Here's your chance to win NZ$100 by answering a survey about the World Business Capability Congress.

We are conducting this survey to help us plan for expected registrations at the World Business Capability Congress on 5-7 December 2012, Auckland, New Zealand.
This survey will take less than 1 minute to complete and closes on 1 July. We appreciate the time you spend responding to a few questions, and by doing so you are in the draw to win a NZ$100 pre-loaded debit card.

The Congress is now getting closer – from the 1st Call for Presenters we had a tremendous response with 74 presentations accepted from over 20 countries. We are expecting over 100 presentations in total with the 2nd and Final Call for Papers closing on 30 May.  These presentations are in addition to 14 keynote speeches, and a Best Practice Competition. There is no doubt this  will be a stimulating knowledge-packed event!

Help us bring you an even better event through completing the survey.

The Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Inc., has committed funds to sustain the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP) through fiscal year 2015. The funding is further evidence of the foundation's commitment to the long-term viability of Baldrige.

The Baldrige Award was established to promote the awareness of performance excellence as an important element in competitiveness. Therefore, development and continuity of Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP) will help to enhance competitiveness of U.S. businesses.

A recent study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) indicated that for every $1 spent to implement the programme the economy will get $820 in form of social value. Which means that the benefit of Baldrige Performance Excellence Program is not limited to award applicants. The society gets benefit from Baldrige in other forms such as better customer satisfaction with higher-quality products, and economy resources saved by using the Baldrige Criteria.

For additional information about funding approval, read the complete announcement.

Most presenters will work for long hours designing their presentation. They will spend time selecting images, inserting clips, choosing colours, and creating charts. Unfortunately, the work doesn’t end here. The information on those slides must then be communicated to the audience in a way that is compelling and interesting. 

Some people are just natural born speakers, they are comfortable talking in front of an audience, they look confident and credible, but they are the minority.

For most presenters, effective presentation delivery requires learning presentation skills and a lot of practice. Fortunately, there are online resources to teach you how to be a better presenter.

One of the good resources to learn more about public presentation skills is Effective Speaking, below is their latest newsletter about 3 best practices in delivering a Presentation.

Do you consciously control the way you deliver a presentation in order to help your audience understand what you're saying?  Or do you just chat away - without really thinking about the impact your delivery is having on your message?

Many of the people who attend our courses are concerned about their delivery.  They want to look confident and credible and deliver their material in a way that has the audience engaged.  In fact, some believe that their delivery is more important than their message.  We don't agree with that but we do agree that poor delivery can sabotage great content.

Conversely, conscious delivery can enhance an audience's understanding and increase the likelihood that they'll be influenced by your message.  Here are three delivery techniques to try:

1-    Drag

This is the name for a technique taught to us by Colorado Springs-based speaker/story-teller, Doug Stevenson.  Drag out your words to emphasise an assertion or point.  In the drag

"Each       Word Is       Separated      From      The      Others       And      Given      Equal       Weight."

So the sentence takes longer to say and its delivery is quite deliberate and measured.  This lets the audience know that this statement is more important than those around it.

2-    Wait
Sometimes known as a pause, the wait should be used whenever you've made a statement of significance.  If you ask a question, wait - while the audience ponders it in their own minds.  When you complete a "paragraph" of thoughts, wait - so that the audience can consolidate the information.  And when you've just explained the contents of a slide, wait - so the audience can integrate your verbal message with the slide's visual message - in non-distracting silence.

3-    Move
Movement can (and should) be used to signal transitions and "edges" in your content.  If you have a list of three short statements (eg "the new model is faster, cheaper and safer") deliver each 'bullet' to a different audience member.  Move your attention and eyes from one person to the next - that way, the fact that there are three benefits will stand out. If you start to give an example to illustrate a point, move to a different place in the room as you say the words "let me give you an example" so that transition is physical as well as verbal.  When you have a really important point - such as your Key Message - move to the centre of the "stage" and move closer to your audience before you deliver the point.  When they see you go to that position they'll get that what you're about to say is important.

Consciousness creates Congruency
These three techniques will make your delivery congruent with your message. Just as smiling when describing a sad event weakens your words,  Drag, Wait and Move will strengthen your words.

And they have you look more confident.

 

Digital publications are becoming a popular way to read. While electronic versions have not yet superseded the demand for the printed page, digital readership is definitely increasing. According to Nielsen BookScan, e-book production in the UK overtook hardback output in 2011 for the first time.

Digital publications are highly portable and today’s technology allows e-books to be read anywhere, on the bus, train, airplane or even while standing in line. Intriguingly 22 books on an e-book reader are equivalent to one paper book in terms of carbon emissions - so going digital is also better for the environment.

