All posts by Ruth Henderson

After The Process of Coaching

June 13, 2014Blog, ,

This week Nicole and I had the privilege of delivering our first course offered to the public. Both of us are experienced trainers – over the years I have taught courses in the private and public sectors, to international audiences, to conferences-goers and to my team of employees. We keep our training skills current by delivering a variety of management courses to the Ontario Public Service via their Centre for Leadership & Learning, and to our clients.

But this was different.

Our followers know that Whiteboard Consulting celebrated its second birthday last March, and since the very first day we have been excited about offering courses to the general public. It takes time, of course, to build the connections and network of interested people and to determine the subject matter that will garner enough interest to make it worthwhile. So, needless to say, when we finally launched “The Process of Coaching,” we were pretty excited!

Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 3.34.04 PM

Ruth (l) and Nicole (r) Teach the Process of Coaching

In two days we worked with 23 professionals from a variety of industries: telecom, technology, sales, automotive, insurance, healthcare, public service, agriculture, and real estate. So different, yet with such similar concerns! All of them wanted to know how to be better coaches at work – there were different reasons for this, but the goals were essentially the same.

One of the things that made our course unique was our afternoon of coaching simulations, designed to allow each participant to coach an “employee” (in reality, this was an actor well-versed in the subject matter, and able to respond to the individual’s coaching style and provide feedback). This is so valuable to participants, and they love it!

Six Concepts That Created a Flurry of Discussion

  1. The need for coaching crosses boundaries defined by industry, age, and leadership level. (Everyone needs coaching. Staff level, Manager level, and C-Suite. All industries. All the time.)
  2. People like to be coached. And once they know how to do it, managers love coaching. (It takes training, and it takes practice.)
  3. The number one reason organizations do not adopt a coaching culture is that IT’S HARD. (So hard. There is a knack, and it requires confidence and a certain amount of bravery.)
  4. The number two reason is that people believe it takes too much time. (In fact, once it becomes part of the culture, coaching is just something you do naturally, not something that has to be built into your list of tasks.)
  5. The ability to coach “across” and “up” in addition to “down” requires a foundation of trust. (And trust is achieved only when you have a mutual sense of integrity, ability to achieve results, and genuine concern.)
  6. Coaching styles must be adaptable to different generations, thinking styles, cultures, and behaviours. (It is up to the coach to adapt, not the coachee.)

A Rewarding Experience, All Around

Nicole and I almost always feel a sense of great reward when we finish training. Our students seem to identify with our somewhat non-traditional “style”, and the engagement we get energizes us like you wouldn’t believe. These courses were no different – our attendees were fun, interactive, and truly interested in the subject. We had some great conversations around barriers to implementing coaching, the trials and tribulations of passive aggressive behaviour, and how to find out more about an employee’s personal situation without being intrusive or offensive (The answer? Ask permission.)

Our attendees also had a great time and, based on our evaluations, got a lot out of the course. They rated us an average of 4.9 out of 5 on their satisfaction with the course, and 100% of them would recommend it to someone they know. Comments included:

I’m excited to use my newly developed skills – there are opportunities every day in my life.

I’ve never done simulations with an actor. It was awesome and I loved it!

The “lecture and practice” combo is very effective. I especially like that we spent the entire afternoon on practice.

Good tools for all levels of an organization.

It was a very encouraging and welcoming environment for those intimidated by the idea of simulations.

What’s Next?

Well, first I’m going hiking in Spain along the last 200 km of the Camino de Santiago, and Nicole is going to Vegas. After that we will begin planning our next course on “Unraveling the Mysteries of Process Improvement.” We’ll be offering this in September, so stay tuned for more information! We can’t wait…

I’d better start packing. So until next time,

Ruth.

To Batch or Not to Batch

May 23, 2014Blog, , , ,

If you’ve been following our blogs for a while, you know that Nicole and I are self-professed process geeks, and we see the opportunity for process improvement everywhere we go.

barista

You might even know that we are both huge Starbucks fans, even though Nicole (a former barista) is beyond annoyed that Starbucks has switched from batch processing beverages to individual beverage processing. To her (and me, although less passionately), this flies in the face of customer service, speed and efficiency, and it drives her bananas.

