Last week was a big transformation for my family, as my five-year old began his multi-decade journey of formal education.  As my wife and I dropped him off on his first day of Kindergarten, I watched him for awhile, and some of his behaviors -- believe it or not -- made me think about leadership and change.  He is naturally outgoing and extraverted, but the way in which he immediately adjusted to the new environment – new building, new figures of authority, new rules, new playmates, new everything – demonstrated some characteristics that we would desire to see in leaders and other professionals.  Traits like courage, taking risks, being flexible, listening, getting along.  And it got me thinking about the essay some 20 years ago (Fulghum’s “All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”) and how it applies to leadership and business in general…

I guess kids are different than adults.  Not just in the obvious ways, but in many instructive ways regarding social behavior and personality.  Let me provide an example.  I took my other child (she just turned four) to a birthday party with a bunch of her 3, 4, and 5-year old friends.  They all were congregating, doing what kids do – laughing, chasing, having fun (ok, I’ll stop there: that behavior in and of itself was different than most business meetings that I’ve attended).  But I noticed several other things in the 5-10 brief minutes I spent dropping her off:

• The kids didn’t have prejudices – they all played with everyone.
• They weren’t afraid of new kids – they eagerly absorbed new playmates into the group.
• They weren’t afraid of taking risks – when the formal games were starting, everyone was eager to participate even though the experience was new and unfamiliar.  One example was particularly telling for me.  As I was leaving and the host parents were beginning to start an organized game, I heard them ask for a volunteer from the 10 kids in the room.  Guess how many hands shot up – yes, all 10.  How many times does this happen in a business meeting?
• They communicated very effectively – even if somewhat in their own language and vernacular, there appeared to be no disagreements or misunderstandings.  They did have some trouble listening to one another, but amazingly, they communicated really well…without hidden agendas, subtle innuendos, or sarcasm.
• They had fun – they laughed and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

All of these behaviors seem to come natural for kids, and all of them are important skills for business.  But somewhere along the way we lose some of our social skills – our ability to communicate, our capacity to take risks, our skills of inclusion, and our ability to laugh and have fun (at least as frequently as kids do).  It’s a shame really, because these skills would serve us all well during meetings, during projects, and during day-to-day interactions with colleagues, customers, and partners.  But I believe some of those skills can be re-honed later in life.

Last week in our Minneapolis Performance Improvement Network session, Karen Ford, a partner at Pecos Consulting, shared some insights on what’s required (for adults) to succeed.  Her talk was entitled “Playing to Win! Go as far as you can, given all you've been given,” and it focused on many of the skills that seem to come natural in kids – like positive thinking and taking risks (copies of her slides are at http://www.councilforquality.org/performance_archive.cfm).

She drew the stark contrast between playing NOT to lose versus playing to win.  Playing not to lose involves playing it safe, avoiding risks, focusing on looking good (we call that “CYA” in business), competing internally (there are win/lose relationships between departments, between people, etc.), having a mindset of scarcity, and having a prevailing emotion of fear.  Obviously, these tendencies are not healthy, serve to sub-optimize resources, and create an environment of mediocrity – or at least sub-optimal performance.  Karen also admits that the reason why we do this (ironically enough) is school!  Think about those hungry, enthusiastic kids…when the teacher asks the class a question and someone tasks a risk with the answer but gets it wrong, what happens?  Sure: the class laughs and teases.  Over time, risk-taking is stifled and we get ourselves into the pattern of playing not to lose.

Contrast that with a philosophy of playing to win.  Playing to win means:

• Getting out of your comfort zone.  Imagine a five-year-old on the first day of school.  What could be absolutely terrifying seems to be a relatively easy transition for most Kindergartners.
• Take calculated risks.  Of course, don’t be foolish – data, instinct, and experience still play major roles in calculated risk-taking.  But if you “always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”
• Feed your opportunities and starve your problems.  Put yourself in a position of positive opportunities and work to eliminate (or reduce) your negative challenges.
• Celebrate mistakes.  Mistakes are indeed gifts, so long as you learn from them and move forward.  
• Offer support instead of “Zingers.”  In the language of a Kindergartner, “play nice.”
• Assume abundance.  Rather than believing there are winners and losers in business, strive for the “and” rather than the “or.”  In other words, seek the path that everyone wins.

What great advice.  As individuals, if we were to all follow those suggestions, we’d have a much stronger chance of frequent success.  As leaders, if we were to create an environment that fosters those suggestions above, think about how much more successful our employees (and organizations) would be!

By the way, at the end of my Kindergartner’s first day of school, my wife and I were waiting for him at the bus stop.  He came bouncing off the bus, backpack and lunchbox in tow and declared: “this was the best day of my life.”  I wish we all could adjust to change and take risks like five year olds!

Yours in Improvement,

Brian S. Lassiter

President, Minnesota Council for Quality

www.councilforquality.org

Post Script

For those of you interested in the essay “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” it was written by Robert Fulghum in 1989.  It spent all of that year and much of 1990 on the New York Times Bestseller list (it was the second longest #1 bestseller in 23 years).  I’ve reprinted it below for your enjoyment.

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.

These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day.

Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup - they all die. So do we.

And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK . Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation, ecology and politics and sane living.

Times are tough.  Which is all the more reason why organizations should focus on innovating – improving their products/services/programs, their processes and operations, and their workforce and business models.  Innovation is NOT just sitting around and thinking of new and creative ideas.  Rather, there is a systematic way by which creative ideas and knowledge can be transformed into experimental action (a test or a pilot) to refine the idea before implementing a final application.  In other words, creating a culture of innovation can be designed and managed to improve results.

The Minnesota Council for Quality and the Minnesota Healthcare Quality Professionals are pleased to invite you to attend a conference October 8 that focuses on organizational innovation.  The details:

Title :   The Innovation Imperative: Best Practices in Innovating Business & Healthcare
Date:   Oct 7 (pre-conference workshops); Oct 8 (main conference)
Place: Embassy Suites, downtown St. Paul 

Programs/Speakers:

* Wayne Fortun, CEO, Hutchinson Technology
* Dick Pettingill, CEO, Allina Hospitals & Clinics
* Tom Valdivia, MD, President & Chief Medical Officer, Carol. The Care Marketplace

* Cali Ressler & Jody Thompson, Founders, CultureRx (formerly of Best Buy)
* Donna Haugland, Chief Nursing Officer, Minute Clinic
* Patrick Herson, MD, BlueCross BlueShield of MN
* Dan Heneghan, VP, Resolution Health
* Paul Sommers, Founder, Moment of Truth (formerly of Hudson Hospital)
* Pam Pietrusweski & Patti Sweeney, ICSI
* Also invited: 3M

This conference will focus on one of the hottest (and most important) concepts in business and healthcare today: innovation -- in product/service/program, processes, operations, workforce, and business models -- to create new value for customers and stakeholders.  Come learn how high performing organizations are managed so that innovation has become part of their learning culture and daily work.

The October 7 pre-conference workshops will feature two leading experts on innovation: Rod Greder (of New Productivity Group) and Dennis Stauffer (of InsightFusion).  Both will lead concurrent sessions on how to implement innovation in your organization.  The day will be filled with processes for innovation, hands-on tools, an innovation assessment, and other practical methods to build innovation into your organization.

Cost: $150/day for members; $250 for non-members; 10% discount for members attending both days (and a $200 partner rate applies to members of our partner organizations).

Any organization can easily cut costs.  Tough times can make this a necessity.  But not many can simultaneously make dramatic improvements in customer satisfaction, win best-in-class recognition and encourage innovation.  We urge you act by September 18th to learn how and save up to 50%.  Attend one of these insightful, application-oriented and entertaining sessions to work on your real business issue with key members of your team.  Minnesota Council for Quality brings you these compact 2-hour web courses are interactive, conducted by Robin Lawton, named top speaker in 2007.  This is the program:

• 9/26, 11-1 CST, “Achieving 8 Dimensions of Excellence: Aligning strategy & measures with customer priorities”
• 10/3, 11-1 CST, “The 12 Voices of the Customer”: How to uncover, translate, measure and design what customers want”
• 10/17, 11-1 CST, “Customer-Centered Innovation: roadmap to mousetraps or iTunes”

