^The APQC Blog

As noted earlier this year, a key theme for process and performance management professionals is the need to re-evaluate our old and adopt new capabilities to stay relevant in today’s business environment. Previously we had discussed the growing need to elevate customer focus and key methodologies (e.g., customer journey maps and design thinking) teams can use to achieve customer centricity.

We discuss in my last blog how to understand the organization and know what is and is not accepted. With that information in mind, you can focus on the individual. Helping them understand themselves is key to enabling them be the best they can be by individualizing their development.

Step 2: Know Them

At APQC, we’ve long argued that your knowledge management strategy should dictate decisions about technology, not the other way around. Companies that chase every new KM “solution” without a clear business case rarely get the results they’re looking for. But analysis of APQC’s benchmarking data shows that technology investment is an integral component of knowledge management success.

I recently spoke with Brian Mauriello from Stiles Associates about the benefits of bringing Lean process tools from the shop floor into the front- and back-office as well as the innovation arena. In the first part of our conversation, we discussed his three recommendations for Lean. Here is part two of our two-part conversation.

Organizations Need to Take Action

I recently spoke with Brian Mauriello from Stiles Associates about the benefits of bringing Lean process tools from the shop floor into the front- and back-office as well as the innovation arena. Here is part one of our two-part conversation.

Why do you think this is an important topic to discuss?

Lean is capable of producing impressive returns from cost savings and organic growth for organizations.

Would you rather owe someone money or have someone owe you money? Maybe it’s just me, but I think both of these options are fairly uncomfortable. But, in the business world, owing and being owed money comes with the territory. And in no case is this truer than in that of the ultimate ower (and, much more often, owee) of money: the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Making sure that you have the right leaders in place is no easy or small feat. The essence of leadership is knowing the direction you desire to travel and having the ability to influence the head, hands, and heart of others to follow you there. Of these three, the heart is clearly the most important because it’s here that emotion, passion, and discretionary effort abide. It is the heart that promotes greatness.

Tight Labor Market Signals It’s Time to Step Up Retention Efforts

Much attention is being paid to the possibility that automation will spur joblessness. This makes it easy to lose sight of the fact that there are too few workers to fill job openings today.

Customer journey maps aren’t just for sales and marketing anymore. These visual depictions of the end-to-end customer experience allow you to understand your customers’ behaviors, feelings, goals, and pain points. These days, that’s information everyone in the organization needs to know to stay competitive. Creative folks from different functions are using customer journey maps and applying their insights to innovate and improve. Two of the most exciting—and surprising—opportunities are in process and compliance.

While no organization likes to admit that a certain percentage of their customer receivables may at some time become overdue, and some even become uncollectible, the reality is that it happens to most organizations. In fact, according to APQC’s Open Standards Benchmarking (OSB) Database on Accounts Receivable and Collections, the percentage of active customers that are delinquent at any time during the year ranges from 12 percent (top performers) to 20 percent (bottom performers).