Redenomination or decimalization?

I listened with rapt attention to the new financial policy been proposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. I was impressed that someone is proactive enough to want to experiment with such a concept as cutting down the number of Zeros on the Naira by two. In contrast to the Zimbabwean record of having the highest currency denomination in the world, the redenomination policy of the CBN is expected to strengthen the Nigerian Naira.

It is a wonderful idea to have the 20Naira note as highest currency but I just wonder how we would pay for goods and services that run into millions of naira. How much would we be permit as the highest amount to possess or carry about as ordinary citizens? How much bags of “GMGs” will an average politician be allowed to have in his trunk? Agreed that the currency will be stronger but do we have workable policies in place to migrate us into a cashless economy? Are the banks ready to make the necessary investment to support such infrastructure that is able to support the opportunities that is been thrown on their laps? If recapitalization has caused so much money to be in the coffers of our banks, how much more will this new policy create a challenge for the surge in growth we foresee?

It is not enough to plan economic growth and cause excitement to keen watchers and believers alike, it is also more important to work with other segment of the economy to strategically position them for the challenge ahead. As a lay man, I do know that the energy sector is a core sector that needs proactive fixing. Until things are put right in this important sector, financial policies may be frustrated. The banking sector is not enough to drive the economy. Electricity and other infrastructure that aid local production need to be improved upon and made to function effectively. A situation which still makes Nigeria an import dependent economy will only lead us back to where we want to run away from. We do have the raw materials and personnel to satisfy local production but the cost of running a cottage industry is so high that most people have abandoned such ventures all together. I still believe that if Nigeria is able to improve on the power situation and have constant energy supply, more than 75% of the problem will be addressed. Attitudes of people and the fight against corruption added to the course will lead Nigeria to the promise land earlier than postulated.

Despite the skepticisms of the past about the workability of the Nigeria state and the state of insecurity in the Niger Delta, a clear roadmap, sincere and concerted efforts are essential ingredients that will prove that Nigeria can solve its own problem. I do not doubt the input of international donor agencies in the development or otherwise of the Nigeria economy, but I am sure that Nigeria can also rise and grow its own policies in line with realistic and positive projections. With good intentions, governments in the past have bought already made quick fix solutions instead of observing local trends and prioritizing specific areas of growth. While those packaged solutions might have worked in some sectors, it is also obvious that a number of them have generated a lot of wastes and their residue of debt will be paid by generations yet unborn. I think it is time to act and the time is now. Redenomination or decimalization, at least someone is thinking of economic growth and he deserves to be supported. Prof. Soludo, its your game, you can be sure your fans are hailing!

How do you define success?

"Success has many family members" is a common saying in my place. Success has also been erroneously known to be synonymous to the acquisition of material wealth and such ephemerals that gladdens the heart of a fool.

In my view, a truly successful person is one who has been a blessing to his society. A patriot who is exemplary and has used his influence to build leaders and many more like him is an example. He may however not be wealthy in materials. Martyrs like Mother Theresa who modeled the life of Jesus, freedom fighters like Nelson Mandela and civil right activists like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are classically come to mind. Great men like Richard Branson, Aliko Dangote and Bill Gates are few examples of men who use their wealth to affect their communities positively are indeed successful.

Despite the fortunes made from their businesses, they still found delight in contributing to the course of the society. HIV/AIDS is a world pandemic; yet, the Gates family is staking a great part of their fortunes to combat the menace of the disease.

I have seen people who have great material wealth, but greed blinds them from enjoying it and helping others through their actions. They rather derive pleasure in seeing their fellow men languish in poverty. I consider these people poorer than those they oppress. The inability to make the best use of the opportunities created by their material wealth for the benefit of others is a classification of poverty. Poverty is not the absence of riches and wealth; it is the inability to create them, even in the presence of abundant resources.

Biggest manufacturers don’t usually have all the raw materials in their immediate environment, global companies do not pride in material assets, rather, in the intellectual asset that provide best quality. The same way, fashion giants and other franchising organizations mentor and help people achieve empowerment and make money. This is my definition of success.

Success and its definition portray a win-win strategy and one positively influences the other. Similar to a pyramid strategy as used by network marketers, success is all encompassing. It supports growth, development and such other terms that show the undesirability of waste. A system that permits waste is not successful.

My prefered training style

Amongst the numerous things I love, training is an activity that allows me to learn from others, check my knowledge and also share what I know. A sure sign that learning is taking place is when I observe facial expressions that show affirmation or reservation.

Training professionals about how to perform their tasks better is a humbling duty. Though I often draw from personal experiences, I have realized that they are best sought from the audience. Once examples that best describe the topic been explained are given, shared or elaborated upon by attendees, I am assured that learning is taking place or has already occurred.

I have studied various learning type, but for short-term refresher courses, my observation is thus: cognitive learning style helps to explain a lot of things. Time is saved explaining long concepts because participants can relate to the context and use their real-life experiences to boost understanding.

In a typical Project Management class comprising of professionals from all fields, my best facilitation style is that which breaks down the text and allows for dissection using various experiences shared by the entire class. Time and scope are always of essence, but an understanding of how best to help professionals grasp concepts has greatly helped me to minimize waste. I agree that if given the opportunity, people would talk endlessly and I have learnt to encourage this to take place out of class. This way, knowledge sharing continues and relationships are fostered and further strengthened. In most instances, these mark the beginning of community of practice.

