When we look at the types of improvements that take place within our organisation we can always tell which were the big improvements. The small issues that are resolved in their masses however are harder to spot. Unfortunately this is also the case when we are looking for improvement ideas in the first place. If you had a broken leg you would have to stop what you were doing and get it fixed. If you had a limp you could keep going for a long time, and perhaps the limp would go away on its own. Where in your organisation are you limping? Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' www.smartspeed.co.uk

Have you ever sat in a meeting where you could just tell that people were ‘mailing it in’? By this I mean that the people aren’t taking part, they are there physically but that’s about all. They are not engaging with the conversation and participation within the meeting is generally low. If you recognise meetings (or workplaces) like this then you have an opportunity to improve the productivity in these areas. In fact, recognition is probably the greatest step towards improving the situation (that’s why we spend so much time mapping things out) – if you put this recognition into the context of the situation the answers to improve the status quo will become obvious. Keep an eye out for those people who are present in form only, and then come up with some ideas to get them engaged. Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' www.smartspeed.co.uk

There appears to be an ongoing conflict when it comes to the level of detail on projects, meetings or in specifications. Getting the right level of detail is key to making sure that activity progresses smoothly, but there is often a lack of consistency around how we approach detail. If we get the level of detail wrong we can end up with an outcome that we don’t want. We could find that by having too much or too little detail we can get side tracked, delayed, or lost with the work we are involved with. By having too little detail we could miss important tasks that have a big impact on the end result. By having too much detail we risk closing down opportunities for exploration. Whilst I am not advocating what level of detail needs to be applied to your work I am asking you to consider this factor and ask yourself this question ‘is the level of detail I am working on appropriate to the work that I am doing?’ Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' www.s