I got a call last week from our next door neighbor – a call probably similar to calls that you all get during the summer: they were going out of town for a four-day weekend, and they asked if we could watch the mail, get the paper, water the plants, and make sure the house doesn’t burn down.  Sure, no problem.  They called back three minutes later (a little embarrassed), asking me to check to see if they left a plastic trash bag on the back deck.  They said they were rushing out the door, had at least 10 things on their mind (pack the car, lock the doors, turn down the thermostat, etc.), and may have forgotten that little detail.  They did.  And surely in four days, some squirrel or chipmunk would have made quite a mess out of their little mistake.

It got me thinking about my own busy life and how the little things (and sometimes not-so-little things) occasionally slip through the cracks…and how a seemingly innocent task (like taking out the garbage) can get interrupted by more important priorities…and how those seemingly innocent tasks – if not done and done well – can really mess things up.  Believe it or not, one of the simplest of quality tools can help prevent common mistakes, reducing errors and improving accuracy in almost everything we do, personal and professional…

…a checklist.  Now don’t scroll down to the next article or hit “close” in your browser.  I’m serious: the checklist, as simple it is, can do wonders in promoting consistency, predictability, accuracy, and completeness in just about ANY organizational (or personal) task.

Why is this important?  We’re all busy people – we’re juggling family, careers, social networks, our homes, travel, and many other things.  And so it’s easy to miss details on occasion and make simple mistakes.  To compound the issue, think of an organization (comprised of many busy people) and the extremely high probability of error, variation, and mistakes when you add up the human element in all of our processes. 

When people are busy (or distracted, or tuned out, or on auto-pilot), you have the tendency to leave the garbage sitting on your back deck, or amputate the wrong limb during surgery, or forget to lower the landing gear of a 747, for example.

The impact of these errors on our organizations (and our society) is obviously huge.

A report in the New England Journal of Medicine (January 2009) indicates that the use of a 19-step Surgical Safety Checklist reduced deaths from surgery by more than 40% in eight participating hospitals (other reports have reached similar conclusions of 30-40% reduction in deaths and/or other negative medical outcomes).  The report claims that use of the checklist in all hospitals could save tens of thousands of lives and $20 billon in medical costs each year.  The checklist is said to only take two minutes to complete and is based on checklists used in the aviation industry (an industry that has embedded checklists in much of its operations, thankfully).  In this context, the checklist helps guards against making simple – but major – mistakes.

And that’s just healthcare – think about other industries that are impacted by human error.  The financial loss in banks or retailers when employees miscalculate transactions.  The economic and societal impact of a utility disaster caused by error human.  The waste and financial loss (not to mention erosion of goodwill and customer loyalty) of a manufacturing error that results in a product recall, consumer illness, or death.  The list could go on and on…

Humans aren’t perfect.  Mistakes happen.  In fact, they happen all the time, and there considerable research on why humans are prone to error.

I recently came across the 2009 book “Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average.”  Author Joseph Hallinan sets out to explore the captivating science of human error -- how we think, see, remember and forget, and how this sets us up for inevitable mistakes.  He claims that human beings have design flaws: “our eyes play tricks on us, our stories change in the retelling, and most of us are fairly sure we're way above average.”

According to Hallinan: “We learn to move rapidly through the world, quickly recognizing patterns, but overlooking details.  Which is why 13-year-old boys discover errors that NASA scientists miss, and why you can't find the beer in your refrigerator (even though it’s right there in front of you).”

Hallinan recants a (true) story about Burt Reynolds – yes THE Burt Reynolds.  Burt walks into a bar early in his career, so no one really knows him yet, including a guy at the end of the bar with huge shoulders.  Reynolds sits down two stools away and begins sipping a beer and tomato juice.  Suddenly, the man starts yelling obscenities at a couple seated at a table nearby.  Reynolds tells him to watch his language. That's when the guy with the huge shoulders turns on Reynolds.  According to Reynolds:

"I remember looking down and planting my right foot on this brass rail for leverage, and then I came around and caught him with a tremendous right to the side of the head. The punch made a ghastly sound and he just flew off the stool and landed on his back in the doorway, about 15 feet away. And it was while he was in mid-air that I saw...that he had no legs."

Only later, as Reynolds left the bar, did he notice the man's wheelchair, which had been folded up and tucked next to the doorway.

