^The APQC Blog

We are proud to annouce that Cindy Hubert, Executive Director of APQC, is speaking next week at the AFCEA LandWarNet Conference in Florida. The subject is “How to Know What You are Really Getting with All This Knowledge Management (KM) Stuff”.

The word is out: perfectionism stifles improvement. In our personal lives, most of us know that perfectionism can lead to procrastination, a mass of unfinished (because they are "imperfect") projects, wasted time, frustration, inaction, and low self-esteem. Despite this knowledge and many people's ability to accept imperfection in their everyday lives, perfection often permeates the work environment, many times without anyone realizing it.

Enterprise risk management leaders recognize the significant value of risk management, but selling the importance within the organization can be a challenge. APQC’s Embedding Enterprise Risk Management in the Organization features effective methods used by best-practice organizations to influence culture, change the mental models, and educate the organization on the benefits of risk management.

Here at APQC, we’re working to finalize our knowledge management research agenda for winter/spring 2011−2012. Based on the conversations we’ve had so far, a lot of our members and clients seem to be struggling with four things:

1. Creating a knowledge-sharing culture that delivers results

2. Strategic design decisions for KM

3. Measuring the impact of KM

4. Leveraging Microsoft SharePoint 2010 for knowledge sharing and collaboration

It has taken half a century but wide-spread support for "wellness" is finally here. A majority of medium and large-size employers have implemented some form of health and productivity management (HPM) or employee wellness initiative. Common initiatives, aimed at improving employee health and productivity, include health-risk assessments, smoking cessation programs, and chronic condition management.

APQC’s Open Standards Benchmarking research has some interesting information on organizations with category management programs in procurement. For instance, did you know that at the median level, these organizations process nearly 100 percent more purchase orders per full-time equivalent employee than organizations that do not have category management programs?

Our data also show that these organizations have shorter lead times with suppliers and faster purchase order processing.

Economics has long been called “the dismal science.” The reason is that economists tend to make predictions that prove wrong. So, here we are in August 2011, and the consensus view is that developed countries such as the U.S. will experience slow and uneven GDP growth over the next 12 months. I’d bet good money the economists are right this time. And that’s beyond dismal—it’s downright depressing.
 

Having trouble deconstructing your business in terms of processes? Try this exercise on for size.

2011 is more than halfway through. Find HR trend, benchmarking, and best practices content that can help you reach your human capital management (HCM) goals in my latest Webinar, Now in the Knowledge Base: Human Capital Management.

In this recording, I introduce our newest content on HCM topics such as:

We here at APQC read with interest the recently posted Business Process Manifesto from BP Trends Associates.

The manifesto is aimed at cleanly defining what business processes are and their context within an organization. As the lead for the effort Roger Burlton has again facilitated a thought provoking discussion, and the resulting document sets the stage for big things in the near future.