Tips, lessons learned, and observations on triaging.

Culture is a Current, Not a Wave

/0 Comments/in , /by

Process Triaging is a decision cycle leaders follow to generate purposeful improvement solutions and then select and implement the best of them.

The cycle works when its driven from deep within our leadership philosophy — our culture.  A culture of continuous improvement that is not driven by surface events — by waves.

OceanCurrent

The improvements we find and undertake will shield our enterprises from storms and rough waters.  Triaging is a tactic we apply as rudder adjustments at the helm — minor course corrections.  But the practice of triaging — constantly cycling into the best ideas, keeps us centered in the most productive current.  Something that carries us along in the right direction regardless of the wind and waves.

What reminded me of this was last week’s Process Triage Immersion Workshop Sponsor.  In his opening welcome remarks he announced:

“The executive staff will be taking the improvements you triage today very seriously. After the host’s implementation plan is approved, the selected improvements will be part of our performance review and bonus schedule.”

Think about that.

The triage’s executive sponsor places so much trust and faith in the triaging process, that the CEO and principal staff will hold themselves accountable for improvement proposals nominated and prioritized bottoms-up, by those who live and breath the daily work — before they know what they are!

Here’s a video clip of this triage team ranking their improvement solutions. Notice how the culture created by their executives engages and empowers them.

This company will stay in the right currents.

Their culture is correct and runs deep.

Catapult your EOS Issues Solving Track with Process Triage

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

One of Process Triage’s core values with our customers and clients is to Make Touches that Make a Difference.  We listen and look for a moment in each triaging engagement to add something of delightful value, above our expected scope of work.

Sometimes a client touches us back. Like the touch of CEO Tory Schwope  of Schwope Brothers Farms and KAT Nurseries.

Tory’s an EOS Operator, meaning he’s adopted the Entrepreneur Operating System (EOS), introduced by Gino Wickman’s book, Traction.  Tory, a visionary, sponsored a triage and tasked his integrator, Jeff King to host it.  I blogged about their bi-lingual triage team here.  (Visionaries and Integrators, the two C-Suite must-have roles are explained in Gino’s and Mark Winter’s book, Rocket Fuel)

To the point, Jeff was responsible for the 90+Day Post-Triage Implementation Plan.  This plan is the signature-ready deliverable the triage host presents the sponsor to request resources for any Big Now project-size efforts and Small Now task-size actions the organization cannot complete.  Jeff’s plan was, frankly, one of the best I’ve ever seen.

20151110_151719(0)

Process Triage Host Jeff King with his triaged process map (Courtesy Schwope Bros. Farms). 

On a parallel narrative, I’m a Vistage International speaker.  Vistage members benefit from guest speakers on about any topic related to running and growing an enterprise.  It’s a privilege and honor to be on the circuit, noting speakers are not allowed to solicit — it’s a pay it forward opportunity with a very modest honorarium.  It’s my practice to chat with the Vistage group’s chairperson to understand where the group is and how I may best tailor my talk on triaging.  I’m looking for an opportunity to make a touch that matters.  One such chair was Will Hindrickson, in the New London, Connecticut area. Will mentioned his entire chief executive group were EOS operators.  So I read up on EOS, read Traction, and suspected there were synergies between Process Triaging and EOS immediately.

Seeking more info on EOS, I asked two Vistage Chair friends in Kansas City, Tony Lewis and Jeff Hutsell what they knew about EOS.  Turns out Tony’s an EOS Operator himself, and said about half a dozen or so of his members were on EOS, namely Tory Schwope.

So I reached out to Tory, and he touched me back.

He knocked me over.

Just — WOW!

He explained How Process Triage Catapults the EOS Issues Solving Track (video clip here).  In EOS pitch-perfect terms, here’s how process triaging supports EOS-minded leaders.

If you’re interested in EOS, Tory’s a case study success. Consider using an EOS Implementer (Tony Lewis asserts using an implementer/coach is the best practice, and their 90 minute overview is without obligation).  I’m a believer because of the quality of Tory and Jeff’s post-Triage follow through.

If you’ve adopted EOS  or are an EOS implementor (coach), and want to add a Moment that Matters touch in the EOS issues solving track, consider hosting our Process Triage Immersion Workshop. I’m best reached by text or email initially. (I’m focused to only answer cell phone calls from those in my contacts list).