Hallinan claims that the important part in this story is not the guy’s legs, but Burt Reynolds’ eyes: even though Reynolds was looking right at the man he hit, he didn't see all that he needed to see.  Hallinan says this phenomenon is even labeled by researchers as the "looked but didn't see" error.  When we look at something (or at someone) we think we see all there is to see, but we don't.  We often miss important details, like legs and wheelchairs, and sometimes much larger things, like doors and bridges, or instructions to cut the left leg instead of the right.

Hallinan claims that this happens because of how our eyes and brains work.  He claims that the eye is not a camera – it doesn’t take "pictures" of events, and it does not see everything at once.  In fact, we only see a fraction of the total at any given time.  So we deal with this natural constraint by constantly moving our eyes around, stopping roughly three times a second.  We also fill in the gaps for what we think we see (but may not).  And how we fill those gaps varies, depending on many things (gender, right versus left-handedness, and many other variables). 

The point of all of this?  We are wired to make mistakes – even highly educated surgeons, PhD physicists, and airline pilots.  So as individuals and as managers, we have to devise ways to mitigate this natural tendency.

Hallinan comments on how we can make fewer errors: “It helps to second-guess, to play devil's advocate with yourself,” he says.  “Years ago, Shell Oil taught its geologists how to do this, and their ability at picking oil wells that actually struck oil improved markedly.”  (Editorial note: maybe BP should have used similar techniques.)

He goes on: “Many of the tendencies that predispose us to error are so ingrained as to be automatic. We cannot override them even if we wanted to. So simply imploring ourselves (or others) to ‘work harder’ or ‘concentrate more’ won't work.  That's why money is so often ineffective at reducing errors.  It's also why those baggage inspectors at the airport keep missing the fake bombs and guns that get sent through.  What WILL work is designing products (or systems) in ways that block the errors that we know we are likely to make.”

We call that “mistake proofing” in the quality field (or “fool proofing” if you’re into colloquialisms).  It’s about designing the system so that humans simply cannot get it wrong.  Think of plugs that go into outlets only one way.  Or all the web forms that now check for thoroughness and accuracy before letting you go to the next screen (“your zip code doesn’t match your state,” for example).  Or cars that won’t let you put it in gear until your foot is on the brake.

But some processes cannot be fully mistake-proofed because human intervention and judgment is inherent in the process itself.  That’s where I think humans need tools: because of the way we’re wired, we all need mental reminders, double-checks, and various tricks to break our natural tendencies to overlook things and focus on those darn details.

Enter the checklist.  Checklists help ensure accuracy and consistency in process delivery.  They help us avoid overlooking the small – but important – details.  Or said a different way: checklists can be a key way to prevent mistakes made by otherwise smart, but very busy, people.  Checklists can also be a way to ensure that everyone on your team is considering the same things or performing a task in a similar way: in other words, it’s a way to ensure consistency in our processes.

In some fields – such as healthcare, aviation, the military, and aerospace – checklists can be the difference between life and death.  But most of us are not rocket scientists.  So how can we benefit from this simple technique?

Checklists can help ensure accuracy in just about every other key process your organization deals with – the applications are unlimited.  Checklists can be used for hiring employees (so you don’t get sued or start off on the wrong foot), for processing payroll, for closing the accounting books, for following up with key customers, for receiving supplier materials, for shipping and receiving, for saving on energy consumption and costs, for promoting employee safety, for disaster recovery or business continuity, for ensuring that IT conforms to user requirements, for managing change, for managing projects, for communication, and probably 200 other tasks in a typical organization.

I don’t recommend having checklists for everything your organizations does.  But there is wisdom in considering checklists for processes that you would consider critical to ensuring customer satisfaction and safety, employee satisfaction and safety, company efficiency and profitability.  The process for doing so could be:

• Identify key processes that are critical to your success that would benefit from a checklist.
• Using collective knowledge from within and outside that process, identify the key activities that have to be accomplished to promote a predictable outcome within that process.  Sequence may or may not be important (which makes a checklist different than a process flow, by the way), but no step can be avoided or an undesirable outcome may result.
• Deploy the checklist to all appropriate stakeholders in the process, using communication, training, and other methods.
• Measure outcomes and adjust the checklist, as needed.

Mistakes are normal: we’re all human.  But there are ways we can guard against missing those details that can result in mistakes and errors.  Like a botched surgery, a plane crash, or even leaving garbage bags on the back deck.

