The statistics in this column should alarm you.  What was predicted five or 10 years ago is beginning to come about in 2008: the first Baby Boomers started to turn 62 this year, and many are downshifting into part-time careers and/or altogether heading for retirement.  In fact, Minnesota will see a 30% increase in workers turning 62 beginning in 2008 – in the same year we will see high school graduates peak and then begin to decline.  The bottom line: the emerging workforce shortage will have a major impact on organizations’ capacity to continue to produce products (or execute core services) and on their overall ability to grow and achieve results.  It might also have impact on our standard of living…

In a September 2007 newsletter column (http://www.councilforquality.org/about_newsletter.cfm), I cited some statistics on the workforce shortage: the US Department of Labor forecasts a shortage of 3 million workers by 2012, and an additional 10 million positions will go unfilled because workers lack the specialized skills required to fill vacancies.  I believe these numbers are still true (and concerning enough), until I attended a Strategic Leadership Insights session last month hosted by the University of Minnesota’s College of Continuing Education (http://www.cce.umn.edu/corporateeducation/leadershipinsights/previous/index.html).  The speaker, Tom Gillaspy, Minnesota State Demographer, presented some startling data that presents a compelling case for action for Minnesota (and the entire US).  His presentation basically flowed as follows…

Minnesota has been successful the last 30+ years, especially for a “cold weather” state:

• Minnesota’s per capita income was 6.7% above the national average in 2007, and Minnesota ranks ninth in the country with median family income.
• Minnesota is fully employed: we are second in the nation, with a 76.9% employment rate.
• Minnesota has the eighth lowest poverty rate.
• Minnesota is first in the country in the percentage with health insurance.
• Minnesota is first in the country in home ownership.
• Minnesota is second in the US in ranking of health (according to United Health Foundation).

Gillaspy theorizes that our state’s prosperity is due largely to the high quality of education in Minnesota (we’re first in the country in at least high school degrees with 91%, we’re twelfth with at least a bachelor’s degree, and we’re second in ACT scores).  Education has been a key contributor to the state’s success, because basically: the better our education, the better our workforce; the better our workforce, the more our businesses grow; and the more our businesses grow, the more prosperity (income, low poverty, better health, etc.) we enjoy.

Indeed, Minnesota’s population growth rate leads the “frost belt” states of New England and the Upper Midwest, in large part because of our highly educated workforce: people have migrated here because of better jobs (not because of the weather!).  In the short run, “economics dominates demographics.”

But times are changing, and the data foreshadowing our future are a bit concerning:

• As I mentioned at the outset, Minnesota will see a 30% increase in workers turning 62 – and eligible for social security – beginning in 2008.  And this increase is projected to continue at least each of the next five years (in fact, over the next five years, we expect over 220,000 Minnesotans to turn 62).  Many of these highly skilled and highly experienced workers are beginning to retire.
• This is at the same time that there are not enough young employees to replace them: total Minnesota high school graduates will peak at just under 65,000 in 2008-09, and then begin to decline to around 57,000/year in 2014-15.
• Meanwhile, Minnesota’s “in-migration” (people moving to the state) fell in the early 2000’s from its peak of around 90,000/year to about 77,000/year.  This is at a time that “out-migration” is at its highest – around 85,000/year – since the mid-80s.  If you do the math, there have been more people moving away the last five years than moving into Minnesota – that’s negative migration, leading further to the workforce shortage.

What does all of this mean for Minnesota?  Well if our past prosperity was due to the abundance of highly skilled/educated workers (which, by the way, apparently fed off of itself, as people moved to Minnesota for these good jobs) and we are seeing an increase in retirements, a decrease in graduating young workers, and a negative migration of existing adult workers…then we might begin to see the workforce shortage have an impact on our historically strong economic indictors.  And this may already be starting to happen:

• While per capita income was 6.7% above the national average in 2007 (as mentioned above), our economic growth rate is slowing: Minnesota’s 3.6% increase in per capita income 2000-07 lagged the national increase of 3.7%, placing us 35th in growth in the country. 