Hat Tip, Tory.

 UPDATE / P.S.  1/30/2016

The Process Triage immersion workshop is usually only one-day long and focused on an enterprise’s core driveshaft process.  It generates a prioritized list of solutions to process points-of-pain. These pain points are recurring events or behaviors, as observed by the hand-picked process expert team who live in the trenches of the process– NOT the C-Suite’ers (who sponsor the triage).  It’s the bottoms-up, bought-in list, not a top-down list you have to sell or direct.  These solutions are, in EOS terms, pre-validated, pre-qualified issues with proposed solutions already nominated — in a “Bring me solutions, not problems” approach.  Process triaging therefore drives the Issue Tracking dimension and value of EOS deeper into the organization, towards front line leaders.  The EOS issue tracking method is, itself, a process that welcomes high quality inputs — high quality issues.  That’s why Tory suggested a triage schedule a few weeks ahead of the quarterly pulse.

Not mentioned in Tory’s kind remarks was the process documentation produced by the triage team (as illustrated in Jeff King’s photo above). You can leverage the triage map into your process documentation.

Rosey

Disclaimer:  The EOS Operating System is a copyright of EOS Worldwide.  ProcessTriage LLC has no commercial relationships with EOS Worldwide.
 
 

An Igniteful Question

/0 Comments/in , /by

My rabbi of almost 30 years, a genuine talmid chacham began a lesson saying, ‘Answers are easy, it is the questions that are hard.’  This speaks to the idea that questions are more elemental and full of potential, and in practice, ignite the imagination and inspire us to challenge our limitations.

For example, I like to reward myself after what I think has been a successful day of triaging an enterprise’s expert team. The work is intellectually intoxicating and fulfilling. The quip, ‘I can’t believe someone pays me to do this!’, attributed to the legendary novelist  John MacDonald, fits my feelings.  My at-a-boy is a nice steak at a recommended steak house. (I do not expense anything above my published per diem rate, to be sure).

So the first question is easy enough; “Where is a great steak house?”  The answer typically offers a choice of two or three.  But once seated and menued, the next question is prescient.  It is ignitful — meaning it may ignite and explosion of superb customer service that sets a seriously succulent steak on your table.  Like this bone-in Porterhouse filet at the Silver Fox in Richardson, Texas this week.  (That is NOT Photoshopped!)

 

Silver Fox Porterhouse Filet

 

I asked my server, “What is the steak your chef would most like to serve tonight?”

She blinked, clearly not knowing. So I commanded her (yes, commanded) to go find out.

A few moments later she returned with a spring in her step and answered, ‘Sir, it’s off the menu. It’s a bone-in Porterhouse filet. How would you like it prepared?”

“Medium, thank you, with a side of grilled (brussel) sprouts.”  (It comes with snap peas and mashed potatoes.)

She marched off to the kitchen, having bagged the elephant, so very, very pleased with herself.

She returned much faster than I expected, and placed the beautifully plated work-of-art before me. The fork leaned over to it in anticipation!

And Wow! — was it delicious. Howl-at-the-moon delicious.

So,  I was a few savory fork-fulls from finishing it off, cleansing my palate between bites with a nice Pinot Noir to re-live the blossom of that first bite, when the chef walked up to my table and — grinning ear to ear, asked, “How do you like your steak?  It’s hard to get this cut in the quality we require, so I thought I’d check.”

“It is wonderful!, I replied, mouth half-full.”  Then we small talked for a moment as he was clearly pleased with the effort.

Afterwards, when the server returned with a concluding cup of coffee, she was beside herself that the chef had visited her table.  And he was so pleased.

So I asked her one more question.

“What IF you asked your chef what he or she wanted to create and serve most during your shift, that would want them to go check with a guest — and then suggest it if it seemed fitting?  What would your relationship with this chef grow into? What would your guests think of your service?”

She offered a very cute fist bump, fittingly returned.

So.

What are your questions that ignite the best from others?

 

A Time for Creating Moments That Matter

/0 Comments/in /by

A casual examination of successful C-Suite leaders confirms they are highly motivated, exceptionally driven individuals — they have big motors. They are also touchers; they reach out to others.  They strike up conversations. They observe.   They pay attention. They recognize wants and needs and things of value. The most entrepreneurial of them commercialize the solutions to these needs and wants.