Yours in Improvement,

Brian S. Lassiter

President, Minnesota Council for Quality

The need to improve your organization’s performance has perhaps never been greater.  The difficult economy over the last few years has created a renewed need for improvement and systemic change within all organizations: customers (or stakeholders) expect more, competent workers are growing scarce, and competition is intensifying.  But – with the complexity of organizations – where does one start?  How do you know on which processes to focus – which will provide the most leverage in improving and sustaining better outcomes over time?

The MN Council for Quality’s primary product is a comprehensive organizational assessment that helps organizational leaders better understand and prioritize key strengths and improvement opportunities, upon which plans can be created.  This assessment, much like an annual health physical, helps managers understand what is working well in their organizations, and on what they should be focusing their attention.  The foundation of the assessment is a set of validated criteria that have been shown to produce superior organizational results in high performing organizations.  The focus of an assessment is organizational learning, resource optimization, and improvement in results.

Why consider an assessment?

The value of an assessment is its ability to improve performance – to improve outcomes and drive tangible organizational results.  There is growing evidence of the value of systemic organizational assessments.  Consider the data from one study1.  Organizations that use the framework for excellence compared to a control group show superior performance:

• operating profit margins of 46.8% versus 2.7%,
• return on assets of 10.3% versus -5.5%, and

• return on equity of 18.7% versus -5.9%.

In another similar study2, organizations using this framework show tremendous growth over a control group of similar organizations:

• 58% faster growth in stock price appreciation,
• 116% faster growth in sales,
• 114% faster growth in total assets, and
• 229% growth in employees.

In fact, organizations that use this process show high levels and improvement trends in a variety of indicators – financial, customer (or student, patient, stakeholder), employee, and operations.

The assessment evaluates processes such as leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; workforce focus; process management; and results.  The assessment evaluates organizational approaches (processes), the extent to which they are deployed, evaluated/improved, aligned, and integrated throughout the organization, and their effectiveness at driving organizational results. 

The assessment is based on criteria that change every two years to reflect the leading edge of validated management practices; as such, they represent a set of best practices against which any organization can gauge their performance, identify opportunities for improvement, and focus on the vital few gaps that can improve performance.  

Special Member Promotion

Beginning this summer, the Council is offering a special promotion for its members to use a “short-cut” of this assessment to improve their organization’s performance.  As a pilot, we are offering a free on-line assessment to 10 member organizations to help their leaders identify and prioritize organizational improvement opportunities by systematically gathering the perspectives of their workforce.

The process takes about 4-6 weeks and will be provided at no cost to the first 10 Council members who indicate interest (depending on results of this pilot, we may choose to extend the pilot to other Council organizations).

Please let us know if you have questions or would like to commit to this promotional assessment process.  You can email brian.lassiter@councilforquality.org to learn more.

We look forward to supporting your improvement efforts and partnering with you on your journey to excellence.

Notes:

1 Mark Wrolstad and Thomas Krueger, “Study Shows that Quality Pays Winners,” Summer 2001.

2 Kevin B. Hendricks and Vinod R. Singhal,  “Don’t Count TQM Out,” Quality Progress, April 1999

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 2010 Minnesota Quality Award Board of Evaluators.  The last of three training sessions in 2010 is October 5-7 in the Twin Cities.

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) – and the 2010 Criteria represent significant changes, especially in terms of customer focus/engagement, core competencies, and sustainability/social responsibility;
• 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.

Applications for new Evaluators are due September 10.  Applications for returning Evaluators (which only require updates from your most recent application) are due September 24.

In addition to the full training October 5-7, new Evaluators are also required to attend a one-day orientation (either Sept 16, 21, or 22 – you choose, and all in the Twin Cities).

Workplace conflict is a commonly overlooked but costly phenomenon in business (perhaps more significantly today, as employees are asked to do more and more with less and less).  But indeed frustrated leaders and employees can avoid the behaviors that fuel destructive disagreements rather than wasting profits and time resolving them.

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to announce a special, encore workshop: “Self-Defeating Habits of Otherwise Brilliant People: Pulling Together When Things Fall Apart.”  The workshop will be held July 27 in St. Paul, and will be facilitated by Anna Maravelas, founder of Thera Rising (Thera is Greek, meaning “to heal”).

