Published: March 20, 1921

Copyright © The New York Times

A Rich Heritage…

“OUR TASK NOW IS NOT TO

FIX THE BLAME FOR THE

PAST, BUT TO FIX THE

COURSE FOR THE FUTURE.”

JOHN F. KENNEDY

Today’s Opportunity!

Today’s Goals

• Define Operational Excellence

• Identify basic assumptions about

Operational Excellence.

• Use real-life lessons learned to ensure

successful implementation of

Operational Excellence

Operational Excellence (OpX)

• Outwardly focused on being flexible to

meet stakeholder demand

• Inwardly focused on reducing/

eliminating the waste and cost in all

processes

• Efficient use of time and resourcesGoals

Highest Quality, Lowest Cost, Shortest Time, Maximum Flexibility

Efficiency = Time and

Resources

• The extent to which time is well used

for the intended task.

– The efficiency of the planning department

is deplorable.

• The extent to which a resource, such

as electricity, is used for the intended

purpose.

– The efficiency of this light bulb is 40%.

TIME IS MONEY!

Basic Assumptions

• Operational Excellence requires a

“willing suspension of disbelief”

• Everything can be improved

• The benefit of improving something may

not outweigh the pain/cost

• Operational Excellence does mean

imposing structure

Basic Assumptions

(continued)

• What is in your/your staff’s/a volunteer’s

“head” can’t be reliably duplicated

• Operational Excellence requires data

and intelligence not assumptions

• Trust is essential (approvals can waste

time and resources)

• The 80/20 rule is crucial to Operational

Excellence

Pareto Analysis

• The Law of Focus

– 20% of activities cause 80% of delays in a given process

– 20% of volunteers do 80% of the work

– 20% of events take 80% of staff time

– You wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time

• Pareto Graphs can be done in

Excel

Focus on saving $

in the top 80%

“It’s not what you don’t know that

will hurt you. It’s what you know

that isn’t so that will do you in.”

Saitchel Paige

It’s all about

the Data!

Real Life Example –

West Coast Chamber

• Project at a Chamber of Commerce

• Membership sales team were all using different ways to communicate

• Team was “unqualifying” potential members in their head without calling

• No call tracking/goals existed

• New process = doubled new Membership sales

Organizational Sales

Leadership (OSL)

By comparing notes on prospects in the

community, you may find that there are

businesses that have never been asked to

join. Since building a focused new strategy

and process at this Chamber to increase

membership sales, the CEO says, “we have

discovered businesses right at our back door

that say they would love to join the Chamber,

but have never been asked to.”

Opportunities for Improvement

• Membership –

– Dues structure

– Sales

• Communication

– Printing

– Consolidation

– Production

• Events

– Focus

– Frequency

• Internal

Operations

– Expenses

– Contracts

– Processes

Get a Team Together

• Select a team of 5 – 7 people who know

your operation from different

perspectives

• Meet for 3 to 4 hours to discuss

opportunities for improvement

• Remind everyone of the Basic

Assumptions

• Challenge everyone to let go of the

“status quo”!

The Seven Areas of “Waste”

1. Waste of Overproduction – Preparing unneededreports, reports not read or acted on, multiplecopies in storage

2. Waste of Time (Idle) – Batch processing,i.e., monthly closings, weekly billing, monthlycollection reports

3. Waste in Transportation – Unneeded steps,document/data travel distance

4. Waste of Processing – Excessive sign-offs

5. Waste of Stock on Hand (Inventory) – Transactions waiting to be processed

6. Waste of Movement (Worker) – Unneeded data entry, extra steps

7. Waste of Making Defective Products – Incorrect data entry

Change Management

Remember the

Human Element

Change Management

• Consider all elements before committing

to changes

• Document the changes that are being

made

• Give the changes time to work!

• Celebrate successes

Remember…

…Sometimes you have to

step back to move

forward!!Mick Fleming, ACCE

Thank You!