Yet, a big motor is not enough.  The leaders that captivate us are inspiring. They’re paying attention on a whole different, higher level.

They create moments that matter. SistineTouch

 

They are accessible to sparks of insight, to creative epiphany — to remarkable inspiration.

They fill an infinitely small moment with infinitely great goodness or profoundly great sadness.

They fill the moment.

As I reflect on this Christmastide Season, one assertion of Christianity is an infinitely great and good God filled a small moment in history, considering the short life of The Nazarene, with an infinite potential for good if one would model one’s life accordingly.

To love our neighbors as ourselves.

To not just avoid the murder another human being, but to avoid even anger.

To not just avoid the illicit sexual relation, but avoid the immodest imagination of it.

To not just avoid stealing, but add to others — the essence of commercial and charitable enterprise.

To find and make and fill moments that matter.

Let’s try that, shall we?

 

 

 

Money Isn’t Everything, It Just Pays for Almost Everything

/0 Comments/in , /by

The ProcessTriage® Decision Cycle (here)  for establishing and sustaining a culture of continuous business process improvement  begins with the Executive Voice (explained here) setting the organization’s overall Strategic Objectives.  A web search yields some typical examples, here, here, and here — all with a several categories or dimensions.  

When we coach this step in the decision cycle, we insist the executive include a specific financial target.  More precisely, an ability to sustain some level of financial performance, such as Return on Capital, EBITDA, or Operating Cash, for example. 

But what investing or giving back to our community? What about creating a place where great people can do great work?  Want about an enriching employee experience like free back-rubs or a free cafeteria? What about on-site day care? A green-sensitive work place? Clearly, they’re all wonderful. Just understand these amenities require cash flow to pay for almost all of them.

 

What money cannot buy is decency. Like good manners. Kindness. Self-control. The stuff of integrity and character.  The priceless stuff.

NPV

Money isn’t everything, it just pays for almost everything.

 

. 

What are your ‘Get My Thing Rights?’ (Lessons from our construction trades triages)

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Practically every incremental improvement to the Process Triaging experience has come from client observations.

A+InsullationTraigeTeam

A week or so ago we triaged a construction trades company, adding to the our portfolio of case studies.  We’ve triaged a roofing, flat work, electrical (residential dispatch and commercial), post-construction water treatments, and insulation (retrofit and new commercial) companies, as well as a variety of construction contractors who subcontract to them.

While each of these construction trade-based companies provides different services, they follow a similar business model.  Their driveshaft process follows the same pattern:

  1. Win the first impression and reinforce it at every customer touch.
  2. Estimate the job and win the bid with enough margin.
  3. Plan and prepare the crew-day for a have-what-you-need truck roll – skills, tools and supplies.
  4. Complete the work safely, professionally, and  on schedule, with the quality promised, constantly training the less experienced due to high semi-skilled labor turn-over.
  5.  Complete the job accounting paperwork in a timely manner.
  6. Do all the above at a repeatable  top-of-the-Angie’s List® level satisfaction.

What’s remarkable about these six common behaviors in this kind of driveshaft is that every one of these six behavioral indicators can be delegated to someone to get right.  Depending on the size (# of crews) of the company, different team members can keep an eye on each one:

  1. The front desk phone staff and on-site crew chiefs can master the first impression.
  2. The job estimators can master the bidding.
  3. The dispatch manager or crew chief can master the day’s job sheets and crew staging.
  4. The on-site supervisor can master the day’s project work.
  5. The crew chief and the accountants can master the job paperwork.
  6. The customer service and follow-up staff, likely the front desk, can keep an eye on customer satisfaction.

In other words, every driveshaft process has a punch list of  Get My Thing Right’s

So we’re adding this punch list to our 90+Day Process Capability Improvement Plan template.  At least one ‘Get My Thing Right’ for each segment on our triage maps.

What are the ‘Get My Thing Rights’ on your driveshaft?

Now back to listening.

 

 

What Triagers Like Most About Our Basic Triaging Workshop

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The facts will set you free, to borrow a sacred phrase.

