Business Tools I use on your
Transformation / Business Improvement journey
I have a plethora of proven Lean Tools at my disposal for use during my coaching sessions and workshops with owners, managers and personnel.
Transformation Map
A 20-page Business or Strategic Plan may be a must when going to the bank for a loan, but it will not inspire your employees to support your Change efforts. That's where the Transformation Map comes in!
The Transformation Map, or "T-Map", is a well-established method for providing a 1-page visual depiction of your far-future BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) , 2-3 year Corporate Goals, 1-year Departmental Goals, Key Strategies and some short-term urgent / important actions (we call these your 3-month “Rocks”).
A T-Map is a great way to communicate your Vision to your organization, which is a prerisuit for successful Change (see Kotter)!
SMART & SMARTER Goals
SMART Goals
Most of us know SMART Goals.
However, the world changes all the time, our interests change, competition is fierce, technology is moving with lightning speed.
"SMART" is therefor not good enough anymore. We need to Evaluate our Goals, and Revise them if needed:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Timebound
- Evaluate
- Revise
Note of caution: SMARTER is not equal to SOS!
Evaluating and Revising our Plan on a regular basis (e.g. during your 1-year reviews) is different from changing direction all the time.
This is referred to as Shiny Object Syndrom, or SOS.
SOS is when Owners or Managers are jumping on each and every request for a new product or feature, frequentlly change target markets, sales channels and so on.
Stay away from SOS!
SOS kills resources & time. Above all, it demoralizes your staff.
SOS also causes confusion with your clients, vendors and other partners & alliances.
Business Process Mapping / Value Stream Mapping
During a Process Mapping workshop, we map out your process one task at a time. We identify handovers from one party to the next, media used (paper, software), lines of communication. Generally this generates conflicting opinions by and heated discussions between participants on how things work: these are great moments, as these lead to Process Improvements, both small and large.
An accurate Process Map is a great help when writing job descriptions(!), as it clarifies through its use of swimlanes, who is Accountable or Responsible for what tasks.
Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a variation of the Process Map. It goes much further into process details like wait and process times, change-over time, inventory levels. The objective is to track and analyze these production parameters so that improvements can be initiated.
Organizational Structure (Org Chart)
The Org Chart is a vastly underused tool. Many companies don’t have an org chart, or it’s out-of-date.
The fact is that the Org Chart visually clarifies how Accountability for different areas in the business or organization is delegated (refer to the E-Myth).
Used in conjunction with the Process Map, it makes it 100% clear who takes care of what parts of your work processes.
A current Org Chart is the starting point for developing Org Charts that will support your Future Vision and will thus drive the development of your Management and Supervisory teams
Business Model Canvas
The Business Model Canvas by Strategyzer is a great 1-pager, describing 9 key assumptions for your business. The BMC is mostly used for start-ups, or by existing companies when adding a new product line that has fundamental differences with the existing business.
KPI Dashboard
Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) provide critical information for tracking the performance of the business.
Merging your KPI’s in a single Dashboard provides you access to the most important parameters in a blink of the eye.
Using charts, instead of just numbers, also makes any trends visible. For example, your margin seems ok, but the trend over the last few months is downward: something is happening and calls for investigation and corrective action.
In short: a KPI Dashboard is a powerful tool for effective Business Management.
With my clients I brainstorm the KPI’s that are important to them (Financial, Operational and other), I then create a Dashboard for the client to further fill with data and use in their monthly management meeting.
Project Management Workshop
Project Management is much more than a Gantt Chart!
Based on my many years as a PMP in Project Management, I developed a appr 2-hour workshop that has proven very useful for those seeking a better understanding of the basics of Professional Project Management.
Agenda:
- how is Project Management different from General Management
- what is a Project
- Project Management within a Matrix organization
- the 5 Stages and 10 Knowledge Areas of a project as defined by PMI
- The Project Charter: documenting the scope of your project (template provided)
- general tips and experiences from the author's years of practice in multiple industries.
- Throughout the years, I have dealt with many “Project Managers”: what made some of them effective PMs and great to work with, and others not so?
- Q&A throughout the workshop
This workshop is for you:
- If you are a Business Owner or Manager and you want to better understand (what to expect from) your Project Manager.
- If you are a Project Manager / Coordinator but never had formal training
- If you want to know the basics of PMP / PMI, but are not ready (yet) to commit to the formal training, then this is a great introduction.
Structured Problem Brainstorm & Root Cause Analysis
You don’t need an expensive Management Consulting firm to tell you what is wrong with your business: your personnel know it all (or at least most of it, or even more than you yourself).
My open brainstorms with Management Teams and staff from the shop floor are always highly engaged events during which I have the participants bring up anything they believe can be done better. It shows that the majority of staff is dedicated to the success of the business, but that processes and management practices are not always supportive.
When we identify a complex problem, for example: “why is our inventory so vastly inaccurate?”. We then perform a Root Cause Analysis, using an ishikawa (Fishbone) diagram:
- Brainstorm possible causes (sometimes using “5-WHY” to drill down further)
- Identify possible solutions
- Determine Actions and add these to your CI Action Plan
- Focus on Quick-Wins if possible
Introduction to LEAN
Lean / Continuous Improvement (CI) is a powerful tool and mindset to gradually improve your operational processes, day-by-day. CI and Lean originate from manufacturing, but the same principles are applicable to any type of organization: service providers, non-profit, health care, government.
My “Introduction to Lean” presentation covers some of Lean’s history, the 8-Wastes, various Lean tools, 5S (I got a fun game for this) and the Gemba Walk.
Non-Conformance Reporting (NCR)
“The only person that does not make any mistakes, is the one who does not do anything”.
If you are dealing with customer complaints, service delays, production issues etc, but you don't know where to start your process improvement, an incredibly effective method is the implementation of a Non-Conformance Reporting (NCR) process.
NCR's are used to document operational errors, identify the root-cause(s) and then develop and implement changes (e.g. processes, forms, organizational) that will prevent those same issues from happening again.
I always refer to NCR’s as a “Reactive way to CI”: we let things happen, then take action to improve.
This is the opposite from Process mapping etc, which is “Pro-active”: we try to identify weaknesses and fix them before they happen again.
Check my article in the Blog section!
T-SWOT
Most of you will know the SWOT Analysis: Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats.
Strength, Weaknesses are internal parameters that you have control over Opportunities & Threats are external parameters that you can or need to respond to.
When I do a SWOT Analysis with my clients, I add a “T” for Trends. Think of Trends like climate change, population growth, technology (AI like Chat GPT), demographics (aging population, ethnic shifts), electrification. Understanding trends in society helps you identify the Opportunities & Threats that these trends create.
Theory of Constraints (TOC)
Elsewhere on my site I write that The E-Myth by Michael Gerber is my number-1 Business Bible.
Number 2 is The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, 1984.
The Goal is a great introduction into the bottlenecks in your Operations and what to do about it. It is a lead-in to the Lean concept of "Flow".
The Process Mapping workshops, described above, often reveal where work is held up. Understanding the Theory of Constraints then helps in offloading non-critical tasks from your critical resources.
Real example: having supporting personnel pick parts for the critical-path assembly technicians.
Testimonial
“Jaap facilitated a project management workshop with our project management team. It was very informative and helped pave the road to us recalibrating how our project management and operations are organized. This has led to greater capacity to take on more and larger projects.”
Jordan Mann
Don Mann Excavating Ltd.