Indeed, our status as a prosperous state is tenuous.

But there’s worse news.  While those data don’t bode well for Minnesota, I suspect – although the actual numbers may be a little different – it’s a similar story for the US in aggregate when compared to other countries and economies: our education system is slipping, our population growth is slower than other countries, and consequently our relative economic prosperity is at risk in the long-term.

So, aside from the obvious public policy issues, what should organizations be doing now to prepare for the inevitable and emerging workforce crisis?  Here are some ideas:

* Keep employees happy.  Sounds simple enough.  But this may be the single biggest thing organizations can do to mitigate the predicted workforce shortage: don’t lose your existing workforce.  Determine the factors that lead to your employees’ satisfaction and engagement, and systematically measure how your organization performs.  Maintain good relations with all of your employees; recognize differing needs of different workforce segments; reward and recognize good performance in a way that’s meaningful for individual employees.  Create an environment that facilitates good communication, cooperation, high performance, and motivation.  Create a work climate that ensures and improves workplace health, safety, and security.  And make sure that you are supporting your workforce with appropriate policies, services, and benefits, tailored to different work groups and segments.

* Identify “critical talent” and work to retain these workers.  All workers are important, but some have skills that are critical to and organization’s strategy or product/service delivery.  Organizations should identify those critical skills and then identify the people within the organization who possess these skills.  In addition, organizations should develop succession plans for these critical employees (and they may not all be in leadership positions) so that knowledge can be transferred systematically before key employees leave the organization.

* Train and develop your workforce, focusing on further developing your organization’s core competencies, addressing your strategic challenges, and developing leaders of the future.  Traditional training is indeed useful for building skills, but also consider non-traditional development mechanisms to build skills and transfer knowledge – mechanisms such as job shadowing, mentoring, simulation, and other more collaborative training methods.  The goal here is not just to build skills, but to “get inside” one employee’s head and transfer much of that expertise to other employees.

* Build systematic ways to transfer knowledge and skills among employees.  Build a mentoring process, create knowledge clearinghouses, design work systems and structures that encourage information exchange.  Technology can be a tremendous way of capturing and disseminating knowledge: tools like data warehouses, customer relationship databases, enterprise resource planning software, best practice catalogs, and so forth can be very effective at spreading knowledge across the organization.  But be sure to make these mechanisms accessible, user-friendly, and reliable so that they are indeed used.

* Adapt to different work styles.  As the workforce continues to become more and more diverse, organizations can adapt to these changes by demonstrating greater flexibility toward employees.  For example, research shows that older workers are most effective early in the day while many younger workers perform better later in the day or even at night, so organizations might look at flextime and other programs to leverage the talent they have.

* Eliminate organizational waste.  An estimated 20-40% of organizational activity is not value-added (meaning it doesn’t create value for customers, shareholders, employees, or other stakeholders).  Get rid of it.  Not only is it frustrating your employees (and likely your customers), but it is wasting resources.  Theoretically, if you eliminate 20% of non-value-added activity, you have just “found” capacity for your workers to focus on more meaningful tasks.  This means you should intensely focus on process and technology improvements.

That’s what organizations SHOULD be doing, but what are they?  Unfortunately, not enough.  According to a 2005 AARP report (“The Business Case for Workers Age 50+”), which was prepared by Towers Perrin, 29% are creating succession plans, 21% are offering flexible scheduling, 20% are creating bridge employment, 18% are trying to capture organizational knowledge, 16% are increasing recruiting, 10% are offering phased/gradual retirement, and 6% are increasing training.  But the number one response in that survey: 32% of companies are doing nothing.  That’s scary.

To address the inevitable workforce shortage – and corresponding brain drain – that will undoubtedly hit most Minnesota and US organizations in the next few years, organizations should take systematic steps today to improve (or maintain) good relationships with their workforce – especially their more skilled, experienced workers.  They should also be doing everything possible to increase productivity by improving their enterprise – their processes, technology, knowledge, and supporting infrastructure.