Project Management Knowledge

Project management is an art people have engaged in from time immemorial. One wonders how the building of the Pyramids of Egypt and other world wonders were project managed.

Our abilities to deliver quality on time and within allocated resources are put to test in our daily tasks. Paraphrasing Project Management Institute's definition, Project Management is the use of knowledge, skills, techniques and resources within an agreed scope and time to meet an agreed quality.

Any venture that is time bound, has a budget (allocated resources) and has a defined scope is a typical example of a project. Consider a simple task of cake baking, wedding ceremony, home makeover, complex tasks such service rollout, system migration, building construction, and so on as examples of projects. Time, resources (budget) and scope are usually referred to as “triple constraints”. An attempt to reduce any of the three items most often has an effect on the quality level to be delivered.

To deliver to an agreed quality means that specific details need to be thoroughly thought out and carefully planned. The ability to successfully deliver a project on time, within budget and to specification depends on one’s level of planning for the different phases and aspects of the project. Typically, a project has five phase and they are
1. Initiation
2. Planning
3. Implement/Executing
4. Monitoring
5. Closing
These phases have different activities embedded at every level. To fail to plan is to plan to fail. Every phase needs to be carefully planned for overall success.

Different schools of thoughts have their unique methodologies for project management. Whatever designation is assigned to the methodology used, it is all a matter of nomenclature as they all go through the five stages. They all aim at delivering on time, to agreed quality and within budget.

Project management knowledge is not only essential to understanding the triple constraints and their effects on projects and quality levels, it empowers one to be able to effectively deliver projects successfully, gain in-dept knowledge of analysis, how to select and motivate a team, improves ones communication and so on.

The Project Management Institute’s methodology divides project management into nine Knowledge Areas (KA). This means that as a project manager, one is expected to possess good understanding and gain competence of those knowledge areas. Be not afraid, the Knowledge Areas are all a breakdown of the five phases.

In perspective, the knowledge of project management now helps me to take the history as an important element of project. By history, I mean what happened in the past to other or similar projects? Did they succeed, did they fail, how and why did these happen? These are all comments and observations that are recorded as “lessons learned” under the closing phase of every project. Experience has taught me that they play an important factor in the success of a new project in the performing organization as they help me to learn and understand the organization’s culture and what I may need to watch out for or do to successfully deliver my project. Project management skills make one to see life itself in a new light to be lived to quality and most especially within budget. The meaning of risk and the need to plan for and against it is also made clear. To continue to count will be to write an epistle.

Aside from being a certified project manager, PM knowledge is unending as one learns more by the execution of projects. They may differ in scope, expected quality, time frame or budget, one fact I have come to live with is this: I may have the best of sponsors and champions who ensure that resources are released on time, but my team members are my greatest asset and are to be motivated from the charter to the closing of any project. Waste is eliminated because of the understanding that occurs as a result of open communication with the team, hence we often work with sigleness of purpose.

Illiteracy

This is an article I wrote in 2003 and would like to share it.

Been aware and conscious of ones surroundings is an attribute that adds luster to life and existence as a whole. Steps and actions are taken in accordance to ones level of knowledge. This prompts a reasoning of what should be. Hence, the word “literacy” would mean something like "knowledge of what is and what should be” Is this simple enough?

One in tune with idea, knowledge or appropriate information can only carry out actions, deeds or thoughts predicated on the ideals of modern reasoning. Literacy may not necessarily mean “a state of acquired papers” to show or serve as a testimonial of the number of years spent in acquiring such skills. At best, it would mean the exhibition of the character befitting of one with such a skills and its proficient usage for the positive development of the society. Having been found worthy in both character and learning, an individual may be certified literate, the number of years spent to or acquire the skills or learn to conform in character not withstanding.

Traditions and self-fashioned culture of “it does not matter” or “I don’t care” are little foxes that could spoil the yard of literacy if permitted to play around the fences of our mind. Doing it our own ways a’ times leave us inconsiderate of other people’s rights. Truth is, most of the time, we prefer things done our ways, why then is it difficult to sacrifice, doing for others what we would like them do unto us?

The difference between literacy and illiteracy is only a thin line, just a slight tilt and you are out of line, watch out!

Leadership

Business models have greatly improved to adapt other societal elements like leadership. The essence of leadership cannot be undermined by any society or organization. No matter how small, a group of people look-up to some persons or the other to show the way forward. In a home, the wife looks to he husband and children look to their parents. In the larger societies, government and other opinion leaders enjoy this responsibility.

It is common to associate business with management. Managers do not only manage scarce resources, they are also saddled with the responsibility of showing a direction, focus, coaching and mentoring. These are shared attributes that both leaders and managers share. A business venture is usually profit driven and business owners must learn and use various strategies to achieve this major objective. To show direction and get people to support a process, people have to be involved. A manager without soft skills will end-up doing the whole work, use force to get things done, waste more time and other scarce resources or achieve poor results. Leadership is that unseen arm of the manager that supports internal processes by motivating those who drive the process.

