Category: Steve Towers

Coming to somewhere near you: 20 Cities on every continent through June, July and August 2012.

In May 2012 we passed the 20,000 accredited Certified Process ProfessionalsRsince 2006.
 
Limited offers in the month of June: http://www.bpgroup.org/certification-by-city.html
An internationally recognized program with proven track record of success – being run for 260 times in 84 cities with attendees from 95 countries, the program is developed based on the branded BP Group CEMMethodTMwhich aims to win the Triple Crown (simultaneous reductions in cost, growth in revenues and advances in Customer Service) with significant immediate quantifiable business results.
In May 2012 we passed the 20,000 accredited Certified Process ProfessionalsR since 2006.

Advance your life and business Outside-In

Limited offers in the month of June: http://www.bpgroup.org/certification-by-city.html
 

BPM and Process Excellence is changing the world

Join the growing number of monthly readers following Steve Towers and his BPM column on the PEX network, BPM Leader and the BP Group – 8,600 strong now and growing.
Steve has consistently received great reviews by his clients and readers and it seems people are telling their colleagues to check these columns out. 
Steve is the founder and CEO of the BP Group (established in 1992), a Keynote speaker and workshop leader with the PEX Network, and featured author on the BPM Leaders blog.  He is the author of FIVE books on business process and performance transformation and is a member of the prestigious California based BPM Forum.
Because of his activities with the BP Group, leading international corporates, including Citi, Apple, Disney, Zara and many others, Steve can be found always at the pragmatic leading edge of what is going on in Advanced BPM and Outside-In.   He believes that his work with these organisations and his exposure to a broad range of situations through global leaders and their approaches provides insight into the problems and issues leading BPM professionals face every day. 

Steve says that these experiences have caused him to look at BPM in a remarkable way. As the catalyst for global transformation BPM and process excellence is the means to realign our organisations on behalf of its employees and customers to achieve spectacular results.
If you’d enjoy sharing some of the insights and the secrets of 21st century organisation success you will enjoy his columns.

You can find Steve’s latest columns at on:

 
BPGroup:
http://www.bpgroup.org

The Focus has shifted from Inside-Out to Outside-In

I am frequently asked to summarise the difference between the inside-out industrial/information age mindset, and that of Outside-In (think Apple, Google, Zara, Zappos, Emirates etc.) thinking and practice. So here to answer that request (and from a section in my upcoming new book) is the overview.

Over the following weeks we will delve into each area and I will provide examples and case studies of each aspect of this Copernican shift.

The Focus has shifted from Inside-Out to Outside-In

Industrial/Information Age Customer Age

People Silo’s Multi functional
Specialist Multi skilled
Isolated Relationships
Awards – Time served Awards – Value Created
Autocratic Dynamic (to suit the needs)
Processes Doing things right Doing the right things and doing things right
Manufacturing mindset Customer Experience
Tasks/Activities and Outputs Outcomes and SCO’s
Stocks Flows
Products Services
Left to Right, Top to Bottom Customer Centric
IT Algorithmic Heuristic
Hierarchical Hyperlinked
Analytical Understanding
Ownership Access
Strategy Top Down Inclusive
Structured and Rigid eg 5 yr plans Agile and Adaptive
Tablets of stone Continual Alignment to SCO’s
Market/product focus Customer/expectation focus
Customers Uninformed Prosumer
Loyal Promiscuous
Forgiving Rebellious
Locked-In Demand Flexibility
Compliant and managed High Expectations and fickle
Single channel Multi channel
(c) 2012 Steve Towers

Next week we’ll start by reviewing the Customer Aspect
 

Join us at IT Web South Africa http://bit.ly/AfricaSixSigmaOnSteroids
Join us at PEX Week London http://bit.ly/PEXLondon2012

Join us at the CPP Master Class London http://londonmasters2012-estw.eventbrite.com 

ɯoʇʇoq oʇ doʇ puɐ ʇɥƃıɹ oʇ ʇɟǝl ʇou sı plɹoʍ ǝɥʇ

There is a saying that the map is not the territory. And yet so many treat their representation of the world as fact and reality. When you draw a process and agree with others that is how it looks just because you may all agree doesn’t make it real. It is just a collective hallucination. It is an abstract of reality. Does your world always flow top to bottom and left to right, or is it more real than that?

