Here’s the silver bullet you’ve all been waiting for.  In the next two newsletter columns, I’m going to give you the “secret sauce” for achieving and sustaining organizational excellence – the answers to all the questions that leaders might have for improving their results.  Seriously, I’m going to give you 43 best practices that have been validated to drive high performance in today’s organizations – a list that can help you reflect on your own organization’s performance.  And at the end of this two-part article next month, I’m going to give you something else: a gift that will instantly improve your organization…

There are six general things that leading organizations – organizations that are at the top in their industries or markets – do.  I think you’ll agree that:

1) High performing, world class organizations focus on their customers (or “stakeholders,” if you prefer).  Why is that critical?  Customers are the lifeblood of any organization.  Consider this:

• 90% of dissatisfied customers will not come back or buy again. (Research Institute of America)
• However, only 4% of dissatisfied customers will bother to complain (so for every one complaint you hear, 24 others go unheard). (ibid)
• But dissatisfied customers tell an average of nine others about their dissatisfaction. (ibid)
• 68% of dissatisfied customers who quit doing business with an organization do so because of company indifference.  Essentially, the company didn’t take the time to listen and hear the customer’s need or complaint.  (ibid)
• Engaged customers are 68% more likely to increase purchases, than neutral or disengaged customers. (Forrester)

It should come as no surprise that satisfied, engaged customers positively impact the bottom line and promote organizational vitality and sustainability (see November, December 2009 newsletter articles for more information).

So what are some best practices to ensure a focus on customers?  Consider these (and reflect on whether your organization is doing them):

• Listen to your customers!  Build mechanisms that systematically capture the voice of your customers – methods like focus groups, surveys, one-on-one interviews, and complaint data.  And then act upon that data to provide products/services that satisfy (or exceed) customer expectations.
• Design customer listening methods so that they vary for different segments of customers and/or across the various stages of their relationship with you.  New customers have different needs than those that have been with your organization for awhile.
• Use methods like Quality Function Deployment, forced- or paired-choice analysis, the Kano model, and conjoint analysis to identify, prioritize, analyze, and ensure that customer requirements are incorporated into product/service design and features.
• Listen to former customers, potential customers, and customers of competitors.  These represent potential “market” for your organization.
• Manage your complaints – ensure that they are resolved them completely and promptly (which requires customer access points, training, and empowerment), but also aggregate and analyze them to identify systemic issues in your operations.
• Measure customer satisfaction and engagement.  Unfortunately, satisfied customers may still defect, so measure their satisfaction AND engagement levels – how committed they are to your organization and its offerings.  Characteristics of engaged customers include loyalty, willingness to make an effort to use your services, and their willingness to actively advocate for and recommend your organization.  There are many methods to do this (Gallup CE11, Net Promoter Score, and others); pick one, and use the data to make decisions.
• Anticipate key customers requirements and changing expectations – it’s not only about satisfying today’s requirements, but staying one step ahead of competitors in identifying and responding to emerging customer and market needs.
• Build an organizational culture that ensures a consistently positive customer experience.  Think Ritz Carlton, Disney.  Everything about their system (recruiting, training, employee rewards, etc.) centers on the customers’ experience.

Customer focus is critical to organizational excellence, but you can’t have engaged customers without having engaged employees…

2)  High performing, world class organizations focus on their workforce.  Why is that critical?  In short, engaged employees are assets; disengaged employees are liabilities:

• Highly satisfied groups of employees often exhibit above-average levels of customer loyalty (56%), productivity (50%), employee retention (50%), safety performance (50%), and profitability (33%). (Gallup)
• Companies with engaged employees have 19% higher operating income, 17% higher operating margin, and 28% higher earnings per share. (Towers Perrin)
• Over the last 10 years, Fortune’s “Best Companies to Work For” (perhaps a proxy for engagement) average annual stock return was 18% versus 12% for the S&P 500 – that’s 50% better than the market.  (Fortune)

So there is a direct link between engaged employees and organizational results (for more data, check out newsletters in Feb 2010, Feb 09, Nov 08, and Oct 08).

