. What we overlooked at the outset is that, by and large, our clients are lawyers, too, and many of them are the products of the culture of their own business. Understanding the various viewpoints and building the business case to involve this crucial constituency was something we learned along the way. The nature of the process requires a continuous, but slow march toward improvement and adaptation. Some things we tried worked and some did not. Nevertheless, the continuous move forward takes persistence and, perhaps, a bit of stubbornness.

Hospital wins award through planning (process improvement)

This article explains how simple process improvement activities resulted in great results.  To find out more about how we can assist you health organisation through cost neutral solutions in the same way please contact us at focus@chaseperformance.com or call us on 1300 880 338.  Alternatively you can also visit our web site: www.chaseperformance.com

Planning at Waikato Hospital wins award

A Waikato Hospital project looking at delivery and capacity planning within the hospital, has been deemed so effective, it has won an award at tonight's Waikato District Health Board Best of Health Awards.

By far the biggest category, there were 14 entries in the process improvement category claimed by Waikato Hospital, which looks at recognising how planned improvement activities - both clinical and non-clinical - led to significant improvements in patient care or process improvement.

Process improvement activities aim to improve customer and staff satisfaction; and at reducing or eliminating process waste such as resources and time.

A brief description of the project

Waikato Hospital historically provided a set number of beds over the year with closures allocated primarily to known low elective periods, such as Christmas.

The associated nursing staff rosters were driven by budgeted matrix, which did not necessarily align with planned or acute demand.

There was minimal knowledge of seasonal demand, which regularly resulted in high elective surgical cancellations, large numbers of patients nursed outside of their specialty areas, high nursing costs associated with misaligned rosters with workload, and scheduled theatre sessions poorly utilised.

As a result of this project, there has been a focus on improved planning to place patients in the right place, in the right beds, at the right time. There has been an increase in surgical throughput and a decrease in cancelled surgeries.

This has therefore improved patient access to elective services and patients are spending less time waiting in ED for a ward bed.

Judges comments

"This project is using an off the shelf programme to the max; when it was obtained it was used DHB wide and implemented thoroughly. From the patient's perspective, this has had a monstrous impact.

"It is amazing in a hospital the size of Waikato, to embed something this large so quickly and get staff confidence in its use."

Other projects that received honourable mentions at the awards were:

Community pharmacy anticoagulation management service from Pharmacy 547

The Waihi Project (family violence) from Population Health, Waikato DHB

Waikato virtual lesion clinic from Waikato DHB's Dermatology Department; and

Working together to reach the health target of 90% of two-year-olds being fully immunised by June 2011 from Toiora Primary Health Organisation

For more information about the Best of Health Awards, other entries and the awards evening, visit www.waikatodhb.health.nz/bestofhealth

What is 5S

5S is the name of a workplace organisation methodology that uses a list of five Japanese words which are seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke. Transliterated or translated into English, they all start with the letter "S". The list describes how to organise a work space for efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and storing the items used, maintaining the area and items, and sustaining the new order.

Sorting (Seiri)

Eliminate all unnecessary tools, parts, and instructions. Go through all tools, materials, and so forth in the plant and work area. Keep only essential items and eliminate what is not required, prioritising things per requirements and keeping them in easily-accessible places. Everything else is stored or discarded.

Stabilising or Straightening Out (Seiton)

There should be a place for everything and everything should be in its place. The place for each item should be clearly labeled or demarcated. Items should be arranged in a manner that promotes efficient work flow, with equipment used most often being the most easily accessible. Workers should not have to bend repetitively to access materials. Each tool, part, supply, or piece of equipment should be kept close to where it will be used – in other words, straightening the flow path. Seiton is one of the features that distinguishes 5S from "standardised cleanup". This phase can also be referred to as Simplifying.

Sweeping or Shining (Seiso)

Clean the workspace and all equipment, and keep it clean, tidy and organised. At the end of each shift, clean the work area and be sure everything is restored to its place. This makes it easy to know what goes where and ensures that everything is where it belongs. Spills, leaks, and other messes also then become a visual signal for equipment or process steps that need attention. A key point is that maintaining cleanliness should be part of the daily work – not an occasional activity initiated when things get too messy.

Standardising (Seiketsu)

Work practices should be consistent and standardised. All work stations for a particular job should be identical. All employees doing the same job should be able to work in any station with the same tools that are in the same location in every station. Everyone should know exactly what his or her responsibilities are for adhering to the first 3 S's.

Sustaining the Practice (Shitsuke)

Maintain and review standards. Once the previous 4 S's have been established, they become the new way to operate. Maintain focus on this new way and do not allow a gradual decline back to the old ways. While thinking about the new way, also be thinking about yet better ways. When an issue arises such as a suggested improvement, a new way of working, a new tool or a new output requirement, review the first 4 S's and make changes as appropriate.

Safety

A sixth phase, "Safety", is sometimes added. There is debate over whether including this sixth "S" promotes safety by stating this value explicitly, or if a comprehensive safety program is undermined when it is relegated to a single item in an efficiency-focused business methodology.

Security

A seventh phase, "Security", can also be added. In order to leverage security as an investment rather than an expense, the seventh "S" identifies and addresses risks to key business categories including fixed assets (PP&E), material, human capital, brand equity, intellectual property, information technology, assets-in-transit and the extended supply chain.

Satisfaction

An eighth phase, “Satisfaction”, can be included. Employee Satisfaction and engagement in continuous improvement activities ensures the improvements will be sustained and improved upon. The Eighth waste – Non Utilised Intellect, Talent, and Resources can be the most damaging waste of all.
It is important to have continuous education about maintaining standards. When there are changes that affect the 5S program such as new equipment, new products or new work rules, it is essential to make changes in the standards and provide training. Companies embracing 5S often use posters and signs as a way of educating employees and maintaining standards.


For more information on how we can assist you at no cost to implement these systems in your organisation please contact me on 1300 880 338 or email sales@chaseperformance.com


Here is another beneficial link to our Japanese associates:  http://www.process-improvement-japan.com/lean-5s.html

Finally, you can visit our web site for more information: http://www.chaseperformance.com