Continuous Improvement (Ci) Mindset

1. You notice that each month your credit card statement has a $5 charge from an unkown company. What should you do?

Keep paying it because the charge must be legitiamate - you just can't remember what it is.

Keep paying because the amount is too small to worry about.

Ignore your credit card statement all together because it is too stressful to think about it.

Many of us use credit cards in personal and/or business situations. The card statement is a source of information (based on transaction data) that enables you to verify the legitamacy of the charges. To avoid paying for unnecessary, or even fraudulant fees, credit card companies have services to help the card holder identify the source and block to stop the charges appearing again.

Explanation

Many of us use credit cards in personal and/or business situations. The card statement is a source of information (based on transaction data) that enables you to verify the legitamacy of the charges. To avoid paying for unnecessary, or even fraudulant fees, credit card companies have services to help the card holder identify the source and block to stop the charges appearing again.

2. You are looking to purchase a toaster, online. What typically dictates your decision?

The level of management activity that went into the production of the toaster

A combination of quality/design, price and on-time delivery

The amount of time the item spent in the manufacturers warehouse

The colour. I cannot have a kitchen appliance that clashes with my wallpaper!

As a customer you consider many things, but usually the primary drivers of your purchase will be cost, quality/design and delivery and an overriding expectation that the product is safe. Anything else you would likely consider non-value adding. CI is all about focusing our efforts on the value for the customer, in order to be able to channel efforts on eliminating the non-value adding activities. Therefore allowing us to enhance the overall customer experience and deliver against or even exceed expectations, thus creating 'real' value for our customer.

Explanation

As a customer you consider many things, but usually the primary drivers of your purchase will be cost, quality/design and delivery and an overriding expectation that the product is safe. Anything else you would likely consider non-value adding. CI is all about focusing our efforts on the value for the customer, in order to be able to channel efforts on eliminating the non-value adding activities. Therefore allowing us to enhance the overall customer experience and deliver against or even exceed expectations, thus creating 'real' value for our customer.

3. Everyday your Outlook inbox is overflowing with email and everyday it makes you feel stressed. What should you do?

Delete everything!

Visually scan for the important ones and deal with just those

Copy everything to an archive folder in case you need it in the future

Apply several proven techniques that help you automatically filter, sort, delete based on your criteria

Most of us have to manage email but many feel email is managing them...often taking too much time. There are techniques that have emerged that help to take away some of the work. It might come down to personal preference, but there are resources such as http://sww.wiki.shell.com/wiki/index.php/Email_Management_Approaches, which can help.

Explanation

Most of us have to manage email but many feel email is managing them...often taking too much time. There are techniques that have emerged that help to take away some of the work. It might come down to personal preference, but there are resources such as http://sww.wiki.shell.com/wiki/index.php/Email_Management_Approaches, which can help.

4. You are moving on to another function (job) how do you prepare your departure and ensure you set your successor up for success?

My job is really complex so it is impossible to write down what I do

This is the responsibility of my manager

A good way to learn new things is to be coached by someone who knows rather than reading a manual in isolation. Documented instructions often leave out the real life experiences and richness we need to perform. In a Continuous Improvement Culture we all should aim to be coaches creating and sharing best practices, lessons learned and striving to continuously improve our daily tasks.

Explanation

A good way to learn new things is to be coached by someone who knows rather than reading a manual in isolation. Documented instructions often leave out the real life experiences and richness we need to perform. In a Continuous Improvement Culture we all should aim to be coaches creating and sharing best practices, lessons learned and striving to continuously improve our daily tasks.

5. When going on holiday what helps you to know that you are not going to miss your flight

A friendly person at the check-in desk that doesn't charge me for my overweight luggage

TV monitors for flight number, check-in desk, departure gate, on/off schedule information, clear signage

Self check-in station so that I can avoid the queues

That I could purchase my duty free off line so all I need to do is pick it up

In many parts of every day life we see visual indicators that gives us important information on progress/performance of the process we are participating in. We value having relevant data that is easy visible and accessible. In Continuous Improvement we strive to make performance visible and relevant so that we can ensure that processes are performing as they are intended (real-time), this in return increases effectiveness and reduces time taken for individual tasks.

Explanation

In many parts of every day life we see visual indicators that gives us important information on progress/performance of the process we are participating in. We value having relevant data that is easy visible and accessible. In Continuous Improvement we strive to make performance visible and relevant so that we can ensure that processes are performing as they are intended (real-time), this in return increases effectiveness and reduces time taken for individual tasks.

6. You've noticed that your PC is taking a long time to shut down every day. What should you do?

Get a new one, easy!

Run a virus scan and see what is causing the slow down, fix the bug and remove the offending software

Backup everything, format the hard drive, reload a clean operating system, reinstall MS Office then restore all your files!

The CI mindset is about solving recurring issues with simple solutions... we look for the root cause and then select the solution to fit the problem. Often times this involves a trial or experimental approach to tackle problems.

Explanation

The CI mindset is about solving recurring issues with simple solutions... we look for the root cause and then select the solution to fit the problem. Often times this involves a trial or experimental approach to tackle problems.

7. In your daily work (process) who do you consider the customer of your work?

Peter Voser

The person using the end product (e.g. fuelling their car)

The end customer of my work

My line manager and/or their line manager

Most work is a process, and in nearly all situations those processes run across multiple functional boundaries. In Continuous Improvement, we aim to understand more than just the part we play in a process, we need to think "end-to-end" and understand who receives our outputs. Measuring 'real-time' the performance of our work/process is also a key identifier and enabler to allow us to improve they way we work and output to our 'customer'. By thinking this way we enable ourselves to optimise the whole and not just our part, while maintaining customer focus.

Explanation

Most work is a process, and in nearly all situations those processes run across multiple functional boundaries. In Continuous Improvement, we aim to understand more than just the part we play in a process, we need to think "end-to-end" and understand who receives our outputs. Measuring 'real-time' the performance of our work/process is also a key identifier and enabler to allow us to improve they way we work and output to our 'customer'. By thinking this way we enable ourselves to optimise the whole and not just our part, while maintaining customer focus.