But there is concern, because US workers are not happy:

• Of surveyed executives, 47% believed that employee trust has declined as a result of the way their company has managed the cost reductions the last two years.  And while 42% believe their companies are not fully effective at measuring the impact of cost reduction efforts on employee morale, fully 37% – more than a third of US businesses – believe that their organization’s handling of the economic downtown will make talented employees more likely to leave. (Hewitt & Associates)
• Only 45% of US workers are satisfied with their jobs (so 55% are NOT).  Only 51% find their jobs interesting, 43% feel secure in their jobs, and 51% are satisfied with their boss.  The result: between 50-70% of US workers are – or will – seek a new job.  (Conference Board)
• Only 17% of US workers highly engaged.  (Towers Perrin)

Here are some best practices in workforce focus:

• Systematically assess your workforce capability (your ability to accomplish work through the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of your people) and capacity (your ability to ensure sufficient staffing levels to accomplish work processes and meet customer needs).
• Recruit, hire, place, and retain workers, ensuring that they represent the diverse ideas, cultures, and thinking of the community and that they represent – and are consistent with – your organization’s values and culture.
• Manage and organize the workforce in such a way to accomplish the organization’s work, capitalize on core competencies, and address strategic challenges and action plans.  This is all about ensuring your organization structure and job design supports your strategy and complements your organizational strengths.
• Ensure, measure, and improve workforce health, safety, and security.
• Support employees with appropriate policies, services, and benefits, tailored to the needs of different workforce groups.
• Identify the factors that affect workforce engagement, and measure levels of workforce engagement across different employee groups.  There are many tools for this (Gallup Q-12, Hewitt, others).
• Develop and train your leaders and your workforce.  Development should support your organization’s core competencies, address strategic challenges, and promote the accomplishment of action plans; it should promote organizational improvement and innovation; it should include ethics.  Development should be delivered using many media, should be aligned with strategy (rather than “here’s a conference in San Francisco I might like going to”), and systematically evaluated and improved (using the voice of your employees, but also organizational outcomes to determine if there was an impact on results).
• Manage career progression and succession planning throughout the organization.
• Reward and recognize employees through a performance management system that supports customer focus and the achievement of organizational action plans and goals.

Engaged employees lead to engaged customers; engaged employees also promotes innovation and process excellence…

3) High performing, world class organizations focus on their processes.  Why is that critical?  Processes are the way in which organizations design and deliver products (services, programs) that meet customer needs.  Well-designed processes promote efficiency, high productivity, and consistent outcomes; poorly designed (or executed processes) promote inefficiency, waste, and errors:

• The cost of poor quality is estimated to be on average 20% of sales (in terms of repair, rework, scrap, write-offs, warranty claims) for any type of organization – businesses, healthcare, schools, nonprofits.  So for a $500 million organization, roughly $100 million is waste.  This is an average: some organizations are worse.  (Quality Digest)
• Deming estimated that about 94% of organizational issues (errors, waste, breakdowns) belong to the system (processes), which by the way, are the responsibility of management.

Here are some best practices in process management:

• Design and innovate work systems that relate to and capitalize on your core competencies.  “Work systems” refers to how work gets accomplished (through workforce, suppliers/partners, contractors, collaborators to produce and deliver products and services).  Great companies will systematically determine what they choose to outsource to external resources and what they choose to retain internally due to core competency, intellectual property, efficient and cost, or other factors.
• Design work processes that deliver customer value, profitability or financial return, organizational success, and sustainability.  Process requirements should incorporate input from customers, stakeholders, suppliers, and partners as appropriate.  Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and other methods are helpful in ensuring that processes conform to stakeholder requirements.
• Manage processes so that they optimize cycle time, productivity, and cost control; they minimize rework and errors; they promote agility and rapid response to changing needs; and they incorporate new technology and organizational knowledge.
• Measure, manage, and improve work processes so that they achieve better performance, reduce variability, improve outcomes, and stay current with business needs and directions.  You can use simple techniques like Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) or more sophisticated tools like ISO, Lean, or Six Sigma.  But you should pick a tool(s), train your people on it, create an environment that supports the use of it (including rewards), and stick with it.
• Use problem solving tools throughout your organization so that your people can quickly diagnose and address process failures.  The Seven Quality Tools (which include simple tools you’ve all used) and the Japanese A3 method are good places to start.  These methods should align (or be embedded) in whatever improvement method you choose.
• Systematically improve EVERY process in your enterprise to keep them current with the changing environment and organizational needs.
• Ensure work system and work process continuity, sustainability, and preparedness for disasters and emergencies.

