Are you ready to innovate

In his article on innovation Jaime Beckett explores some of the key issues surrounding building a culture of innovation. Another aspect of innovation is that if your organisations culture doesn't allow failure then it is unlikely that innovation will occur. After all success and failure are both sides of the coin called innovation.

A story to make you smile!

I just had to share this story about Jeff the cabbie from drewsmarketingminute.com it just made me smile A customer service case study from Jeff the cabbie. Fantastic tale of real customer service.

The cost of forms?

This article from evolving excellence confirms what I have learned over many years of working in the public sector in the UK.

Forms are generally not designed for purpose and are used to keep the experts separate from the customer, this leads to an increase in costs as more often than not the forms are so complex or long that they are not filled in correctly and have either to be rewoked or sent back to the customer.

An even more worrying development is the ever increasing number of forms that can now be filled in online increasing costs even more, I will develop this thought in future posts.

I would love to gather examples where forms have been removed or redesigned saving both time and costs.

I love questions

Click Here for an excellent list of questions that may lead to improved Employee Engagemment, at least it will lead to better conversations!! From David Zinger at the Employee Engagement Network.

Would love to hear what you favioute question is, when working with Teams. Mine is

"So tell me what I can do to make you better"

Trial and Error

If at first you don't succeed then try try again.... That was a story my grandad used to tell me when I was a child so if you liked that story I think you will love this excellent TED video by Tim Hartford it is a must watch.

what practical methods exist to enable the teams to trust their new approach and not revert to old thinking?

I have worked with many teams over the years that process applications for housing benefit in the UK, in the main they have understood the key principles they need to follow in order to add maximum value to their customers, they find new and innovative ways to delight their customers and are in general happy with the new approach to the work.

One of the key issues that keeps cropping up again and again is whilst the is still an inherited backlog of work, i.e. Before capacity levels with demand, some teams find it very difficult to see past the backlog and the failure demand it causes they therefore find it easier to revert back to old habits in terms of trying to manage the work and the staff.

To address this problem I work with the teams and their leaders to focus on delivering value to customers and trusting that the backlog will reduce given time, whilst this has worked on many occasions, sometimes it is less successful. The question this poses is "what practical methods exist to enable the teams to trust their new approach and not revert to old thinking?"

Back in business

Hi all aim to restart blogging from this week. Looking forward to it?

The Great Train Wreck of Twenty-Thirteen | Whitehall Watch

MMM Mother Shipton has risen me thinks

Whitehall watch once again delivers insightful comment

The Great Train Wreck of Twenty-Thirteen | Whitehall Watch: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Mental Models: Standardized Work and Performance Measures — Lean Blog

Mental Models: Standardized Work and Performance Measures — Lean Blog:

I Patrictularly like the following quote

“Metrics and measures are the voice of the process, to be used for improvement, not for blame, ranking, and punishment.”

How many times have colleagues been ranked and compared leading to punishment or even loss of their job. too many. Thanks to Lean Blog for reminding us.

Audit Commission abolished | News | Local Government Chronicle

Audit Commission abolished | News | Local Government Chronicle

According to the Eric Pickles the Audit Commision has lost its way and will be abolished, do you think that this it the right thing to happen?

doubling failure

I dont always like the stuff that comes out of HBR but this one is interesting, it covers the topic of why leaders should double their failure rate, I guess the gist of what is being said I agree with just how do we know that doubling failure will work ?

http://hbr.org/product/the-failure-tolerant-leader/an/R0208D-PDF-ENG?cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_stat-_-stat070110&referral=00204&utm_source=newsletter_daily_stat&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stat070110

Advice Is Changing: Systems Thinking at work in Nottingham

A must watch for anyone wanting to understand how the quality of services can increase without adding costs .

Thanks to Advice Uk for turning the story into something very simple and straight forward to understand. Brilliant!!

CDO - I want to be Cheif Detail Officer

Rory Sutherland makes an excellent case to spend less and gain more!!

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/880

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com

RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

EBS Highly Commended

Well Done EBS for being Highly Commended in the CENE Awards http://www.cene.org.uk for transforming the way you deliver housing repairs.

My New Website

here here is my new website, check it out http://leansystemthinking.weebly.com/

Simple yet so powerful

Such a simple yet powerful message, I just love reading these Evolving Excellence guys

http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2009/10/find-the-real-opportunity.html

Notes from the last group meeting

Notes of Meeting Held on Friday 21st September 2009

1. Presentation on Processing of CRB Checks Lee Walker presented to the group details of the work undertaken and revised process implemented by Middlesbrough Council HR staff in processing of CRB checks. The revised process has significantly reduced the processing time. Contact for further information – Lee Walker, Mouchel,

2, Presentation on Mobile Working Arrangements in Redcar Cath Adams, Rob Watts, Stuart Hume and Billy Kemp outlined work undertaken in a mobile working project which involves the Contact Centre and Area Management supervisers and Operatives. The project utilised mobile technology and has significantly improved the efficiency of Area Management operatives and delivered benefits to customers through a substantial reduction in waiting times. Contact for further information- Cath Adams / Rob Watts

3. Publication of Presentations The group agreed it would be useful to publish the presentations on Linked In but acknowledged there may be sensitivities and therefore Executive Management approval may be required.

4. http://smallcreativeideas.blogspot.com/ The above may be a useful website for members to refer for research etc

5. Next Meeting To be arranged by K Fulton to be held in Stockton. The agenda will include an outline by all on approach and difficulties with NI14 to be followed by a general discussion.

The wrong forms

Interesting that the customer is partially blamed for filling in the wong forms see this link for some details. http://www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/hswallingfordnews/4586200.Council_faces___1_5m_debt__mess_/

May be we should think about making it easier of the customer