Yours in Improvement,

Brian S. Lassiter

President, Minnesota Council for Quality

The Minnesota Council for Quality, in cooperation with of International Management Technologies (IMT) and the  Wisconsin Forward Award, is proud to offer three webinars in June focused on identifying customers, clarifying how they truly define value, and delivering what they really want.

These 2-hour sessions are conducted by Robin Lawton in an unusually interactive, humorous style that you will find both memorable and practical to apply.  Rob is a best-selling author and was recently ranked #1 out of 88 speakers by an international organization, and these webinars received very high customer satisfaction when offered earlier this year.

Each of these content-rich, thought provoking sessions gives you the essence of what would be covered in a full-day face-to-face workshop -- but in a fraction of the time and cost:

• June 3, 11:00 to 1:00 CT: Innovation vs. Stuff That Stinks
• June 17, 11:00 to 1:00 CT: 8 Dimensions of Excellence
• June 24, 11:00 to 1:00 CT: The 12 Voices of the Customer

These sessions are intended for executives, managers, change agents, innovation leaders, Six Sigma practitioners, and project teams. Attend with a few colleagues for maximum learning, application, and impact.  You will receive a downloadable file, with visuals, notes, tools, and references -- all that helps make the content more actionable.

Price per event is $195/person.  Discounts (of 35-40%) are available for members who register 7+ days in advance (and for groups/sites) and use promtion code MCQ.

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to announce the recent election of three new judges to the 2008 Minnesota Quality Award Panel of Judges:

Don Berglund, CEO, Memorial Blood Centers of Minnesota

Gary Floss, Director of Quality Assurance and Continual Improvement, Marvin Windows & Doors

Dave Weber, Chief of Strategic Operations, Rochester Community and Technical College

The three newly elected judges replace Ann Burns (Chief Judge), Customer Service Manager, Cargill Kitchen Solutions (Sunny Fresh Foods); Linda Mazzuco, Lead Quality Analyst, Lawson Software; Pat O’Boyle, Fire-Formed Consulting, the latter two having served the maximum term of six years as judges.

“The 13-member Minnesota Quality Award Panel of Judges includes representatives from all sectors, including manufacturing, service, healthcare, education, and non-profit,” says Brian Lassiter, president of the MN Council for Quality.  “They represent leaders in their fields and have tremendous knowledge, expertise of what drives organizational excellence, and leadership experience upon which to judge the levels of performance excellence of Minnesota organizations.”

The primary role of the Panel of Judges is to determine levels of recognition for organizations participating in the Minnesota Quality Award.  Judges also provide coaching and feedback to evaluation teams as they conduct organizational assessments for the Award.

Founded in 1991, the primary objective of the Minnesota Quality Award is to help organizations improve their performance results.  The Award also serves to recognize performance excellence throughout the state.  The Minnesota Quality Award is given at four levels -- Excellence (the top Award), Achievement, Advancement, and Commitment -- and is the culmination of a rigorous assessment process that uses the Criteria for Performance Excellence of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.  Since 1991, 97 organizations have received recognition at various levels; a full list can be found at http://www.councilforquality.org/assess_org_award.cfm.

Organizations that participate in the process receive comprehensive feedback that outlines their strengths and improvement opportunities along several dimensions: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, information, and knowledge management; workforce focus; process management; and results.  This feedback is used for organizational learning, planning, and improvement.

The current Panel of Judges include the following members: Dr. Debra Bowers, St. Louis Park Schools; Don Berglund, Memorial Blood Centers; Jean Bronk (Chief Judge), M.A. Mortenson Company; Karen Copp, Hennepin County; Gary Floss, Marvin Windows and Doors; Dr. Julie Furst-Bowe, University of Wisconsin-Stout; Dr. Steve Hagedorn, Mayo Clinic Rochester; Cheryl Hermann, Allina Hospitals & Clinics; Jim Hill, Xcel Energy; Dr. Mary Ann Nelson, Minnesota Department of Education (retired); Sylvia Rolfs, Rolfs & Associates; Rachelle Schultz, Winona Health; Dave Weber, Rochester Community and Technical College.

Are you interested in learning more about what makes organizations successful?  Are you interested in helping other organizations -- such as schools, hospitals, non-profits, and businesses -- around the state improve their performance?  Would you be interested in networking, learning, and sharing with others who feel the same way?

The Minnesota Council for Quality is seeking candidates for the 2008 Minnesota Quality Award Board of Evaluators.  The second training session in 2008 is June 17-19 in Rochester.

There are many benefits to becoming an Evaluator, such as:

• strengthening your understanding of what drives organizational excellence (the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence represent a validated set of best practices for organizational excellence, and can be useful for improving any organization’s performance),
• networking with influential leaders and professionals (this year’s Board of Evaluators will include about 150 leaders from around the state – executives, middle managers, surgeons and physicians, superintendents and school teachers, non-profit and public sector leaders, quality professionals, and consultants),
• seeing “best practices” deployed within another organization – knowledge that you could use back at your organization and/or in your career, helping organizations throughout the state – many of them schools, health care providers, non-profits, public sector agencies, and certainly businesses – improve their performance…simply get better at what they do, and
• developing a set of other professional skills that may help you advance your career – skills such as consensus- and team-building, written communication, verbal communication and interpersonal skills, interviewing, analysis, and systems thinking.

Most Evaluators consider the experience to be among the most valuable of their careers.  In fact, many have claimed that the experience and knowledge gained from this process rivals getting an MBA or advanced business degree.

Furthermore, Evaluators can earn college (undergrad and post-grad) credit for participating in training.  For interested Evaluators, the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Stout both offer three (3) hours of credit in partnership with the Minnesota Council for Quality.

If you are interested in joining the 2008 Board of Evaluators, the second (of three) training sessions of 2008 will be June 17-19 in Rochester.  In addition to the full three-day training session, new Evaluators are also required to attend a one-day orientation (either May 29, June 3, or June 4).

Applications for new Evaluators are due 5/23.  Applications for returning Evaluators (which only require updates from your most recent application) are due 6/6 (returning Evaluators: significant changes to the process will reduce the time required for pre-work/training and evaluation in 2008).

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to announce that it recently received a $40,000 capacity building grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation, St. Paul.  The grant is intended to help the Council build capacity so that it can better serve its members and stakeholders and more effectively sustain its mission of helping individuals, organizations, and communities improve their performance and reach higher levels of excellence.

“Over the last few years, the Council has made significant changes to its leadership, operations, programs, and member services,” says Brian Lassiter, Council President.  “And as a result, we have enjoyed considerable growth in terms of members and stakeholders served, programs created, and volunteers recruited.  However, continued growth and demand for our services has created significant capacity constraints for the Council.  In fact, today we barely have sufficient staff – both paid and unpaid volunteers – to satisfy current demand, and our projections for anticipated future need for our services will further strain our ability to meet stakeholder needs.

“In addition, we believe that communities around Minnesota have a greater need for our programs than ever,” continues Lassiter.  “In today’s challenging economy, parts of the State face community, economic, and organizational challenges that threaten the competitiveness of their corporations, the capacity of their workforce, and the satisfaction and well-being of their citizens.  These increasing economic and workforce challenges demand systematic and proven solutions.  The Council and our partners have some of the solutions necessary to help Minnesota’s competitiveness and overall drive to excellence.  With Otto Bremer Foundation’s support, we build capacity and operational capability to increase and better serve the number of members and stakeholders using our programs, allowing us to expand our mission, financially sustain our efforts, and increase our contribution to the State’s competitiveness.”