And processes can only be improved when they are measured, which leads to the fourth factor…

4) High performing, world class organizations measure performance.  You cannot manage what you do not understand, and you cannot understand what you do not measure.  High performing organizations are data-driven.  They rely on facts to make decisions (rather than intuition), and they systematically manage their information, knowledge, and technology.

Here are some best practices in measurement:

• Use data and information to track daily operations and also for tracking overall organizational performance.  In other words, seek a balance of leading and lagging indicators that monitor progress toward strategy and also enable the management and improvement of key work systems and processes.
• Occasionally review the data you NO LONGER need, and consider “sunsetting” or discontinuing its collection and use.
• Use comparative data to support decision making and innovation.  Why?  Comparative data and benchmarks help you determine relative performance – how your organization compares to the average, to upper quartile or decile performers, to best-in-class.  It also helps set targets and promotes innovation.
• Systematically review and analyze performance to promote continuous and breakthrough improvement and to promote innovation.  This review, analysis, and action should take place throughout your organization (and in some cases, to your supply chain and partners).  Frameworks like the Balanced Scorecard (or dashboards) are excellent in helping leaders and employees quickly analyze performance and take action as needed.
• Ensure data accuracy, integrity, reliability, timeliness, security, and confidentiality throughout the organization.  Make data available to all parties that need it (workforce, suppliers, partners, customers, etc.) to make decisions.
• Manage organizational knowledge, transferring knowledge within your workforce, between your workforce and suppliers/partners/customers, and from departing employees.  Identify, share, transfer, and implement best practices across your organization.
• Ensure hardware and software are reliable, secure, user-friendly, and that information is available during emergencies.

Good organizations need the data to see how they are performing today, but they also need data to help them set a direction for tomorrow…

Next month, I’ll share the final two elements that drive organizational excellence, along with an offer for a free gift to help your organization reach a higher level of excellence.  Stay tuned…

Yours in Improvement,

Brian S. Lassiter

President, Minnesota Council for Quality

www.councilforquality.org

Last week, the Minnesota Council for Quality honored the nine recipients of the 2009 Quality Award, which recognizes Minnesota’s leading organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to continuous improvement and sustained superior results.  The award is based on the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence and is the culmination of a rigorous evaluation of an organization’s management system.  Evaluation Criteria includes leadership, planning, customer-related processes, measurement systems, workforce engagement, and core processes.

Commenting on Tuesday’s awards ceremony, Brian Lassiter, president of the Minnesota Council for Quality said, “Today we heard from many organizations that are on the journey to excellence – businesses, schools, healthcare organizations, and governmental agencies. These organizations have committed leaders, visions for the future, and a sharp focus on their customers and stakeholders.  Their efforts are improving productivity, competitiveness, and outcomes of Minnesota organizations.”

All nine award recipients were recognized May 18 in a celebration at the Landmark Center in St. Paul, attended by nearly 350 Minnesota leaders. 

“This process helps us to become better at what we do – to serve our patients, our community, and our nation,” said Steve Kleinglass, Medical Center Director of the Minneapolis VA Medical Center.  “On behalf of our staff and volunteers, this recognition symbolizes our ongoing commitment to provide the highest quality care to our patients, who are the real heroes of our country –brave men and women who have served our country.  They seek our services often at times when they have the greatest need, and they have the absolute right to expect nothing less than our very best.  This process helps us to become our best.”

The event also recognized the 2009 Minnesota Quality Award Board of Evaluators, a team of nearly 130 volunteers supporting this program, giving a combined estimated 12,000 volunteer hours of service.

