The Art of Giving Yourself Permission to Think

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Introduction: A Leader’s Guilt 

It’s an all-too-familiar refrain from leaders – they simply don’t have the time to pause and think. Oddly enough, this essential act often carries a heavy burden of guilt. 

We’ve had some leaders in our COE program go as far as to request us block out half-days in their calendars, to give them “permission” to dedicate time to work on their business – and I’m not talking newly crowned team leaders. So the problem runs deep. It seems that if you aren’t producing, you aren’t working. If you don’t LOOK busy, you mustn’t be effective.

The Deep-Rooted Causes: A Closer Look

A deeper dive into this phenomenon reveals a few common threads:

  1. The belief that leaders must always be entrenched in the day-to-day grind alongside their teams.
  2. A pervasive notion that leaders must be visibly “doing” something to prove their worth.
  3. A sense of obligation to be perpetually available, with everyone else’s needs taking precedence.

Digging Deeper: Uncovering Critical Issues

As we delve further, we uncover more critical issues such as:

  1. Single points of dependency within the team.
  2. A lack of a second-in-charge (2IC).
  3. The team is overly reliant on the leader.

The Impending Consequences: Stress, Disengagement, and Business Impact

The consequences of this guilt-driven mentality are substantial. Leaders and their managers fail to learn from the past, they grapple with mounting stress and pressure, team members will lose engagement, and, ultimately, business performance will suffer. But it doesn’t have to unfold this way.

Crafting a New Cadence: The Operating Rhythm

Regaining control over one’s time is achievable through the development of consistent habits, much like individuals starting a new exercise regimen. By establishing a dependable operating rhythm, you can begin to reclaim your precious time. Tracking your time expenditure over a week can serve as a foundational step in shaping your ideal operating rhythm, understanding that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.

Building Reserves: The Bench Strength Strategy

Quickly draft and put into action a second-in-charge (2IC) plan – possibly even multiple 2ICs, considering the various facets requiring delegation. This presents an excellent coaching opportunity.

Breaking Free: Reducing Single Point Dependencies

Take decisive steps to eliminate single point dependencies, even if it takes time to pinpoint them and determine the best resolution – whether that’s through people, processes, or a combination of both.

Mastering Your Clock: Effective Time Management

A wealth of resources is available on the subject of time management, but the key takeaway is to establish and safeguard your thinking time. Determine when you’re most productive, whether it’s in the morning or afternoon, and align your thinking time accordingly. Make sure both your manager and team are aware of your plan and respect it.

Seizing Control: Carving Out Thinking Time

Seize ownership of your time by activating an out-of-office message, disabling email notifications, silencing Microsoft Teams, redirecting your mobile, muting notifications, and powering down social media. The sky won’t come crashing down – most “urgent” matters can afford to wait a few hours.

Conclusion: Embrace the Discipline of Leadership

Leadership is often a high-stress role, but with discipline, organisation, and planning, it can become far more manageable and effective. Grant yourself this invaluable permission to think, facilitated by a consistent operating rhythm, a robust team bench, and astute time management. Embrace the principles of Plan-Do-Study-Adjust, as rarely does perfection come on the first attempt. Study your progress and adjust as needed.

Explore the Transformation

Our COE graduates have discovered the life-changing potential of these practices. Join them on this transformative journey, get all your questions answered here.

The Evolution of Core Operational Excellence

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If you’ve worked across different organisations, you’ve likely noticed that each one has its own unique personality, strengths, and weaknesses. My last corporate role at General Electric profoundly influenced my journey with QBS and the development of the COE program.

Lessons from GE

During my time at General Electric, I gained a deep understanding of operational excellence and continuous improvement. The company had a culture marked by operational clarity and discipline, something I hadn’t encountered before. It operated with a strong customer-centric and data-driven approach, providing an ideal foundation for its relentless pursuit of improvement.  It wasn’t flawless but GE lived and breathed operational intelligence (OQ).

The Stumbling Blocks

This experience opened doors for me in the world of business improvement consulting and training with several prominent Australian corporations. However, we began to notice a common trend: initiatives frequently stalled, and it took a long time to pinpoint the core issues.   Too often the issues pointed to poor operational management practices. We witnessed a lot of spinning wheels.

Bridging the Gap

Even when improvement initiatives were successful, their effects often faded quickly, failing to address broader systemic issues. It became evident that the robust operational disciplines that thrived at GE, serving as a solid foundation for improvement activities, were missing elsewhere. Simultaneously, we realised  these critical skills were not part of most existing leadership programs as they tended to have a focus on soft skill development (eg EQ). This presented a double challenge – a significant gap with no foreseeable solutions.

The Birth of Core Operational Excellence

The concept of Core Operational Excellence emerged as the remedy for this identified gap. Instead of enrolling a multitude of individuals in business improvement training (typically frontline team members), the focus shifted to developing leaders in the principles of operational excellence, raising their OQ. This approach provided a strong groundwork for future improvement endeavors and naturally complemented existing leadership programs – a harmonious pairing.

Our Recipe for Success

We observed that as leaders navigated through the daily challenges, they gained a clearer perspective on the deeper-rooted issues that demanded further attention. Much of the program’s success can be attributed to its design, delivery, and coaching by experienced leaders, for leaders. We speak your language, understand your pain points, and happen to excel in facilitation and coaching as well!

Learn more about the facilitators of the Core Operational Excellence programs that QBS run here.

Effective Workload Management: Why hiring isn’t the answer to your resource shortages

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Too much work, not enough people.

How often do leaders complain about being under-resourced? Chances are, you’ve probably said it yourself at some point. We are in a crisis of talent, and it seems there are never enough people to get it all done. 

We hear it all the time, working with leaders across some of the largest organisations in Australia.

But things aren’t always what they seem!

When was the last time you ever heard someone say they have too many resources? 

It has likely NEVER happened, right? And it’s almost Law that it won’t ever happen. And by Law I mean, Parkinson’s Law. Parkinson’s Law is a concept stating that work tends to expand to fit the available time (or contract, if the time is limited).

So even if you had the budget to hire more staff, if you could get your hands on them, you could still have a disengaged and inefficient workforce. Or in some cases, they’re so disengaged they are searching for new opportunities!

The struggle is real

While your team struggles to keep up with the workload, your customers become dissatisfied, and as always, the business demands increased efficiencies. 

Perhaps you’ve tried:

  • Setting challenging targets for your team or launched campaigns to clear the backlog. However, like a crash diet, the problems tend to resurface. 
  • Discussing with your team the possibility of discontinuing certain activities? Admittedly, saying no is never easy.

But failing to find ways to achieve this can lead to it being imposed upon you, often in the form of supplier savings or staff reductions, particularly in service-based organisations. It feels like a never-ending cycle, doesn’t it?

So if hiring isn’t the answer, what is?

This challenge is a familiar one, but exceptional leaders take proactive steps to manage demand and capacity effectively. Here are some starting points:

Data-Driven Insights: Before requesting additional personnel, you need to understand where your current team is investing their time. While people aren’t machines, it’s crucial to have some data, even if it’s an approximate estimate. Be transparent and realistic but avoid time sheets, which can reinforce Parkinson’s Law. Identify all the tasks, their frequency and how long the tasks should take, accounting for team proficiency. Don’t conceal rework. Find the right level of granularity to gain valuable insights without getting bogged down.

Responsive Planning: Armed with insights into your team’s workload, you can make informed decisions regarding training and managing annual leave. Recognise that your employees aren’t at work every single day of the year, with as much as 30% of their time potentially spent elsewhere. It’s a significant percentage that warrants careful management and strategic investment.

Reducing Waste with Collaborative Systems Thinking: When cost-cutting becomes necessary, think of it like a balloon. Squeezing the balloon will cause the air to escape between your fingers. Instead, aim to take the air out of the balloon entirely – eliminate the need for the cost. Your data can help prioritise where to start. Begin by addressing “failure demand” through collaborative root cause analysis. Failure demand refers to the time spent due to a failure somewhere within the ecosystem, such as fixing, chasing, or responding – it’s essentially wasted time. The data will also highlight activities consuming a significant amount of time, making them ideal candidates for collaborative value stream analysis.

In conclusion, by combining analysis, proactivity, and collaboration, you can effectively manage your team’s workload and overcome cost challenges. This approach will result in increased productivity, higher engagement, and happier customers. It’s a smarter way of working – less stressful and more efficient.

Ready to read more about building team morale, try this blog about harnessing the zen of leadership here.

Tackling Backlogs with Queuing Theory: A Strategic Approach

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Do you find yourself facing several operational challenges?

Here’s the scenario:

  • Your team’s backlog is growing, even though there doesn’t seem to be an increase in demand.
  • Your team is putting in a lot of effort.
  • You’re consistently missing delivery targets, and cycle times are expanding.
  • Efforts to enhance efficiency are falling flat.
  • Adding more personnel isn’t an option, and even if it were, it wouldn’t happen quickly.

You might hope that these issues will somehow resolve themselves, but what will you do when they recur? What kind of impact does it have on your customers and employees? Where is the breaking point? If you can’t regain control of the situation, the damage to your business could be substantial, and you might lose control over it entirely – not an ideal scenario.

We’re here to help by shedding light on the science of queuing theory, offering practical insights into the factors driving these challenges. While it’s a complex field, we’ll demystify it for you in a straightforward way.

Understanding All Work as a Process

When we view all work as a process (even if it doesn’t resemble a production line), we begin to think about flow. Every process involves an input, a transformation (involving people, systems, or machines), and an output. Our ecosystem comprises numerous processes, each with its unique characteristics.

The Role of Variation

Variation refers to changes or slight differences that are commonplace. For instance, it could involve variations in input volume or quality, team members’ skills, or the process they follow. The impact of variation can vary across different processes and ecosystems – some are more affected than others. However, one thing is clear: if left unmanaged, it significantly impacts your end results, especially in terms of cycle time, turnaround time, or end-to-end time – essentially the same thing.

The Science of Queues

When we talk about queues, we’re referring to the same queues you encounter at the supermarket, in the emergency department, on the phone, or at traffic lights – situations where something or someone is waiting. Queuing theory has given rise to various formulas used to estimate queue times. Instead of delving into the formulas, we’ll provide you with the key takeaways:

Queue times increase when:

  • You have less people available (a rather obvious factor).
  • The time required to complete the work increases, often due to increased complexity.
  • Demand surges, driven by factors like growth or seasonality.
  • Utilisation (i.e., how busy you are) rises. When it approaches 100%, queues can spiral out of control – picture filling a bucket; if you keep pouring water when it’s already full, it overflows, and there’s no capacity to contain it.

Now, here’s the kicker

Queue times increase EXPONENTIALLY with variations in inputs or processes. Think differing motivation levels, demand fluctuations, or varying case complexities.

The impacts are far more severe when operating at higher utilisation levels. We often see organisations striving for efficiency by operating at high utilisation settings, but if there’s a lot of unmanaged variation, it comes at the expense of customer experience.

Conclusion: Strategic Solutions

There are systematic and strategic ways to address queuing theory challenges – either by reducing or managing the sources of variation within your ecosystem. In our Core Operational Excellence program, we teach and coach leaders to do just that in real time.

Mastering Analytical Thinking: The Future of Skills

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The Power of Analytical Thinking

Have you ever encountered individuals who cherry-pick facts and data to bolster their opinions, disregarding anything that doesn’t align with their narrative? There’s a good chance they lack the ability to derive meaningful and accurate insights from data. It’s rather ironic that in our increasingly data-rich world, so few know how to wield this information effectively. What we need is more analytics and fewer anecdotes.

The Research Verdict: Analytical Thinking Reigns Supreme

And the research solidly backs this up! According to the World Economic Forum’s 2023 “The Future of Jobs” report, analytical thinking is considered the most crucial skill. DeakinCo’s L&D research, which surveyed 200 organisations, also revealed that three of the top five reported skill gaps revolved around analytical thinking:

  1. critical thinking and problem-solving, 
  2. data analysis, and 
  3. data literacy.

Analytical and Creative Thinking: Complementary Forces

Analytical thinking goes a long way in enhancing our understanding of business dynamics, ultimately facilitating more effective decision-making. It transforms us into better leaders who pose more insightful questions to our teams – not just different questions, but better ones.

It’s essential to recognise that analytical thinking and creative thinking aren’t at odds with each other. Analytical thinking involves the capacity to tackle complex issues by evaluating information. Analytical thinkers can uncover patterns within datasets, often leading to creative and innovative solutions. In essence, these two skills complement each other harmoniously.

Overcoming the Fear: Building Analytical Skills

Many of our participants confess, “Data is not my friend” or “I’m more comfortable with words than numbers.” Spreadsheets often strike fear into their hearts. They’ve often convinced themselves they’re not cut out for it, before even giving it a shot. The good news is that acquiring these skills isn’t overly difficult, but learners need to see the relevance and have opportunities to practice in a supportive environment.

Bridging the Gap: External Expertise and Analytics

One challenge we’ve observed is the gap between some business leaders (whose performance is evaluated in very concrete terms) and HR/L&D functions, which might not hold the same appreciation for analytical skills. In such cases, it’s common to enlist external expertise to bridge this skills gap.

Our COE graduates, for instance, hone their analytical skills by analysing their actual processes with their own data – no hypothetical case studies here. This approach helps them become comfortable with data, enabling them to pose more profound questions. Consequently, they cease reacting solely to the latest data point and instead unearth the root causes of issues, granting them more time to concentrate on what truly matters. We teach our graduates to manage the patterns not the points! They discover they’re sitting on an ocean of data but were missing out on the valuable insights it holds.

Unearthing Opportunities: A Case Study

One recent graduate employed a straightforward analysis we assisted with to focus his team on the most significant opportunity areas, quickly realising over $2 million in benefits. COE graduates have shattered numerous myths through their analytical prowess.

Conclusion: Transforming Leaders through Analytical Thinking

Do you have leaders who could benefit from training on making data-driven decisions? Don’t hesitate to transform them into well-rounded leaders by developing their analytical thinking skills. Start the journey by checking out our COE program here.

The Leadership Gap: Setting Your Leaders Up for Success

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Do you remember your first leadership role? I do. 

In an instant, I shifted from managing my own tasks to overseeing a national team of 8 staff and 30 contractors. My responsibilities now encompassed OPEX, CAPEX, and the successful delivery of customer contracts. You might have excelled at the technical aspects of your team’s work, but that’s history now, and the transition can be unnecessarily challenging.

Fast Forward to Your Current Leaders

Are you grappling with leaders who seem to struggle with achieving their set goals? They might be stuck in the relentless cycle of crisis management, reacting to present and immediate demands, or operating at the level of team members, without taking that essential step up. Perhaps they’re making poor decisions or, worse yet, not learning from these missteps.

How Will This Unfold?

In response, you might find yourself shouldering additional coaching and guidance duties. As a result, business KPIs and goals could slip through the cracks on your watch. If this situation persists, you might find yourself facing imposed changes.

The Training Dilemma

Your leaders have likely completed the standard leadership training, usually focusing on compliance essentials. Some may have received specialised training in areas like coaching, conflict management, or emotional intelligence. The fortunate few might even have had opportunities for leadership development as emerging leaders. But this scenario is all too familiar – well-trained leaders often find themselves ill-prepared for the complexities of their roles, and it’s not their fault. Your leadership development hasn’t equipped them for success as they usually lack developing operational intelligence (OQ) skills.  As a result, they will resort to familiar ‘doing’ tasks rather than focusing on strategic business aspects.

Acumen and Action

To effectively and efficiently deliver business outcomes, like enhancing customer satisfaction, boosting productivity, and elevating employee engagement, leaders need the insight to recognise the right levers to pull before it’s too late. This involves identifying early warning signals and selecting the appropriate response while avoiding overreactions. It’s a combination of science and art, honed through practice and self-reflection.

Plan, Do, Study, Adjust

In pursuit of continuous improvement, leaders must cultivate a habit of reflective practice. Whether reviewing a critical decision, addressing a complex issue, or evaluating a coaching session, setting aside time for study and adjustment ensures incremental improvement. It demands discipline, especially in a fast-paced environment where immediate action often seems like the only option.

Data-Driven Leadership

The research is compelling – the World Economic Forum’s 2018, 2020 and 2023 “The Future of Jobs” report emphasises that analytical thinking is the most crucial skill gap. DeakinCo’s L&D research echoes this, identifying three of the top five skill gaps as directly linked to analytical thinking:

  1. critical thinking and problem-solving,
  2. data analysis, and
  3. data literacy.

Encouraging analytical thinking in your leaders is a must. Empowering your leaders for success will revolutionise your business, your team, and your own role. Conversations with your leaders will become more productive and less filled with surprises, perhaps even eliminating them entirely. Your business will continuously improve, consistently meeting its targets, and confidently embracing new challenges as they arise.

If you resonate with what you’ve read here, and think there might be some hard skills gaps in your organisation, then it’s time to check out our Core Operational Excellence program.

“The Ask” and How It Will Transform Your Organisation

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In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, organisations face numerous challenges, from declining employee engagement to ineffective leadership. Traditional management approaches often fall short, leaving organisations searching for effective solutions. In this blog, we delve into the power of an Ask environment as a transformative approach that empowers employees and drives organisational success. If you’re looking to achieve operational excellence for leaders, enhance productivity, improve customer experience, and boost employee engagement, keep reading.

The Pitfalls of Telling: Why Directing and Commanding Fall Short

In many organisations, leaders rely on a command-and-control management style, where they tell employees what to do without fostering problem-solving skills or independence. However, this approach creates dependency, stifles creativity, and fails to tap into the collective knowledge and insights of the workforce. If you’re seeking to improve productivity and achieve operational excellence, consider alternatives that unlock the true potential of your people.

The Illusion of Short-Term Fixes: Unpacking Failed Strategies

In the pursuit of improving employee engagement and leadership development, organisations often resort to short-term fixes. Campaigns, target-setting, and training courses are commonly employed but ultimately prove temporary and ineffective. These approaches neglect the underlying causes, drive unhelpful behaviors, and fail to provide the practical knowledge and skills necessary for sustainable change. To achieve lasting improvements in customer experience, employee engagement, and operational excellence, it’s essential to address the root causes.

Enter the Ask Environment: Empowering Employees and Fostering Engagement

Imagine a workplace where leaders shift from telling to asking and listening more. This is the essence of an Ask environment—a transformative approach that empowers employees, fosters engagement, and unlocks the collective intelligence within your organisation. By recognising the expertise of your workforce, encouraging problem-solving, and building a culture of trust and collaboration, you can improve customer satisfaction, enhance productivity, and drive operational excellence.

The Benefits of an Ask Environment: Driving Transformation and Results

When organisations embrace an Ask environment, remarkable things happen. Employee engagement soars as individuals feel empowered and valued for their contributions. Decision-making improves, as leaders tap into the collective wisdom of their teams. Problem-solving capabilities thrive, as diverse perspectives are embraced and innovative solutions emerge. By nurturing an Ask environment, you create a sense of ownership, foster innovation, and drive transformative results, leading to business excellence and operational optimisation.

Unlock the Power of an Ask Environment with Leadership Training and Consulting

The time has come to shift the paradigm of traditional management. Embracing an Ask environment is not only about transforming your organisation—it’s about empowering your people to reach new heights of success. At QBS, we are consultants specialising in operational excellence, offering high-impact practical management and leadership training. We provide training in systems thinking, critical thinking, problem-solving, and operations management. Our expertise in business improvement, process optimisation, and culture change will help you improve productivity, enhance customer experience, and boost employee engagement.

Conclusion:

In a world where employee engagement and effective leadership are vital for organisational success, the power of an Ask environment cannot be overstated. By moving away from telling and embracing a culture of asking and listening, you empower your people, unlock their potential, and drive transformative results. The journey towards an Ask environment begins with a mindset shift.    Speak with QBS about how we sustainably change mindsets in our leadership programs.   Together, let’s empower your people and transform your organisation into a thriving, engaged, and innovative force in the business world.

