Operation Improvement Inc.

THINK AND COMMUNICATE CLEARLY

Practice and encourage the policy of only using words and acronyms you are prepared to define. You needn’t be a surgeon to discuss brain surgery, but you should to be able to define brain and surgery. If it is true that you can´t effectively manage without measuring, then you surely can´t manage what you cannot define.

BE DECISIVE
The time for action and the decision to act are two different things. The difference between Decisiveness and Impulsiveness is patient and prudent timing of action. Decisiveness is the ability to mentally adjudicate a matter so that it no longer consumes your most precious resource – your focus.

DON’T BE A BOTTLENECK
Successful follow-through takes a network of key individuals and massively parallel and well organized activity. If you try to do everything yourself, then you will limit managed work to your personal ability to process information and make decisions.

HOLD PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE THINGS THEY CAN CONTROL
Properly apportion work and responsibility. An objective division of labor is based on product, process, decision-role and human factors. Holding people accountable for the wrong things is self-deceiving, self-defeating and the biggest destroyer of productivity and morale. Make sure you understand the difference between accountability and blame.

BUILD REAL PROCESSES

Processes are intentional methods of achieving repeatable results at a predictable cost. Many operations claim to have processes but upon examination they obviously don´t. If every little undertaking is approached as a first-time initiative, then a company only achieves a fraction of its potential for productivity.

PAY ATTENTION AND MAKE EVERY DAY A DAY OF REAL JOB EXPERIENCE
When we were young, we were told to “pay attention in school”. However, at any skill level, the essence of work is attention. Learn and encourage the policy of learning something new every day. Evaluate what you learn. Call a bad theory just that; not a “good theory that doesn’t work in practice”.

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