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SMART Goals, VAGUE Dreams

25 March, 2016 by Tobias Mayer 7 Comments

Dreams

SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely. Nothing apparently unreasonable there. And yet this whole approach jars. It feels very controlling, very blinkered, and very task-oriented. It is a method that allows managers to “objectively” assess their direct reports, and grade them accordingly, so finds great popularity with HR departments and the mindset prevalent in […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: assumptions, human nature, management style, objective setting, SMART goals

Strengths and Weaknesses

12 February, 2015 by James Lawther 9 Comments

Harry was not a well man He was in a terrible state of health.  Cancer had eaten away at his digestive tract, it was so bad that surgeons had removed three-quarters of his stomach. He was constantly in and out of hospital, surviving on a diet of caffeine, nicotine and blood transfusions. A friend’s daughter […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: assumptions, continuous improvement, human nature, learning, management style, performance management, reinforcing behaviour, World War 2

What is Sample Bias?

5 January, 2015 by James Lawther 12 Comments

visual analysis

There are some jobs you really wouldn’t want… Perhaps the most dangerous in history was to be a crew member of a World War II bomber (I don’t suppose it matters which side). You shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet, but according to some of the more reliable sources, during World War II: Over […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: assumptions, aviation, data is not information, pareto principle, sample bias, six sigma, video, visual management, World War 2

Self Limiting Beliefs

13 December, 2014 by James Lawther 7 Comments

Steve Prefontaine 4 minute mile

What do you believe? Here is an interesting little sports story for you… At the start of 1954 the world record for running a mile was held by Gunder Hägg.  He ran it in 4 minutes 1.4 seconds in 1945 and his record had stood for 9 years. It was widely believed that it was impossible for a […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: assumptions, Roger Banister, self belief

The Sure Thing

28 September, 2014 by James Lawther 4 Comments

white elephant

Pain and despair Imagine you run a servicing centre. You have a staff of 100 who fill in forms to order things for customers. Maybe they process applications Maybe they fill in patient’s details Maybe they capture the details of car repairs You get the gist of it… Lots of people, lots of information and lots of screw […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: assumptions, capital investment, continuous improvement, devil is in the detail, information technology, listening, office productivity, root cause analysis, systems thinking

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