Whether you work at a small tech startup or a large, established manufacturer, there is an implicit understanding that business success can be easily quantified. Whether you are a CEO or a sales representative, the common wisdom is that there are identifiable numbers that can objectively determine if you are a success or a failure. In a world full of endless layers of nuance and opinion, tangible metrics of business performance are irresistibly attractive. However, there are serious limitations to taking such a binary approach to measuring success. This black and white approach to measuring business success is actually counterproductive, particularly if the goal is to achieve transformative performance improvement.
Read More →Women at Work: An Interview with Allison Grealis, President, Women in Manufacturing
Allison Grealis is founder and president of Women in Manufacturing (WiM), a national trade association focused on supporting, promoting and inspiring women in the manufacturing sector. She is also the vice president of membership and association services of the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), a full-service trade association representing the metalforming industry. Since joining PMA in 2001, Grealis has held a variety of positions that included district, committee and division management; affinity partner relations; sponsorship sales; new product and service development; and member services. Grealis earned her Bachelor of Arts in English with a certificate in Women’s Studies from Ohio University and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Akron. Presently, Grealis serves as the president of the Greater Cleveland Society of Association Executives and as a board member of Our Lady of the Elms High School. We are thrilled to have Allison join us at the American Manufacturing Summit. She will be Chair of our People & Workforce Management Stream, as well as hosting a Lunch and Learn on “Succession Planning: Support, Promote, and Inspire Women in Manufacturing”, and participating in a panel on avoiding the skills shortage in the next 10 years. We sat down with Allison in advance of the event to ask her some questions about where manufacturing is going and how to support women in the industry.
Read More →Teams 2.0 – Rebooting Team Engagement and Execution
In many organizations today, team functionality is actually working against overall business success and efficiency. Organizations have become a slave to team models that are inefficient, unproductive, and bureaucratic. This Q&A with Competitive Solutions, Inc. answers the following questions about Rebooting Team Engagement and Execution: What are the main issues you see businesses experiencing in team engagement in execution? Why does team functionality work against overall business success and efficiency? What are non-negotiable systems, and how can organizational leaders use these systems to transform the business? When are continuous improvement tools no longer effective? In your experience, what has the outcome been like when team engagement and execution are rebooted?
Read More →New Year’s Resolutions: Create Successful Teams and a Sound Strategy
Dan Key, SVP, Operations & Supply Chain at Axalta Coating Systems spends a lot of time analyzing successful teams and how they win. He has found that many of them have similar characteristics. They have a system, they hire people that fit that system, and they develop that system over time. They mix A+ players with a lot of B players that know their role in the organization. They’re not afraid to let people go (not even the A+ talent), but rather see it as an opportunity to change and improve. They define a sound strategy that everyone on the team can understand. As we make our New Year’s resolutions to improve our organizations in 2018, consider some of Key’s tips to creating successful teams and a sound strategy.
Read More →Best Business Books: Recommendations from Generis Thought Leaders
From time to time, our thought leaders will mention books that stuck with them for some reason or another and have influenced the way they approach their organization and their own careers. If you are looking for a great gift for a business-minded person, try one of these titles!
Read More →Case Study: How to lead progressive changes through project leadership
“Big new legislative requirements mean big changes at even the most efficiently run companies. But when the company uses project leadership to incorporate those changes into its larger business strategy, the benefits go far beyond compliance.” To learn more about the benefits from project leadership, check out the case study by Integrated Project Management, click here.
Read More →Managing Complex Pharma Projects
As the pharmaceutical landscape is evolving to adjust to external effects, the demand for efficiency within the internal pharma industry is at a high. Praxis Life Sciences, who is reputable for analyzing challenges within an industry workforce and creating solutions based on quantitative and qualitative research has just released a new beneficial case study to the pharma industry. Their consultation within the life sciences field has a track record of proven results, and their most recent study, Managing Complex Pharma Projects, is no exception to this. The challenge that most pharma companies are currently facing is the inefficiency created by having a large project team with “disparate decision makers.” Praxis Life Sciences has analyzed this problem, and created solutions ensuring that ” decisions and progress are made in a timely fashion.” To learn more about the results of their case study, click here.
Read More →Infographic: 8 Types of Meeting Personalities
Meeting Misery: Meeting Makeover Edition This year in Corporate America–that’s your company and mine–we are going waste over $37 Billion attending meetings. It is well documented that meetings are a source of pain and great frustration due to high levels of inefficiency and ineffectiveness. Over the last 25 years, we have identified the eight most common meeting personalities that create this Meeting Misery! Find out more about the 8 types of meeting personalities below. Competitive Solutions, Inc. has a three step Meeting Makeover Solution to be applied to a single team, a specific department, or an entire organization. Find out how to get these 8 personalities out of your meetings, and end your meeting misery today! Shane Yount, Principal & Author at Competitive Solutions, will also be speaking on Business Bootcamp – Driving Greater Execution, Engagement, And Ultimately, Earnings! at our Amerian Manufacturing Summit taking place March 28-29th in Chicago, IL. View the full infographic below!
Read More →Executive Interviews and Visioning: Launching the Business Case for Change
One of the first steps in beginning an ERP project and launching the business case for change is to determine why change is necessary. Through our on-site meetings with this client, we were able to identify a few key areas that would be improved upon by a modern enterprise application system. In the article below, you will be able to identify key areas in a business that would benefit from a modern enterprise application system including: Customer Focus; Business Processes; Organizational Change Management Strategy (OCM); Revenues; Data Cleansing and Storing; and Automation. Ultra Consultants’ goal is to determine how an ERP system would add value to a business after assessing the needs of the business beforehand. For more information, please read the full article below!
Read More →Performance Behavior: the Lean Methodology for Continuously Improving Performance Behavior
The book ‘Performance Behavior’ (by Neil Webers) describes how an organization can link performance to behavior to minimize waste and optimize performance behavior. 8 FORMS OF HUMAN-WASTE are outlined which obstruct continuous improvement: Leadership-waste the result from too much push-management (based on authority) Comfort-waste the result of targets that aren’t enough stretching Communication-waste the result of misunderstandings that usually originate from meetings Discipline-waste the result when people are not being held accountable for not adhering to standards Goal-waste the result of employees having no idea of what is expected of them Engagement-waste the result of asking people to take responsibility for events or results which they cannot influence themselves Solving-waste the waste of capacity to solve problems when people work on solving problems without focusing on the root-cause of a problem Tuning-waste is the waste where people talk about different problems or solutions Find out more below!
Read More →- Page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2