Human Sigma.. managing the moments where employees interact with customers..

“Quality” is easy to measure and manage in some contexts, and extremely difficult in others. Businesspeople have a pretty good idea how to judge the manufacturing process that yields a snazzy new handheld device, for example. But what about the retail employee’s attempts to sell the gadget? Or the call center employee’s efforts to help the customer navigate its eccentricities? Businesses aren’t especially good at measuring and managing the quality of those processes—or indeed of most work done by non-manufacturing businesses and units.

Yet it’s essential that organizations learn to measure and manage quality in all kinds of business settings. In manufacturing, value is created on the factory floor. In sales and service organizations, and in many professional service firms, value is created when an employee interacts with a customer. Indeed, the employee-customer encounter is the factory floor of sales and services. If these organizations are going to achieve meaningful operational and financial improvements, the employee-customer encounter must be managed with great care. 

Quality improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma are extremely useful in manufacturing contexts, where ingredients with predictable properties are repeatedly combined in the same ways, but they’re less useful when it comes to the employee-customer encounter, with its volatile human dimensions. To address this problem of fit, we’ve developed a quality improvement approach that we call Human Sigma. Like Six Sigma, Human Sigma focuses on reducing variability and improving performance. But while Six Sigma applies to processes, systems, and output quality, our approach looks at the quality of the employee-customer encounter, weaving together a consistent method for assessing it and a disciplined process for managing and improving it. 

As we developed our thinking about Human Sigma, we arrived at several core principles for measuring and managing interactions between customers and employees:

• It’s important not to think like an economist or an engineer when you’re assessing the employee-customer interaction. Emotions, it turns out, inform both sides’ judgments and behavior even more powerfully than rationality does.

• The employee-customer encounter must be measured and managed locally, because there are enormous variations in quality at the work-group and individual levels.

• It’s possible to arrive at a single measure of effectiveness for the employee-customer encounter; this measure has a high correlation with financial performance.

• To improve the quality of the employee-customer interaction, organizations must conduct both short-term, transactional interventions (such as coaching) and long-term, transformational ones (such as changing the processes for hiring and promotion). In addition, the company’s organizational structure often must be adjusted so that the employee-customer encounter can be managed holistically. 

Source: hbr.org

Image Source: barnesandnoble.com

Are you a Leader or a Boss?

While a leader can be a boss, not every boss is a leader. Although leaders and bosses have nearly identical definitions, in effect, they are different in today’s competitive world.

Just the term “leader” evokes more positivity than that of “boss.” However, when people dream of getting to higher positions in life, business or politics, they dream more about being bosses than leaders.

A possible explanation for this is that being a leader requires much more responsibility in a job than being a boss, seeing as being the boss doesn’t necessarily require going above and beyond to impress a superior.

While a boss is mostly concerned with outcomes, a leader feels responsible for the process of that outcome and the people who see it out. Check out some major points that distinguish a leader from a boss:

1. Leaders lead rather than rule.

Throughout history, the best chiefs headed their troops in fights or campaigns or whatever. The troops were not afraid because their leader was right there with them. Leaders are there to lead the team forward and to move together.

2. Leaders listen and speak rather than command.

Bosses tend to give orders; they need their employees to listen and to obey. However, leaders always listen to the opinions of their colleagues and regard them as important.

Leaders are always ready for advising, discussion and any feedback an employee has to offer. This reciprocity makes any individual employee feel stronger and gives him or her confidence to follow the leader.

3. Leaders motivate rather than terrify.

While working on projects, people have their ups and downs. Through this roller coaster, bosses are more likely to intimidate into action while leaders will motivate to action.

One of the best things about leaders is that they offer empathy and prepare a group for the tasks at hand. This is very important, seeing as whenever colleagues are not prepared for certain duties, leaders are there to support, teach and back them up. Leaders know that each employee is on the team for a reason and they have faith in every concerted effort.

4. Leaders teach and learn rather than expect and ignore.

A true leader is the person who has self-esteem, but who is not arrogant nor embarrassed to learn from those with lower titles. They know that it is never late to learn more.

This explains the tendency of leaders to always pay attention to their colleagues, knowing there is always more to  learn from them. Moreover, leaders are not only takers, but givers, as well. A good leader is not greedy for sharing knowledge and experience with someone else; instead, the leader teaches and nurtures new professionals.

5. Leaders take part rather than stay aside.

While bosses choose to stay aside in the job, leaders take initiative. They watch over the progress of work, make adjustments where necessary and aid team members. They choose to be a part of the team rather than bossing the team around.

