Reducing Customer Casualties

By Michael B. Tatham, President, The Tatham Group

You would think that a recession might wake organizations up and make them focus on reducing customer casualties.  And many spend a lot of time and money working on this issue.  However, no matter how hard organizations try to ‘create customer focus’ the business is disconnected and therefore is just not capable.  If you keep doing what you’ve always done…

Recently at Tatham we had a piece of equipment producing poor quality output.  After many experiments, the root cause remained elusive.  After diligently explaining the situation to the service department, and all the experiments we had run, they decided to call in a service representative to take a look.

First disconnect: Upon his arrival we had to explain the entire issue over again including the experiments we ran.  Déjà vu?

Second disconnect: Immediately, we were informed that what we were using the machine for was not what it was designed for (even though it was specifically recommended to us by the sales department).  Annoyance.

Third disconnect: He did not have the right tools with him to diagnose the problem.  Frustration.

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?

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.

Manage risk in any industry using one simple tool: a checklist

Great story in the Globe and Mail yesterday about how a simple checklist could save the entire Canadian health care industry billions of dollars in medical errors. While we’re pleased to see more people paying attention to this concept, these findings aren’t new. A similar study was done in the U.S. to assess and triage cardiac patients in the ER. This study found that using a checklist significantly reduced the number of patients who were improperly diagnosed, and thus increased the likelihood that those who truly were having a heart attack got treatment faster.

At The Tatham Group, we believe that using checklists to follow a process is paramount – and this concept is built directly into our method. In fact, our work with The Credit Valley Hospital points to the benefits of applying a systematic method to ambulatory care. However, there are two small details that seem to have been overlooked. The first, is that a checklist will only be successful if it’s based on a good process. What we mean by this, is that if the process itself is broken – no checklist will make things any better. And secondly, unless people are being measured by how well they can follow this checklist, it will fall by the wayside. But a well-designed process and checklist for following it, with measurable goals is the best way for hospitals to manage the risk. Or any industry for that matter.

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.”

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.

I hate to dissappoint you, but…

“…I don’t have a solution for you. My suggestion would be that you come up with it yourself.”

That was this gist of my conversation with an acquaintance this weekend at a holiday party. I realize this answer is not terribly polite, but before you decide it’s because I had too much spiked eggnog, allow me to explain. The preceding conversation – like most party small talk – went something like this:

Getting to the ‘root’ of the issue

Lately when I find time to read – which usually happens when I’m crammed into a streetcar on the way to work – I’ve been voraciously attacking, page by page, an excellent book by Michael Pollan called The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

While the premise of Pollan’s book has little to do with business, process or culture change, there is a fabulous little excerpt about culling wild pigs on the Island of Santa Cruz, a tiny island just off the coast of California (p.324-325).

In the book, Pollan relates this story to the debate that rages between animal rights activists and ‘others’ (aka carnivores), as to whether or not hunting is morally right. While I won’t even attempt to open this can of worms, I couldn’t help but see this story as a perfect example of drilling down to the root cause of a problem by simply asking “why?”

The dreaded “P” word…

I have a confession to make: I’m addicted to finding new words.

Not just any words, but rather ones that are simple and elegant – like ‘august’, ‘brisk’ or ‘misanthrope’. They bring colour and life to any sentence without complicating it.

Yet despite my love affair with the thesaurus, I’ve managed to develop a strong disdain for pompous jargon. Among these words are “distribution channels” or “undertaken” or “procedure”. They sully our perfectly good language and provide little value to the message.

With a strong aversion to jargon, you can just imagine how I felt when I first started working for The Tatham Group. All day long I would hear the word “business process” and each time someone said it, I would cringe at the thought of having to discuss something so bureaucratic. I mean, could there be anything more…boring?