Allow me to explain.

Batch processing occurs when a number of tasks are grouped together and processed as one large batch. This is often very efficient for the person completing the tasks, and can save a lot of time. Think about if you were making a dozen sandwiches for a picnic. It’s doubtful you would make one sandwich at a time, adding it to the picnic basket. Instead, you would probably lay out a 12 slices of bread, butter each of them, then add whatever fillings were going in them, then put the second slice of bread on, then cut them in half, wrap them up and then put them all in the basket.

A business example might be something like having a stack of expense claims to process. The processor might do one at a time, entering data in a system, generating a cheque, and getting approval in one big file. More likely, the processor would do all the entries, then generate all the cheques, and then bunch them all together for approval. Each of these things might even be done by different individuals.

So why did Starbucks change their process? It’s only speculation, but I believe it allows the customer to feel more “special,” because they have a beverage that was carefully handcrafted. There may be other reasons as well, of course.

In our humble opinion, however, Starbucks has ignored one key thing. Batch processing in a high volume process is FASTER. As a customer, I could care less if it was the only Grande Decaf Sugar-free Soy Vanilla Latte (yes, that’s my current drink of choice) made especially for me. I just want it fast, and when I see the barista heat up the soy milk pot several different times, one drink after another, I want to hop over and help speed things up.

So as a rule, we love the batch processing thing.

But not always.

That’s right. Just to keep you on your toes, there is a caveat here.

If your process is not high volume, then batch processing is BAD and hurts your customer. Think about it. In the example with expense claims, if you only get a couple of expense claims a week, but want to wait until you have at least 10 to process all at once (batch processing), then the tenth person is a happy employee because their claim was processed super fast. The first one to hand in his expense claim, however, has to wait for potentially several weeks to get reimbursed.

We worked with a client some time ago that processed tax credits for a number of customers in the entertainment industry. Their standard process was to collect tax credit applications until there was literally a pile of them to process, perform the first process step on them, pass them off to the next person, and so on until they were complete. Interestingly, a large percentage of the applications never made it out of the first step because they were inaccurate or incomplete.

So not only was the client waiting for weeks for the application to be processed, but they often waited that long just to be told to start over and fix an error! Imagine how frustrating that would be.

The moral of the story is – high volume transactional processes often benefit from batch processing. Low volume, not so much, especially from the customer’s point of view. Click to Tweet

Next time you’re gathered around the barista’s counter waiting for your drink with a dozen other people, watch the process and think of us!

What processes can you think of that involve batch processing? Tell us in the comments below, or Tweet us @whiteboardcons.

Until next time,

Ruth.

You’re Not Excused!

April 28, 2014Blog, , ,

Last week Nicole and I had lunch with a C-level exec who really gets what it means to break down silos and share responsibility, and why it’s so critical for organizations to do so these days.

He also gets how hard it is to do (which is what we are helping with), and so our conversation turned to accountability, responsibility, and shifting spheres of influence.  What really stuck with me was his statement that for all managers, and particularly senior level leaders, the fact that another person or team has not finished their work does not excuse you from finishing yours. Click to Tweet

excused

In other words, what have you done to help that person be successful?

But It’s Not My Job

Fair enough. Everyone has their list of tasks, accountabilities, and priorities. And if you need an input from another person or department in order to do your job, and that input is late or worse, incorrect, then yes… you have a problem.

Old-school thinking says it’s ok to throw your hands up in the air and say, “sorry – I’m waiting for X.”

Progressive business thinking says, “you are not excused from this accountability. How have you made that person or organization’s processes better so they can do their jobs? What is your sphere of influence and how have you “used it for good?”

Coaching to Influence

Great business coaches are able to help people self-realize areas of opportunity. By asking the right questions and being kind and curious, the coach is able to direct the individual to the right solutions, and these solutions are much more likely to remain ingrained in that person’s thoughts and habits – because they came up with them on their own! (Or so they think.)