Revitalisation: From Crisis to Collaboration with QBS

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Before partnering with QBS, a large IT&T company found itself grappling with significant challenges. External consultants were brought in, hoping to “fix” the organisation, but their presence was intrusive and costly. Meanwhile, the leaders were lurching from one problem to the next, without the necessary skills to break free from this cycle. Operational management skills were lacking, leaving the organisation ill-equipped to navigate budget cuts and meet their targets.

Lacking Buy-In

They had previously attempted various solutions, such as process owners and restructures. They embraced big initiatives proposed by consultants, complete with catchy phrases and large central program offices. However, these efforts proved ineffective as they lacked buy-in and local ownership. The internally developed leadership programs fell short, as they focused on soft skills and failed to address the crucial operational management skills required.

Tangible Improvements

QBS stepped in and introduced an approach that started with executives and senior leaders, then middle managers, finally trickled down to emerging leaders and individual contributors through four distinct yet interconnected programs. The language used was approachable, avoiding jargon, and the focus shifted towards practical, localised improvements rather than overwhelming end-to-end initiatives. Participants found the content refreshing and insightful, granting them a fresh perspective on their work. The immediate application of what they learned, combined with a collaborative approach, brought about tangible improvements in how they managed their functions.

Demand

Key takeaways from the experience included the significance of a top-down approach, getting senior leaders actively involved and speaking the same language. The selection process was crucial, ensuring participants had the right mindset for learning and growth. By deliberately holding back demand, curiosity and enthusiasm were cultivated. Some individuals struggled with managing and prioritising their time, highlighting the need for the program. To provide impetus to make it a priority, the company was emphatic that the program was a core business requirement and should be reflected in scorecards rather than dismissed as a mere developmental activity. The qualification obtained at the program’s conclusion became a highly valued personal reward for participants’ efforts.

Widening Impact

Achieving success required reframing the program as operational improvement, shifting away from conventional L&D approaches. Business leaders funded the program, rather than relying on a centralised HR budget. Initially, there was resistance from senior leaders who questioned the program’s applicability to a technology company, but the results spoke for themselves, leaving the skeptics behind. Pushback from leaders seeking centralised initiatives was skillfully addressed by showcasing graduates who passionately advocated for the program’s effectiveness. The program was strategically marketed internally, bringing different business areas onboard to deepen and widen its impact.  It became very clear when you were talking to someone who had been on one of the QBS programs – they had a mindset and language that set them apart.

Changed Mindsets

Over a five year period, QBS facilitated a total of 85 groups spread across four programs. Survey feedback was outstanding with 100% of COE graduates recommending the program, 100% reporting it had changed their mindset and self-reported financial benefits averaging $250,000 per annum per COE graduate. 

They wholeheartedly recommend the COE program and QBS due to their expertise and commitment. QBS’s approach stands out by avoiding the need to keep a revolving door of consultants, constantly seeking new projects. Their flexibility allowed the program to be tailored to specific needs. QBS provided invaluable feedback and insights, making internal connections for participants by highlighting existing teams and their successes.

In conclusion, the partnership with QBS led to transformative changes, enabling them to overcome their challenges, develop over 1000 effective leaders, and achieve sustainable operational improvements. Through QBS’s guidance, the organisation discovered the power of collaborative, practical approaches, empowering their teams to thrive in the face of complexity.

Bye Bye Outsourcing: Be the Hero of Your Own Problems and Optimise Your Operating Model!

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In today’s ever-changing business world, organisations face a simple truth: you can’t outsource your problems. You have probably tried restructures, (more like shuffling deck chairs) or the death spiral of external consultants swarming all over your staff with no real benefit.

So maybe it’s time to take charge and fix your own challenges. It is likely to be the only solution that will stand the test of time. 

Embracing Responsibility: Be the Hero of Your Own Problems

Tackling those internal pain points before seeking external help is crucial. If you aren’t addressing the pain points before you move a process or function internally (and especially externally) then you are on a sure track to your processes becoming distant and still broken! So let’s chat about how you go about it.

