Headline: “Business Metrics Gone Awry: The Dark Side of Relying Solely on KPIs” Subheading: “Corporate Missteps Highlight the Pitfalls of Blindly Chasing Key Performance Indicators” We read about it all the time; in a shocking turn of events, the business world is abuzz with meteoric fall of some company and its CEO, its CFO, or...

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Several years ago I was at an Operational Excellence Conference here in Frankfurt.  As with most talks, the speaker started by introducing the company he worked for and what it did.  He then proceeded to list the companies values, of which there were five or so. The last value on the list was “Safety” to...

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Hello and welcome to another edition of State of Readiness. I am your host, Joseph Paris.My guest today is Jesse DePriest, President of Jesse DePriest Consulting, LLC; Privately held consultancy specializing in Lean including; strategy development and deployment, leadership development, process design and analysis, process improvement, problem solving, teamwork. I have known Jesse for several...

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Summary.   Some customer service experiences are simple and can be automated. But others, particularly those that involve challenging and complex customer needs, often require creative solutions by frontline employees. In these situations, should employees be empowered to break rules and protocols in order to come to a satisfactory conclusion? Research suggests that certain situations can benefit...

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Summary.   An outdated way of thinking about peak performance is: “maximum effort = maximum results.” But research shows that it doesn’t actually work that way in reality. Here’s what actually works: The 85% rule, which counterintuitively suggests that to reach maximum output, you need to refrain from giving maximum effort. Operating at 100% effort all of...

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Unlocking the key components of high performance: discover the Performance Triangle. In the pursuit of organizational success, understanding the key components that shape performance is crucial. Today, we’ll take a closer look at each component and their significance in driving performance. From the fundamental aspects of the work environment to the factors that motivate employees...

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Summary: As a business leader, you hold the key to unlocking the full potential of your workforce. However, achieving high levels of employee engagement is no easy feat. If you are like most American businesses today, two out of your three employees or teammates are not engaged. And that, according to Gallup, is the highest engagement...

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I have been in business, running a consultancy (XONITEK) since 1985.  Besides it making me uniquely unemployable, I have had the opportunity to observe and interact with the many incarnations and varieties of Human Resource (HR) Departments at countless clients over the course of years. Marking our calendars, today is April 10th, 2023.  And to...

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The COVID years of 2020 and 2021 notwithstanding, the subject of “culture change” has been a topic at many (if not all) conferences on Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement that I have attended over the past several years.  But the conversation always seems to gravitate towards the “how”whenever the subject comes up, with little attention...

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This article is provided courtesy of theleanmag, a content partner of the Operational Excellence Society. How do you create a continuous improvement learning culture? You build a Chain of Learning with the 7 Cs of leading and learning! Many business leaders are focused on what we need to break down to achieve success and innovation —...

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It was the spring of 1995 and my firm (XONITEK) was one of the top implementers of Macola Software’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.  We were the very top when it came to implementing in a manufacturing environment.  As such, I was invited to Macola’s summit to share my views on the future direction of...

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Most of us read about the recent leadership changes at Toyota. Many industry experts criticized Toyota’s lack of innovation and the gap with Tesla as the main reason for the succession. Despite Toyota’s status as an industry benchmark, we have to ask: Did “lean” impede innovation? My answer is “NO”. I had the opportunity to...

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Summary.   Visionary leadership is widely seen as key to strategic change. That’s because visionary leadership does not just set the strategic direction — it tells a story about why the change is worth pursuing and inspires people to embrace the change. But research finds that the positive impact of visionary leadership breaks down when middle managers...

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Vince Lombardi was a famous American professional football coach, whose team won five National Football League (NFL) Championships in seven years in addition to winning the first two Super Bowls. One of my favorite Lombardi quotes is: “Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing...

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Come give a listen and enjoy a hot toddy as you do… This episode of The Outliers Inn finds the hosts, JP and Mule, a bit dazed and confused from the very start; as in, who’s going to start?! JP starts by sharing that the year went by in a flash because of engagements and...

