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The Demons of Management

31 October, 2013 by James Lawther 6 Comments

sins of management

Why is operational improvement so difficult?  Maybe it is because we are our own worst enemies.  Here are a handful of our own organisational demons. Dogmatism ~ an unquestioning belief in our own “rightness” Instead of questioning our own beliefs we plough on regardless.  The more senior we are the more dogmatic we become, after […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: management style, systems thinking

Team, Purpose, Method

25 October, 2013 by James Lawther 4 Comments

bobsleigh

There is a line of thought that there are three key factors at work in your organisation: Your team, the people and the relationships you have with them Your purpose, the reason your organisation exists Your method, the processes, systems and know how you use to get things done These 3 things inter link Without a […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: capability, purpose, teamwork

Form Follows Function

16 October, 2013 by James Lawther 2 Comments

This is not new news Fire engines look the way they do so they can put out fires The London Underground looks the way it does so it can transport people Crocodiles look the way they do… (maybe now I am labouring the point) If you know your function then your form will follow. So far […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: form follows function, purpose, service design, video

Are You Too Clever for Your Own Good?

5 October, 2013 by James Lawther 10 Comments

Locked or Not

I travel a lot with work. It is not glamorous.  I’d love tell you that when I said I was in K.L. I meant Kuala Lumpur, but unfortunately it is far more likely to be Kings Lynn (for those of you who are not from the UK, Kings Lynn is sometimes, albeit unkindly, referred to […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: accident prevention, automation, complexity, East Midlands Trains, human nature, less is more, service design, simplicity

The French are More Generous than the British

18 September, 2013 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Tick Box

Here is a fascinating chart for you…  fascinating if you have a thing for charts. What the data shows is the consent rate for organ donation in different European countries. It appears that the French are very generous. If they are unfortunate enough to die an untimely death almost 100% of them have given their […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: default option, error proofing, service design

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