A good leader breeds others, the same for a good manager. He uses skills, methodologies and proactively designed strategies to motivate people to move in agreement with a common vision. He helps those with alternative views shape and fine-tunes them to work in consonance with the common goal. These help him to get more done in less time, saving resources. In his days at General Electric, Jack Welch adopted a leadership approach to management and this was made evident in GE’s fortunes, achievements and many praises. Organizations that use this model have since given-up thinking along the lines of “I am the boss”. While I do not support delegation without feedback, it is my opinion that people be assigned responsibilities and be mentored to succeed. Many thanks to thinkers whose managerial styles are changing the landscape of organizational cultures, their achievements are been built on by those they painstakingly mentored and coached through the processes. Through Knowledge Management, organizations now understand that employees are not just a necessary “must haves”, but also a great contribution to an organization’s knowledge capital asset.

Leaders identify and build on people’s potential realizing that they do not have eternity to spend in a workplace. Smart leaders reproduce themselves in others. While good managers may not make good leaders, good leaders are sure to make excellent managers because the ability to see beyond business resources and profit. In a bid to show leadership at business levels, employees are offered the opportunity to partner, lead project teams, make contributions at senior management levels, seat in and observe meeting proceedings, mentored and coached, or even head new business units. Leadership as an art can be learned and put into daily activities.

It is usually refreshing for a father to watch his son grow and become a man. That is the feeling of a leader. Even in the midst of “destructive innovation”, a leader still tolerates a level of excess. Senior management at Motorola could not have exhibited leadership better by allowing a team of young innovative business oriented engineers and developers to research, design and launch the RAZR phones. The story of breakthrough innovation is not complete without a leadership success story.

Today, I advocate that leadership be taught at every level of our lives. This does not only help us to be better managers at business levels, it also help us to motivate people to work at their best potential levels so that undesired waste can be minimized. A system that is not performing at a maximal level only generates waste.

Love and Marketing

A relationship normally starts with a word, like hello! It steps up to conversations, phone calls, emails, lunches, dinners and so on. For the brave hearted, it may end up in marriage. For some others, it may not be such a happy ending. Talking, following-up, Q&A sessions and other activities that create bonds characterize the period of getting to know each other. All these are aimed confidence building for both parties. The concept of marketing cannot be ruled out at this stage. Ironically, continuous marketing and patronage is an essential part of the dynamics of any relationship, whether business or emotional.

What is marketing? The second definition of marketing as “The commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer” by Free Online Business Dictionary[1] articulates my point better. From the definition above, I would like to pay particular attention to three different items mentioned. Those items are commercial functions, transferring of goods, and producer to consumer. The idea expressed by “commercial function” is that it is a function performed with a “result of gratification, gain or profit” in mind. “Transferring of goods” means that that there is an exchange and of course, the exchange occurs between a set of people as exemplified in the producer to consumer aspect. The analysis of this relationship from the “marketing” point of view clearly shows that a party or both parties stand to benefit from this mutual relationship.

Couples fall and stay in love as a result of continuous marketing (though the consumer/producer roles interchange from time to time). The same way products or service consumers and service providers’ roles interchange from time to time. A service provider makes services available and cash is exchanged. In the same manner, cash is made available and service is requested in exchange.

It is true that during the marketing phase, emotions are higher and the urge to relate is usually intense. Once a typical business marketer seals a deal, from my observation, servicing the relationship is taking for granted. Look at it, how often does one spend long hours queuing at a typical Nigerian bank, Airline ticket sales outlet, customer service or support center, and other service delivery outlets? This starts immediately a client is won over. Signs of failure to deliver on promises, neglect, unavailable support, irregular follow-up services and other signs that show system inefficiencies and defective services are the usual appreciation meted to those that have fallen prey of the marketing gimmicks. How does a relationship blossom under these wasteful conditions that throws patrons into a state of loss? How long will it take providers to realize that consumers daily feel that they have and are been taken advantage of? I am positive that with commitment from especially the power players, this love can last forever.

[1] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Marketing

People Support what they help create

Community of Practice (CoP) by their informal nature, members are usually a group of workers who have a common issue and regularly meet to discuss issues, solutions, technological challenges or advances and such things related to their common interests.

Workers are a source of innovation as they form the knowledge capital of an organization. Through a CoP, workers have a common form of identity to discuss issues emanating from any organizational effort. A process improvement activity has it own challenges and if care is not taken, the whole effort will crash like a pack of cards if not supported. A process that is created, driven and supported by the workforce will not be allowed to fail. It is not enough to train employees after the purchase of a package if they are not included in the improvement effort or introduced to the advantage of the new system or process. For effective performance, employees should be allowed to work in groups and freely associate. One greater advantage of the inclusion and participation of workers in change management, process development or any project that affects the positive development of the organization is that suspicion between management and employees are reduced. This breeds workplace harmony, employee loyalty and innovation. On several occasions and in many instances, employees as a group have come up with innovative ideas that have changed for the better the fortunes of their workplaces. New product development, time and material saving strategies and such other ideas are been championed daily by employees.

The insistence on compliance of policies that are alien to staff could lead to workplace tyranny. Staff may not only revolt, but it may also cause a great disaffection between senior management and lover level employees. Even if such projects or policies are aimed at improving the lot of the end-users, their non-inclusion at the right stages may lead to the creation of a defective process. The history of law itself reveals that the law is an extract of the people’s culture and unwritten acceptable level of behavior. Organizations review their workplace manuals from inputs from their employees, make members a part of various workplace committees in order to secure this similar commitment of supporting and strengthening.