6. Leaders reprimand rather than scold or shout.

When necessary, a leader offers constructive criticism. However, a leader never scolds or shouts at any individual, especially in public. They do understand that they are dealing with people and no one has right to humiliate others. Rather, the leader talks to the person individually and without any spike in temper.

7. Leaders establish equal relationships.

Anyone who has ever worked on a team knows what it feels like when the manager chooses his favorites and non-favorites. It always causes stress and tension among team members which compromises productivity.

A good leader tries to treat everyone equally and to not allow personal preferences affect the team dynamic.

During your life, you will face two kinds of managers: leaders and bosses. It does not matter how high the position of these individuals; bossy people are more likely to fail while those who lead will succeed.

Maybe the things I mentioned above do not make any sense for you now, but eventually, you will experience the difference and garner a greater understanding of which manager you prefer for your own professional life.

Source: http://elitedaily.com

Live your life before life becomes lifeless..

A boat is docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village. 

A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and asked how long it took to catch them.  

"Not very long." they answered in unison. 

Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?

The fishermen explained that their small catches were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.  

But what do you do with the rest of your time ?

We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children and take siestas with our wives.
In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends have a few drinks, play the guitar and sing a few songs.   

We have a full life..

The tourist interrupted, I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!

You should start by fishing longer every day.

You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.

And after that..?

With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant.  

You can then leave this little Village and move to  Mexico City , Los Angeles or even  New York City !  

From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.

How long would that take ?

Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years...replied the tourist.

And after that...?

Afterwards ?

Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting," answered the tourist, laughing.

When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!

Millions..?  Really..?

And after that...asked the fishermen.

After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends.

With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what we are doing now.  So what's the point wasting twenty-five years..? asked the Mexicans....

The moral of this story is: 

Know where you're going in life, you may already be there!

Many times in life, money is not everything.

“Live your life before life becomes lifeless”

Source: Unknown
Pic credits: 4vector.com

Coffee on the wall

I sat with my friend in a well-known coffee shop in a neighboring town of Venice, the city of lights and water. As we enjoyed our coffee, a man entered and sat on an empty table beside us.

He called the waiter and placed his order saying, Two cups of coffee, one of 
them there on the wall. We heard this order with rather interest and observed that he was served with one cup of coffee but he paid for two. As soon as he left, the waiter pasted a piece of paper on the wall saying A Cup of Coffee.

While we were still there, two other men entered and ordered three cups of coffee, two on the table and one on the wall. They had two cups of coffee but paid for three and left. This time also, the waiter did the same; he pasted a piece of paper on the wall saying, A Cup of Coffee.

It seemed that this gesture was a norm at this place. However, it was something unique and perplexing for us. Since we had nothing to do with the matter, we finished our coffee, paid the bill and left. 

After a few days, we again had a chance to go to this coffee shop. While we were enjoying our coffee, a man entered. The way this man was dressed did not match the standard nor the atmosphere of this coffee shop.

Poverty was evident from the looks on his face. As he seated himself, he looked at the wall and said, one cup of coffee from the wall. The waiter served coffee to this man with the customary respect and dignity. 

The man had his coffee and left without paying. We were amazed to watch all this when the waiter took off a piece of paper from the wall and threw it in the dust bin.
Now it was no surprise for us the matter was very clear. The great respect for the needy shown by the inhabitants of this town welled up our eyes with tears.

Coffee is not a need of our society neither a necessity of life for us. The point to note is that when we take pleasure in any blessing, maybe we also need to think about those people who appreciate that specific blessing as much as we do but they cannot afford to have it. 

Note the character of this waiter, who is playing a consistent and generous role to get the communication going between the affording and the needy with a smile on his face.

Ponder upon this man in need. He enters the coffee shop without having to lower his self-esteem he has no need to ask for a free cup of coffee without asking or knowing about the one who is giving this cup of coffee to him he only looked at the wall, placed an order for himself, enjoyed his coffee and left.

When we analyze this story, along with the other characters, we need to remember the role played by the wall that reflects the generosity and care of the dwellers of this town. 

