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Can Simply Being Nice Save You Money?
It occurred to me (at the tax office of all places) that simply being nice to others really does save us money. This morning while paying taxes, I was pleasant and took the time to be nice and two ladies really did everything in their power to save me some money. As I then drove to my office, I pondered the application of "simply being nice" to a more general business application. Can we as leaders role model being nice and teach our employees to be the same way? Can being nice impact our bottom line? Do we sometimes neglect the very people that mean success or failure in the game of business?

Trained Seals
No matter what price you quote, many customers will automatically say its too high, maybe way too high. Like the seal, that response is so deeply drilled into them that just about every rep they meet gets the same reaction. How do you get beyond the knee-jerk reaction and into a reasonable conversation about their situation, needs, budget, and time frames?
5 Tweaks to Energize Your Business Improvement and Growth
Are you going through the same old motions that worked in the past with fewer results today? Have you run out of good ideas? Are your competitors taking business away from you? If so, what you might need to do is make a few tweaks to energize your business improvement and growth.
Continuous Improvement
Firstly, this article asks the question ... "Is Continuous Improvement possible?" With a slight caveat ,the answer is 'yes'. It then sets out how you can achieve continuous improvement - without adopting any of the commercial 'methodologies, without using expensive consultants. You will , of course, have to put in some effort ... mainly thought! But it is possible - for any busines.
A Dichotomy of Perspectives: A Discussion on Forrest Breyfogle’s New Book on Integrated Enterprise Excellence
Recently, I had the opportunity to exchange ideas on the veracity of the various models that organizations rely upon as the framework for building a successful enterprise. What prompted this open and productive exchange of ideas was a question that was recently posed regarding the merits of Forrest Breyfogle’s latest book on Integrated Enterprise Excellence (or for those of you that have a penchant for acronyms, IEE). In the following paragraphs I will share a few of the more meaningful discussion streams starting with the original question.

Other business improvement Related Articles

Basic Benchmarks for World Class Businesses
Incremental improvement is the single fastest way to drive revenue. Study the Toyota way. How did they become a world-class car manufacturer? Toyota does this: continuous improvement. They benchmark. They measure. They fix. They improve. If I asked you right now, “What is your shopping cart abandonment rate,” would you be able to answer? In 30 seconds? If not, that is really bad because this is how you make your money. There are 2 mind shifts we’re really pushing towards. i. Think like a marketer in everything business-related ii. Measure everything –you need to know the metrics of your business
Change Management
In order for a company to be a success, change is necessary. Without change, of course, companies cannot better themselves, provide more opportunities and prosper. Change, of course, can be negative, but improvement requires change and improvement is what all companies should strive for. But what about the transition that comes with change?

The Service Factor during Economic Turbulence
Improving and maintaining good customer service is not an exciting endeavor. It involves detailed study and steadfast execution rather than temporary brilliance or inspiration. Therefore, customer service improvement is fundamentally an effort of continuous improvement. You must develop a basic competency in process improvement to attain and sustain high levels of customer service. This means that it is absolutely critical during tough economic times that you don’t make the mistake of cutting resources that support service excellence in your attempt to control operational costs.
Becoming Happily Discontented
To begin a journey of improvement in all areas of your life you must first accept your current situation. Please note: ACCEPTANCE not RESIGNATION. To resign yourself to your current situation means that you have determined that there is no hope for improvement. To accept it means that you acknowledge that this is your starting point.

Continuous Improvement
Firstly, this article asks the question ... "Is Continuous Improvement possible?" With a slight caveat ,the answer is 'yes'. It then sets out how you can achieve continuous improvement - without adopting any of the commercial 'methodologies, without using expensive consultants. You will , of course, have to put in some effort ... mainly thought! But it is possible - for any busines.
When Lean Thinking Fails
Most of us are familiar with the term "Lean Thinking." The technique for making continuous improvement has been around for nearly 30 years, and it produces remarkable progress in any organization when it is applied correctly. There are numerous examples of how a well-engineered Kaizen event can yield a more than 50% improvement in productivity in a single week. My observation is that there are nearly as many failures of lean programs as successes. This article outlines some reasons why.
Change Management Can Lead to Rigidity and Resistance to Change
Beware of formal organization improvement or "change management" (an oxymoron) plans. Like strategic plans, organization improvement or change management plans can reduce an organization's effectiveness. They can lead to rigidity, bureaucracy, and resistance to change. This sounds like an argument against planning. It's not. We have found that constant and ongoing personal, team, and organization improvement planning is vital. But too many "change management" and improvement plans are built on the same faulty premise as strategic planning - that there is a right path, which can be determined in advance and then implemented. We often hear managers declare that they have the right strategic or improvement plan, but the reason things aren't going according to plan is because of "execution problems." This is a deadly assumption.
Process Management Pathways and Pitfalls (Part Two)
Make sure all your process improvement activities are clearly and tightly linked to your strategic imperatives. Each effort should also have highly focused and specific improvement goals (that are an aggressive, major stretch) and measurements. Establish feedback and follow-up steps for each process management and improvement team.

Stepping Back to Step Ahead Through Reviewing and Assessing
Our performance results are determined by what we finish, not by what we start. But whether it's diet and fitness, investments, leadership development, or organization change and improvement efforts, many people search for the quick and easy technique or approach. When the latest improvement fad doesn't create a quick transformation, the next hot book, guru, theory, or change program beckons.

Why Most Change Programs and Improvement Initiatives Fail
Many team and organization change and improvement efforts are lost or badly bewildered. Decades of studies have consistently shown that 50-70 percent are failing. There are as many reasons that improvement endeavors lose their way, as there are people, teams, and organizations trying to improve.
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