Processes are more than activities, tasks, steps, and procedures. They involve people. Sure, we've mechanized large portions of many processes, but people are never far from the activities. People drive processes, and yet, so many organizations ignore the human element within processes, trying to…

Executing a single improvement initiative is one thing. Creating a culture of continuous improvement is another. The idea of one improvement project is usually fairly clear and straightforward. There is a beginning and an end, clear steps, resources dedicated for certain hours and durations, and a…

Turnabout is fair play: Consultants spent decades helping companies squeeze out every bit of margin across supply chains and within their internal operations. Now, consultants are the vendors feeling the vice clamps. The last decade was bookended by two downturns, both of which led consultants to…

Staying ahead doesn't mean that your competitors can't improve. This week, I was reading Eric Lowitt's latest blog post for the Harvard Business Review: Why Your Company Should Partner with Rivals. So many organizations are afraid to open up and collaborate with competitors because they don't want…

These are exciting times for knowledge management: social media has reinvigorated many programs; we know the best practices for developing and implementing a KM strategy; mobile devices have revolutionized the way we work; measurement has gotten more sophisticated. What better time for a leap…

I've never seen an organization market itself as low cost/low quality. That seems like a losing strategy. But can all the organizations that market themselves as low cost/high quality back up that claim? How does an organization know that it's actually achieving higher quality and saving money…

Should the leader of your business transformation be an industry expert, an employee who knows the company inside out, or someone who is an expert in business transformation (but might not know the company's industry)? Here are the key skills you need to drive business…

As demand for consulting improves, consulting leaders are becoming increasingly worried they won’t have as many consultants as they’ll need to meet future demand. And they have every reason to be concerned. Partners are sharing with me that they’re already finding it harder to recruit consultants…

Is your organization performing as well as you think it could? Are you using your fullest potential at work? Why or why not? If you, like many working folks, feel that your potential is untapped or that you could be contributing much more, maybe the problem isn't just you. Maybe occasional…

First of all, I want all of my process management folks to check out this video by the Process Excellence (PEX) Network: Welcome to the Process Excellence Revolution. Don't you feel inspired? That video sums up what process management is all about. Real process management means that we focus on…