Global organizations have networks for people who work in the same unit, perform similar tasks or share common interests. Strategically managed, these knowledge networks, social groups or CoPs are essential in the smooth running of their various organizations. Some CoPs have regular tele/video conferences to address workplace challenges, discuss common interests or just share ideas. Groups of professionals through their networks work for the advancement of their profession. In so doing, they document and share best practice and even form a standard enforcing body. The International Institute of Business Analysts, Project Management Institute, other certification bodies and organizations were at one stage or the other a network of professionals.

To promote support, efficiency, waste reduction and desired improved process, it is expedient that people (staff, employees or even clients) who are going to use the process or system or those that will directly benefit from the implementation be involved in the development of such process, program or system at all levels of the implementation

Government Reforms or Poor Lean Implementation?

Adam Smith opposed the idea of government meddling with market mechanism. He proposed that rather, government should concern itself with "provision of security," "exact administration of justice" and "erecting and maintaining those public institutions and those public works which may be in the highest degree advantageous to a great society". Great economists and management gurus have backed up these ideas agreeing that profitable ventures should be left to private citizens while government provide the infrastructure and enabling environment. With these in place, it a nation’s development is sure to be driven by its organized private sector.

Governments, especially in developing countries have been stagnated or have made little progress because they do not have strategic models for their economic development. This may be due to the fact that at independence, most opinion leaders who eventually became presidents and prime ministers of their countries were bereft of economic ideas. All that was on their mind was “liberation and independence from colonialists and the desire to control the wealth of the land [often for self-driven purposes]”. A colleague made this point in a light discussion about the development of Africa recently. I could not but agree with him. This myopic thinking is still exhibited in the “seat tight” mentality of a majority of African leaders and the lack of commitment to objective developmental programs of most African countries.

I look with pity how most African governments buy “already packaged economic development solutions” from International donor organizations and their developmental agencies. These packages come as under various names as “SAP”, “Development Policies”, “Reforms”, etc. Whatever name is branded, they are all aimed at the same solution, i.e government has no business in running the economy. President Olusegun Obasanjo, the immediate past president of Nigeria persistently made a case and implemented various reforms. His usual point appeared to mean, “It is expensive to run government and its agencies”. The best solution as we saw in the implementations of the various Reform Programs was to reduce the staff strength in Public Service. Cutting down on the number of personnel is not only supposed to reduce government spending, but also to improve its efficiencies. Though people were laid-off, system efficiency did not report a commensurate increment. It is sad to observe that no exact statistical objectives were set out in from the start. Since the program was sold as a model that had worked for other developing countries, it seemed like there was no need to ask questions.

Corporate organization, like governments engage in right sizing from time to time. Right sizing, simply means downsizing a company's workforce to the point that employees remaining are deemed fit to support its changing processes and current realities. By so doing, there may be the need to prune down on non-value added activities also. Unfortunately for a system that runs on unnecessary bureaucracy characterized by inefficient processes, this might be a useful approach in itself. Redundant personnel may also be retrained to perform other duties, transfer to units or departments where their skills are most relevant to the new process or worst case scenarios, laid off. Empirically, there are usually setout objectives from the start, which one expects to see at a given period in its implementation. It is a known fact that other governments (in developed countries) have run reform programs that did not lead to labor losses, instead newer positions were created and process improved. African leaders can learn from such success stories

Lean (very similar in implementation to Six Sigma), a business term, which amongst other things is expected to minimize waste and improve efficiency of a process, is synonymous to a Reform. After a system has been identified and analyzed, tools and other aiding measures are put in motion to cause a change, breed system thinking and power up the performance of a system or process for efficient function and maximum benefit. Ford has used Lean and now Toyota, another auto giant is using this concept to achieve greater results and improve their bottom line. China and other industrialized economies use various economic models including this concept to achieve results.

Lean is not a concept that works on lip service. The low hanging fruits of Public Service Reforms especially by Government of Nigeria (GON) are riddled so much by mass lay-off while the expected efficiencies are no where to be found months after lay-offs. Public infrastructures are still in a perpetual state of decay and those who bid the highest exploit the system. While Lean may literarily be taken as loss of weight (to justify lay-offs), systems are supposed to improve and run efficiently. The implementation of the process improvement or Reform should also be taken to all arms of government. Number of federal ministries and ministers, special advisers, aides, special assistants and senior special assistants, domestic and personal staff and other political appointees should be reduced to a sizeable number that permits for free-flow of information and harmonious working relationships not belabored by mass employment of people party loyalists as a means of compensation for their roles during elections.

Looking at the banking sector reforms for example, the Central Bank of Nigeria set out from start to achieve specific aims. At the expiration of the proposed time, the set objectives were achieved. These gains and model were immediately transferred to the insurance sub sector, though observers have their reservations, the reform still achieved its objectives. One wonders why the same government that record gains in the implementation of reforms as it affects private sector would not put its house in order to attain similar result in public service. The result of “Lean” in the financial sector today is much better than what skeptics predicted at its inception. There were expected job losses as banks prepared for re-capitalization, but today, many more jobs are been created, banks are becoming stronger and are introducing newer and more enticing services. Also, their performance in the Stock Markets is an indication of their profitability.

The Reform Agenda which the current administration has promised to continue with should be carefully examined to reduce waste and inefficiencies. The true implementation of Lean is not expected to cause job loss, rather, to make processes run efficiently and smoothly while eliminating waste. Any reform project or program that does not satisfy these basic conditions is in itself a waste of public funds and resources and it is undesired.

