Life as I know it...

Fact: Only 19 percent of companies say their employees have all the data they need to make better, more informed decisions. ¹

Legacy "executive information systems", and in some cases, failed TQM, CRM and IVR - any business-dubbed acronym assigned to a once disruptive yet sexy piece of technology used to support some business process. And with each time said, the 'apparently innocuous acronym', became what corporate decision support & IT leaders would hate the most; the ever-present reminder that they, too, like you or I, believed the promised triple digit ROIs and NPVs and IRRs and TCOs; and we all know how we feel about the typical IVR experience.

And for all of the marketing hype and business-related jargon, none much materialized in the way of extreme financial rewards. In fact, the pains that were felt were invisible to the average eye. They came in the form of the levels of support (i.e. manpower) that was required to 'support' users and systems; but hey, they don't call it disruptive for nothing.

But I digress…

Let's just say the expectations set were far greater than the actualized returns.

Driven to succeed and with common understanding of importance of sharing information across silos and processes, and free from the burden of role ambiguity, employees can truly uncover ALL of the intersection points affecting a given process, product and plan. And with further analysis, one could establish the root causes and relative impact to the ultimate measure of success for most companies: profitability.

And with boundary-less organizations, come a well-oiled operations machine, free from the clutter and waste that infiltrates overly complex and bureaucratic organizations. The same ones that have meetings to plan meetingsàI know you know the ones …

What comes when one begins to think outside of the proverbial box, and think about things from the customer's vantage point, is a powerful sense of organizational self awareness, ultimately, bubbling up a call to action to your workforce, resulting in focus and drive...but that's where I stop…it is stalled by middle management, filled with less than promising mid-managers who know little about mentoring and growing their staff, far too consumed with feelings of being threatened by xxx up-and-comer staffie…

Using this 'voice of the customer' along a supply-chain is a powerful technique for designing and developing effective process and project metrics. In many ways, effective measurement determines the success of the projects -- A world where BI and project / processes have merged to evolve a new technique called Process/Project Intelligence, where the combined use of project management methodologies (including ISO9001, Agile (Scrum) or Design for Six Sigma) and business intelligence are merged into a true picture of the health of the organization across all verticals and horizontals, where all root causes are explored, eliminated and prioritized. While BI has undoubtedly evolved into a powerful set of technologies suitable for different types of users and information analysis needs over the early 'EIM' days, it is far from the 'single source of truth' that so many vendors spin into their sales pitch because most systems negate to weave the in element of the business managed processes that geminate out of every department within every organization at some level.

Honestly examining one's process by actual current state and stop blending the truth through their rose-colored, kaleidoscopic-view of operations, can one move into the thrilling world offered by those at the top of the Process & Project Intelligence pyramid. A place driven by the truth of data, where unified and systematic approaches to understanding one's business are commonplace rather than exception; where process optimization is key to project prioritization rather than secondary; where development initiatives are driven by the 'voice of the customer', rather than the voice of the developer.

Threepenny Opera - a photoset on Flickr

Don't you wish you could cube me,
like cheese or a mind game with no less ingenuity,
sometimes a puzzle that equally excites as it frustrates in specificity;
In an attempt to better understand, we imitate, only to solve with efficiency,
void of any geophysical attachment,
yet paired up with the attachment's emotional counterpart screaming "caress me"...
more of a welcomed challenge than anything,
but a cube, nontheless, is still a cube,

its multi-dimensionality is not meant to be simple;

you closed your eyes, I heard you whisper...every last thing
points to just one thing...
it's complexity is what makes it valuable,
forcing end-users to admire its provider model;
sustaining time as endless as the sky consuming her inner beauty,
all units facing outward yet in their own unique odditity,
I find your thought process so charming,
a member all on its own,
you see me as intriguing,
but nothing matches the feeling,
when levels roll up to the beginning, as though life has just started before it was ever to begin...
your lid contains a nervous curiousity so appealing,
will you be able to ,
wont you know what it means...

to finally solve it, the cube of all cubes; the time arrives to finally solve it, your theory is her excitement...
your passion is her cube. her passion is finally meeting all of you..

Epilogue to Chapter 1

She knew she felt something, but was it what she sought to find? who knows...she is there right now, can you see her, still left back on the darkened path, stretching her head out towards to light, the light that illuminates the path, the path off of her path, where the tree of all trees grows older, one day asking her "Where are you moving to? Or should I say "Where are you running to"... right now, can you define yourself by a series of events, misfortunate or not, each occurring during each of the major life stages: childhood, pre-teen, teen, early adult (20-25), adult and senior? What’s your declaration? Learn from sadness, take time to process and trade places with her before you start judging her for less than tolerable qualities-->would the Olympics be nearly as influential on world politics if judging was completed before the athletes ever take center stage? "
Written by: LG, 9/9/2006

I have decided that there exists a hierarchy of personalities in the workplace, each distinctive, often endearing, but most often not; yet, I find myelf caught in another twist of my life --> does it always yields a perfect opportunity...?
I found it interesting that most people that I have worked with over the course of my career fell into the following categories:
Manic - Depressive Boss: defined as one who reminds you of your 4th grade teacher, though not in that warm and fuzzy kind of way. Rather, she walks around with security badges not so subtly tied around her visage, hoping her perfectly pink and bronze bobbi brown cheeks don't looks too noticeable. And, while new comers always think this person is the sweetest most naive individual, she is actually quite cunning in her ability to use that exterior to fool those, albeit inadvertantly, around her. She carries what she thinks is a big stick, though many on her team would disagree. Blind to most around her, she hones in on PowerPoint presentations like a flock of angry seagulls, even after the long-nights and weekends spent on it's creation. Often, she will make so many changes on your "deck", you will think that the cover sheet should have a C- circled around it, if not worse. There is never a "thank you"; only awkward parties and hugs on your birthday; and when she is getting ready for "her monthly's friend", her already obsessively odd , strinkingly happy (or is she), behavior turns into venom. Now you are happy with the C-, as she isn't feeling as nice, yielding a D if you are lucky. If you are a natural leader, you will butt heads with this far sighted manager, often confusing the concept of leader vs. manager.
The Work-A-Holic Boss: If you have the pleasure of working for that single-but-married to their job kind of person, you will suffer their martyrdom more often than being inspired by their leadership. Often clueless to others' feelings, this person is devoid of tact and people skills. Because they spend so many hours at the office, they become anti-social personalites, often finding quick flings at the office or through friends, but never lasting longer than 3-5 months. Another far sighted group, they miss the boat on those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for your team /yourself. She will be caught up in the proverbial "weeds", which ironically enough, she will call you out for getting into, and won't see the passing ship sailing off into the distance. No matter what ailment, she is always at the office, sending email until 12 am, and thrives on how many other people notice her hours.
The I-Have-Tenure-so-got-this-job-boss: This is the manager who used to hold the role you are currently in; a fate worse then death if you are filling the shoes of the person who is now your boss. Not only will they judge you for what you do / how you do it different to her. Even worse, many companies promote from within, which is a great concept in theory, and if certain general guidelines are used when deciding who to promote, then skip reading the rest of this example and move to the next -- If your boss, bosses boss, and bosses bosses boss, seem to move up the ladder in tandem, most likely, they are tenured -- Guidelines are as follows A) they are young, bright and full of potential; don't fear us because we are you, don't hate us for being beautiful; B) they have a strong sense of self and aren't afraid to stand up for what they believe in C) Is articulate, intelligent and witty enough to carry a conversation and D) is inclined towards their left brained side; in essense, are good with numbers / slicing and dicing of data . E) Often have no tenure, so don't carry the "war stories" like other, more tenured employees.
The Dirty Old Man / Dirty Office Tramp: I know it sounds bad but they actually are a lot of fun once you get to know them. I also consider gay men who like to pinch your breasts &/or ass, in this category. You know you have found one when A) they have run out of same / opposite sex people to hit on (sometimes scoring or "going all of the way" but often times not). B) Can think, talk, say and do nothing but things related to sex -- We all have that sex kitten inside of us, but this office worker bee gets hot off of stress, enjoying a good f*ck over making love anytime. C) This person's name is part of the office rumor mill -- you know the rumor circuit is the fastest in a corporate environment, less in a start-up other than "dude, we're getting a foos-ball machine!" one, where the chicken women, miserable in their marriages, get together over the proverbial water cooler to rip apart every women and guy in the company, of course with the staple gay sidekick at their side like a sycophant, praising your beauty ad nauseum. Men will pinch butts but in that "I'm an old guy and can get away with it" kind of way (gay men are notorius at this, as well); Women will dress slightly more provocative, even in the most librarian slutty way, as they understand what men really find hot.You can't fault these beauties; they are who they are, after all.
The Pretend Friendship to Fill Your Workday: Painful as it may sound, there are people who pretend to be your friend or at least, that is what you surmise in hindsight, who leave the common organization only to drop your friendship. While many people seperate church and state, which in this case, is work and life, these people have such interesting personalities, that you adopt many of their traits. The rate of friendship grows exponentially over years, and when they feel sad, you feel sad; and when they leave and seem to forget all about you, you are challenged to pick up the corporate pieces.
The Analytic vs. Methodic - the latter is a person who is so caught up in planning their next move, that they never move, much like the manic-depressive boss. These people are excellent and planning for their next move, and in a project manager role, they can flourish. But leader of the people, they are not. The former analytic soul can make much faster twich decisions, uses a self-prescribed data-driven process for decision making but in a much smaller scale than the Methodic. The two butt heads a lot, but always respectfully, sometimes challenging the other. The methodic is inclined to see the analytic as lacking focus and always onto the "next best thing"; the analytic seeing the methodic as a "boring, more apt to purchase a savings bond than invest in a blue chip" person, yet both meet up in the middle because of their keen intellict and witty conversations about everything under the sun.
The inspiration: Once every while you are lucky enough to have 1 or 2 great bosses and colleagues in your career. These people are selflessly devoted to make their team a success, shining light of their team and always supporting and breaking down obsticles so they don't have to. This person understands that "from their success, comes my success" a simple, yet overlooked concept in business -- These people are often considered "clean up " crews, coming in to save a division of the company just in time. They are dynamic and the best type to be around, and certainly off of this list.