Time is critical!  Every day that employees aren’t fully up-to-speed has a direct and measurable cost in terms of lost productivity, errors, lost customers, and low morale.  So taking time and variability out of the learning process is a quality improvement initiative that can yield significant results in a very short period of time.

The MN Council for Quality is pleased to welcome three speakers to our June 5 Minneapolis PIN: Steve Rosenbaum, President of Learning Paths International; Ira Kasdan, President of Performance Builders; and Edward Robbins, consultant.  The three speakers will share the “Learning Paths” methodology.  Based on the book “Learning Paths: Increase Profits by Reducing the Time it Takes to Get Employees Up-to-Speed” by Steve Rosenbaum (Pfeiffer 2004) – Learning Paths is a proven and practical methodology for dramatically reducing “time to proficiency.”  The Learning Path methodology achieves rapid and significant reductions in “time to proficiency” through rigorous measurement, process improvement, accelerated learning techniques, and change management.  In fact, their experience with hundreds of functions and thousands of employees shows that attaining at least a 30% reduction in “time to proficiency” within 30 days is typical.

The discussion is from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on June 5 (networking and continental breakfast begin at 7:30 a.m.) at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC), 1501 Hennepin (15th and Hennepin), downtown Minneapolis, Room L3000 (Wheelock-Whitney Library). 

Admission to PIN is FREE for Council members; $10 for partner organizations; $20 for the public.

For more information, please visit http://www.councilforquality.org/performance.cfm. 

More than ever before, customers are more demanding of quality products and services.  This is perhaps even more evident in healthcare: patients simply do not accept customary and usual treatment and answers in their healthcare.  Medical mistakes and oversights, long waits to see practitioners, rude and inconsiderate behavior from support staff, and just plan poor performance are no longer tolerated.

The MN Council for Quality is pleased to welcome Dr. Paul Sommers, director of Quality & Mission Effectiveness at Hudson Hospitals & Clinics to our June 11 St. Paul PIN.  Paul will discuss Hudson Hospitals’ "Moment of Truth" (MOT) patient satisfaction system.  Implemented in 2005, MOT was created to address each patient’s medical care and service need at the “point-of-care,” before the patient leaves the medical facility.  It is a process that that has won awards for innovation in healthcare, but also can translate into businesses and other organizations.

The MOT system is patient-centered by actively involving each patient in his or her own healthcare evaluation, planning, and continuous quality improvement.  Patient needs are aligned with the required healthcare resources, which simultaneously produce information that can be acted upon “immediately,” at the point-of-care, with “a sense of urgency” – addressing patient expectations each and every time the patient encounters the healthcare system.  Major changes that occurred in medical service delivery at Hudson Hospital after implementation of the MOT system included a chance in the focus of healthcare delivery toward the patient each and every time medical care or service occurred by placing the patient at the center of the care continuum; the ability to capture and react to what the patient needed at the time place and time the patient needed it; and the incorporation of patient satisfaction as a way of doing business, throughout the healthcare organization.  Results in 2007 have averaged 98% among responding patients indicating that they would recommend the Hudson Hospital to family and friends.  And Hudson Hospital ranks in the top 8% of hospitals in Best Hospital Ratings, Communications with Doctors, Courtesy & Respect by Nurses, Pain Control, and Communications About Medications.

The discussion is from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on June 11 (networking and continental breakfast begin at 7:30 a.m.) at Metro State.  Parking is available in their lot (for $2.50). 

Admission to PIN is FREE for Council members; $10 for partner organizations; $20 for the public.

For more information, please visit http://www.councilforquality.org/performance.cfm. 

There is no Rochester Area Quality Council (RAQC) meeting in June.  The next RAQC session will be a special session in July (speaker TBD).  Watch for announcments and postings to http://www.councilforquality.org/RAQCProgram.cfm.

On Thursday, May 29, GlobalBizExcellence.com will host the first in a series of tele-seminars featuring the 2007 Malcolm Baldrige Award recipients. The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to be a co-sponsor of this series, and we encourage you to register for these programs (whether or not your organization is officially using Baldrige to drive improvement).