In the same way, a great leader can influence individuals and peers so that they improve their own deliverables.

Consider a leader who is waiting for a set of business requirements before she can begin to implement a set of operational practices. If she is practicing effective project management, then she will be aware that those business requirements are likely to be late and she can approach her peer in that area to see how she and her team can help.

At the senior leadership level this is particularly effective, as Directors and VPs are more likely to be able to rearrange resources as required to solve such a problem. Yet any leader can benefit from this approach.

“How can I help?” is the question that will get this influencing coaching conversation underway.

It’s time for more leaders to adopt this approach and understand that it behooves them to make their peers successful. By doing so, they themselves will be successful and so will the organization.

Everybody wins, really.

Until next time,

Ruth.

 

PS – want to be a better coach? Sign up for our course. Click here for info.

Processes Can Set You Free!

April 18, 2014Blog, , , , ,

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Oh I know what you’re probably thinking – “Ruth, who are you kidding? Processes are simply more bureaucracy. I get that they can make things more consistent and reduce errors, but they’re also a real pain.”

Fair enough. Let me rephrase then.

Good Processes Can Set You Free!

Better? Of course better! But why is that better?

One of my pet peeves is the notion that processes simply need to be documented (written down, mapped, whatever the format) in order for an organization to say, “we’ve done process improvement.” This is the very notion of poor process culture, and gives good process culture a bad rep. You can very easily map a bad, inefficient, bureaucratic process, and doing so does not make you a process improvement compliant organization or individual. (Click to Tweet)

Did that sound like a rant? Sorry. What I mean is, please don’t judge your processes at work by the mere fact that they’ve been documented.

Good Bad

How Can You Make Sure You Have Good Processes?

Ask yourself the following questions.

  1. Are our business processes documented and available for people to look at and refer to?
  2. Have our business processes been reviewed in the last 12 months?
  3. Do our business processes show roles & responsibilities (via swimlanes, for instance)?
  4. Do our business processes reflect reality? Or, if asked, would employees who are doing the work say “we haven’t done it that way for years”?
  5. Do our employees roll their eyes when they have to follow our business processes? Do they feel the processes are a waste of time and bureaucratic?
  6. Are there people in our organization who are negatively impacted by our business processes?

If you said “no” to any of these, then you have some work to do. Contact us. We’ll help set you free.

Until next time,

Ruth

 

The Genius of a Checkbox

April 4, 2014Blog, , ,

CheckBoxIf you’ve been following along our blog for a while, you know that we are fond of the mantra that everything is a process. Whether it’s understanding the voice of the customer, hiring a consultant, coaching, or managing alternative work arrangements, pretty much everything has its roots in process. Heck, Nicole even related having the flu to a process!

So, I have a challenge for you today – just to see if you’ve been paying attention.

I’d like you to look at your place of work and identify one process improvement that would make all the difference in the world to your job.

Samantha’s Checkbox

Last night I went for a walk with one of my bff’s, and conversation turned, as it often does, to work. My friend (I’ll call her Samantha) works as a physiotherapist in a major hospital, and no one is better suited to the job. I think it’s a calling, really. She loves it, she loves the patients, and most days everything is rainbows, puppies, and sunshine.

The conversation went something like this:

Samantha: So again today, I had to deal with referrals that weren’t legit.

Me: What does that mean?

Samantha: Well, in a hospital, physios only see patients if there is a mobility-related need that has been properly assessed by someone else like a nurse or a doctor.

Me: Why?

Samantha: Because not everything is a mobility issue. If you have a headache you aren’t referred to a neurologist right away, are you? No. You’re assessed and things are ruled out. The same goes for patients who don’t want to get out of bed – it may be related to their illness or some other cause. Physios only help with the mobility causes, and when we are referred incorrectly it’s a HUGE waste of time and is annoying to the patient.

Me: So what’s the process for a referral?

(That’s right. It took me, the process geek, 2 minutes to get to a process issue. Kind of scary. Fortunately Samantha doesn’t mind at all.)

Samantha: There’s a referral form that people fill out, or they might just verbally request it during rounds and then fill it out later.

Me: Is there something on the form that requires the mobility assessment is done?

Samantha: No. They just have to put it in the comments when they do charts.

Me: So there’s no checkbox on the form to ensure the assessment is done before the referral is passed?

Samantha: Genius!

What’s Your “Checkbox”?

Now to be fair, finding the improvement and getting it implemented are two different things. I’m sure that Samantha can’t just march up to administration and demand the form include a checkbox.

That doesn’t mean it’s not worth looking at potential improvements. Over time, Samantha will have the opportunity to influence and educate those around her, and this will likely lead to an improvement in the referral process. These things just take time and patience. (Click to Tweet)

So there’s my challenge to you. Look around your workspace. What are those annoying things that could be tweaked and improved with relatively little effort? What is your “checkbox” and how can you influence change?

Tell us about it in the comments below.

Until next time,

checkbox

Ruth

 

 

Happy Birthday to Us!

March 27, 2014Blog,

birthday

 

This week Whiteboard Consulting Group celebrates its second birthday, a real milestone for us!

We love our work, and we are so glad we made the decision to start our business together.

In the last two years we have learned a lot through experience and through our clients, we have laughed pretty much every single day, and we have never looked back.

Thanks to our clients, present and past, who continue to amaze and delight us, and to our partners who continue to support our journey. You know who you are!!

Here’s to the next two years and beyond!

Ruth & Nicole

That Time You Tried to Manage Alternative Work Arrangements

March 21, 2014Blog, , , , ,

altspace 

I was talking with a colleague in the insurance industry the other day, and, as often happens when discussing what we do at Whiteboard Consulting, the conversation turned to business processes, what they are, and where organizations can find them.

I love these conversations, because there is always an “A-ha” moment when the light comes on and the person finally gets it. (It’s not as easy as you think, especially if you’re not trained in the industry. Go ahead and try it. Write down five key business processes that are critical to customer or employee satisfaction in your industry. I’ll wait. … … … … Tough, isn’t it? But I digress…)

For my colleague, the A-ha moment came when he thought about his business clients and the implementation of benefits programs in their organizations. They get a new program and look at it and say, “Ok everyone, here are your benefits! Yippee!” and the whole thing ends up a complicated mess of paperwork and administration. Guess what? There’s a process in there, and it needs to be defined and efficient. (Click to Tweet)

Flexible, Remote, and Successful

At Whiteboard we recently engaged with Regus to use their gorgeous downtown Toronto workspace to host our upcoming course, The Process of Coaching. Regus helps businesses maximize the benefits of alternative work arrangements by providing access to the world’s biggest workspace network.

If this type of service is available, why do so many organizations find alternative work arrangements difficult to manage?

Do they do the same thing my colleague’s insurance clients do? “Hey everybody, we’re being flexible! Work from home! Yippee!” And then a month later when deadlines are missed and it’s impossible to find Employee X for an important call, it’s instantly revoked.

Do they manage remote teams by having a conference call once in a while to go through action lists? Are they surprised later when individuals feel disengaged and isolated?

That got the process geek in me thinking.

Nicole, David, and I work from home and from office space at Regus. We have no problem with our productivity, meeting goals, staying connected with each other and with clients, and we have the flexibility to hit the gym in the middle of the day (or have a nap, if I’m being honest) if we want.

The reason for our success in this area is that we have a process in place. If we didn’t, we’d be in trouble and we’d probably have to move to a formal office structure, which is not what we want to do right now.

It’s a Process, It’s a Process, It’s a Process

A while back Nicole wrote a blog posting on how processes don’t have to be big and showy, but you do have to have them! And if you look at some of the things that are bugging you at work (like unsuccessful alternative work arrangements) as processes, you’ll most likely be able to turn them around and make them work for you.

