In this period of economic difficulties, agility and speed are important. Quick actions and decisions are essential. Swift, intense, immediate communication is needed. One needs to be on the ball quickly.One has to stand ground and avoid to be ran over. Time is the essence, as one of our colleagues says. He is right. And time is money as well...

Enjoy the weekend,

Chris

Our management system is ISO 9001 certified. So, I'm glad to read several funding principles of ISO 9001 in Mieke's comment.

First, Customer Focus, of course. Satisfying customers is a concrete goal that can drive everyone at Trasys (more than increasing profit, I believe).

Then, Process Approach and Organisation as a System of Interconnected Processes. All activities are subprocesses of the Big Process, which aims at satisfying customers. The objectives of each subprocess are parts of the objectives of the Big Process. "If something does not add value to your customer, it should not be done".

Finally, Continuous Improvement, of course. The more efficient we are, the more customers we will satisfy!

And did you notice that efficiency is connected with our guiding principle "operating as a united team"? Examples: as I'm an actor of the Big Process, ouputs of my tasks will be inputs for the tasks of some colleagues; do I take care of contents, formats, delays, etc., so that these colleagues can proceed efficiently? In the reverse direction, did I give "efficiency feedbacks" to my colleagues who provided me with some inputs? And if I've found some improvement for a task, did I inform colleagues doing the same kind of tasks? Etc. etc. This highlights that efficient communication channels are of top importance to improve the global efficiency of the Big Process (see my comments about "The Buzz").

Daniel,

Your are not alone, my friend !!

let's act with agility & speed , trusting that we are able to move all together in the right direction with efficiency.


Pierre

Daniel,

You have at least one fan: I love your comments! (By the way, I do love the desert :)
You’re absolutely right: efficiency should be our main concern. How can we improve efficiency? By knowing, analysing and improving our core business processes, with focus on added value to the customer. In a BPM presentation in 2005, I already pointed out: efficiency in the implementation of our activities is a key to competitive advantage. It is still valid.

From a ‘LEAN’ seminar a time ago, I still remember one sentence:
‘If something does not add value to your customer, it should not be done’. Probably not 100% right, but good enough to keep in mind when starting a meeting, a discussion, an administrative task.

Keep it lean,
Mieke

Indeed, I have in mind several major failures that could have been avoided by taking appropriate decisions much faster.

Anyway, to my ears, "speed" sounds like "hurry" and hurrying is not a part of my vision of what quality of life should be. I need to take time and taste the flavour of every moment of the day. One of my favourite African (?) proverbs says: "You have watches, we have time".

As I want every moment of the day to be worth living, I hate losing time (sending again and again the same requests, waiting for people arriving late at meetings, fighting against badly organised administrations, etc.).

In other words, I hate speed, but I love efficiency. So let's establish a real efficiency culture in our activities! For me, this is the top priority. Especially the efficiency of analysing risks and problems and making decisions.

What do you think? Is there anybody reading this blog, or am I writing on the sand of desert?

Daniel