An expert in workplace conflict resolution and a devotee of Deming, Maravelas will share how to create emotionally resilient teams, avoid risk factors for heart disease and depression, eliminate five root causes of simmering hostilities, and maintain your integrity by sidestepping invitations to blame.  Rather than undermining relationships by “searching for stupidity,” Maravelas introduces techniques for avoiding blame and self-righteous indignation and focusing on the true causes of workplace inefficiency and waste.

Learn how to turn workgroups away from incivility toward collaboration, skilled communication and respect.  Discover how leaders can short-circuit blame and resentment—reactions that derail even the best people and projects.  These strategies last a lifetime.  CEOs, executives, and front-line employees rave about these techniques in their professional and personal lives.

Thera Rising has an international reputation, in workplace conflict resolution, team building and leadership development.  The founder, Anna Maravelas is the author of, “How to Reduce Workplace Conflict and Stress” (Career Press) which readers rate a five-star “must read” on Amazon.com.  Anna’s work has been published in the NY Times, Oprah Magazine, and MSNBC.  More information on Thera Rising can be found at http://www.therarising.com/. 

Speaker: Anna Maravelas, founder of Thera Rising
Dates: Tuesday, July 27

Location: Metro State University, St. Paul

Time: 7:30 Registration, networking, breakfast; 8:00-4:00 Program
Cost: $200 members; $300 members of partner organizations; $400 non-members

Workshops in the Twin Cities and Rochester all sold out last year and had nearly 100% attendee satisfaction – don’t miss this valuable program!!  Space is limited.

For more information, visit http://www.councilforquality.org/specialevent3.cfm.

How would it change your life if you could find a greater sense of purpose at work?  What would it mean if you could increase your level of job satisfaction today?  What if the answers to these questions were already inside you?

Most people search their whole lives trying to find a job that they can fall in love with – a job that makes the most of their skills, experience, and character qualities.  The reality is, however, that less than 16% (1 in 6) of us will ever find such a position.  So, what does it take to become one of the few people who love what they do?   In a word, the answer is passion.  Passion is the driving force behind thriving at work (and in our personal lives).  It bridges the gap between mearly existing to being fully engaged at work. 

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to offer two half-day workshops Aug 18 and 19 (you choose) in the Twin Cities that will help you come alive at work: "How to Become More Engaged at Work" Workshop.  Both sessions will be facilitated by Jack Mateffy of Mateffy & Company (who sold out two Performance Improvement Network sessions and one Rochester Area Quality Council session this spring!).

These dynamic half-day learning experiences will show you how to build the work life you’ve always wanted.  It will change the way you look at your job and give you time to refocus and plan for a more fulfilling future.  Using fun and powerful accelerated adult learning tools, such as mind mapping, attention density, moments of insight, and brain pattern redevelopment, participants find this workshop extremely interactive, compelling, and in many cases, life changing.  So whether you are interested in identifying and tapping your own passion at work or at home, and/or you are a leader who could benefit from helping your staff find and tap theirs, take the first step toward a more engaged work life by attending one of these two workshops!

Workshops are mornings Wed, August 18 OR Thurs, Aug 19 (you choose) at a location in the Twin Cities.  Cost is $150 for Council members ($250 for non-members), plus $40 for workshop materials. 

Through this interactive workshop, you’ll:

• Appreciate how the need for employee engagement has grown and is changing the workplace.
• The link between your engagement level and feeling challenged, living healthfully, being creative, improving productivity, and being less tempted to leave.
• Learn what it takes to build a fully engaged, truly motivating work life.
• Discover exactly what  gets you excited about getting to work by playing the Passionwerx™ What Are You Passionate About At Work?© Card Game.
• Become more engaged immediately by designing and using a personal engagement plan.
• Consider how your physical and emotional energy levels impact your ability to be engaged at work.

For more information, visit http://www.councilforquality.org/specialevent4.cfm. 

To register, email brian.lassiter@councilforquality.org with your name, organizational affiliation, and member status.

As a stakeholder of the Minnesota Council for Quality, most of you have experienced the benefits of our programs and services that promote organizational improvement and performance excellence in our State.  The Council’s mission is to advance performance excellence in organizations, individuals, and communities across the State, and we are proud to be working with over 300 organizations in and beyond Minnesota.  However, there are over 100,000 businesses in this State, so we have our work cut out for us to increase our impact.  In short, we want more organizations throughout Minnesota to know about the Council, hear your success stories, and improve their own performance.