Identify Your Performance Objectives: The Power Players of a Successful Ecosystem 

Every ecosystem has its performance objectives, the real judges of success: quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, and cost. Now, here’s the thing—there will be different definitions for each ecosystem and different relative weightings of importance, but at the core, customers are the lifeblood of any business.  There are particular operational decisions that you can make to balance their needs with your business priorities – you can have your cake and eat it!

Seeing Work as Processes: The Magic Ingredient for Optimisation

So it’s a fact… All work is a process! Some are more structured, some are a bit more “go with the flow.” But when you see everything through a process lens, that’s where the magic happens. By optimising and refining your processes, you’ll unlock the sweet spot of efficiency, effectiveness, and business-differentiating performance. It’s time to let the process be your guide and become a lean, mean optimisation machine!

The 4Vs Framework: Your Secret Weapon for Operating Model Design

The 4Vs framework is like having a secret weapon for operating model design. This framework helps you compare characteristics like volume, variety, variation, and visibility across your business. Wanna optimise processes, customer segments, and delivery channels? Using the 4Vs framework you can fine-tune that cost to serve and simultaneously gain a significant competitive edge.

Continuously Evolving Your Operating Model: Unleash Your Inner Changemaker

Ready to shake things up and try a different approach? Then it’s time you say ‘bye bye’ to outsourcing and hello to optimising your operating model with a continuous improvement mindset.

If you resonate with what you’ve read here, but think there might be some hard skills gaps in your organisation, then it’s time to check out our Core Operational Excellence program.

Breaking Free from Learned Helplessness: Empowering Change through QBS’s COE Journey

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Before engaging with QBS, this organisation was struggling to change behaviours and achieve operational and business improvement. It faced a culture that lacked focus on the customer and failed to effectively engage with team members. Additionally, leaders were primarily technical specialists, lacking the necessary skills to drive meaningful change.

Addressing underlying issues

They had previously attempted traditional training programs that focused on standard operational and business improvement tools. However, these efforts fell short of expectations and the client realised that simply providing training did not address the underlying cultural issues or challenge our thinking. It was missing the crucial aspect of double-loop learning, which was essential for driving sustainable change.

QBS, through its Core Operational Excellence (COE) program, provided a transformative solution. Anita, with her unique approach and expertise, introduced what was fondly referred to as “gold dust” into the organisation. The Operational Excellence Leadership Programs she led challenged leaders to reflect on and improve their engagement with their teams, stakeholders, and the overall strategic and practical aspects of their business roles. The collaborative workshop discussions and adaptable frameworks offered by QBS enabled leaders to apply their learnings directly within their teams, fostering critical thinking and a continuous improvement mindset. The COE experience was a deep learning journey, following the 70/20/10 learning model.

Cost reductions

Some key takeaways and learnings included substantial improvements in cost reductions, process efficiencies, employee engagement, and customer experience. Although business benefits were not formalised or quantified, the program more than paid for itself which was evident from the feedback provided by participants. The responsibility of funding the program shifted to the business leaders themselves, enhancing accountability and ownership. Regular updates and progress reports were crucial to maintaining momentum and ensuring continued leadership support.

Learned helplessness

Throughout the program, there were some challenges including instances of learned helplessness among individuals.  It became apparent that not everyone had the skills they claimed. COE identified these weaknesses. Implementing real change required significant time and commitment, and some individuals were not willing to invest the necessary effort.

To embark on this transformative journey, robust leadership engagement was required. While the client was accustomed to demanding a return on investment for our expenditure, they consciously avoided setting strict financial targets for the program. They understood the risks of focusing solely on monetary gains and wanted to prioritise the cultural shift. Seeing the effective cultural transformation became the measure of success.

Honest, clear and holistic-thinking facilitators 

“Anita is a one of the most honest, clear and holistic-thinking facilitators of change in her field. She is a rare find and a gem. I’d work with her again in a heartbeat as I know she would bring thought-leadership and professional dedication to whatever is assigned.” says Jen.

The true beauty of COE emerges when multiple layers of management and teams speak the same language and strive towards common objectives. This alignment brings about a significant step change in mindset and outcomes. With nearly 500 COE graduates, many have gone on to achieve remarkable things, and the executives still reflect on the invaluable lessons they learned years later.