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?

Great illustraton of Outside-In thinking and practice.

Jeff Bezos provides his viewpoint..

.”I would hope people would say that Amazon is earth’s most customer-centric company, and that we work backwards from customers. Many companies sort of look at what their skills are and they work forward from their skills. They say this is what we’re good at, and this is what we’ll do. It’s a very different approach from saying here is what our customers need, and we will learn whatever skills we need.”

That really describes the dfference between inside-out thnking (examine your capabilities and figure out how to optimise them) to Outside-In – figure out the Customer needs and align everthing to deliver the Successful Customer Outcome.
http://bit.ly/AmazonOutsideIn

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!

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.

The PEX Network hosted a great event in Florida last month (review very soon). I was asked to comment on some of the latest process evolution, especially in relation to moving Outside-In and the Customer Experience.
Here is that ten minute interview – see more on this theme at www.bpgroup.org and www.pexnetwork.com

Getting the attention you deserve (it is a process about process)

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.