The principles and tools you will learn enabled one organization to save over $20 million and jump from a rank of 25th in performance to #1 in only two years.  Another increased the close rate on new business by over 50%.  Several won Baldrige Awards. Those who drove these successes were heroes and employee morale was enhanced.  If you are looking for achievable and sustainable results like this- supporting either your own efforts or that of others- please bring or send your key colleagues to at least one of these events.  Go to http://www.imtc3.com/events/UpcomingEvents.cfm to get program details and register right away. List price is $225/event, with big discounts for Early Bird members and teams. Comments from past participants include the following:

 “Excellent program!  This challenged me to make a mind shift to apply the customer-centered thinking in my work.  The emphasis on creative, divergent thinking may be the key to our success in the next ten years.” Steve McAlexander, AVP, American Honda 

“It is funny that, instead of these ideas slowly fading away as often can happen after a course, they are making more and more sense. You have essentially changed the whole way I approach everything I do!  And I am enjoying my job more as a result.”  Stephanie Easthope, Manager of Organizational Excellence, Wolters Kluwer Health, Pharma Solutions

 “This approach is the most effective model I have seen in my 15 years in management.” Clifford Keys, Operations Division Manager, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

“I have never experienced a program with a higher return on investment of time and money.  This is also the most clear and direct method of improvement I have found.” Quentin Wilson, Director, MO Dept. of Revenue

As the health system evolves, it is easy to lose track of who the real customer is.  As a doctor, I was awash in new ideas about how I, individually, and the health systems I am in, could improve practice.”

Eric Schned, M.D., Park Nicollet Clinic

Unlike most on-line courses, these sessions are highly interactive.  Your top rated presenter, Robin Lawton, will actually have dialogue with you live.  If you’ve already attended a program conducted by Mr. Lawton or read one of his many publications, this is an excellent opportunity to get your colleagues on the same wavelength at a great price.  His engaging, interactive and highly pragmatic presentations illustrate why Rob was named #1 of 88 speakers last year.  His first best-selling book, “Creating a Customer-Centered Culture: Leadership in Quality, Innovation and Speed” is 5-star rated at Amazon.

Be sure to sign up at least 7 days prior to get great Early Bird discounts off the already great $225 price.  Use promotional code MCQ for discounts. 
 
Get the details on these courses and reserve your seat at http://www.imtc3.com/events/UpcomingEvents.cfm.  Or for personalized answers, e-mail Peggy Perkins or call International Management Technologies at (941) 907-0666 or (800) 729-1468.

Developing and improving business processes is fundamentally important to sustaining quality and organizational excellence.  But process design and improvement – the process by which requirements are gathered, process rules are developed and translated into process activities, and outcomes are actually achieved – is oftentimes onerous and overly technical.  However, there is a way to make process design less cumbersome and more effective.

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to welcome Tom Bazzarre, Manager, Business Integration-Business Infrastructure Services, and Sands McAlees-Callanan, Senior Process Developer, both of BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota to our October 2 Minneapolis Performance Improvement Network session.  Tom and Sands are both part of BCBSMN’s Rules Management and Process Development Team, which has teamed up to develop a model that integrates process design and business rule capture, allowing for a collaboration between the teams that effectively and efficiently meets their customers’ needs.  The outcomes of the BCBS model have resulted in clear, comprehensive process documentation that the organization utilizes for operational process and decision management, and that IT utilizes for data modeling, application requirements and development.

The discussion is from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on October 2 (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. 

As part of the October 8 Innovation Conference, the Council is pleased to offer a special St. Paul Performance Improvement Network (PIN) session that features Wayne Fortun, Chairman, President, & CEO of Hutchinson Technology in Hutchinson, MN.  Mr. Fortune’s talk will focus on the importance of driving innovation during these challenging times and will share how his organization is systematically innovating products, operations, and processes to remain competitive and adapt to a continually changing enviornment.  Mr. Fortun is considered one of the leading thinkers and leaders in organizational excellence, and his insights apply to any type of organization.