So we’re seeking volunteers with marketing and communications experience to join a new Council Board marketing committee, which will be chaired by Kathy Burnham, a senior vice president at Padilla Speer Beardsley and a Council board member.  The committee will meet for an hour or so each month (in person or via conference call) to get started and set priorities.  We’re especially interested in people with experience in or access to graphic designers, writers, and various other communications expertise (marketing, advertising, social media, etc.).

The Minnesota Council for Quality, in cooperation with the Minnesota Healthcare Quality Professionals, is pleased to announce a special two-day conference this fall: “Best Practices in Customer Engagement, Loyalty, and Satisfaction.”  The main conference will be October 13, with pre-conferences on October 12.

The key ingredients for success in business and education are similar: the ultimate goal has to be very clear; the need for data is critical; collecting the right data is crucial; aligning systems to reach the goal is imperative; and trend data must be available and reviewed by the organization at all levels.

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to welcome Tamara Schultz, Superintendent, East Central School District, to our August 5 program: "Setting Goals with Clear and Aligned Measures for Organizational Change."

Tamara will share how leadership can do the following:

• Establish a great sense of urgency
• Create a powerful guiding coalition
• Communicate the vision
• Remove obstacles
• Systematically plan for and create short term wins
• Anchor changes into the culture

The discussion is from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on August 5 (networking and continental breakfast begin at 7:30 a.m.) at Minneapolis Community & Technical College, 1501 Hennepin Ave, downtown Minneapolis. 

Admission to PIN is FREE for Council members; $15 for partner organizations; $30 for the public.

Organizations are complex, and oftentimes it is difficult to ensure alignment of activities and action plans. 

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to welcome Marilyn Hansmann, VP of Finance/Facilities and Dave Weber, Chief Strategy Officer, both of Rochester Community & Technical College (RCTC) to our August 11 program: "Ensuring Strategic Alignment with Planning and the Balanced Scorecard."

Rochester Community and Technical College, a 2009 Minnesota Quality Award Achievement Level recipient, will share their "Alphabet Soup" for planning.  See how the College has aligned division and department strategies, resources, people, and measures with its goals through strategic and integrated planning processes (SPP and IPP), annual academic and service reviews (APR and SR), and ninety-plus dashboards that comprise its Balanced Scorecard (BSC).  These processes and mechanisms foster accountability, transparency, and the ability to track results driving continuous improvement, innovation, sustainability and performance excellence.  The techniques shared will help all types of organizations -- businesses, other higher education institutions, healthcare, non-profits. 

We thank our sponsors, Blue Cross BlueShield of MN and Metropolitan State University, for their support of this session, helping us to keep it free for members.

The discussion is from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on August 11 (networking and continental breakfast begin at 7:30 a.m.) at Metro State University, 700 E 7th Street, downtown St. Paul. 

Admission to PIN is FREE for Council members; $15 for partner organizations; $30 for the public.

Space is limited so register today by emailing brian.lassiter@councilforquality.org.

There is no Twin Ports Performance Excellence Network (TPPEN) session in August, but join us for the next session September 21.  The discussion will feature Kevin Wilson of Blue Water Capital, who will share how Blue Water is advancing excellence in its organization, and will also lead a discussion of what went wrong with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. 

The session is from 7:30-9:00 a.m. on September 21 (networking and continental breakfast begin at 7:00 a.m.).  Admission to TPPEN is FREE for Council members and guests ($20 for non-members).

More information, will be posted in the next couple of weeks at http://www.councilforquality.org/TPPEN.cfm. 

“We would like to recognize 30 members who became or renewed their membership in the second quarter of 2010,” says Brian Lassiter, president of the Council.  “As we begin to emerge from this recession, organizations and individuals are growing more serious about continuous improvement and performance excellence.  Their contributions support our mission of excellence in Minnesota, and are an investment in their own futures because of the resources and support we provide for those interested in improvement.”