Knowledge Management for Organizational and Competitive Advantage

“In the end, the location of the new economy is not in the technology, be it the microchip or the global telecommunications network. It is in the human mind – Alan Webber”

Many organizations invest in technologies and pay little attention to their internal knowledge (those resident in their people). Processes and work are organized along functions and organizations are very satisfied with making profits. As long as the money was available, anyone could leave or be replaced. If only organizations paid more importance to how the individual knowledge of the staff can be tapped into, shared and used for competitive advantage. Petter Gottschalk[1] defined Knowledge Management as “a method to simplify and improve the process of sharing, distributing, creating, capturing and understanding knowledge in a company”. Though data and other “how to” information may be documented in user manuals, training documentations or self-guided CD ROMs, organizations stand to benefit when the carriers of these knowledge are motivated to share their knowledge with coworkers. In the words of Peter Drucker, “information is data endowed with relevance and purpose”. Of what purpose is data archived in central databases, intranets, or other repositories if they cannot be effectively utilized to achieve or help in the achievement of a purpose. The expert and efficient use of data and information in itself is my idea of knowledge.

In the final analysis, every organization sells its knowledge. Consultants provide expert advice for business owners to implement, businesses use their knowledge of a particular market to develop brands to serve them, a franchisee buys a franchise, a superstore takes advantage of urbanization, an educational institution develop a training program for busy executives, and the list goes on. In all these transactions, Knowledge (one way or another) is exchanged for cash or other means of gratifications.

Some organizations have carefully utilized technology to help them codify and preserve knowledge for sharing and reuse. Some have a carefully gathered knowledge stored as data in a database while others have a network of experts in place to drive this effort. Directories of such experts are kept and made accessible for people within the organization to benefit from. Organizations like General Motors, Toyota, IBM, Shell, Accenture and various industrial giants have tapped into the knowledge of their people and are benefiting from such investment. Upon satisfactory performance, most organizations have integrated their knowledge networks, expanded and exploited them to maximal benefits. Such gains have been documented in white papers; presented at various business seminars, cited as case studies and even distributed as the organizations best practice and body of knowledge. The knowledge networks often called Community of Practice usually start as a group of people who meet on a regular basis to discuss common issues. These self-governed and informal groups offer voluntary membership. Because of their nature they are not best to be used as a replacement for organizational training initiatives, though members often benefit mentoring and coaching.

Knowledge within an organization is an asset that needs to be managed and exploited for organizational and competitive advantage. The cost of hiring a new employee for whatever position is usually more than the monetary value attached to the position. The new employee would need time to adjust to organization, its internal working and other cultures, all these cost time and may not be cheap at the end of the day. Hence, it is imperative for every organization to take advantage of this vital asset and make the best use of it while it is still available. While latent skills may not be easy to teach, structures can be put in place for its transfer. With well-managed workplace knowledge, processes can be improved upon, harmonious workplace relationships can be forged, positive alliances can be formed for organizational and competitive advantage and even waste can be further minimized. This, in itself is another strategy that could affect the overall bottom line (make more profit, become competitive, etc) for the better.

[1] Petter Gottschalk 2005: Strategic Knowledge Management Technology

What is the Value of Waste?

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary[1] defines WASTE amongst other things as damaged, defective, rejected material, scrap, it even goes further to describe it as “gradual loss or decrease by use, wear or decay”. Uncultivated land even got a mention in the description of waste.

Tearing down the description of waste creates a realization of how wasteful we have been at one point or the other. Of the descriptions above, the one that strikes me the most is “uncultivated land”. Should the land be so fertile as to support the growth of crops suitable for exports, possess natural endowments such as oil, gold or other rare minerals, only the physical act of exploitation through cultivation will reveal this. Invariably, untapped market is a waste!

Organizations annually spend millions of dollars on training, purchasing new technology, product support and such other ventures all in a bid to improve performance. Would I be correct at this point to say performance improvement means waste reduction? The improvement in performance largely depends on what is to be achieved by such an activity and the strategy an organization adopts. Whatever the strategy used, if the customers cannot feel the immediate outcome, then it is a sure sign of waste.

I have paid keen attention to the business re-engineering effort by many organizations and how much fanfare this generates. In my knowledge and experience, re-engineering efforts are supposed to noticeable to customers by a shorter cycle time, eliminate rework, scrap and waste. In order words, it is supposed to lead to an improved process (most noticeable in improved quality in service delivery) that make all happy. Permit me to mention the case of the banking sector in Nigeria as a case study. The very first and obvious sign of the business process re-engineering I observed in one of the banks is a change in Logo. This in itself is a wonderful concept and personally, I prefer the new design, colors, cool customer care lines (though not toll free) and beautifully designed corner-piece structures. While claiming to conform to ISO 9001 quality standards, it is most important that this quality standard leads the process to be customer-centric, by this, I mean customer oriented service delivery. As a Six Sigma believer and certified practitioner, I expected a total turn-around towards excellent customer experience. Before re-engineering, customers waited on long queues while tellers “worked” behind their “crawling” computer systems. It was also a common practice to find a particular teller working fast and attending to many customers while some cash dispensing points are totally empty or other available tellers converse on telephones, or attend to some other things one cannot comprehend. These practices are still evident even after the process re-engineering. I am sticking to the word “re-engineering” instead of process improvement because I did not and have not seen any improvement in the business processes.

