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Emotional Sub-Optimisation

1 April, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

I received a flyer from an organic food company.  One of their selling points is that they keep packaging to a minimum.  Sounds sensible.  Less waste in the environment. When you look into it though it isn’t quite that easy.  According to the Advisory Committee on Packaging:–  1.5 grams of plastic extends the shelf life […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: clarity, communication, measurement, political will, silo management, waste

Strategic Domain of the Black Belt

20 March, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

What?

I was approached the other day by a recruiter for a job.  He wanted a “Lean Sigma Master Black Belt” to “lead a Strategic Transformation” in the “Service Domain”. Very interesting I thought, I had a couple of questions: What is a “Lean Sigma Master Black Belt”? What is a “Strategic Transformation”? What is a […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: bureaucracy, communication, jargon, lean six sigma, six sigma

Dogmatic Ignorance

19 March, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

I had an interesting conversation today with an auditor.  I asked him why auditors don’t see the blindingly obvious, why they don’t dig into problems, why they are so easily hoodwinked, (go on, admit it, you have pulled the wool over an auditors eyes), why they are, frankly, so stupid.  I didn’t put it quite […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: accountability, auditors, communication, dogmatism, ignorance

Crystal Clear Cole

11 March, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Cheryl Cole is a master of communication.  She is alleged to have ended her marriage to football player Ashley Cole by text. The text message read “Move out.  It’s over.” I recently found an article about e-mail etiquette. Its top 4 tips were: 1.  Be concise and to the point. 2.  Answer all questions and […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: clarity, communication, e-mail, reinforcing behaviour, video

The Enemy

3 March, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

I am all for e-mail, it is usually short sharp and to the point.  No wasted energy. But sometimes the e-mail bounces back two or three times.Sometimes more and more people get copied in.Sometimes you start to dread opening the response.Sometimes you spend hours crafting a reply. Sometimes it is wise to just pick up […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: communication, e-mail

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