Each of the upcoming programs features in-depth, one-on-one interviews with the senior executive of the Baldrige Award-winning organization and discusses their best practices and reasons for success.  Hear the knowledge, insights, and practices of organizations that have reached performance excellence.

Also, our state award program will receive a portion of the revenue for each registrant from our state. 

The first session is Thursday, May 29 from 3-4PM CT, featuring Dr. Joseph Lannon, the Director of ARDEC, The U.S. Army Armament, Research, Development, and Engineering Center.  Headquartered in New Jersey, ARDEC is a 2007 Baldrige recipient – one of the first two in the not-for-profit category. 

During this one hour tele-seminar with Dr. Joe Lannon, you’ll learn how ARDEC, the research and development center for the United States Army, provides battlefield supremacy for U.S. troops through “overmatch capabilities.”  During the past ten years, ARDEC has developed and released more than 20 products that have provided U.S. troops with the world’s best capabilities compared with those products from foreign military and other U.S. defense organizations.

A $39* registration fee allows you to call-in on the program date and access the entire tele-seminar call.  A $49* registration fee entitles registered participants and guests to call-in on the program date and access the entire tele-seminar call, but it also allows you to download the entire tele-seminar call at no additional cost.  You will also be able to download special PDF handout information on the featured organization (in this way, you can share this program with your management team at a future meeting and help them learn from our host organization’s best practices).  *Part of your fee supports the Minnesota Council for Quality.

For information and program registration, please visit: www.GlobalBizExcellence.com

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to announce a partnership with Project Management Institute (PMI) to bring a series of webinars to Council members and stakeholders at an amazing rate. 

The PMI Metrics Specific Interest Group (SIG) offered a “Global Online Congress” last month, featuring literally hundreds of webinars on different aspects of project management, measurement, and organizational change.  The Online Congress featured presentations by industry experts and widely-respected vendors, as well as tracks devoted to other PMI Specific Interest Groups.

The sessions are officially over, but most webinars were pre-recorded, allowing you to download and play at your convenience.  Simply order the webinar through the Council, and we'll send you an invitation and password to participate at your convenience for the rest of the year.

Here is a sample of recent webinar topics:

• Change Enablement vs. Change Management: A Mindset Shift
• How Do You Measure Consulting: It Depends
• Why Productivity Measurements and How to measure Them
• IT Performance Based Metrics
• Practice Drives Great Metrics
• Metrics in Organizational Culture: Measuring for Success
• Getting Comfortable with your Project Management Office (PMO)
• Agile Performance Based Metrics
• Uncovering the Hidden Roadblocks to Project Management Success
• Today’s Role of Product Management: A 2008 Update

For more information on the webinars, visit https://metsig.org/categories.aspx?category=145.

For unlimited viewing of any webinars (by multiple employees multiple times), the fee is $50 for Council members and $100 for non-members (public rate is $5-10 for one viewing of one webinar).  Email brian.lassiter@councilforquality.org with your name, organization affiliation, and preferred method of payment.  Once we receive payment, we will issue a password that can be used to access webinars immediately.

The Association for Strategic Planning-Minnesota Chapter, an alliance partner of the MN Council for Quality, is pleased to announce its next meeting: “Strategic Planning that Generates Commitment and Passion: A Case Study.”  Scheduled for May 20, the discussion will be lead by Mike Felmlee, CEO of the Prouty Project.

In this session, Mike Felmlee will share his experience with the Donaldson Manufacturing Company in designing and implementing a strategic planning process to focus and align the organization for the future. His approach was global in scope, included standard tools and common language and created a plan that maximized leadership, increased participation and generated commitment and passion around the company's new vision.

Donaldson is a $1.6B organization which has generated 18 consecutive years of double-digit earnings growth. It provides filtration systems and products world-wide, which are used on everything from heavy-duty trucks on the interstate to cameras that capture your memories. Donaldson has leveraged its core strengths, innovative technology, strong customer relationships and broad geographic presence to meet the diverse and changing needs of its customers.