“Tough economic times often mean organizations retreat to past practice,” said Lynn Willenbring, Chair of the Minnesota Council for Quality Board of Directors and CIO for the City of Minneapolis.  “The organizations recognized at the 19th Annual Minnesota Quality Awards are leaders who have proven that dedication to quality promotes sustained success.”

Said Bruce Klaehn, Superintendent of Dover-Eyota Schools from Eyota, Minnesota: “Baldrige and the Minnesota Quality Award help us accomplish our mission and better educate our students.  In addition to the tools and skills that are gained from utilizing the Baldrige process, one of its greatest contributions to an organization is the mindset that it creates throughout the staff for ongoing continuous improvement.  Virtually all of our energies are focused on how to fix or improve an issue in a spirit of teamwork and system improvement.  That’s good for our students, our faculty, our parents, and our community.  Ultimately, that helps us be a better school district.”

There are four award categories – commitment, advancement, achievement and excellence – to honor the appropriate stage of their improvement journey.  Since 1991, 114 Minnesota organizations have received recognition.

The complete listing of 2009 Minnesota Quality Award Winners includes:

• Albert Lea Medical Center, Albert Lea (Achievement Level)
• Austin Medical Center, Austin (Advancement Level)
• Benedictine Health System, Duluth (Achievement Level)
• Cardinal of Minnesota, Rochester (Advancement Level)
• Dover-Eyota Schools, Eyota (Commitment Level)
• Minneapolis VA Medical Center (Achievement Level)
• Rochester Community & Technical College (Achievement Level)

• State of Minnesota, Dept of Human Services, Chemical & Mental Health Services Administration (Commitment Level)
• Workforce Development, Inc. (Commitment Level)

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 second of three training sessions in 2010 is June 22-24 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) – 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 May 28 (can be extended if you contact us by May 28 at the email below).  Applications for returning Evaluators (which only require updates from your most recent application) are due June 11.

In addition to the full training June 22-24, new Evaluators are also required to attend a one-day orientation (either June 3, 8, or 9 – you choose, and all in the Rochester).

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 the Twin Cities (location TBD), 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: Twin Cities (TBD)

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

Workshops in Minneapolis, St. Paul, 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.

Past recruitment, development and retention practices are simply ineffective with the newest generation, Gen Y.  The demographic shift and a new life stage of development occurring simultaneously is complex, creating frustration in many workplaces.  Organizations must learn how to evaluate the new generation’s impact on the business now and for the future.

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to welcome Judy Anderson and Terese Corey Blanck, both founders and partners with Emerging Advantage, to our June 3 program: "The Shifting Paradigm of Entry-Level Talent: Managing the New Generation Y Workforce."  Terese and Judy will share data and techniques that organizations can use to understand and manage our changing workforce.  As the population continues to age and a higher percentage of workers come from the newer generation, managing differently might be the difference between organizational success and failure.

• Learn about shifting demographics and the need for Gen Y to fill the leadership vacuum in the next decade
• Expand their perspective of the “Millennial Deal Breakers”  compared to Gen X and Boomer workplace expectations and “why” these perspectives are so different and what can be done to retain Gen Y
• Learn about Emerging Adulthood and start applying this new knowledge to diagnosing the behavior of entry-level talent resulting in new practices that work as well as reducing frustrations   
• Comprehend how to evaluate organizational practices relating to entry-level talent including proper support structure (scaffolding),  the need for developmental managers, and the necessary elements of acceleration experiences

The discussion is from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on June 3 (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; $15 for partner organizations; $30 for the public.

How is the labor market today?  Is it growing again or at least stable?  What types of skills are organizations seeking?  How will things look 90 days out?

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to welcome Linda Reber and Jacqueline Carpenter, both Branch Managers with Manpower, to our June 9 program: "Minnesota Employment Outlook."

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is conducted to measure employers' intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce.  This quarterly survey is one of the most trusted surveys of employment activity in the world.  For more than four decades, the survey has derived all of its informaiton from a single question: "How do you anticipate total employment at your location to change in this quarter compared to prior quarter?"  Learn what employers are saying and what to anticipate in the changing world of our work.