Source: kindspring.org

EFQM Excellence Model

This is the model behind the European Business Excellence Award, an award process run by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). This framework is used as the basis for national business excellence and quality awards across Europe.
The model consists of nine categories

1. Leadership
2. Policy and Strategy
3. People
4. Partnerships and Resources
5. Processes
6. Customer Results
7. People Results
8. Society Results
9. Key Performance Results

The fundamental concepts that underpin the EFQM Excellence Model are:

• Results Orientation
• Customer Focus
• Leadership and Constancy of Purpose
• Management by Processes and Facts
• People Development and Involvement
• Continuous Learning, Innovation and Improvement
• Partnership Development
• Corporate Social Responsibility

TATA Business Excellence Model

TBEM is a ‘customized-to-Tata’ adaptation of the globally renowned Malcolm Baldrige model. The TBEM philosophy has been molded to deliver a combination of strategic direction and concerted effort to maximize business performance. The model focuses on seven core  aspects of operations: leadership,  strategic planning, customer and  market focus, measurement, analysis  and knowledge management, human  resource focus, process  management and business results. Performance is measured in absolute points; companies have to achieve a minimum of 500 points (out of 1,000) within four years of signing the BEBP agreement. Achievements are awarded by recognition across the Group. TQMS helps Tata companies use the model to gain insights on their business strengths and opportunities for improvement. This is managed through an annual process of assessment and assurance. The model, through its regular and calibrated updates, is used by Tata companies to stay in step with the ever-changing business environment. 

Performance excellence framework

  

TBEM Criteria Purpose

Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM) is the basis for conducting organisational assessments and for giving feedback to applicants. In addition, the Criteria have three important roles in strengthening competitiveness:

1. to help improve organizational performance practices, capabilities, and results
2. to facilitate communication and sharing of best practices information among organizations of all types 
3. to serve as a working tool for understanding and managing performance and for guiding organizational planning and opportunities for learning 

TBEM based Performance Excellence Goals 

TBEM Criteria is designed to help organizations use an integrated approach to organizational performance management that results in 
delivery of ever-improving value to customers and stakeholders, contributing to organizational sustainability
improvement of overall organizational effectiveness and capabilities 
organisational and personal learning

The TBEM Model

Category 1: Leadership

 
Leadership addresses how your senior leaders guide and sustain your organisation, setting organisational vision, values, and performance expectations. Attention is given to how your senior leaders communicate with your workforce, develop future leaders, measure organisational performance, and create an environment that encourages ethical behaviour and high performance. The Category also includes your organisation’s governance system and how it ensures ethical behaviour and practices good citizenship.

Category 2: Strategic Planning 

Strategic Planning addresses strategic and action planning, deployment of plans, how adequate resources are ensured to accomplish the plans, how plans are changed if circumstances require a change, and how accomplishments are measured and sustained. The Category stresses that long-term organizational sustainability and your competitive environment are key strategic issues that need to be integral parts of your organization's overall planning.  While many organizations are increasingly adept at strategic planning, plan execution is still a significant challenge. This is especially true given market demands to be agile and to be prepared for unexpected change, such as disruptive technologies that can upset an otherwise fast-paced but more predictable marketplace. This Category highlights the need to place a focus not only on developing your plans but also on your capability to execute them. 

Category 3: Customer & Market Focus

 
Customer and Market Focus addresses how your organization seeks to understand the voice of the customer and of the marketplace, with a focus on meeting customers’ requirements, needs, and expectations; delighting customers; and building loyalty. The Category stresses relationships as an important part of an overall listening, learning, and performance excellence strategy. Your customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction results provide vital information for understanding your customers and the marketplace. In many cases, such results and trends provide the most meaningful information, not only on your customers’ views but also on their marketplace behaviors (e.g., repeat business and positive referrals) and how these views and behaviours may contribute to the sustainability of your organisation in the marketplace. 

Category 4: Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management

 
The Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management Category is the main point within the Criteria for all key information about effectively measuring, analysing, and improving performance and managing organizational knowledge to drive improvement and organizational competitiveness. In the simplest terms, Category 4 is the “brain centre” for the alignment of your organization’s operations with its strategic objectives. Central to such use of data and information are their quality and availability. Furthermore, since information, analysis, and knowledge management might themselves be primary sources of competitive advantage and productivity growth, this Category also includes such strategic considerations.

Category 5: Workforce Focus

 
Workforce Focus addresses key workforce practices-those directed toward creating and maintaining a high-performance workplace and toward engaging your workforce to enable it and your organization to adapt to change and to succeed. The Category covers workforce engagement, development, and management in an integrated way (i.e., aligned with your organization’s strategic objectives and action plans). Your workforce focus includes your capability and capacity needs and your workforce support climate. To reinforce the basic alignment of workforce management with overall strategy, Criteria also covers human resource planning as part of overall planning in the Strategic Planning Category