Leaders in business today want to know basically 2 things…how we can help them save money or make money.  There is little tolerance for “change management mumbo-jumbo” or “OD-ese.”  Today’s corporate leaders want their people to make better, faster decisions while maintaining increased levels of profitability. 

How do we, as OD professionals, collaborate with our clients to help leaders reach their strategic business objectives?  If “people are our most valuable asset” is today’s corporate mantra, what actions do business leaders do to tap into the “brain power” of their talent base at a place and time when learning is most impactful?  Is there a silver bullet to building a sustainable, high-performing culture?  Creating and enabling a successful coaching culture is an important answer to this question.

The MN OD Network, an alliance partner of the Council, is pleased to announce its next program meeting on June 3: “Building a Sustainable, High Performance Culture: A ‘Coach Approach’ to Addressing Today's Organizational Opportunities.”  The discussion will feature a panel: Bob Parsons of Thomson Reuters; Marci Heerman of Cargill; Donna Campbell of Blue Cross Blue Shield; and Rosemary Fedt Hughes of Park Nicollet Health Services.

We already know that coaching assists individuals to grow and develop. Imagine what would happen if the entire organization were able to tap into the power, ideas, and wisdom of its employees, intentionally learn through on-the-job experience, and directly and immediately impact business results!

This session will NOT teach you how to coach.  We will review how one company began moving from a tell-based, top-down, “directive management” approach to a competency-based model focused on building-on-strengths, personal and corporate discovery, process improvement, and problem solving. 

Please join Bob Parsons, and our cross-organizational panel of co-presenters, for an informative discussion highlighting their learnings, struggles, successes and future plans for creating and embedding a successful coaching culture within their organizations.

The 7 Characteristics of a Coaching Culture…

• Hire internal consultants with gifts and build the job around them

• Change the language

• Find and leverage a champion

• Build strong credibility with your clients via the idea of “client attraction”

• Start with a competency-based development approach

• Work with those who want to work with you

• Model the behavior you want to see

• Listen with every fiber of your body

The session is $20 for members ($25 for non-members) and will be held from 4:30-6:30 at St. Thomas, MOH Room 201.  No RSVP needed.

Minnesota Technology, Inc. (MTI), a Partner of the MN council for Quality, is pleased to present three different events in the next month, all focused on using Lean to improve organizational efficiency:

• May 21: Lean Workshop: Lean 101, Duluth
• May 28: Lean Workshop: 5S, Medina
• June 25: Lean Workshop: Lean 101, Medina

For more information on these programs, visit http://www.minnesotatechnology.org/training/index.asp. 

MN International Society of Performance Improvement (MNISPI), an alliance partner of the MN Council for Quality, is pleased to announce their May 20 Chapter Meeting.  The topic will be “Appreciative Inquiry: Creating Value for our Members,” facilitated by Kelly Schlundt of Andersen Corporation. 

Normandale Community College, an alliance partner of the Council, is pleased to announce three upcoming programs.  Council members receive a 15% discount.  The programs are as follows:

Six Sigma Black Belt Class: June 12 through October 13

The Six Sigma Black Belt is a professional who can explain Six Sigma philosophies and principles, including supporting systems and tools. A Black Belt should demonstrate team leadership, understand team dynamics and assign team member roles and responsibilities. Black Belts have a thorough understanding of all aspects of the DMAIC model and operate in accordance with Six Sigma principles.

Instructor: Dale Mize, President Advanced Quality Engineering/Normandale Faculty Instructor           

Cost: $8,950 (this course is eligible for 15% off or at $7600 for MN Council for Quality members)

Time/Date: 8:30am – 4:30pm; June 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 26 July 17, 18, 31, August 1, 11, 12, 18, 25, 26, 27, September 8, 9 and October 13, 2008

Location: UAW-Ford-MNSCU Training Center, 996 Mississippi River Boulevard, St. Paul

Register at www.normandale.edu/continuingeducation or call  Ann Wagner at 952-487-8426.

