Finding Elegance in a Handful of Nails

By Michael Tatham Jr., President, The Tatham Group

I started working in the company at what I thought was the lowest level – producing training materials and processing customer orders. What I learned in this role were the key components to the success of any company: there is no role more important than one that services the customer, the more simple a process is the more elegant and everyone plays a critical part if the company is integrated.

More importantly, I learned the critical success factor for our company over the past forty years: our human nature leads us toward complexity. It is the desire to please, challenge or prove worthiness; the creation of rules, roles and processes to make ourselves feel special; the fear of losing control that creates a convoluted path to the customer receiving what they need; inability to accept and admit failure in order to learn from it; and many more. Since birth our environment has reinforced these behaviors making it difficult for us to change to an environment of success that requires less resources to maintain.

Prototype Is The Missing Piece

By John Munce, Deployment Executive, The Tatham Group

The bank manager looked at me across the table and said, “We don’t know what we don’t know.”  Bob is an experienced guy who has run several mergers in the past.  However, this one was B-I-G.  He’s talking to me because he knows I’ve been through it all before.  He is looking to buy my experience, scars, stumbles, and mistakes from having been through an enormous painful merger.  But he didn’t ask outright for help.  He just said he didn’t know what he didn’t know.  That set me to thinking.

How do you learn what you need to know when you don’t even know you’re ignorant?

Boot Camp – A Confidence Builder?

By Rosario Ocampo, Coach, The Tatham Group Phils

When I first started working with one of our client’s redesign teams I was a bit nervous to face them, let alone coach the team. 

 However, I was confident in the thought that I was equipped with the things I learned at Boot Camp. I was also given some Tatham team deployment materials to read, background information on what step the team was on and some coaching on what to expect. This provided me with all the knowledge I needed to help me think ahead and plan for the next steps with the team.

Failure IS An Option

By Laurie Clarke, Chief Operating Officer, The Tatham Group

“Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” - Cliff Bleszenski’s

 “What a good workout!  You worked every muscle in your body to failure.”  These are the words of my personal trainer.  It’s 6:30am, I’m exhausted and aching everywhere.  “Why is this a good thing?”  She then goes on to explain that it is only when our muscles fail that a signal is sent to build them so that they can be stronger for next time.  Interesting.  I need to fail so that I can grow.

Taking Process to Alaska

By John Munce, Deployment Executive, The Tatham Group

How do you keep a bunch of boys from turning into bear snacks in Alaska?

That’s the question I asked myself before my Scout troop went to Alaska for ten days last year.

Imagine having 20 boys from age 11 to 15, cooking our own food and camping in areas frequented by bears, moose, and wolves.

The importance of baseline measures

You’ve got to know where you are if you want to know where you’re going

“Well, I’m not going to sugar coat it for you. If you don’t change your habits now, you’re looking at a very long road ahead.”

That’s what the ultra fit and sculpted trainer who had been poking and prodding at my health history for the last hour said when I attended my very first fitness assessment.

“Ouch,” I thought. “But I work out all the time,” I pleaded.

“Yes. And that’s why I know you’ll reach your goals. See, the good news is that there is a huge amount of room for improvement,” he added cheerfully.

Double ouch.

What’s your ripple effect?

They say if a butterfly flutters its wings in Brazil, it creates a breeze, then a wind, eventually fuelling a storm on the other side of the world. Commonly known as “The Butterfly Effect”, it suggests that everything is connected to everything; where even the smallest change can have enormous consequences.

“Anyone who runs a business should see where our garbage goes,” says Remi Cormier, president of R.Environs, a sustainable landscape design company. “It will change the way you manage waste forever.” On a cold, rainy afternoon, we’re driving through mounds of debris. The smell is so putrid I clamp my nose to suppress my gag reflexes from actually doing their job.

Six months ago, the young entrepreneur challenged me to visit the city’s landfill so I could see what happens when my trash lands at the curb. He argued that, “Even though we’ve found creative ways to deal with waste, it’s not enough. Real change happens when we see how all of our actions are connected.”

The Process of Responsible Gastronomy

By Laura Malin, Executive Chef, The Tatham Group

As the executive chef for The Tatham Group, my approach to social and environmental responsibility is to trust in and respect one very special process: the process of nature. I’ve done this by believing in the following principles: consider the environment first, respect the seasons, support local and organic farmers, educate your customers and never underestimate their palates. In the end, they will know a good thing when they get it.

Ensuring a Policy for Success

The following post is a story from our very first newsletter published a year ago. Since then, Equitable Life has continued to reap the benefits of applying The Tatham Method to their operations, and has continued training its employees to think differently, to challenge status quo and to always improve the customer experience. Here is their story:

Kitchener-Waterloo, July 2007 – In just two short years, Equitable Life of Canada (Equitable) has gained more than 30% in capacity and productivity in the areas that they focused on. It has achieved at least $785,000 in savings annually and is transforming its culture to being a flexible, customer-centric, demand-driven company.

While to some these improvements may seem bland, for Equitable – a well-established mutual life insurance company based in Waterloo, Ont. – they translate into much more: an improved work environment, happier customers, consistent results and streamlined activity — and that, is priceless.

The secret? It’s in two words: Boot Camp.

The Change Paradox

When was the last time you wore your watch on the opposite wrist or tried writing your name with the other hand? If you’re like me, I’m guessing it’s been a while. (But now that I’ve suggested it, go ahead. Try.)

These are exactly the kinds of exercises that help our brain open up to new ways of doing things. When we challenge routine activities, our brain senses a new experience and forces us to change our behaviour. Still, why is change so difficult?

In an article published by the Scientific American Mind, author Nikolas Westerhoff suggests that age might have something to do with the challenges of changing our behaviour. Westerhoff writes that as people get older, they tend to become less inclined to change, even though they claim to be open to new ideas.