BPIR members: Are you aware that your membership enables you to access hundreds of professional publications at no extra charge?

One of the many benefits of BPIR membership is full access to the digital version of some 650 periodicals. Recently we have added more than 100 new Titles in more than 20 categories e.g., Accounting, Banking & Finance, Business & Economics, Engineering, Management, and Marketing.

If you are not already a BPIR member this is an excellent time to consider joining to enjoy the many benefits that are available.

Ahmed
BPIR

 

Anyone will agree that customer service is one of the most important parts of the organisation’s overall strategy to conducting business. Without customers there would not be a business.

Customers will simply pay more and go elsewhere if they are not completely satisfied with the way an organisation treats them.

Recently I came across an excellent blog post about customer service by John Tschohl a well known customer service strategist.

In his post he raised a very important issue which should be considered when setting business rules. This was that organisations should consider the consequences of the their rules on customers otherwise they may lose customers….

Ahmed
BPIR.com

John Tschohl

Too many organizations are so concerned that 1 percent of its customers are going to take advantage of them that they spend 10 times more money making sure that this does not happen and the result is they turn off 99% of their customers. You can make a fortune if the top 99% are over happy.

 Let me give you a few examples:

Many hotels and airlines have security passwords for the Free Internet Service. They have to hire someone to pass out the security code which often does not work. With wireless we are concerned someone might be sneaking outside the building and getting on for free. Many hotels are afraid that someone might enter the hotel and use the wireless for free. The COST and frustration you put customers through to prevent someone getting access to your free wireless outweighs the cost 10 to one and makes life hell for the customers.

I do a lot of snow skiing in Vail Colorado and own several ski weeks at Vail Run Resort. When you check in they have 3 free computers in the lobby anyone can use. They have FREE wireless throughout out the building and in each condo. NO special code is needed. They make it easy to sign on.

I was on a trip to Africa in February. Each hotel had a special access code. The Hilton in Addis Ethiopia was charging $22 a day. Most large hotels do not understand the customer experience. Their goal is how do I fleece my customer out of more money. My client Ethiopian Airlines in the Cloud 9 lounge had a special access code,. but it never worked. I told Solomon Debede the Vice President of Customer Service to remove the security code. Let anyone log on. The support cost and frustration is too great. They shouldn’t be concerned that someone might be standing outside the lounge and get on for FREE. Who cares. So What. All they need to do is focus on a great customer experience for  99% of their customers.

Your single goal each day should be to have over happy customers. Eliminate dumb rules and policies that have no real value, cost money to implement and cost MORE money for a supervisor to enforce. Keep in mind employees love rules, policies and procedures. Many customers don't.

Most governments have crazy forms you have to fill out when you enter the country. The US leads the way. One hundred percent of the immigration/custom forms require you identify your sex. No one can tell what sex you are? Bureaucrats often checked their brains at the door when they got hired.

In Germany, South Africa, Dubai and Holland you just show your passport. All the critical information is on the passport. They all require you to write down your passport number. Why? NO one looks at the form after it is collected.. It is simply a ritual. They hire people to make sure these forms are collected. They hire more expensive people to supervise these employees to make sure the form is filled out. They then dump the forms (I hope)

No consideration is given to speed, convenience, customer experience or cost. Unfortunately this is true of most organizations.

Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world. Everything in their stores is built around customer experience and speed. Most companies don't want the sales per square foot they have nor the revenue they have. Amazon had a 41% increase in sales in 2011 with $49 billion in revenue.

Both firms value speed, technology, and customer experience. At Apple people are willing to pay a lot more for this. Why not copy these two role models.

The economy is booming for firms that understand the customer experience. Very few firms want more cash than the US Treasury (Apple July 2011) Firms struggling in this economy have often worked very hard to achieve this. If you want more revenue master the service strategy.

Lessons Learned:

• What rules should be eliminated today?.
• Which rules and policies have no real value?
• How much money can be saved by elimination of stupid rules and policies?
• How many less employees do you need if eliminated?
• How much can you increase speed?

According to quality guru Dr. H James Harrington Six Sigma can reduce process variation, but it doesn’t account for process improvements. Lean is effective, but it fails to address the need for major improvements in key processes. Both of these fail to use modern IT as part of their improvement methodologies. Now, H. James Harrington provides the solution via a revolutionary step-by-step method for streamlining and improving business processes that can:

• Cut cost and cycle time by 60 percent
• Improve customer and employee satisfaction
• Boost quality by 100 percent
• Analyze, streamline, and refine key processes more quickly and efficiently than ever before

The improvement approach used by streamlined process improvement (SPI) methodology is a five-phase process improvement approach called “PASIC.”