// posted by L E E @ 11:18 AM 0 Comments

...Get a move on...Running towards the finish, yet flawed by deterrents, obstacles and distractions along the way...Judged and criticized for god-given beauty, natural talent, raw emotion and quality of character, though never stopped as she steers the ship forward...She's momentarily blind-sided by a football to the head, that leaves a sense of permanency that permeates through her core...Few relate, fewer understand, and is most of all, liked by others...But this is where our story diverges off the beaten path and lands someone along the lesser of the two. She takes moments to understand others, though remains too caught up within her to really focus longer than 25 seconds on anything outside of her own accounts of herself. But as unrequited love does madden the truest of hearts, so does neglecting one sprits' and dreams for the future...These thoughts pass through her head as she walks past the homeless man who she does not pity, nor reject the mere existing of; For as long as she can remember, she wanted to know more about them: what was their defining moment...you know, out of their life to that point? What causes added up, leading to this resulting homelessness? What was the root cause or driver that propelled him to neglect his dreams or squash his spirit? It was just one of those things -- just one of those crazy things," he says, before holding his head in his hands and crying. And through his tears, upward signs on both sides of his mouth became increasingly present; eventually giving way to 2 bands of white, segmented into Stonehenge-like miniatures though compressed together, separated by the pink whistler that those who like to go down know all to well. And I knew what I knew just then...And like that, she felt at ease...she knew that all of her pain, her trials and travails, her joys and her sorrows, had all amounted to this moment.

Curiously, she would continue on and sit in her seat and type her type and talk her talk as she did every day---but this day, some very important businessmen strolled by on their way too work, looking as confused as she once was, cocking to look at what they perceived were "some hot looking legs" before carrying on to No-Man's Land --- Places of love and hate, relationships and enemies, information sharing and soul pilfering, where Gen X was never going to achieve the executive leadership level, constrained at the top by our parents generation, who now fill those leadership roles and from the bottom's up by a generation of epic movement known as "Gen Y"...Dramatics aside, it sounds the same, she thought, and right before her eyes, in one fell swoop, she was absorbed by the sea of suits and one in particular. On the path and spit out into the suburban surroundings outside of her comfort zone, she landed in a cage, bound by gilded glory, or so she thought. And as she watched the men merge into the background, as one by one, they succumbed to the pressure to conform to the association's rules and tardiness-policies for dues & fees that aren't received on time. A few remained, holding on to anything they could, as though futility was not a concept to take lightly, offering up moments of kindness and clarity of mind, uniqueness in music-taste, hobby choices and dramatic arts preferences...some with salt and pepper shakers on their head, others with a few strands of thread the color of a raven's back...One with eyes that transferred the soul of the earth in the depth of color, while others reflected the luminescent transference of the sky. And the trees peered into the girls eyes where pools became streams, and back into suburbia where cookie-cutters pressed down into plywood piles to create entire worlds of pastel balconies and turrets big enough for 3 + 1(don't forget the gleam in the eye) with luxury gas-swallowers designed for different terrains next to the recycling bins in the garage, and only offset by the pale lime and peach-cicle color scheme swirls on the four walls and ceiling of each little, single-unit container. Amazing, she thought, as the last ones cited examples of their intentions and feelings and concerns in hopes of execution-avoidance. She wavered; walls became easels to the girl, as though they were propping up a weary canvas as it is stretched across a picture frame...She regains composure, but realizes that she has lost the most precious thing to her.