Category 6: Process Management

 
Process Management is the focal point within the Criteria for your key work systems and work processes. Built into the Category are the central requirements for identification and management of your core competencies to achieve efficient and effective work process management: effective design; a prevention orientation; linkage to customers, suppliers, partners, and collaborators and a focus on value creation for all key stakeholders; operational performance; cycle time; emergency readiness; and evaluation, continuous improvement, and organisational learning. Agility, cost reduction, and cycle time reduction are increasingly important in all aspects of process management and organisational design. In the simplest terms, “agility” refers to your ability to adapt quickly, flexibly, and effectively to changing requirements. Depending on the nature of your organisation's strategy and markets, agility might mean rapid change from one product to another, rapid response to changing demands, or the ability to produce a wide range of customised services. Agility also increasingly involves decisions to outsource, agreements with key suppliers, and novel partnering arrangements. Flexibility might demand special strategies, such as implementing modular designs, sharing components, sharing manufacturing lines, or providing specialised training. Cost and cycle time reduction often involve Lean process management strategies. It is crucial to utilise key measures for tracking all aspects of your overall process management.

Category 7: Business Results

 
The Results Category provides a results focus that encompasses your objective evaluation and your customers' evaluation of your organisation’s products and services, your overall financial and market performance, your workforce results, your leadership system and social responsibility results, and results of all key processes and process improvement activities. Through this focus, the Criteria's purposes - superior value of offerings as viewed by your customers and the marketplace; superior organisational performance as reflected in your operational, workforce, legal, ethical, and financial indicators; and organisational and personal learning - are maintained. Category 7 thus provides “real-time” information (measures of progress) for evaluation and improvement of processes, products, and services, in alignment with your overall organisational strategy. Item 4.1 calls for analysis and review of results data and information to determine your overall organisational performance and to set priorities for improvement.

 

Balridge Criteria for Performance Excellence

This is the model behind the US Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, an award process administered by the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and managed by the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST), an agency of the US department of Commerce. This framework is used as the basis for over 70 other national Business Excellence/Quality awards around the world.

The model consists of seven categories:

1. Leadership
2. Strategic Planning
3. Customer & Market Focus
4. Measurement, Analysis & Knowledge Management
5. Workforce Focus
6. Process Management
7. Business Results

 

The core concepts of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence are:

• Visionary leadership
• Customer-driven excellence
• Organizational and personal learning
• Valuing employees and partners
• Agility
• Focus on the future
• Managing for innovation
• Management by fact
• Social responsibility
• Focus on results and creating value
• Systems perspective 

Business Excellence

What is Business Excellence?
 
Business Excellence is primarily referred “excellence” in Strategies, Business practices and Stakeholder- related performance results that have been validated by assessments using proven business excellence models. 
 
Business excellence models guide organizations towards sustainable world-class business results, and are based on business principles that have been proven to work.
These business principles or core concepts are similar for most business excellence models.
 
The first business excellence models were developed in the mid-1980s and came about as a result of the quality movement in the West, which in turn was a response to the advancements in quality and competitiveness in Japan. 
 
The models themselves began as quality award or Total Quality Management (TQM) models, as TQM had emerged in the mid-1980s as the new philosophy and panacea for businesses. 
 
Over time, the term “Business Excellence” started to replace the terms “Quality” and “TQM”, partly as a result of the considerable confusion as to the meaning of TQM, since all types of business improvement programs were being called TQM. 
 
Today, many countries view business excellence models as a key mechanism for improving the performance of organizations, as well as national competitiveness. 
 
Business Excellence Models
 
Several business excellence models are in use today. These models are designed to guide and help organizations to improve their performance and benchmark world-class levels. In addition, national bodies use business excellence models as a basis for award programs, which serve to identify and recognize role model organizations. 
 
The vast majority of organizations use business excellence self-assessments to identify opportunities for improvement as well as their areas of strength to put in place actions for moving forward. 
 
When used as a basis for an organization’s improvement culture, the business excellence model criteria’s broadly channel and encourage the use of best practices into areas where their effect will be most beneficial to performance. It is recommended that organizations undertake regular self-assessments and occasional award-style assessments. 
 
Almost 70% of the countries currently have national business excellence awards in one or the other forms. 
 
Primarily all award programs have the following five objectives:
 
1. Focused Leadership
2. Continuous Improvement (Customer Driven)
3. Innovation and Benchmarking Practices
4. Employee Satisfaction and Development
5. Results and their value
6. Social Responsibility
 
The best-known business excellence models are the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence and the EFQM Excellence Model. 
 
Apart from the above two, The Deming Prize was created in 1951 and played an instrumental role in Japan’s quality movement and economic success. It is viewed by many as the precursor to the current business excellence models and awards, and still operates today. 
 
Moreover, there are many National and Organization Level Business Excellence Models which i would attempt to cover in upcoming posts along with the major challenges and their way forward in implementing Business Excellence practices.. 
 
Till then, Stay tuned.. leave your valuable comments and help me learn..
Happy Reading.. :-)