(This article was originally published in Sounding Board/May 2011. Sounding Board is the official publication of The Vancouver Board of Trade. The newspaper provides analysis and discussion of regional and national issues facing the business community. Reproduced with permission.) Meetings are intended to effect decisions that move you closer to… [More]

Traditional performance measurements focus on financial results and outcome. They reflect on results at the end of a time period. They are called “lagging indicators.” For example, common financial metrics include revenue growth, net income and margin. Customer satisfaction metrics include the number of complaints and satisfaction rating. These measurements… [More]

Operational inefficiencies manifest in different ways in organizations. Some are easy to spot while others are obscure and difficult to detect. Nonetheless, they consume resources and increase cost. The following is a list of reasons why inefficiencies persist: Lack of commitment to review how work is performed and look for… [More]

Business structures its organization around core functions such as marketing, information technology, operations, finance and human resources. This centralized model by expertise makes it simple for anyone to identify where to take their issue for resolution. Over the years, we have seen corporations switch between a centralized and a distributed… [More]

A network of work processes drives your business operations. This network determines how well you serve your customers. As a business evolves, the once simple and straight-forward processes could morph into a complex web of activities. Workflow analysis provides a complete view of how well activities are executed. Begin with… [More]

Decision making is about selecting the best solution to deal with an issue. Solutions that involve significant investment, have big impact and long term effects, they require more effort to do the due diligence. Here are the steps to making sound decisions: Identify end goals Identify what you want to… [More]

Do you know why you are investing your resources in a project? Every project you embark on is an investment. You need to ensure that the return on investment is sound. Therefore, it is a crucial question you must ask. What problems do you aim to solve by making the… [More]