• Phase 1: P - Planning for improvement
• Phase 2: A - Analyzing the process
• Phase 3: S - Streamlining the process
• Phase 4: I - Implementing the new process
• Phase 5: C - Continuous Improvement

A special webinar was recently given by Dr H James Harrington on streamlining process improvement to mark the release of his new book Streamlined Process Improvement: The Breakthrough Strategy to Reduce Costs, Improve Quality, Increase Customer Satisfaction, and Boost Profits. During the webinar Dr. Harrington explained the five phases of PASIC with particular emphasis on the streamlining activity that is made up of 12 tasks.

 

 

Customer service excellence must be provided on the spot. It has to be tailored at the service delivery point to meet a specific customer’s needs at a precise moment in time. Customer service excellence requires the right mix of skills. It requires the knowledge and will to do the right thing - first time, every time - thereby creating intense customer satisfaction. Whatever the size of your organisation; the following summary of 8 best practices and insights are great advice for the development of excellence in customer services:

1. Focus on emotion, trust and control during customer interactions. (Note: emotions influence what we remember, how we judge service encounters, and the decisions that we make; trust is essential for enduring relationships; and control over our environment is a fundamental human need.
• Build your organisation’s customer service communications and employee appearance to reflect a platform of trust.
• Allow customers to be in control, or to have a perception of control, and thereby minimise any uncertainly associated with transactions. (An example of control is when customers have the ability to manage when a service is delivered. An example of perceived control is when airlines post information about flight delays, thus creating a sense of cognitive control for the customer.)
2. Never compromise on the services that your organisation offers to customers. Take care to actively listen to your customers.
3. Gather feedback from employees about ways to improve customer service.
4. Measure how your organisation adds value to your customer’s operations.
5. Know your customer’s business and the business of your “customer’s customers”.
6. Shape reward and recognition systems in ways that encourage customer service excellence.
7. Protect customers from distracting internal tasks and rules, empower employees to put customers (not procedures) first, and never make a customer wait.
8. Show appreciation towards your customers for rewarding you with their business.

“Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.”,  Peter Drucker

Members: see the BPIR Best Practice Report - “Customer Service Excellence” for a more extensive coverage of this subject

Neil Crawford
BPIR

Design thinking is basically “a way of approaching a challenge” – it is not a radical new methodology. Design Thinking encapsulates prototyping, convergent and divergent thinking, customer research, and is a holistic approach to management and leadership. It enlivens the gift of curiosity along with the power of observation. It takes data and places it in a given point of time.

The following video clip posted by Darden Publishing answers the question “What is Design Thinking”.  Speakers include; Jeremy Alexis, Professor of design. Illinois institute of technology; Dan Pink, author of, “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future”; Nathan Shedroff, Chair, MBA in design strategy programme, California College of the Arts; and Andre Martin, Global Leadership Development Director at Mars Inc.

 

 

Our next Best Practice Report, which is programmed for publication in April 2012, will cover the subject of “Design Thinking” in detail. If you are not already a BPIR member this is an excellent time to consider joining and enjoy the many BPIR membership benefits. A 20 percent discount is available this month – use the code DESIGN20 when joining.

Neil Crawford
BPIR

“What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.” – Herbert Simon, Recipient of Nobel Prize in Economics.

With the recent advancement in mobile communication technologies now we are under huge pressure of information overflow. For example how many email messages do you receive every day? What about information received via social media services such as WhatsApp, BlackBerry Messenger, RSS feed, twitter, and Facebooks?

It is so difficult to exercise discipline to get the information you need without letting it take over your day. We are not talking about time management here (although it’s an important issue as well), it’s the massive amount of information available to you, the number of search results you get when you search for anything, number of websites, blogs, and journals available almost about any topic.

Besides the huge number of useful and genuine websites there are websites which have dubious content, often copied from other websites, and are solely designed to attract visitors to increase advertising revenues. With the tactics and techniques of dubious  websites it is sometimes hard to identify the genuine websites without a lot of investigative work.

Because of this phenomenon, the World Economic Forum estimated that the informatics for adding value to information will be the no. 1 emerging technology in 2012.

So what is Informatics for adding value to information? Simply, it is filtering the noise “bad/useless content” and re-organising information for the end user.

This is one of the main ideas behind BPIR.com, we offer information picked up and written by real professional researchers, now let’s see how the “raw” information is being processed at BPIR.com.

There are at least 4 processes for treating the raw information at BPIR before publishing: