Tag Archives: Continuous Skills Development

Six Sigma in Hard Economic Times

Posted by on March 7, 2011 Comments Off
Share

Steve Ouelletteby Steve Ouellette

What purpose, if any, does Six Sigma serve in economic downturns? Full disclosure: I teach and consult in Six Sigma and related areas, and you’re reading this article because you’re interested in Six Sigma, so we may not be the most objective people to assess this, but in this article, I will do my best to find the truth.

I remember when I was working as an engineer for a company that made aluminum for aerospace and commercial applications. One of the apparently inevitable downturns in aerospace was occurring and the company was looking to cut costs, critically eyeing headcounts. At the same time, there was a consulting team training and implementing the technology that would one day be called Six Sigma.

Of course the talk around the table in the lab revolved around the uncertainty of the times, and sooner or later someone would begin to complain that the company was spending enough money on consultants each year to avoid laying off four full-time employees. I was torn in what I thought. On the one hand I was a recent hire, and thus first in line for the chopping block, but on the other, I also knew that the benefits the company and employees were accruing from what the consultants had to teach us was enormous. Read more »

Good Trade: Giving Up Our Time and Energy for Success

Posted by on September 22, 2010 Comments Off
Share

D.J. Vanasby D.J. Vanas

Before Europeans arrived on the shores of North America, our Native peoples had a vibrant, robust economy not based on a currency or coin of the realm – but on trade and barter. Buffalo robes were traded for pipestone, pipestone for turquoise and turquoise for corn. It was one great stock exchange with piecemeal trade routes running from Alaska down through South America. These were all seen as good trades.

Remember the scene in Dances with Wolves where Kevin Costner traded his hat for a knife, albeit unwillingly. What did the Indian guy say once the exchange was made? You got it – good trade.

In a very real sense, our entire lives work this way, constantly making decisions to give up something of value in return for something else. Read more »

Eight Ways to Improve Your Presentation Skills

Posted by on August 13, 2010 Comments Off
Share

Don Cooperby Don Cooper, The Sales Heretic™

Great presentation skills are a powerful asset for a salesperson. Lousy presentation skills are a serious liability. Even if you have the best product, service, delivery, warranty and price, a poor sales presentation can shatter your prospect’s confidence in your company, causing them to run in the other direction.

If your presentation skills suck—or aren’t as stellar as you’d like them to be—use some of these strategies to get them up to snuff.

1. Study others
Watch and listen carefully to people who are great presenters. Pay close attention to what they do and how they do it. Notice also what they don’t do. Take detailed notes whenever possible. And if appropriate, ask them for advice. Read more »

Training, Development & the Employment Life Cycle

Posted by on June 7, 2010 Comments Off
Share

acorn near oak treeby Ashley Andrus

“Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.”
14th Century Proverb, Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

The Society for HR Management recently reported that expected hiring levels for May 2010 “could reach levels not seen since 2007″ and that this “spring fling” has led to increased difficulty in hiring qualified candidates.

In conjunction with the increased hiring many organizations will be implementing in coming months, we can also expect many current employees will take the opportunity to job hunt actively as the economy continues to improve and new opportunities open up.

And in the May 2010 Fast Company Magazine, Chip & Dan Heath argue that, “When you own the talent factory, you’ve created a permanent competitive advantage.”

Given these realities, now is a good time to examine the ways in which training and development directly impact YOUR organization’s employment life cycle and some high-return actions you can take to ensure you are positioned to take advantage of improving conditions. Read more »

Continuous Skills Improvement: The Tortoise & The Latte

Posted by on June 29, 2009 Comments Off
Share

stack of coffee cupsby Ashley Andrus

If Starbucks had a Most Valued Customer club I would have it made in the shade.  Those 600 locations they are closing?  Not my fault. Between my 6am get-‘er-done dose, various meetings, and insane afternoons that scream “get me a mocha STAT!” I estimate that I make an average of 2.3 daily visits to some Starbucks somewhere.

This has been my routine for the last 3.5 years. In that period I calculate I’ve consumed somewhere in the neighborhood of 35,259 ounces* of coffee.

That’s 275 gallons of coffee.

1100 quarts.

Heck, if coffee came in beer kegs, I would have consumed almost 18 of them. By myself.

And I did it all one “tall” serving at a time. Read more »

Better Tag Cloud