When I have time, I compile the results of the most recent Process Triage workshops, our flagship service.  We always ask participants — the triagers, specifically (not the sponsors or hosts) what they thought of the workshop.

One of the five questions is,’What did you like most?”

September 2015 Sample from the most recent 100+ Basic Workshop participants.

September 2015 Sample from the most recent 100+ Basic Workshop participants.

 

Read the entire report here.

Launching a Cross-Organizational Project with a Triage

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Our ProcessTriage workshop (on a napkin here) is positioned to sync up a highly siloed team and generate a list of a dozen or two high value process capability improvements in one intense day.  Typically , the sponsor is wanting to fix what’s broken by empowering those who do the work to lead the improvements.

The triage workshop is also an effective kick-off event for finalizing a complex project’s work breakdown structure, where experts from different departments — even companies, must sync up.  The scope of work of requires multiple cycles of a similar project (such as touching multiple locations with the same changes).

We were pleased to lead such a pre-launch triage, hosted by Cisco Systems (CSCO), which included knowledge experts from their customer, T-Mobile (TMUS) and Cisco’s subcontractor, General Datatech (GDT).  T-Mobile subcontracted Cisco to make certain changes in a number of network locations.

30-4 Team Picture (2)

 

 

 

 

The triaging protocol is essentially the same as a break-fix triage.

The triage  team maps a typical project cycle’s (the work of one iteration) work breakdown structure (WBS), as a Project is merely one cycle of a Process — so process mapping is essentially the same as outlining a project WBS.

The  Process Capability Goal for a pre-launch triage focuses on delivering a sustainable level of quality after a few learning curve cycles, and then running additional project iterations on time and on budget.

The Points of Pain are what the team estimates will prevent a successful project launch initially, and inefficiencies to fight off after the learning curve.

The Small Now’s action item-size improvements and Big Now’s project-size improvements are, taken together, the specific deliverables in the project’s risk mitigation strategy.  These Small’s and Big’s are front loaded immediately, especially the action items or projects that must be completed before the first project cycle or iteration.

Hat tip to James Farrell (executive sponsor) and  Tom Tinsley (host) of Cisco Systems.

Self cleaning, too

/0 Comments/in /by

I’m a huge fan of Seth Godin, and enthusiastically recommend his daily blog (here).  Today’s post, titled Self cleanining talks about building things, like a self-cleaning oven, and maintain itself.

Relationships, processes, interactions–these can be self cleaning too, if we build them that way. Seth Godin

Applying the ProcessTriage Decision Cycle to a high-value business process makes it self-cleaning. It keeps the process focused on the enterprise’s most strategic objectives, while fixing the myriad of dysfunctions that appear in the daily, normal course of operations.

1a Process Triage on a Napkin

Making business process self-cleaning takes teamwork.  Three roles or voices have to sing their parts and do certain things in the right order.

Self-cleaning business processes create self-correcting business models.

Don’t ‘Ready – Fire – Aim’ your Six Sigma Black Belts!

/0 Comments/in /by

I have an abiding respect and admiration for 6-Sigma Black Belts. They are the perfect weapon for bagging process improvements, not unlike one of my favorite rifles, the Accuracy International AX series.

AI-AX_rifle

6-Sigma Black Belts, like the rifle pictured above, can be a no-substitute need in one situation and over-kill (no pun intended) in another.  They’re not cheap to acquire, use or maintain, so you want to aim them at what merits their capabilities.

That’s where Process Triaging comes in. Process Triaging generates high value targets for Black Belts, be it a 6-Sigma focus (to reduce process variation) or LEAN focus (for removing waste and speeding things up without sacrificing quality).   The typical triage session generates 20 process improvements, flushed out and prioritized by your own process experts.  Of those 20 or so, there will be some fat, Black Belt-worthy opportunities, now mostly business cased because that’s what triaging provides.

If you have Black Belts working for you, triage the processes in the landscape you want them improving.

If you’re thinking about hiring Black Belts, Process Triage first, to focus your job interviews and resume fit checks.

If you have a Black Belt that’s not getting support from the front line experts, for whatever reason — Process Triage to get everyone on the same page.

Bottom line — Aim your Black Belts through Process Triaging (on a napkin here) and a 2-pager on  Triaging First (here).