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100% Utilisation Isn’t a Good Idea

25 April, 2015 by James Lawther 6 Comments

Fully Utilised

Improving Efficiency Your job as a manager is to deliver the best service at the lowest cost. Cost and service are all that ever worries the guys upstairs. Conventional wisdom is that the easiest way to do that is to keep your staff fully occupied. Ensure they are always working as fast as possible without […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: backlog, best practice, employee performance measures, key performance indicators, short term thinking, staff utilisation

The Stop Button

6 April, 2014 by James Lawther 8 Comments

How does your stop button work? If you walk around a manufacturing plant you will see that every machine has a stop button. They are easy to spot.  They are big, round, red, attached to a bright yellow box and bear the legend STOP. Hit the stop button and the machine will come to an […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: andon, best practice, customer focus, process control, rework

How to be a Amazing Manager

20 March, 2014 by James Lawther 7 Comments

remarkable manager

I am going to teach you how to be an amazing manager.  These are the secrets that will make you the world’s best boss and put you on the career path to greatness — would I lie? The amazing manager’s 5 point plan: What you need to do is… Get out of your office Talk […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: best practice, do as I say, management by wandering around, management style, motivation

Six Musts if You Use Voice Response…

17 January, 2014 by James Lawther 10 Comments

It is a bit of a touchy subject Should you use a: Voice Response Unit VRU, Interactive Voice Response IVR, one of those damn electronic things (call it what you will) to answer your customer’s calls? The naysayers will have you believe they damage “moments of truth” and ruin the “customer experience”. The fans will tell you they are hugely […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: best practice, communication, information technology, interactive voice response, service design

Standardisation and Climbing Ladders

3 September, 2013 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Climbing Ladders

How do you climb a ladder? Climbing a ladder is straightforward… Put one foot on a rung Reach up the side rails one hand at a time (health and safety) Push yourself up with your leg Put your other foot on the next rung Repeat Gradually you will climb higher and higher. The really important bit […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: best practice, business process management, standardisation

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