Why do I come to a bank that keeps me outside its banking hall with a security door that permits only one person to enter at a time under the watchful eyes of a security personnel with a handheld metal detector? Is this not another waste of my time? Maybe an investment in superior technology that permits multiple entries or a door that scans faster would just be sufficient with few exceptions. I watch “valued customers” wait in the hot African sun for their turns to be scanned first and then denied entry by the usually “please go back and remove all metal objects…” shrill and female-sounding voice only to be physically scanned with the handheld metal detector. This is another waste to the system. What happened to the re-engineered process? Where did it start? What were customers’ inputs to the redesigned process? These are the numerous questions that come to my mind. If only one could place a monetary value on the time spent going through all these access control and non-value adding motions, one would be amazed by the result. Great losses happen daily due to wait times either on queues within or outside of the banking halls. Out of frustration, a number of customers leave and find other alternatives. They sure will tell tales of their experiences to others. This sad story does not include that attitude of tellers who dish out services like doing the customers a really desired favor. While this situation is not peculiar to this bank used as a case study, most banks in Nigeria have the same problem. Could this result as a post-consolidation bonus? In dealing with the same problem described above, another bank in Nigeria is piloting an off-site approach. They have built a galleria that houses several ATM machines. I hear that provisions are also in the pipeline for dropping personal checks at all their branded ATMs. These checks are “hopefully” picked-up timely and processed. One can only hope that public infrastructure especially power supply will not frustrate this effort. Many banks have invested in ATMs and have placed them onsite and at other strategic places, they are still epileptic in their operations.

What is the value of waste? I ask once again. The value of waste to a service consumer is measured in opportunities lost waiting to cash a check in a bank, amount spent on undelivered service by a telephone operator, ISP or other service provider and so on. To a business, it is millions of un-earned cash, lost business opportunities, valuable monies thrown down the drain in the name of re-engineering, time spent writing apology letters for poor service delivery, scrap, rework, consequences suffered for not meeting government regulations, lost business and investment time, lower profits or even outright losses incurred as a result of all the above and much more. To the practitioner, it could be withdrawal of practicing license, loss of investment and livelihood, cost of image laundry, etc. The list goes on and on. Who looses the most, businesses, investors or the society at large? Waste in any business is grossly undesired!


[1] http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/waste

The Ideal Learning Model

I had in mind to write about something else, but in my research, I came across a concept that threw me off balance and I thought it is best I share it.

In my spare time, I was reflecting on Jane Lave and Etienne Wenger’s concept of Situated Learning. Situated Learning is a style of learning that has to do with some form of apprenticeship where one has to be a part of a community and learn the norms, methods and practices. This reflects learning in the way it will be used and applied in real-life. It is similar to discipleship. In my reflection, I found myself thinking of this learning model as the main strategy used by great businessmen and leaders to mentor their successors. The Igbo people in Eastern Nigeria are known to be great merchants. Unconsciously, the use this model to train their apprentice. An observation of the process reveals the trainee watching his mentor take decisions that has have far reaching business implications. Some of those decisions follow no particular logic. After a time, the trainee is matured enough to take his own decisions without the direct guidance of the boss. He knows the price of every item in his store by heart and has an idea of best profit margin. Even when new goods arrive, he knows the best price to sell to a particular client.

Cognitive learning from what I gathered is a learning style that is not necessarily tutor-led. It permits the learner to understand the subject being learned through personal experience, that of others, real-life application, social context, and so on. It is beautiful to observe that this model could introduce students to a seemingly abstract subject of Mathematics and participants can relate their knowledge of calculus for instance to measuring meals in a dieting program. It means that I can learn architecture by observing the masters draw and design an architectural masterpiece, by working with a group of experts, I can learn how business decisions are made without ever spending a day in the MBA class. In my words, this concept is liberating. It is a learning strategy I really would love to use. Frank Smith views prior knowledge that could be relevant and strategies that will be useful as essential in approaching a new text instead of reading from the first line and sequentially to the end.

From the US school system, I observe that about 30% of a subject is taught using a cognitive learning style. Ample time is spent going on field trips, industrial visits, hands-on and term project activities, using models and some other instructional materials that promote learning. At the end of a class, the average student is equipped with enough knowledge for real-world application of such knowledge. Recall and reconstruction is the best way to describe the test and exams administered during the course study period. Students merely express what they know and not just reproduce what they have read verbatim. Unfortunately, my formal education was in a developing country. In retrospect, I guess I will be correct to say I was taught how to read, memorize and pass my term exams. My academic performance was at best a reflection of how well I could memorize and not in-depth understand of the subject at hand. Did I learn Fluid Mechanics in my Mechanical Engineering class in the University? Yes, I passed the exam in one sitting. Would I have been able to apply the knowledge in the workplace? My answer is a sure NO. Today, a good percentage of my classmates work in the banking and the ICT sectors. Very few work in mechanical engineering designations and one or two went back to become academics. Did we deviate because we couldn’t get mechanical engineering jobs? I am certain that most of us deviated because in our hearts of hearts, we were sure that we have not been sufficiently equipped to work in mechanical engineering concerns. It is sad that we spent that period of our lives memorizing archaic mathematical theorems and proving formulae that we lost in the ancient in transit to China. Aside of student unrest and strike periods which afforded me to learn from a roadside workshop, I remember spending the remaining part of my undergraduate days in class, labs, workshops and at other recreational activities. Site visits were luxuries the university education could not afford. Six to seven months is set-aside for the pen-ultimate engineering student. This Industrial Training period is totally irrelevant to the educational institution as students are left alone to get their own placement. With the state of the economy and rate of unemployment, industries and other organizations are most reluctant to take up “unskilled workers disguised as students”. Undergraduates who are lucky may not get the exposure they need. At the end of the period, I wonder if up to 10% of such students attain the aim of the program.