In this moment of moments, she realized she had lost her sight; lost sight of her vision --

--In a deep and dark cave, one sees the faint path not too far from the one she was currently traveling -- And that path seemed to glisten, while ear would all but listen, to the leaves rustle in the distance, as though dancing to a tune; she called him all things; rainbows, the sun and her moon, so beautiful are rainbows, and that was what she called him, color in a black and white world, support when she needed--can you believe it? "it will never happen, I love another, not woman, but child, for this lifetime, I am taken, so you can never be real, never-no-how-no way,"
With regret and a forced sigh, the cruelty continues..."you were an infatuation, no more than a beneficial friend."clouds of strength once carried your problems, and soon it had to end," Challenging everything she understood, she stood, but for a moment, renting more space to the consciousness invaders with the biggest check, spited by life, addressed 'To who she thought she was but found out she wasn't" --"I leave this world a ventriloquist citing love's unrequited loss--a real tragedy, a tragedy of comedic intent -- implied wealth found at the scene, left by design, and intent, says the heroine of our little story--- oh and by the way, you cant take it with you; the cake on the table is off-white, and the bride continues to mingal, with businessmen and admirerers and those who claim both, stand in line for a glance of the swallow's couture if you must. But then she hears a faint sound, a piercing screetch in fact, accusing our herorine, mocking her, for merely being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and letting that one businessman create a nest, a padded den, a cloud of feathers, a lofty skyscraper of leather; he represented all things jolly, all things comfy, others lofty, some dirty at best; with a story to read, to read to her until she's asleep, where quiet soles would wake her dreams, where contradictions mask intentions, and her vision, lost but not forgotten, became her mantra, her restated goal, and proof to all around her that great things happen tp people constantly judged, who, like perception, is baked a little in reality and a little in subconscience exits to stage right.
--And so be it...what will be, will be, a cliché's so easy to see when one reinvents themselves --> but what happened to this chic one crazy, crazy night, remains locked away in her mind --> once she let me in...seconds became minutes, minutes became hours, hours became nights, eyes dusted with bright magenta-filled skies, offering the world my fabulous flights...great fun..."but just one of those things,"--She says as she turns to walk away--"Wait...," says the breathe-less figure as she moved relentlessly towards the abstract shadow of nights casting off pinstriped-barn lantern-lit lake. It was the tree who looked a bit beat-down, run-down, down into the ground, as though the down-trodden could be plunged any deeper into the ground. "It was always you, and you alone, who could change the path you were on." There was no more power to his hold, the chains around her heart were broken that day, by that tree, the tree of all trees, who saw through the sea of commonalities and generalizations to find her, standing alone, in the shadows, sorting through the rubbish, trying to find the piece of her she lost when she lost her vision...