We thank our partner, 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 June 9 (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.

The pressure to be accountable and demonstrate organizational performance continues to increase.  To meet this challenge, organizations need to develop new processes that align strategies, resources, people, and measures with strategic goals. 

The Rochester Area Quality Council, an affiliate of the Minnesota Council for Quality, is pleased to welcome Dave Weber, Marilyn Hansmann, and Christine Miller of the Rochester Community and Technical College, to our June 1 program, "Achieving Strategic Alignment."  RCTC will discuss how it has created strategic and integrated planning processes that align with a Balanced Scorecard approach linking dashboards at the college, division, and academic and service department level.  This enables the College to track results driving continuous improvement, innovation and performance excellence.  These concepts can easily apply to businesses, healthcare, and other nonprofits.

We thank our session sponsor, Rochester Community & Technical College, for their support of this session, helping us to keep it free for members.

The session is June 1 from 7:30-9:00 AM at RCTC.

Talent, Training, and Technology. Your business needs are important. The University of Minnesota understands that, so have developed five key ways business leaders can gain access to the resources and services you need to be successful.  But how do you navigate the complexity of a $2 billion research institution, which has five campuses and numerous (but sometimes hard-to-find) resources and tools?

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to welcome Matt Kramer, Director of the U of M’s Office of Business Relations, to our June 15 Twin Ports Performance Excellence Network.  The Office of Business Relations is sometimes referred to the “front door” of the University, in that it serves to broker the deep resources of the institution with organizations who can benefit from them.  Specifically, Matt will share how the U of M can help you:

• leverage the U’s graduates to find your future employees
• find your subject matter expert through the U’s network of world-class faculty
• locate training opportunities for your professional improvement
• find your research partner for product development through the U’s research facilities, and
• leverage the U’s inventions for your competitive advantage.

The session is from 7:30-9:00 a.m. on June 15 (networking and continental breakfast begin at 7:00 a.m.) at UMD's Solon Center.  Admission to TPPEN is FREE for Council members and guests ($20 for non-members).

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to announce that the Kentucky Center for Performance Excellence has agreed to offer the Consultant Referral Network© in Kentucky.  Kentucky now makes 10 states offering this unique service that connects enterprise improvement experts to organizations seeking them.

Located at www.consultantreferralnetwork.org, the Consultant Referral Network is a dynamic, web-enabled search tool that allows client organizations to outline their needs in terms of subject matter expertise sought, type of assistance desired (consulting, training, coaching, speaking, or facilitating), sector/industry expertise required, size of consulting firm desired, desired location of consulting firm, and years of experience preferred. The client can also weight the relative importance of each variable. The tool will then identify consultants or firms that best match the client’s needs.

“We are pleased that Kentucky has joined this partnership,” says Brian Lassiter, president of the Minnesota Council for Quality. “Organizations have a variety of challenges and seek a variety of subject matter experts to help them improve and grow.  This tool will help organizations in Kentucky find resources that can help them address their opportunities for improvement.”

John Simson, Operating Committee Member of the Kentucky Center for Performance Excellence states: “People use the phone book and Craigslist to find experts in all sorts of areas, but there is no ‘yellow pages’ to find experts in organizational improvement.  We are excited to partner with many other states to bring resources that focus on Baldrige, Six Sigma, Lean, leadership, workforce engagement, measurement, change management, and a host of other subjects to our stakeholders in a cost-effective, efficient manner.”

The service is free for organizations to use to find consultants, and there is a small listing and referral fee for consultants who wish to be included in the Network. 

“There are at least four benefits of this service to organizations,” says Lassiter.  “First, the tool can accelerate an organization’s search for improvement resources because it is quicker and more efficient than ‘word of mouth’ and traditional searches.  Second, it is neutral, independent, and unbiased.  A consortium of 10 state quality programs manage the Network, so no consultant receives preferential treatment in the search formula, increasing its credibility and value for organizations seeking help.  Third, there is no charge for organizations to use this service.  And four, the Network provides an efficient, independent and fair mechanism for consultants to generate brand awareness, leads, and potentially engagements.”

