Monday, December 03, 2007

Process Re-engineering leads to alignment?

What do we do when a process doesn’t work in a Company?
We re-engineer it. After all, “process re-engineering” is to problems what aspirin is to headache: let’s shift some responsibilities, move some people around, arrange more meetings. And then, management’s selling line: “We are sure that OUR PEOPLE will understand this and execute accordingly”.
What have we done? We (think we have) have aligned “what we (must) do” (must is key here) with what we want to achieve.

The problem is that we seldom pay attention to the HOW and the WHY.

How people should execute processes is more important than the processes themselves, because it gives you the ability to improve them naturally. The correct HOW is achieved when people understand WHY. In other words, to achieve your long-term objectives, you need to make sure people understand why they do what they do everyday and how their activities contribute to achieving those goals. Because not always people understand WHY they must do what they are doing.

In your company, what percentage of people would you say can connect what they do everyday to the business strategies?

How grateful are we...?

This from the website www.plantingpeace.org

Did You Know...

30,000 people die everyday from starvation
150 million street children world wide
842 million people across the world are hungry
798 million people in the developing world are undernourished

Half the world -- nearly three billion people -- live on less than 2 dollars a day.

The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants.

To satisfy all the world's sanitation and food requirements would cost only $13 billion, hardly as much as the people of the United States and the European Union spend each year on perfume.

Makes you think...
Aaron Jackson is the founder of this organization. He said some very interesting things tonight on the Larry King show. Like the fact that you can deworm 2,000 in Haiti with $100. It´s possible to donate to their cause on their website.

Alignment of long-term strategies and day-to-day operations is not just a ¨corporate¨ concept. Here´s a guy who, at age 26, fully practices it. His organization´s mission (to which he fully commits himself 24/7) is:
Urging humans to make a conscious personal effort in there daily life’s to bring betterment to the planet so every creature grandchildren's grandchildren can simply live.
He´s built orphanages and homes for kids and adults in Ecuador, Haiti and Guatemala; more projects underway.

What´s your vision for yourself and what do you do everyday to accomplish it?

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Ojito, mucho ojo


Así se te queda el cuerpo antes de entrar a la cafetería de mi oficina. No porque el cartelito está al revés (lo que pasa es que no consigo darle la vuelta), sino por lo del OJO.
El cartel cumple uno de los dos objetivos por los que está ahí: captar la atención. El segundo (que la gente haga caso) no se cumple, por culpa del primero.

Por qué? Si has tenido que poner ese cartel en la puerta, cuando hace meses que las instrucciones están visibles en otros sitios es porque quieres advertir claramente que estás pendiente de ello. Te estás dirigiendo a los que no te hacen caso, simplemente estás gritando más alto.
Interpretación del cliente que no ¨roba¨ (que es la inmensa mayoría): les importa más reducir una ¨pérdida¨ de, digamos, 25 centavos por 100 personas que lo hagan al día (que lo van a seguir haciendo, las instrucciones ya estaban), a asegurarse de que, por ejemplo, la cajera te hable (no digo ya sonría) para que tu experiencia en el lugar sea buena y vuelvas mañana.

Si tu estrategia a largo plazo es alta satisfacción de clientes, deberías asegurar que la interacción de estos en el día a día está alineada con ello. Y un mensaje de bienvenida (no una advertencia) ayuda. Mucho.

¨Traducción¨:
* Combo = menú
* Refill = relleno

Ah, yo bebo agua, no Coca-Cola ;-)