I look back at those days and now I really wish I had learnt using this model by the cognitive model. Now, I have a strong commitment to use this model in my training classes. This model does not only promote learning, but most importantly, helps organization to quickly achieve their set objectives and reduce time spent training new employees. It helps reduce rework, cycle time and increase waste saving processes. There is no gainsaying that, waste is undesirable and cognitive learning on the long run helps to achieve this main objective.

Man, know thyself!

This is an idea that has been roaming in my brain for sometime now and am really glad am putting it down. My brain can now take the desired rest.

I first came across the phrase “Man know thyself” in 1997 when my then mentor insisted I understand this concept and use it for my personal development. Not like I didn’t understand the fact that I needed to know myself in order to understand what part of me needed improvement, but it sounded very catchy that I have come to use it very often. In retrospect now, I look at these days as great days and I dare say, those were days I could describe as good ‘ole days.

Having grown into maturity both in learning and character (after all that is a sure proof of learning), I look at the business of process improvement with the same eye. My mentor would tell me, you would not improve yourself if you first do not understand yourself. This simple but powerful statement is a guiding light; businesses can never improve upon a process that is not understood. The height of a business process improvement is not so much in the strategy adopted, but in the understanding of where process. This understanding is achieved by an analysis of how the original process was designed to function and the current state. Every process owner or business manager knows that understand this understanding is needed to bring a derailing process back to the expected process. The root-cause of any problem is better treated with an understanding of the process.

In my journey into business process improvement especially using the six sigma methodology, I have come to love this simple concept of know thyself, or should I proceed from here to call it know thy process. One fascinating way to bring back home a prodigal process is the DMAIC structured methodology. This is the core of the teachings of Six Sigma. This structured technique has been implemented and used by several organizations in diverse industries to save millions of dollars, reduce process time, enhance quality, reduce rework and wastage, improve service delivery amongst other short and long term gains.

What is DMAIC?
* Define
* Measure
* Analyze
* Improve
* Control

In my mind, I would like to construe these five steps in knowing myself to mean:
* Define the goals of my improvement activities
* Measure the dept of my decay
* Analyze my problems especially the root-cause of my problems and where I intend to be
* Improve myself based on the analysis
* Control the implementation in line with my level of success

It must be said that Six Sigma is a data intensive and statistically inclined. In principle, Six Sigma intends to achieve a quality level of 3.4 defects per million opportunities. This means that out of a million chances of doing it wrong, the process went out of hand only 3.4 times. Sigma itself being a Greek alphabet that was assigned to represent variance or inconsistency is now a significant term in modern day business.

In business sense, DMAIC will mean something similar
* Define the goals of process improvement
* Measure the existing system
* Analyze the system to identify gaps
* Improve the process/system
* Control the new process/system

While the DMAIC technique is best for correcting an ailing process, DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) is used to design a process from scratch. DFSS strategy designs a process to attain the perfection of Six Sigma. In DFSS, the structured technique is DMADV. While the DMA part is same as defined above, the DV represent Design and Verify. After the DMA is performed, the new system or process should be Designed and Verified to be working as expected.

In whatever I want to do in my life and in whichever area of my life I intend to improve, depending on what my main goal is (to improve on an existing skill or learn a new one for instance), I have come to realize that though unwritten most of the times, my best strategy has been either DMAIC or DMADV. What more could be a process of knowing oneself?

QUALITY HEALTHCARE: THE SIX SIGMA APPROACH

I delivered this paper at a program organized by healthcare providers and would love to share it. Please note that it has been edited for this purpose.

This paper is intended to introduce executives and professionals involved in health care provision to the Six Sigma concept and help them tap into the numerous advantage this strategy present.

Introduction
The world over, businesses are established to meet particular objectives. Business owners employ various strategies to meet these set objectives.

Healthcare delivery though humanitarian in nature is similar to other service provision businesses that are also set up with an aim in mind. While the main aim may not be to maximize profit, it is essential that the venture runs profitably to pay its bills and offer a sane level of return on investment to major financial stakeholders.

The fundamental objective of Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction through the use of specific tools. In healthcare environment, Six Sigma is applied in the improvement of various processes ranging from administrative, improvement of medical process outcomes such as clinical and patient safety. This strategy aims to align and optimise a process by the removal of errors and defects in the process. Quality healthcare is co-dependent on both the facility’s business process and medical service delivery processes.