If you are thinking of setting up an alternative work arrangement, or if you’re in the middle of one and it’s not going very well, ask yourself what your processes are:

  1. Have you clearly defined who is eligible for flexible work arrangements and under what circumstances?
  2. Have you outlined the goals (which may be unique to each employee) expected out of each arrangement?
  3. Do you care about core working hours? If so, do you have a check-in process? (Once a day? Twice a day? Twice a week?)
  4. Do you have a way to personalize your communications process? Do you use Skype or another similar program that allows virtual face-to-face interaction?
  5. Do you review the success of the arrangement on a regular basis? (more than annually) Do you have a way to modify if things aren’t working perfectly right away?

Below is a highly over-simplified image of what your process might look like. (Bonus points if you can comment and tell us one HUGE improvement that could be made over this simple process flow diagram.)

Blog March 21

The key is to have a process, discuss it with impacted people, communicate it, and stick to it. If you do, even complex situations like alternative work arrangements can work for your organization!

Until next time,

Ruth

New Course! – The Process of Coaching

March 10, 2014News, , , , , ,

 

Please note location change: Verity Club, 111d Queen St E, Toronto

Process-of-Coaching---Verity

We have been teaching and writing about how to be an effective coach for a while now, and are truly excited to announce that we are offering a full-day session on the topic in June.

If you manage people and you’d like to know how to be a better coach at the office, become more engaged with and respected by your employees, and learn how to coach “across and up” as well as “down”, then this session is for you! You will learn some new and useful concepts, and then have a chance to practice it with an actor who will play different employee characters during our interactive afternoon. It’s fun and it’s so helpful – we can’t wait for you to join us!!

The details:

  • Your choice of either June 9 or June 10
  • 8:30am – 5pm
  • (Please note location change) Verity Club, 111d Queen St E, Toronto, ON M5C 1S2
  • $595 plus HST per person
  • Earlybird savings of 10% if you book by April 30th
  • Lunch is included

Click here to register today! And if you have any questions, please do contact us.

See you in June!

Some quotes from our session in Chicago at last September’s Quality Expo:

Nicole and Ruth put on an amazing session at the 2013 Quality Expo. They work together very well and come across like good friends talking to you in a relaxed setting, all while conveying concepts that are some of the hardest to master in business. I guess that’s why they’re so good at “Process Improvement by Osmosis”, because they make the mastering of coaching so painless. I highly recommend. Glen Young, Engineering Manager, Pequot Tool & Manufacturing

Your session “Create a Process Driven Culture Via Coaching” was listed time and time again as the favorite of the conference. I really wanted to share that piece with you because it’s always great to hear that your work is well received. Keep doing what you two are doing, it’s clearly working. Heather Townsend, Project Coordinator, UBM Canon Conferences

The Process Geek in All of Us

March 7, 2014Blog, , , , ,

Geek GlassesWikipedia says of the word “geek”: Although often considered as a pejorative, the term is also used self-referentially without malice or as a source of pride. Its meaning has evolved to connote “someone who is interested in a subject (usually intellectual or complex) for its own sake.”

I do not use the word “geek” pejoratively. No, I use it with fondness to describe those of us who have an aptitude for any subject that goes beyond the average person. You could be an astronomy geek, a food geek, a botany or gardening geek, a Shakespeare geek, a 70’s geek… anything!

I – I’m proud to say – am a process geek.

In our line of work Nicole and I run into many geeks of all kinds (you know who you are). Naturally we are drawn to those who are process-minded as we are, and we’ve come to realize the following truth: there are many people who have an inner process geek and don’t even know it. (Click to Tweet)

We love to see that side of people and let them know how awesome it is and how they can make it work for them. Wondering if you’re a process geek too? Wonder no more!