Every fall, I am asked to participate in the conference circuit, traveling from hotel ballroom to hotel ballroom hosting workshops, leading sessions, representing my company in an executive leadership circle, acting as a keynote, track B or C speaker, and other common conference terminology, basically all defined by Miriam Webster to mean conference speaker/participant.
Naturally for those that know me, I only choose to speak when the topics happen to align with where my business thought process is at that time, or when the operational strategic goals that are assigned to me or my BU, when I can complement the knowledge that the audience brings or lastly, when their need for knowledge is equal to their willingness to attentively listen & attempt to process the information at the “track-topic-du-jour” level.
These typically fall into two buckets:
1. topics related to how organizational excellence can use the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) Approach to deliver quick, net-positive wins, even if yours is a cost center – Why?
a. By building a scaled down yet pocket team of excellence, in effect, you are serving up a model or ‘proof of concept’ to the rest of the organization with minimal risk exposure. Once optimization is achieved, you can replicate with greater ease than if you tried to launch across vertical & horizontal channels and lines of business.
i. For example, take my BU: Contact Center Operations; an easy to say but highly generic & confusion-inspiring at best. Now, let’s parachute down 1 level and stratify this BU into departments:
1. customer support
2. telesales
Does this help us or not? Well, the answer is YES! Anytime a measurement system offers a better (smaller) resolution, or finer granularity to apply against your dataset, use it! Start at the finest resolution you can AFFORD – wait…
stop – make sure you understand what I have just said.
If you can afford for your expensive black belts or analysts to sit around measuring to the .0000000001 decimal point or degree, I would challenge why you even have a six sigma program (implicitly stated) as it appears your company is willing to waste money trying to determine whether the sample of steel, for example, is .000000010 or .00000011 inches – does this apply to you; probably want to continue reading – But most are not in that boat with you, so you can sail through this section as it doesn’t apply to your situation. If you are like most who find the above insignificant to their process (if you are building air planes, you might need this resolution precision; but most will not), segmenting customer service from telesales is a step in the right direction.
The natural question comes up when you see those two buckets, if one if from the contact center industry -- more than likely, you will ask which areas of customer support are the most relevant or important to that measurement; (anecdotal note: since operations science folks, unlike others in the management ranks, tend to get off on the mathematics and statistics of it all; wanting to stratify beyond the normal limits, to find root cause by finding the red herring that their gut, framed as a professional and scientific hypothesis, always knew existed in the data and merely needed to be mined by one as skilled as they). The key: measure using a system that offers multiple levels of resolution: measuring feet (entire ruler) isn’t as effective as measuring in inches (1 ruler=12 inches), which isn’t as effective as measuring in cm or mm).
b. Analysis Paralysis – marked by an inability to mine or mull through large volumes of data, thus rendering the analyst useless for a certain time period; in layman’s, if you define SOPs or measurement systems with too generic a taxonomy or one built inconsistently across divisions or teams, later on down the line, the scalability gaps will become larger and erode over time.
c. Extensibility/scalability – catch-words to imply your BSC has the ability to scale rapidly as adoption & usage of whatever scorecard platform you utilize, tend to increase exponentially after they pass that initial learning curve that will effectively prove the value in BSC without demanding upfront investments based on a purely projected ROI; by doing this and proving out this value, as we did, you are able to justify procuring the associated BSC software with funding generated off of the momentum of your pilot program or POC. Down stream, the conference circuit hasn’t really focused on an area in which they are really missing out – the BSC is a perfect companion to a Six Sigma organization to help facilitate or aid in the project selection process; we assign projects by benefits returned according to the performance indicators that matter most to the business; these and only these should end up on the executive view of the BSC whether in an expanded view or at the 60000 ft view; if one wants to peel back the onion, they will inquire further. Keep your KPIs to a minimum (5-9 max). Projects can be further divided into:
i. ‘quick wins’ (less than 3 months from concept to results; solution is not known upfront)
ii. ‘Just Do It ‘(less than 6 months from concept to post implementation/results tracking; solution is already known at onset)
iii. Lean Kaizen events / Workout projects (3-6 months in project duration; non-political; where the end is achievable & only light statistics are necessary to deliver quick but meaningful hits; often suited for more nimble organizations though efficient, process focused large companies can also benefit from this concept.
2. I call a concept near and dear to the social invisible network that exists in any organization “management-congruence”’ and have found that if & only if it is achieved will true line of sight replace the archaic, ‘silo’ed mentality or line of business focus. Each year, management across a flat org chart is kept to visionary leaders, with strategic focus and a P & L responsibility; each employee comes together to review the goals that are set each year at a company level, bi-annually at a BU level & quarterly at a team level (more short-term) as well as or those set by our shareholders 1-3 years out (long-term) or those that have a greater impact to our Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ);
a. stratify this further into 4 views or another concept I like to call ‘voice of perspective’ – What is ‘Voice of Perspective’?
i. For starters, it is a concept I have had the opportunity to speak at great length about, with consistently positive reviews coming back from the audience / participant comment cards.
b. Voice of the customer (VOC)
c. Voice of the supplier (VOS)
d. Voice of the process (VOP)
e. Voice of the business (VOB)
As the strategic use of a balanced, cascading scorecard, in conjunction with an organizational wide six sigma deployment or achievable goals & targets are achieved, driving operational & process excellence into and out of one’s Contact Center, you will have to find new ways to optimize and create efficiencies, across both the internal or in-sourced contact centers as well as your outsourcers, while infusing change management practices to help minimize the impact felt downstream due to:
1. Crisis management
2. Corporate restructure
3. Loss of employment due to layoffs
So, that's easier said than done, I know...And, pigs will fly when your top leadership lets any dashboard driving their strategy planning? Some people are shy at conference workshops and will not ask a question in front of the group; you know, for fear of sounding stupid all the while daydreaming that you were that person that we all hate; you know the one...that one person who can stand up, in their designer clothes and manicured nails (yes, men included), spout of a load of crap about any given subject before handing you a business card intended for your CFO (as if you ever would!) *special attention should be paid to the e-commerce or BI / OS sales conferences; the once nerd herd now socially & financially secure, having been graced by the 'web 1.0' *get the pun?* start and fall of corruption in the workplace, frequently attend these events;

PowerPoint Pictures of my Last Vacation

// posted by L E E @ 11:17 AM 0 Comments