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I was the Chairman at a three-day conference on Operational Excellence and Business Transformation recently and was really impressed by the number of people in attendance and the caliber of the speakers. Some of the speakers discussed technology, and their vision of the future.  But most of the speakers focused on softer skills; leadership, innovation,...

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Give a listen… Hello and welcome to another edition of State of Readiness with your host, Joseph Paris. Today I am happy to have Mark McGrath, Founder of Chaos and Oceans Ltd, a consultancy specializing in helping individuals and teams thrive in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) environments. He does this by sharing his cross-functional...

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Give a listen… Hello and welcome to another edition of State of Readiness with your host, Joseph Paris. Today I am happy to have Billy Ray Taylor, CEO of LinkedXL and author of “The Winning Link“ on my podcast. Billy previously worked at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for 30 years; starting off on the...

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Too many employers pay too little heed to the needs of the lower earners in their company. Here’s why—and how—they should shift gears. The late Brazilian car-racing champion Ayrton Senna once said, “You cannot overtake 15 cars in sunny weather, but you can when it’s raining.” Well, there’s been no shortage of downpours in recent years....

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Like many of you, I’ve had a lifelong quest for learning and for trying to improve my own personal performance and drive excellence in my companies. Excellence is defined as “the quality of being outstanding or extremely good.” Synonyms for excellent and excellence are distinction, first rate, superb, blue chip, choice, first class, five-star, top...

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Fixing broken processes is the better choice for increased productivity and a more engaged workforce. “A bad system will beat a good person every time.” Dr. W. Edwards Deming One of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming is, “A bad system will beat a good person every time.” This is one of the many lessons...

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Research shows that different eras call for different approaches. Summary: Two decades ago, extensive research led Nohria, the former dean of Harvard Business School, to conclude that the hallmark of great leadership is the ability to adapt to the times. Today, he says, we’re in a period of significant change, thanks to global events, governmental...

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Like many consultants, I travel quite a bit and spend a fair bit of time at airports as a result.  And since I live in Germany and my clients are (mostly) in Europe and in the States, my most popular route (once a month on average) is flying United Airlines between Frankfurt (FRA) and Newark...

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Summary. Three out of every five companies rate their organization as weak on strategy execution. When you dig into the potential barriers to implementation, there is a general lack of understanding of the various factors at play, resulting in the inevitable managerial justifications — “poor leadership,” “inadequate talent,” “lack of process excellence,” etc. This article...

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Summary.   While no one can perfectly predict how a new job will turn out, staying alert to potential red flags during the interview process can help weed out sub-optimal employment options. Being observant in your interviews as well as attuned to how the process is managed, asking good follow-up questions, and doing your due diligence can...

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… but all too often leaders don’t let them! It’s been a while since I published my first article “Even with Lean, Complexity Kills” in which I lay claim to lean being  more about real organisational teamwork than a set of tools or systems. Of course teamwork alone will not deliver lean or operational excellence....

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The business response to COVID has seen that many employees are able to work (and manage) from the comforts of their home (or wherever) while those whose physical presence is required have no such option. In this episode, JP, Mule, and our guests talk about the benefits and risks of working remotely; more specifically, the...

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Everyone likes to be part of a winning team. This is true for sports, business and throughout life’s activities. I always enjoyed the old ABC Sports quote during their program introduction which emphasized “the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat.” In my new book, “The Power of Goal ZERO“, I detail the five...

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Research using employee data reveals the top five predictors of attrition and four actions managers can take in the short term to reduce attrition. More than 40% of all employees were thinking about leaving their jobs at the beginning of 2021, and as the year went on, workers quit in unprecedented numbers.1 Between April and...

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For me Digital Transformation (DX) is the integration of digital technologies and data to create new or modify existing customer experiences, business processes and culture to meet changing society, markets demands and business requirements. An important aspect of driving this DX is to continually reimagine your own business in the digital age. But how do...

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