Today we’re going to talk about effectiveness versus efficiency. This is something that I often have to educate my customers on and a lot of people have either misunderstanding or they use these words interchangeably. They really are two different things so I want to help you understand why they’re different and why that matters … Read more
I talked earlier in the week about when to use systems thinking in business. One of the outcomes you can achieve by paying systems thinking is to increase profits. I want to dive deeper into that today. Profits is a word that is used in different ways, so let’s start by defining profit. Profit is … Read more
Last week we talked about the key attributes that make up your core activities. Remember, your core activities are the main things you do in your business and the key attributes are the inputs, process steps, outputs, desired outcomes, and metrics of each core activity. Inputs are the things that go into your process steps. … Read more
At this point, you should be thinking about your business in terms of core activities (systems) that your business performs to build and deliver valuable products and services to your Customers. For a refresher on thinking about the core activities of your business, read our article here. The next important piece of optimizing your business … Read more
I went to my mother-in-law’s cabin this weekend to help her chop and move some wood. She had to take down a large tree recently that was about 3 feet in diameter and 70 feet tall. The tree was cut up into discs about a foot thick. Along with a few others, I spent eight … Read more
When working with different businesses, I’ve seen a lot of confusion around the difference between outcomes and outputs. The short answer to the question, “is there a difference that matters?” is that yes, there is a big difference, and if you don’t get it right, you risk wasting time focusing on the wrong things when … Read more
I’ve been trying something new out for the last few weeks and so far it’s going really well. It all started when a friend invited me to take part in a challenge she was running in her Facebook group to use dictation for creating large written pieces instead of typing. Changing how we do things … Read more
I want to share how my workout went this morning and how that relates to business. So today, I did my regular work out. I spent about an hour lifting weights and doing cardio and had a really good workout that I put a lot of effort and a lot of energy into it and … Read more
I often use mass transit to get to Seattle during the week. For me, this involves jumping on a Sounder train to the main station in the city, then switching over to a light rail (known as the Link) or taking a bus to my final destination. A couple months ago, a change was made … Read more
Keeping productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness high requires proactive effort in all three areas. It also requires constant change as you learn and fine tune your systems. This change, if not managed through good leadership principles, will not last long term, as people tend to revert to old habits over time. Eventually, anything you changed will … Read more