^The APQC Blog

Intel Finance needed to standardize and optimize their corporate finance processes.  Joe Pokorski, Intel's Manager of Business Process Improvement, explains role of Lean Six Sigma to drive the standardization and optimization of the processes and the development and transition to using BPM to truly manage processes.

APQC recently sat down with Paul J Corney to discuss how using the Pause & Reflect method following an event can help teams better articulate their lessons learned and improve engagement among team members.

APQC recently spoke with Mary Jo Asmus, owner and operator of Aspire Collaborative Services LLC, about how leaders can promote civility in the work place. Aspire Collaborative Services LLC is an executive coaching firm established to work with leaders and teams who are smart and want increased focus on the things that will make them extraordinary.

With the more strategic role of the supply chain comes a greater need for supply chain employees who can meet the needs of a complex, global economy. Add to this the fact that many senior supply chain professionals are going to retire soon and you have widespread shortage of desired skills in the supply chain workforce.

How is the leadership at your organization?

APQC recently chatted with Ewen Le Borgne, senior editor of the Knowledge Management for Development Journal, about why communication is a key part of transferring and applying critical knowledge.

While many of us make personal resolutions for the new year, the companies we work for also make resolutions in the form of business initiatives and strategies. For example, your CEO could give greater priority to business objectives that were not previously ranked highly before. According to a SHRM study, in the past, HR has given key priority to managing talent, improving leadership development, strategic work force planning, and enhancing employee engagement.

Only 8 percent of respondents are performing the number one solution for overcoming leadership skills gap: developing leadership capabilities in ALL employees

In this day and age, a company has to know—and not guess at—the ways in which non-financial factors impact financial results. And business leaders need finance teams, with their vast and natural analytical skills, to help them compete on facts and develop highly educated views on cause-and-effect scenarios.

For example: “If we bundle products and services in various ways and model various pricing options, what can we reasonably expect in terms of (a) customer retention, (b) increased revenue, and (c) impact on margin targets?”