Performance excellence is difficult to achieve in any organization.  But consider the challenges of a governmental entity in balancing stakeholder needs, improving process performance, focusing on customer (resident) needs, using data to make decisions, and engaging its workforce.  One medium-sized city in Florida – Coral Springs – has accomplished what no other local government has in receiving the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, proving that quality methods transfer to ANY organization.

The Rochester Area Quality Council, an affiliate of the Minnesota Council for Quality, is pleased to announce a special program in September: “A Slice of the Springs.”  The discussion will feature the City of Coral Springs FL, the first state or local government agency to receive the prestigious Baldrige National Quality Award for performance excellence.

The city is home to about 132,000 people, making it the 13th largest city in Florida with a workforce of about 770 full-time employees and about 300 part-time and temporary employees as well as a large pool of more than 800 people who volunteer as needed for emergencies, special events, or other activities.  This session will focus on Coral Spring Florida’s approaches for citizen and workforce engagement approaches, making it one of the nation’s premier communities in which to “live, work, and raise a family.”

The city’s organizational culture is reflected in its four core values: customer focus, leadership, empowered employees and continuous improvement—commit every day, in every way to getting better and better.  In this session, learn about Coral Springs’ approaches to build Citizen Involved Government through approaches like its neighborhood meetings (known as “Slice of the Springs”), City Hall in the Mall, and other mechanisms leading to resident and business satisfaction rates in the upper 90s.

Speaker: Ellen Liston, Deputy City Manager, City of Coral Springs, FL
Date: Thursday, September 25 (note date change)
Time: 7:30 Registration, networking, breakfast; 8:00-10:00 Program
Location: University Center, Coffman (CF) 206/208

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to announce that the next Six Sigma Forum will be Tuesday, November 11, will be hosted by Ecolab, and will feature a panel discussion of Lean/Six Sigma practitioners from Ecolab, Best Buy, HB Fuller, and Valspar.  Co-sponsored by the Joseph M. Juran Quality Leadership Center at the Carlson School of Management, the Six Sigma Forum provides a means for leaders and practitioners from organizations using Lean and/or Six Sigma to share knowledge and best practices on using Lean Six Sigma.

The session will be from 8:00-11:30 AM at the Ecolab Eagan facility.  Ecolab will share how it is using Lean/Six Sigma to drive improvement, and then will be joined by practitioners from Best Buy, HB Fuller, and Valspar for a very interactive 90-minute panel discussion in which panelists will share their organization’s “story” of using Lean and/or Six Sigma and answer questions from the audience on topics such as biggest challenges, lessons learned and success, tips for driving culture change, and other issues related to driving improvement with Lean/Six Sigma.

Cost is $75 for members of the Council or $150 for non-members. 

The Association for Strategic Planning-Minnesota Chapter, an alliance partner of the MN Council for Quality, is pleased to announce its next meeting: “10% or Die: Strategic Imperatives to Survive and Thrive in a Brutal Global Marketplace.”  Scheduled for September 23, the discussion will be lead by James B. Schwarz, author of The Hunters and the Hunted, Seeing David in the Stone, and 10% or Die (TBP)..

This presentation is the result of a 20 year study aimed at answering 3 timeless questions:

• How did some people find and seize the great opportunities of their times?
• What can we learn from them to help us find and seize great opportunities?
• How did they help others (or organizations) to find and seize great opportunities?

It is packed with examples of the ways in which great innovators and achievers positioned and prepared themselves to find great opportunities that others did not see. It reveals how they mobilized others to willingly support their opportunities, and finally how they seized the opportunity while others missed the chance.

The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (USETC), and University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (UMN) are sponsoring the 2008 International Conference on Public Administration (ICPA).  The conference will be held at the University of Minnesota on September 24-26, 2008.

The conference theme, Building Bridges to the Future: Leadership and Collaboration in Public Administration focuses on creating stable bridges to the future to ensure that issues and challenges such as privatization and information communication are turned into opportunities, not obstacles.

Now in its fourth year, the International Conference on Public Administration seeks to bring academics, practitioners and business leaders together to discuss issues of leadership in this era of globalization. What emerging public issues and challenges should we focus on to ensure that sound, principled governance worldwide moves forward, not backward, in the twenty-first century? This is especially the case with leadership and collaboration in public administration. New styles, strategies, and approaches to leadership are necessary as public organizations function more like networks than hierarchies in a shared-power world.