Process Excellence in Africa – keynote presentation

The second global Process Excellence conference completed this week in Cape Town, South Africa. The IQPC team are noted for their organisation and excellent speaker profiles and this event was a great example of the very latest thinking, in depth technical reviews and guidance for Process people throughout Africa.

Highly recommended for any conference the next in the global series Europe with London in April. You can review that event here: http://bit.ly/PEXLondon2012

The following is Steve Towers presentation which examines how some organisations seem to defy the recession and achieve ongoing success for their customers, employees and shareholders.
It looks like magic until you know the trick!

Reduce Costs – Improve Revenue – Enhance Service simultaneously

From the PEX Network event in Florida, January 2012. Ten minutes 🙂

You have the Power to change the world (and that aint no cliche)

Helping people to see the possibilities and getting them there isn’t a part time task. 

In our training, coaching and consultancy we encourage Certified Process Professionals and CPP Masters to relate this message of transformation in a constructive practical way. It is what makes the difference when you are doing it in your organisations for real.
Part of my personal inspiration comes from someone who relates ideas phenomenally well, and gives us the means to do it ourselves.

That person – Nancy Duarte.
 
This ten minute video will, if you give yourself permission, change the way you relate your ideas and create success forever.

Looking Outside-In

The BP Group is 20 years old in September. Over the last two decades people who have participated in our training and consultancy and have captured some of my comments. There are over 200, many clearly inspired by my heroes ‘giants’ in business and life. The list here are the ones most often referred back to me 🙂

How much do you need to know, to know you know, you know enough?

The Customer Experience is the process (Steve Jobs)

If things are changing faster outside than in, you will fail.

You don’t have a choice about where to start. You can only start where you are now!

Are you aligned to Successful Customer Outcomes (SCO’s)? Or are you just moving the chairs on the deck of the Titanic?

If you do not know who your customer is you do not know what you are doing.

Stop managing and measuring outputs. Start managing Customer Expectations and measuring the SCO.

Can your people clearly articulate their contribution to the SCO?

This is a once in a 600 year thing. The invention of the printing press (1436) and now Outside-In (1997).

Does your technology help with the SCO? If it doesn’t scrap it!

Technology is the emans to the end, not the end in itself. It is just the same with pen and paper.

To link process with performance we need to rethink what we mean by performance.

We shouldn’t keep looking back at the past to define the possibilities for the future.

Does your process start and end with the customer? If it doesn’t you are fixing the wrong thing.

Someone said the Chinese are coming. They are wrong. The Chinese have been and gone. This is what you are left with as a consequence!

Moving Outside-In isn’t a choice. It is a pre-requisite for success in the 21st century.

Are you measuring Activities and Tasks (Inside-Out), or Outputs and SCO’s (Outside-In)?

The only reason a process exists to is to help achieve a Successful Customer Outcome.

Can you connect every single task with the Successful Customer Outcome?

Who pays your salary? Yes it is the Customer.

Check your companys reports. How often is the customer mentioned? If they are not it shouldn’t surprise you that the business is failing.

If you aren’t managing Customer Outcomes you aren’t managing the most aspect of your business.

Look beyond the Output. How does it contribute to the Customer Outcome? If it doesn’t stop producing it.

The customer is not my job? Get Real. The customer is everyones job!

Evolving Outside-In is not a destination. It is a journey.

The process map is not real. It is a collective hallucination.

This week a large part of the BP Group team and leaders are in Florida for the annual PEX conference.

There is still time to register: www.pexweek.com and also sign-up for the
Certifed Process Professional Levels 1 and 2 program!
This is the place to network, learn and explore all that is process from the leading organizations, practitioners and Guru’s.
As the week unfolds we’ll be bringing you highlights and snippets. 
Hopefully see you there, all the Best

Steve