Kentucky joins Delaware, Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin in partnering to provide this Network.

Enterprise Minnesota, a partner of the MN Council for Quality, is pleased to announce their next upcoming event: “Business Benefits of Quality Certification.”  The session is June 16 in the Twin Cities.

In addition, Enterprise Minnesota will host the following other programs:

June 16: Business Benefits of Quality Certification, Twin Cities

July 21: Sales Growth Solutions for Effective Business Development, Bloomington

Aug 18: Lean Office: Implementing Efficiency Processes in Any Office, Twin Cities

The Minnesota Chapter of Project Management Institute (PMI), an alliance partner of the Council, is pleased to announce its next breakfast session: “Motivating Project Team Members.”  The session will be held June 8, and will be facilitated by Jesse Freese, project manager with Fissure Corporation.   

Why do we do anything?  Most everything we do, we do for a reason. This presentation will look at what drives us to make the decisions we make and how we can use this information in motivating team members on project work. We will look at several motivation (organizational) theories and the relationship between each of them.

Specific to project teams, what are the key questions individuals ask themselves when joining a team? We will examine how team member answers to those questions impact individual motivation. We will also look at the keys a leader should focus on in creating a highly motivated team.  What is the relationship between motivation and commitment, motivation and attitude? This presentation will look at the four levels of commitment and what you need to do with your teams to build each level of commitment.

The MN Chapter of ISPI, an alliance partner of the Council, is pleased to announce its year-end celebration and awards ceremony on June 15, facilitated by Kristina Ralston, President of MNISPI.  Session details are forthcoming.  For more information, visit http://www.mnispi.org/.

The MN Healthcare Quality Professionals, an alliance partner of the MN Council for Quality, is pleased to host a (free) monthly webinar seminar series.  The series, hosted by MHQP and HealthForce Minnesota, is a monthly "quality in the trenches" brownbag education series.  The objective of these sessions is to provide a healthcare quality "survey course" using selected materials from the National Association of Healthcare Quality (NAHQ)'s Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) preparation materials. 

Upcoming webinars include (over the lunch hour):

5/27        Panel: FMEA Best Practices

6/24        Panel: Hardwiring Core Measures in EHR’s

The intended audience includes healthcare quality professionals who want a re-grounding in the breadth of their profession, and clinicians who want to learn more to become champions of change.  MHQP especially wants to reach out to healthcare professionals in rural/outstate Minnesota who don't get many quality education opportunities.

Winona State University is pleased to announce the upcoming summer and fall graduate courses for The Applied Educational Lean Facilitator program. The program consists of two courses: Educational Lean Methods and Educational Lean Practicum. The combined two courses integrate Educational Lean, leadership principles, team dynamics, change management, and project management.  This unique, interdisciplinary experience prepares education leaders to adapt and improve the constantly evolving and often complex administrative and academic processes.

Educational Lean Methods is four sessions, beginning June 17, and the Educational Lean Practicum is from June 27 through August 13 (dates to be arranged).  Fall sessions begin September 20.  All sessions are worth three graduate credits (so six total, with the practicum).   And Council members are eligible for a $30 WSU bookstore gift certificate.

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

For more information, please contact Laura Hardy at 507-332-5802 or at laura.hardy@southcentral.edu or contact Brian Knutson at 507-332-5874 (brian.knutson@southcentral.edu). 

South Central College is also pleased to announce special ISO courses this summer:

Understanding and Implementing ISO 9001: Wed, June 16, 8:00 to 4:30; $235

This course makes understanding the ISO 9001 standard simple, putting the standard into common terms and relating it to daily operations.  The background to the standard, including the eight management principles, will be covered.  Discussions and exercises will include interpreting the clauses, as well as insights for implementing the quality system.  

Internal Auditor Skills: Thurs, June 17, 8:00-4:30; $235

Gain practical insights from an experienced professional ISO QMS Auditor.  This workshop will provide trained auditors ready to conduct internal quality system audits, saving your company internal training time and resources.  The course features hands-on exercises for learning and applying auditor skills and techniques.  Auditors will learn the “Heads-Up” methodology for conducting practical improvement-driven audits, a 9-step methodology for interviewing auditees, and how to write audit findings for improvements.  Students will gain additional ISO 9001 interpretation skills through class exercises.

