There is lots of talk about systems thinking. The talk sounds a little like this: Organisations are a system of connected parts It is the connections in the system that dictate performance If we improve the system we can improve performance It is a fascinating conversation — no really it is. But there is a […]
Saying Yes When the Computer Says No
It’s a poor joke… The computer says “No”. It wouldn’t be funny if it wasn’t true. But the computer does say “No” with alarming regularity. Well not the computer, but the bloke who programmed the computer. The same bloke who created all the policies, rules and red tape. The demoralising computer The computer is demoralising, […]
How to Count
Apologies Before I start, I apologise for this post: For those of you of a six sigma nature I apologise, you might find this a bit Janet and John. For those of you of a non six sigma nature, I apologise for your six sigma brethren. They really ought to have told you this, it is quite important. In God we […]
What is the One Thing Your Staff Won’t Tell You?
Imagine that you saw a newspaper advert. It said that the psychology department at your local university was running a “memory study” and that it wanted paid volunteers for an hour-long experiment You were having a slack morning so you decided to give it a go At the laboratory you met two men; one, the […]
Average Handle Time
If you have ever done any operations analysis in a contact centre you will know all about average handle time, the average time it takes your agents to “handle” a customer call. It is a key performance indicator (measure is a shorter way of putting that) designed to instil the fear of god into any […]