We talk a lot about processes at Intelligent Management. That’s because well-designed and well-managed processes are the bedrock of Quality and healthy organizations. But it’s more than that. Processes require constant attention and continuous improvement. In case that begins to sound like a treadmill, let’s remember something very important and fundamental for our lives: we can […]
How Organizations Can Improve Work-life Balance Right Now
Work-life balance is defined by some as prioritizing between work (career and ambition) and lifestyle (health, pleasure, family and spiritual development). There is an immediate problem with this definition as it compartmentalizes people’s lives in a, frankly, unrealistic and undesirable way. It suggests that people leave their authentic selves at home, like a coat, when they go […]
True Innovation: How to Do It
What exactly is innovation? One thing it is not is “a good idea”. There are plenty of good ideas in the world but that is not enough to build a project, let alone a start-up. And yet it happens. Time, money and resources are invested in “good ideas” that do not have legs and so […]
Logical Problem Solving Is Never Enough
Every day we are faced with problems that need solving, both personal and organizational. The more complex the problem the more we need to be sure we have a robust way to analyze what’s wrong so we can generate and effectively implement an appropriate solution. That may sound obvious, but how many decision makers actually […]
Brainware for Conflict Resolution and Building Peace and Prosperity
A brief scan of headlines today led to reading some alarming news. The USA has been downgraded from “full democracy” to “flawed democracy” (see Fortune article) and Mikhail Gorbachev made the statement in Time Magazine “It all looks as if the world is preparing for war.” Never take peace for granted Temperatures are rising in the world, politically […]
Does Universal Healthcare Make Any Sense?
A recent conversation was a reminder that few things like universal healthcare can mark a divide between Americans and Europeans (and Canadians). Americans tend to consider healthcare not a right but something to be earned. There is a moral argument going on here. But what if providing healthcare for all just makes scientific and economic sense? […]
Marketing Requires Knowledge and Method, not Techniques
There’s a lot of mystique and myth about marketing (and sales). What are they really? In this post we propose a solid, proven systems approach. Serious marketing leaves no room for improvisation. It requires thought, consistency and relentless effort. The methodical effort translates into consistent, monitorable results with built-in continuous improvement. Marketing is not a “company function” […]
Can We Avoid Catastrophe with a Network Vision of Enterprises?
Reality is made up of networks. That’s what we’ve come to understand thanks to contemporary science. This is as true for biology and physics as it is for our social, political and economic reality. However, most organizations haven’t yet learned to catch up with this fact on a practical level. What do we mean by a […]
Working With Systems: a Word Map
What are the key terms that indicate how we can work within and on systems? How can we sum up in a ‘word map’ the field of knowledge that is required? We produced a word map to accompany our glossary for ‘The Decalogue’ methodology that encompasses the approaches of W. Edwards Deming and the Theory […]
Protecting Projects from Chaos: A Tool
Projects can easily get out of hand. They are subject to the chaos that can arise when human interactions are not governed by precise guidelines. Entropy exists and it affects behaviours as well everything else. When we use the Transition Tree Tool to break projects down into actions we are protecting projects from chaos: at […]