These individuals and organizations became members last quarter (asterisks indicate renewal members):

13-Below, Waconia, MN

Ted Amundson, Hastings, MN*

Andersen Corporation, Corporate Administrative Office, Oak Park Heights, MN*

Aveda, Blaine, MN*

Core Value Partners, Woodbury, MN*

DRI Consulting, North Oaks, MN

Excel Manufacturing, St. Charles, MN

William Glaves, Minneapolis, MN*

Kevin Heaton, Hudson, WI*

Hospital Focus 5, Burnsville, MN*

Mark Konietzko, Elk River, MN*

Lean Culture Inc., Victoria, MN

Minnesota State University-Mankato, Mankato, MN*

New Strategic Directions, Tom Walkington, Lakeville, MN*

PassionWerx, Bloomington, MN

Plunkett's Pest Control, Fridley, MN*

Quantum Performance Group, Canandaigua, NY*

Ken Rich, Minneapolis, MN*

Rick Shomion, St. Paul, MN*

Mike Stoecklein, Lakeville, MN*

Kevin Stone, Big Lake, MN*

Strategic Consulting and Coaching, Cheryl Jensen, Minneapolis, MN*

Strategic Improvement Systems, LLC, Excelsior, MN*

Thera Rising, Arden Hills, MN*

UMD Graduate Engineering Education Program, Iron Range, Virginia, MN

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities -- Housing & Residential Life, Minneapolis, MN*

Verum Consulting, Minneapolis, MN*

Werner Electric Supply, Cottage Grove, MN

What Really Works, Bloomington, MN

Lynn Willenbring, Oakdale, MN*

We thank all members for their support.  As of June 30, the Council represents a growing community of over 300 members representing over 150,000 employees.  A complete list of members is available at http://www.councilforquality.org/member.cfm.

Why should you or your organization consider membership?  There are many reasons. Your or your organization receives:

* recognition (in this newsletter, in press releases, on the website, and with a certificate/letter);

* discounts to Council services (Evaluator training, organization assessments);

* access to Council services (Clearinghouse, Consultant Referral Network, and free admission to Performance Improvement Network discussions); and

* discounts to our partners’ services (other improvement-related non-profits, universities/colleges, and professional/trade associations).

The Baldrige National Quality Program, in cooperation with the Baldrige Foundation and the Alliance for Performance Excellence, is pleased to announce two regional conferences this fall, featured dozens of high performing organizations across the country.  Newport Beach, CA will host a regional conference Sept 14, and Nashville, TN will host a regional conference Sept 28.

The 2010 Baldrige Regional Conferences provide an in-depth opportunity to learn about the best practices and results of both the 2009 Baldrige Award recipients and former Award recipients.

September 14

Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa, Newport Beach, CA

September 28

Franklin Marriott Cool Springs, Nashville, TN 

Come, learn, network, and engage in a day dedicated to improving your organization’s performance and take part in:

• an in-depth plenary session featuring the senior executives of the 2009 Baldrige Award recipients
• 18 interactive management sessions to choose from, featuring current or former recipients presenting on topics of interest to today’s managers and leaders.
• Special topic sessions on innovation, employee engagement, and aligning your organization using the Baldrige Criteria.    

For more information, visit http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/regionals/index.cfm. 

The Minnesota Chapter of Project Management Institute (PMI), an alliance partner of the Council, is pleased to announce its next breakfast session: “Memory Power for Project Managers and Teams.”  The session will be held August 10, and will be facilitated by Michael Monroe Kiefer, International author, keynoter, trainer.

In today's fast paced world, people need to learn faster and remember more! This presentation will give everyone a chance to take an assessment to determine the type of genetic memory they have. This will allow individuals to adapt materials so they can remember data better. A 7 point system for remembering people’s names will be presented along with a mind map technique to memorize notes in half the normal time! Also, covered will be the proper times of day to hold meetings, present new information, review project progress and memorize information. The use of music and certain types of foods that enhance or depress memory will be given. Fun, fascinating, entertaining and tools you can put to use immediately on your projects!

The magnitude and speed of change in health care has never been greater.  To succeed in this dynamic new world of health care, your biggest challenges as a leader is to rapidly build an organizational culture that not only embraces change, but also excels under it.

That’s why the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) created the Accelerating Cultural Transformation (ACT) series.  Based on the “Leading a Culture of Quality” series that ICSI has delivered to more than 30 health care organizations over the past seven years, ACT offers an accelerated and highly cost effective approach to changing the culture of your organization. It acknowledges that leadership has the critical role of establishing and reinforcing a culture that ensures the organization’s success and viability.

Assess ACT Through a Free Webinar.  Find out why we believe ACT is the ideal series to help you transform your organization’s culture.  The first webinar is “Phase 1: Assessment and Foundation Building,” conducted on July 27 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM CT.