What is Six Sigma?
Sigma s, is a Greek letter assigned to represent the amount of variation or inconsistency a measurement outcome exhibits. This concept is now adopted in business as a way of measuring variation. It is fair to say that variations are a burden on any business. In healthcare service delivery, the repercussions of variations might be the death of a number of people, legal actions, termination of licence of practice and so on. Six Sigma establishes a framework for quality service delivery through a statistical and systematically defined approach called DMAIC. This five-phased problem solving methodology does the following:

• Defines the problem
• Measure the opportunities
• Analyse current process using a combination of methods and tools taking into account all stakeholders’ view
• Improve the process by making use of the findings in the above process to redesign the current process to reflect the views of the stakeholders
• Control the process to align with the new objective

While these phases may look rigorous, it is the best for the business after all, bitter pills have been known to work magic.

Six Sigma was developed in the early 1980s by Motorola and made popular by GE’s Jack Welch. Businesses have used this process improvement methodology to achieve a monumental success in process improvement. This has led to great financial savings at the end of the day.

Cost of Poor Healthcare Quality
From a quality perspective, Six Sigma aims to achieve a defect level of not more than 3.4 defects in a million opportunities. Translated thus, any medical process is expected to be so perfect that chances of errors are reduced to 3.4 defects in a million cases. This means that 99.997 percent of surgeries, drug mixes at the pharmacy, medical billing, patient interview, medical diagnosis, laboratory examinations and such other processes performed by a medical facility must be perfect. This places an enormous task on practitioners in that they must devise their specific strategies that will eliminate errors and improve patients and overall clients’ satisfaction. An opportunity is defined in this case as a chance for non-conformance. To achieve Six Sigma, a process must eliminate all undesirable results such as waste and rework. In healthcare service delivery, waste and rework cannot be permitted to strive as the most of the time have grave consequences.

Poor quality healthcare service delivery is not limited to the action of quacks or opportunists alone as seasoned professionals are also liable. Quality in healthcare however is not only attributable to an individual such as the nurse, doctor or hospital administrative staff. It is most often a result of poorly implemented or managed process.

What is Quality
Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy given needs. This definition reveals that quality is an all-embracing and inherent service feature. Healthcare service delivery is not only restricted to a patient getting well after doctor’s consultation and medication. Quality healthcare service delivery involves the whole process of administering the services; this includes physical and personal contact made with all arms of the hospital facility. The patient and other stakeholders play a major role in defining those features that are critical to quality. Quality is often best defined by the person receiving the service. An attempt by Healthcare providers to define quality healthcare services is only an attempt in futility.

Benefits of Six Sigma
Six Sigma benefits are endless, but most apparent results are the significant financial returns that result from optimising a process and elimination of defects. Six Sigma implementation has also been known to cause major positive changes in corporate culture.

Summarily, Six Sigma benefits in healthcare service delivery include:
. Reduced Cycle times or turn around times
. Higher efficiency and lower costs
. Lower inventory levels
. Reduced error margins

The above benefits and achievements will ultimately increase:
. Customer satisfaction
. Employee satisfaction
. Higher market share
. Greater profits

Six Sigma Tools
Six Sigma process is data driven. To use data in this systematic problem solving approach, specific tools are used to collect data. Tools like:
. Questionnaires
. Customer surveys
. Focus Group discussions
. Root-cause analysis tools (Pareto Analysis, PERT, Check sheets, DOE, etc)
are all aimed at getting the VOC (Voice of customer). Responses and issues gathered from the administration of these tools are used to further determine the root-cause of identified problems and issues. These tools can also be combined in the analysis of the identified problems and may further be used to sample recommended solutions or even request inputs from customers as to what level of quality they expect or what they consider as important.

The intention of Six Sigma is to move an organization from a traditional to customer-driven organization.

Success Stories of Six Sigma implementation in healthcare
The statistical inclination of Six Sigma makes it a rigorous and robust approach to process re-engineering. The peculiar nature of healthcare delivery service makes it an important industry that cannot afford to thrive on trial and error. Many healthcare facilities have implemented the Six Sigma methodology to achieve excellent results and improvement in their business activities. Aside of this, healthcare facilities in developing economies face huge pressures to reduce cost and lower their bills without a corresponding effect in service delivery.

Summary
Businesses are continuously evolving and becoming user-friendlier and customer-centric. Healthcare service delivery is not an exception in providing quality services. While it aims to provide quality healthcare services, the best definition of quality is the judgement of the patient. This feedback is most important than any explanation that may be rendered for defect in service delivery. Six Sigma provides a rigorous methodology that takes advantage of various tools to review and improve processes to maximize opportunities and save costs. Six Sigma prides itself in reducing wastes, rework, cycle time, save costs and most importantly improve customer satisfaction amongst other benefits.

The increased pressure on healthcare providers in developing countries to provide quality healthcare services at a reduced cost means that service providers have to be proactive utilizing measures that keep them in business without compromising on quality. Six Sigma strategy and its tools also help healthcare providers to arrive at best solution that meets the needs of the patients.

Recently...

Recently, I purchased a book on Six Sigma. Yea, there is nothing special about buying a book on any topic as many people buy books from time to time. But there is something special about this book. Since I developed interest in business process improvement and started reading on this topic, I have not come across a book that tell the story of Six Sigma this way. The title of the book is "Six Sigma Execution" by George Eckes.

Eckes is a master of his art, I tell you. His writing style is so unique. He tells an interesting story without making you loose the essence of the message. I am so pleased with the strategies the book presents.

As a certified Project Manager and Six Sigma Green Belt, I have been opportuned to be a part of several IT and non-IT centric business process improvement projects, but through this book, I have learnt better strategies of executing improvement projects. I am really glad I bought this book.