When options are put forward to a business by eager people working within them many of the ideas don't see an implementation. In my experience many of these ideas are thrown out because the organisation is not ready for them. Not that the organisation realises this - it's just another one of those things that 'we can't do at the moment'. Some ideas are put to management teams that need an environment one or two steps higher than the organisation's currrent status. If you are faced with ideas that cannot be implemented in the near future take a moment or two to work out what gaps need to be bridged in order to see a situation that can accomodate these ideas. In many cases it is only by working backwards that we can see the way forward. As we identify the steps that we would need to take to reach an objective we gain clarity of a route that can develop and improve the organisation. Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' www.smarts

Whilst feeding some ducks with the end of a loaf of bread the seagulls descended. They frantically flapped their wings as they tried to catch the bread I was throwing for the ducks. After about half a minute I noticed that they were in a formation that moved together as the bread was thrown, with amazing coordination. This made me think about some of the organisations that I had observed over the years. Departments that don't get on with other departments. Departments that don't understand the other departments. Departments that don't consider the other departments. Organisations that have departments like these struggle and if they tried to get in the same formation as the seagulls would have bumped their wings within seconds and crashed into the water! What are the relationships like between departments in your business - do they help deliver projects, products and services in an effective and efficient manner? Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When R

Many people have looked at the kaizen approach with disdain if they have experienced badly run improvement schemes at their place of work, but they are missing a trick if they do not consider the benefits of taking small steps. When a large project or programme of improvement is broken down into the tiniest steps you find that the consumption of these steps becomes easier and easier. A certain level of discomfort is removed and then progress can start to be made. This discomfort is often generated when large objectives are placed on the organisation - "how on Earth are we going to improve that much?" is a common thought - and then procrastination sets in. If you find that your organisation is starting to struggle to make progress with improvement projects and it feels like you are going round in circles then consider breaking the start of the project down into really small chunks. Let the people in the organisation complete the tiny chunks of work and then give them m

Sitting in a recent meeting it took me quite some time to realise that there was no agenda available. The meeting was fairly charged and so the lack of agenda went unnoticed until the half time break. Although the meeting had got many items out into the open for discussion we were no closer to discussing the important item that we had gathered to resolve. The Chair announced an agenda for the second half of the meeting (after some prompting) and a resolution was achieved in a far easier and efficient manner. How many meetings do you go to that don't have an agenda? How much better would they be if there was one? Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' http://www.smartspeed.co.uk/

When we tackle the wastes present in a business we often take a view that we need to eradicate them all. All at once! Whilst this is an admirable approach a number of clients have found that by taking one waste at a time they have achieved far greater results. Taking one waste category at a time (such as waiting) we found that people were far better able to locate and recognise the wastes, focussed activity rather than a shotgun approach to this activity. Next time you are waste walking through your business consider breaking the activity up into various aspects, or assign various members of your team to spot the individual wastes. Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' http://www.smartspeed.co.uk/

When the end of a project is coming up it is useful to reflect on the planned end point. Many projects get to a specified completion point and the learning that has taken place over the course of the project has not been re-invested and the plan has not been revised. By changing the end point by even the smallest amount you can end up with a far more effective project. Whether this is converting all of the learning into new policies and procedures or communicating with other project teams about what you discovered reviewing the end point can have significant benefits. Look at the current planned end point and ask yourself "is this still the right end point, or do I want something different now?" Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' http://www.smartspeed.co.uk/

Sitting in meetings watching the people sitting around the table becoming increasingly bored leads me to wonder.... 'If we had a timekeeper and agreed time slots would the meeting run in a tighter fashion?' There are some great ideas available for improving meeting performance - such as Edward de Bono's 'Six Thinking Hats' but it is rarely used in organisations. Someone once asked me if I spent any of my time dealing with business fundamentals - and my answer was yes, a lot of time. Surely running effective meetings in an efficient manner is a business fundamental, something that should invigorate the team whilst creating solutions and making decisions that would otherwise not be made - not something that wastes peoples time. Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' www.smartspeed.co.uk