Process Geek

You Are a Bit of a Process Geek if:

  1. You’re reading this blog. Face it – if you’re on Whiteboard’s website, you’re interested in learning more about us and what we are up to. And what we do (be it training, facilitation, or strategic planning) always comes down to process.
  2. It pains you to know how long your proposal will be in the approvals process at work, and you’ve already thought of three ways to make it faster. If only anyone would listen.
  3. You stand in line at coffee shops and think of ways the line could move faster. Want to get Nicole ranting? Ask her about how she feels now that Starbucks has moved to individual coffee preparation vs. batching. I, on the other hand, am dying to revamp Tim Horton’s meal combo ordering process so that people don’t have to repeat Every. Single. Item. Separately. And. Slowly.
  4. Although the voice is annoying, you secretly think stores that employ the audible call to open cashiers (Cashier Number Four Please) are genius. Not only does it save the cashiers from shouting “I can help you down here”, but it also moves the line along just that little bit faster.
  5. At airports you wonder about people who don’t yet understand the effective processes for passing through security (jacket off, belt and shoes off, laptop out, all before you get to the bins) or boarding a plane (slide into the seat, check if people are waiting to get by, then slide out and throw your carry on up top).
  6. You kind of like doing your taxes. Even just a little. The feeling of organizing all the files and filling out the online apps is quite satisfying (especially if you’re getting a refund).
  7. You can’t believe how much manual paperwork is required at the bank. In 2014.
  8. You have developed routines for mundane things in order to make them as quick and painless as possible – at home: packing the car for a roadtrip, housecleaning, packing lunches. At work: preparing a monthly report, doing performance reviews, starting a new project.
  9. When you have a great idea for something, you grab a piece of paper or a napkin and you sketch out the steps and how it will work. You number things and use arrows to show the flow of the idea.
  10. You’ve already thought of ten other ways that you’re a process geek.

It’s not such a bad thing. Embrace the process geek in you and tell us about it! We’d love to help you make it work for you.

Until next time,

Ruth

 

Processes of Olympic Proportion

February 21, 2014Blog, , , , ,

Sochi Olympics When you are really and truly a process geek, as I am, you are fascinated by processes everywhere you go. Whether it’s standing in line at airport security or waiting for your latte at Starbucks, there are opportunities to make things Better, Faster, and Cheaper everywhere you look.

There are also great processes that catch your eye and cause you to geek out, just a little bit.

Case in point. The Olympics.

No, not the overall Sochi experience, which I’m sure would be an AWESOME process improvement case study. No, I mean the athletes’ approach to perfection.

Variation is evil!

If you’ve been watching any of the Olympic coverage and wondered, “how do these people DO these things”, then wonder no more. Everything they do is a process. And everything they do well, is an excellent process that they have mastered, and are able to do over, and over, and over again.

One of the important concepts that we teach when working with clients on process improvement projects is that of consistency. In fact, we go so far as to say “Variation is evil!” (Click to Tweet) (It’s a strong statement, but it’s easy to remember.)

I was watching the Ice Dancing earlier this week and was interested to hear the commentator speak about variation when referring to some of the skaters. Common phrases included “they struggle with consistency”, or, “she’s had trouble repeating this routine”.

Famed Canadian skater Brian Orser won both the short and long programmes in the ’84 Olympics, but did not take the gold because of his poor performance in the then-compulsory figures. Back then, consistency was a critical element of judging skill, because it showed the ability to consistently master the basics. (Side note: I find it odd that “figure” skating would eliminate the need to show skill in compulsory “figures”, but I’ve given up figuring out the judging components. Anyway.)

There’s a commercial on right now in which a skiier sits on the chairlift at night and as he travels up the slope you hear him reciting in his head what he has to do in order to have a good run on the course; “Turn one, knees down, cut the edge. Turn two…” You can believe that most athletes do the exact same thing every time they approach their event – consistency is key!

Eliminate the Variation. Then Focus on Improvement.

So how do you apply this to your processes at work? First, focus on improving consistency. When you can do the same thing, over and over again, it becomes much easier to then improve the performance.

Picture a bullseye with shots all over the place. Then picture one with shots clustered off centre, but all within a few centimetres of each other. It is much easier to teach the consistent biathalon athlete to shift her aim than it is to help the varied biathalon competitor understand what she’s doing wrong (and differently) each time.

You just know that the winning biathlete is saying the same things to herself every single time she takes aim. She has a process, and if she’s hoping to win gold, she’s following that process Every. Single. Time.

The same is true for you at work. Make your office the gold standard of efficiency by eliminating the variation and focusing on the process.

Until next time,

Ruth.

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