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.

05/21, Project Execution, $395

05/25, Exercising Organizational Influence, $395

06/01, Organizational Training and Development, $395

06/04, Project Control and Closure, $395

06/08, Verbal and Nonverbal Communication, $395

06/10, Legal Issues for Managers and Supervisors, $395

06/10, Coaching for Excellence, $395

06/11, Applied Project Management, $395

06/15, Business Acumen for Human Resource Professionals, $395

06/16, Creative Training Techniques, $1485

06/17, Writing for the Web, $395

06/18, Business Acumen for Technical Professionals, $395

06/22, Strategic Human Resource Planning, $395

06/23, Leading Through Change, $395

06/25, Project Procurement Management, $395

7/12-7/16, FastTrack Business Analysis Certificate (3 courses), $1,850

7/14, Negotiating for Agreement, $395

7/23, Introduction to Business Analysis, $395

7/26-8/6, FastTrack Project Management Certificate (9 courses), $3,500

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

10/19, Project Management for HR Professionals, $395

10/21, Fundamentals of Leading Organizational Change, $795

10/22, Project Initiation, $395

10/26, Performance Management Processes, $395

10/27, Improving Work Processes, $395

10/27, Technical Writing, $395

10/28, Introduction to E-Learning and Webinars,  $ 990

10/28, Project Planning, $750

10/28, Developing Leadership Skills, $750

10/29, Increasing Power and Influence through Listening, $395

11/2, Organizational Training and Development, $395

11/2, Process Innovation,  $995

11/3, Handling People with Tact and Diplomacy, $395

11/4, Creativity and Innovation, $395

11/4, Organizational Assessment, $795

11/5, Project Risk Management, $395

11/9, Employee Benefit Practices and Trends, $395

11/10, Advanced Editing and Proofreading Strategies, $395

11/10, Business Process Modeling and Analysis, $750

11/10, Managing Performance and Developing Talent, $395

11/12, Project Execution, $395

11/16, Business Process Management and the Balanced Scorecard, $995

11/16, Employee and Labor Relations, $395

11/18, Customer Focused Marketing, $395

11/18, In-Depth Coaching: Leading Individual Change Interventions, $795

11/19, Project Control and Closure, $395

11/30, Strategic HR Planning, $395

12/1, Facilitating User Acceptance Testing, $395

12/1, Writing Business Reports, $395

12/2, Leading Successful Team Intervention Strategies, $795

12/2, Leading Through Change, $395

12/3, Exercising Organizational Influence, $395

12/3, Project Leadership, $395

12/7, Technology for HR Management, $395

12/8, Coaching for Excellence, $395

12/8, Use Case Fundamentals, $395

12/9, Developing Direct Reports and Employees, $395

12/10, Project Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, $395

12/14, Business Acumen for HR Professionals, $395

12/15, Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Skills, $395

12/15, Writing for the Web, $395

12/16, Successfully Leading Enterprise-Wide Change, $795

12/16, Capstone in Supervision, $750

12/17, Project Management for IT Professionals, $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

For more information on any of these courses or a complete listing of coursework, visit the University of Minnesota’s College of Continuing Education’s website at www.cce.umn.edu/professionaleducation or call 612-624-4000.

The University of St. Thomas’ Executive Education and Professional Development, a partner of the MN Council for Quality, is pleased to announce the following upcoming programs:

6/7 – 6/17/2010 Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate, $3795

6/14 – 6/18, 2010 Mini Master of the Lean Enterprise, $2,495

7/12 – 8/5/2010 Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, $8200

Also, coming in the fall of 2010: Mini MBA for Technical Professionals and Mini Master of Supply Chain Management.

MCQ members qualify for a 15% discount. Use VIP Code Quality2010 when registering.  To register or for more information, visit http://www.stthomas.edu/execed or call 651-962-4600.

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