Among the issues are privatization and the spirit of entrepreneurialism, the Information age driven by enormous advances in information communication technology, the global pursuit of economic well-being accompanied by the diminishment of traditional trade barriers, response to disaster, the pursuit of democratic governance in combination with the rise of new global institutions such as the European Union, and leadership and collaboration in an increasingly dense network of public, profit-making, and non-profit organizations. Developing effective leadership and leadership strategies to address critical issues of public management today is essential to Building Bridges to the Future.

The Minnesota Section of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), an alliance partner of the Council, is pleased to announce its annual Minnesota Quality Conference October 27-28 at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center: “Quality in Action: Delighting the Customer.” 

Increasing competition is forcing businesses to pay much more attention to satisfying customers.  Measuring the delight of the customer an ambiguous and abstract concept, but the Minnesota Quality Confernece is here to help!  Robin Lawton will present the Keynote: “8 Dimensions of Excellence: Aligning Strategy and Measures with Customer Priorities.”  In addition, several other notable speakers will present topics on quality:

• Rip Stauffer: Statistical thinking for Leaders,  New DMAIC Model.
• Lou Asher: Full Factorial Designs, fun with Statistics
• John Hehre: Measuring Customer Satisfaction in a Lean Environment
• Gary Floss: Voice-of-the-Customer is a 2-way Street, to be safe, you need to look both ways!
• Dilip Shah: Reading and Interpreting Calibration Reports, how the data should be interpreted and audited.
• Sudip Dinda & Dave Hurd - Black Belt project showcase – Application in Injection Molding

To learn more or register, visit http://www.mnasq.org/newspages/mqcpub.html.

In addition, The Education Committee of ASQ is proud to present Twin Cities speaker and consultant, Rip Stauffer of Woodside Quality Solutions, who will conduct a three-day workshop on Lean Principles: “Basic Data Analysis with Minitab™.”  The session will be November 12-14 at Century College from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.

This workshop will focus on data analysis for Process Improvement. It will cover the basic principles and concepts related to data analysis, types of data and measurement scales, an introduction to Minitab software, and practical application and interpretation of several useful tools and techniques using Minitab. The course will include sections on Control Charting, Capability Analysis, Measurement Systems Analysis, Confidence Intervals and Hypothesis Testing, Regression and Multiple Regression. A third day will cover concepts related to basic DoE, and how to set up, run and analyze basic Full Factorial and Response Surface designs in Minitab. 

The workshop fee is $1095 for ASQ (and MCQ) Members and $1195 for nonmembers.  Recertification Units of 0.8 will be awarded.  All materials and lunch will be provided.  Participants will receive a certificate of attendance. 

Enterprise Minnesota, formerly Minnesota Technology, Inc. (MTI) and a partner of the MN Council for Quality, is pleased to present nine events, all focused on using Lean or other methods to improve organizational performance:

• Oct 15: Revenue Generating Business Ideas, Mankato
• Nov 19: Creating Profit Through Lean, Twin Cities
• Dec 3: Lean 101 - Perfecting Efficiencies in Production, Duluth
• Dec 10: Doing Business Globally, Twin Cities
• Jan 21: The Talent Pipeline - Developing Business Leaders, Twin Cities
• Feb 18: Green Manufacturing, Twin Cities
• Mar 14: Improve Office Productivity through "Lean Office", Hutchinson
• Mar 18: Innovative Product Marketing, Twin Cities

The first session (“Revenue Generating Business Ideas,” October 15 in Mankato) will help you generate ideas that will grow your business and your revenue.  Eureka! Winning Ways® is the first scientifically based process proven to grow businesses significantly.  Learn to use a systematic approach to achieve potential sales in just a short time, using a back-to-basics, customer-focused approach to generate ideas for strong sales, reaching new markets, and targeting new customers.

For more information on these programs, visit  http://www.enterpriseminnesota.org/Training-Events.aspx. 