To register for the introduction to ACT Webinar, go to: http://bit.ly/Webinar072710. For more information, please contact Lynette Wheelock, Director, ICSI Professional Partnerships, at 952-814-7090 or lynette.wheelock@icsi.org.

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):

8/23-9/27, Certified Quality Inspector (CQI) Review, 6-9PM, $250

8/31-9/28, Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence Review, 6-9PM, $450

9/21-9/22, Introduction to Quality, 8AM-4:30PM, $445

10/4-11/29, Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) Review – Webinar, 6-9PM, $450

10/5, Problem Solving Tools & Methods, 8AM-4:30PM, $235

10/25-11/29, Certified Quality Technician (CQT) Review, 5:30-8:30PM, $250

10/28, Project Management, 8AM-4:30PM, $235

11/3-12/1, Certified Quality Auditor (CQA) Review – Webinar, 5:30-8:30PM, $250

11/9, Understanding & Implementing ISO 9001, 8AM-4:30PM, $235

11/10, Internal Auditor Skills, 8AM-4:30PM, $235

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

7/30, Project Management Foundations, $395

7/30, Working Assertively, $395

7/30, Managing Business Requirements, $750

8/6, Project Initiation, $395

8/10, Principles of Supervision, $995

8/12, Project Planning, $750

8/13, Business Process Modeling and Analysis, $750

8/17, Introduction to HR Practices, $395

8/19, Financial Intelligence, $395

8/20, Project Risk Management, $395

8/24, The Human Resources Audit, $395

8/25, Delegating to Enhance Job Performance, $395

8/27, Problem Solving and Decision Making, $395

8/27, Project Execution, $395

9/10, Presentation Skills for Professionals, $495

9/10, Use Case Fundamentals, $395

9/14, Process Mapping and Analysis,  $995

9/14, Staffing Recruitment and Selection, $395

9/15, Business Grammar Update, $395

9/15, Interviewing and Selection Processes, $395

9/15, Successfully Dealing with Conflict at Work, $395

9/17, Facilitating User Acceptance Testing, $395

9/17, Project Control and Closure, $395

9/17, Ethical Business Decision Making, $395

9/21, Investigations and Documentation, $395

9/22, Introduction to Business Analysis, $395

9/24, Emotional Intelligence for Professional Success, $395

9/24, Project Leadership, $395

9/24, Business Process Planning, $395

9/28, Designing On-Boarding Programs, $395

9/28, Implementing Process Change, $995

9/29, Foundations in Business Writing and Design, $395

9/29, Creative Training Techniques, $1,485

9/29, Managing Business Requirements, $750

10/1, Using Influence to Drive Results, $395

10/1, Project Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, $395

10/5, Legal Issues in HR and Management, $395

10/5, Successful Manager's Leadership Program, $2,995

10/7, Virtual Management (Previous Title: Managing Virtual and Remote Teams), $395

10/8, Applied Project Management, $395

10/8, Achieving Results Through Personal Power and Leadership, $395

10/12, Measuring and Improving Work Processes, $750 

10/12, Principles of Employee Compensation, $395

10/13, Data and Process Modeling, $750

10/13, Documenting Employee Performance, $395

10/13, How to Deal with Difficult People, $395

10/6, Legal Issues for Supervisors, $395

10/14, Eight Steps of Instructional Design, $990

10/14, Strategic Planning and Measurement, $750

10/15, Project Management Foundations, $395

In addition, the following evening courses will be offered:

9/13, HR Certification Test Prep, $1,095

9/14, Project Management Foundations, $395

9/15, Project Risk Management, $395

9/21, Project Initiation, $395

9/22, HR Certification Test Prep, $1,095

9/28, Project Planning, $750

9/29, Project Control and Closure, $395

10/5, Introduction to Business Analysis, $395

10/12, Project Risk Management, $395

10/13, Project Leadership, $395

10/19, Project Execution, $395

10/19, Managing Business Requirements, $750

10/26, Project Control and Closure, $395

10/27, Project Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, $395

11/2, Project Leadership, $395

11/9, Project Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, $395

11/10, Applied Project Management, $395

11/16, Applied Project Management, $395

11/16, Data and Process Modeling, $750

Finally, the following online courses will be offered:

9/13, Online Principles of Systems Engineering, $2,295

10/1, Online HR Certification Test Prep, $1,095

10/4, Online Business Analysis Certificate, $1,850

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