ScrumMaster Certification: June 25-26

Agile project management is as radically different from traditional project management as agile processes are different from traditional methodologies. Rather than plan, instruct and direct, the agile project manager facilitates, coaches and leads. This person is called a ScrumMaster in the Scrum agile process to denote the difference and remind the person filling this role of the new responsibilities.

Participants learn how to be a ScrumMaster and how to make a development team, a project, or an organization agile. The ScumMaster is the person responsible for the proper execution of Scrum and all change within the engineering and overall organization. Exercises, case studies, and examples used to bring home the realization of how to be a ScrumMaster. All participants are expected to understand Scum basics prior to attending this course. This course is "how to" not "what".

Each individual is trained to be able to assume the following responsibilities:

• Remove the barriers between development and the customer so the customer directly drives development.
• Teach the customer how to maximize ROI and meet their objectives through Scrum.  Improve the lives of the development team by facilitating creativity and empowerment.
• Improve the engineering practices and tools so each increment of functionality is potentially shippable.

Instructor: Doug Shimp, President of 3Back LLC Consulting/Normandale Faculty Instructor

Cost: $1,200 (this course is eligible for 15% off or at $1,020 for MN Council for Quality members)

Time/Date: 9:00am – 5:00pm; Wednesday & Thursday – 6/25/08 & 6/26/08

Location: UAW-Ford-MNSCU Training Center, 996 Mississippi River Boulevard, St. Paul

Register at www.normandale.edu/continuingeducation or call Ann Wagner at 952-487-8426.

Authenticy in Leadership: June 27

Discovering your purpose, passion, and values is the key to your personal power and authenticity. This unique, experiential seminar will provide an opportunity for self-discovery, a common language regarding passion and values, and resources to clarifying your purpose as a leader and team member. At the end if the day you will:

• Recognize distinctions between positional and personal leadership
• Recognize the importance of authentic leadership to team and organizational initiatives
• Understand how core passion drives thoughts and actions; better understand your core passion
• Gain individual perspective about ethics and a language to talk about your personal values
• Gain confidence in expressing unique perspectives and creative ideas within a team or group situation 
• Know why authenticity is the most important quality of successful leaders 

Instructors:

Lori Palm, Founder of Palm Productions/Core Passion™ Creator/Normandale Instructor

Ann Wagner, Normandale Director/Founder of Practical Leadership

Cost: $650 (this course is eligible for 15% off or at $550 for MN Council for Quality members)

Time/Date: 9:00am - 5:00pm, Friday, June 27, 2008

Location: UAW-MnSCU Ford Training Center, 996 Mississippi River Boulevard, St. Paul

The University of St. Thomas’ Center of Business Excellence, a partner of the MN Council for Quality, is pleased to announce four upcoming programs:

June 2-6: Mini-Master of Marketing Management

June 2-6: Mini-Master of the Lean Enterprise

June 9-13: Mini-MBA

June 16-20: Mini-Master of Business Communication

South Central College is pleased to announce a special program June 2-4 at their Faribault campus: Process Based Management (PBM), Phases 1-4.  Because of the interest expressed at the Phase I workshop sponsored by ASQ last month, South Central is bringing John Lindland back with a full 4-Phase workshop this June.  So if you missed John’s presentation in April, here’s your opportunity to learn and benefit from the PBM method!

Process Based Management is the fastest and most powerful method that exists for performing a process analysis and driving significant improvements in any material processing, manufacturing, or assembly process.  There are many very simple ideas that prove this statement.  The presenter is an expert in Six Sigma and has been the Master Black Belt for Eastern Michigan University’s Center for Quality training programs since they were introduced in the mid 1990s.

The course will be held at South Central College’s Faribault Campus Teleconference Room from 8AM-5PM on June 2-4.  Workshop Fees are $699 (Council members discounted to $629).