In the larger societal context of economic, racial, and social inequities is organizational development, as a professional practice, mainly a part of the problem or a part of the solution?  Is organizational development so focused on "politically sanitized" methods and techniques that the profession resists offering serious critiques of existing power relations?  How can organizational development consulting help to "build bridges from service to justice" with models and practices for transforming existing power relations through multi-organizational collaborations and partnerships?  How can organizational development consulting support mutually reinforcing community and systems change that takes small demonstrations of change to scale so we can begin to substantially reduce, if not eliminate, societal inequities?

The MN OD Network, an alliance partner of the Council, is pleased to announce its next program meeting on October 7: “From Spare Change to Social Change: Politics, Power, and Partnerships.”  The discussion will be led by Arthur Himmelman, an internationally recognized consultant who assists communities and organizations to design, implement, and evaluate community and systems change collaboration.  Arthur T. Himmelman will engage us in a discussion of these and other questions about multi-sector and multi-organizational development. He will encourage us talk about how our passions and ideals, our analytical insights, and our user-friendly organizational development practices can move us toward a more just society.

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.

The ASQ Customer Supplier Division, a partner of the Council, is pleased to present two one-day seminars in four locations in late September.

“Quality Audits for Improved Supplier Performance” is a one-day seminar designed for management, professional, and technical personnel who want to improve supplier relations.  It is a basic course; no previous knowledge of auditing or quality systems is required (or even assumed).  The instruction applies to any management system (ISO 9001, FDA, military, automotive, etc.).  Buyers and purchasing agents will find the information quite beneficial. Those preparing for the Certified Quality Auditor exam will enjoy the review.

The seminar begins by exploring how product and service requirements are defined and accepted. This becomes the basis for subsequent audits. Then, the process of an effective supplier audit is presented step by step. Upon completion of the seminar, you will understand the difference between inspection, compliance audit, and performance audit. This seminar emphasizes supplier partnerships and the performance (value-added) audit.

“Supplier Certification: The Quality Link in Supply Chain Management” is a one-day “hands-on” seminar designed for Quality & Materials management, along with professional and technical, personnel who want to improve Quality and customer supplier relationships in their companies.  It is a basic course; no previous knowledge of Supplier Certification is required (or even assumed).  The instruction can apply to Customer-Supplier relationships in any and all industries, large or small. Purchasing, commodity team members, and supply chain management professionals will also find the information quite beneficial and are encouraged to attend. Interactive exercises are used to reinforce the material being discussed.

The seminar begins by defining the supply chain and “certification”. It then explores how product and service requirements are defined and accepted as well as the impact of Quality Management System standards. Team members and their responsibilities in the supplier selection and certification process are discussed. Certification agreements and ongoing supplier performance measurements (supplier “report cards”) are covered.

Participants will receive techniques that they can put to use immediately in their company.

Both courses will be presented four times (once on Sept 22, 23, 24, and 25) in four locations: Minneapolis, Rochester, Madison, and Appleton. 

The cost is $400 per participant per class.  Deduct $75 per registration for registrations completed by August 22 or for three or more from the same company any time!  Register for both seminars and save $150 per registrant! (No more than one discount may be applied per registrant.) Fee includes lunch, course notes and a copy of Quality Audits for Improved Performance and/or Supplier Certification.

The next Minnesota Facilitators Network (MFN) meeting, scheduled for November 13 from 5:30-8:30PM, will focus on “Introduction to Facilitation Graphics.”  The session will be facilitated by Cheryl Kartes and Edie Meisner.

The University of Minnesota’s College of Continuing Education, an alliance partner of the Council, is pleased to announce their fall improvement and business day courses.  Council members receive a 10% discount on all CCE courses.

9/23-24      Increasing Your Organizational Savvy, $750

9/24           Building Teamwork and Commitment, $395

10/7-8        Process Mapping and Analysis, $995

10/14         Personal Influence and Leadership, $395

10/15         Delegating to Enhance Job Performance, $395

10/22         Improving Work Processes, $395

11/6-7        Measuring and Improving Work Processes, $995

11/11         Working Assertively, $395

12/4-5        Capstone in Supervision, $750

12/4-5        Process Innovation, $995

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:

9/22-23                 ScrumMaster Certification, $1260 (15% off for MCQ)

10/7-2/9              Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate Class (19 sessions), $8950 (15% off for MCQ)

10/8                      Lean Systems Thinking, $390

10/28                   Introduction to Agile Methods, $225

10/29-30              Certified Scum Product Owner, $1260

12/15-16              ScrumMaster Certification, $1260 (15% off for MCQ)

1/15-2/6              Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate Class (8 sessions), $3355 (15% off for MCQ)

.

Century College, an alliance partner of the Council, e is pleased to announce their fall quality curriculum.  Council members are entitled to a discount (in parenthesis) for the following courses:

10/2-11/20           6-9PM     ASQ Certified Manager of Quality/Organization Excellence, $995 ($945)

10/1-11/12           6-9PM     ASQ's Certified Quality Auditor Program, $595 ($545)

10/8, 10/29          9-3PM     Lean Thinking for Process Improvement, $159

10/14                    8:30-12:30  Root Cause Analysis: Getting to the Bottom of the Problem, $89

10/29                    1:30-4:30PM        Robust Tools for Problem-Solving, $79

Inver Hills Community College recently announced its new Professional Writing Certificate program, which includes workshops on the topics listed below to help you master the skills needed in the business world today.  Council members receive a 15% discount on
all listed fees.

You will receive feedback on your writing, learn how to assemble a professional writing portfolio, and develop your ability to evaluate your writing according to clear criteria.  You may bring writing samples for discussion and feedback.   

The course (Eng 9000-01) is on Tuesdays beginning Oct 7 through Nov 18 from 6:00-9:30 PM.  The course is $320 (minus 15% for Council members).  The cost of the program includes an easy-reference grammar handbook and class materials.  Workshops and topics include:

• Effective Business Writing

Learn the techniques you need to write more efficiently and effectively, meet the needs of your audience, edit for clarity and conciseness, and improve the readability and formatting of your letters, e-mails, memos, and reports according to contemporary business writing standards.

• Effective Technical Writing

Learn to write about technical subjects in a way that is clear and concise, tailoring the content, vocabulary, and organization to various audiences, such as managers, experts, and novices.  Learn the standard formats for technical documents and make every document, including tables, graphics and charts, more readable and professional looking.   

• Writing for the Web

Learn the key differences between print and screen readers—and what that means for you as a writer.  Learn solutions to the common problems of usability and navigation, practice revising and reorganizing sample websites to keep the focus on what users want and expect, and learn how to edit your writing according to web-usability standards.  

• Writing for a Global Audience

Learn how to edit and format your writing for an ever-increasing global audience by using Plain English, avoiding stereotypes and local references, recognizing and avoiding idioms, adopting international conventions for data, and revising sentences and paragraphs to make them easier to read.    

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

Sept 24-Dec 17: Mini-MBA for Technical Professionals

Mini MBA for Technical Professionals is a twelve-week program for technical professionals who are looking to or in the process of acquiring managerial or leadership responsibilities. This program will provide participants with a mix of topics that will increase their business understanding and help them develop the soft skills needed to be successful in business.

Sept 24-Dec 17: Mini-Master of the Lean Enterprise

Mini Master of the Lean Enterprise is a twelve-week program for Lean leaders at every level. It will provide participants with an interactive experience that delves into greater depth, not only the principles and tools of Lean, but also the process, implementation, and change management insights that are necessary for leadership in a Lean culture.

South Central College is pleased to announce their fall quality and performance improvement curriculum.  Council members are entitled to a 10% discount.

The following courses will be held at the Faribault campus (prices before member discount):

9/24, Applying SPC & Statistical Tools, $235

10/8, Understanding & Implementing ISO 9001:2000, $235

10/9, Internal Auditor Skills, $235

10/21, Project Management, $235

11/6, Supplier Quality Management & Improvement, $235

11/6-7, Introduction to Six Sigma, $370

12/2, Lean Application, $235

12/3, 8-Discipline Problem Solving Tools & Methods, $235

The following courses will be held at Mankato campus (prices before member discount):

9/30, Supplier Quality Management & Improvement, $235

10/2, 8-Discipline Problem Solving Tools & Methods, $235

12/10, Project Management, $235

12/17, Understanding & Implementing ISO 9001:2000, $235

12/18, Internal Auditor Skills, $235