From idea to handoff—and every point in between.

Articles

Workplace team discussing business strategy
Tags: COE Summit 2024, Change management, Strategy

Change & Scanning Our Ecosystems with PESTLE Analysis

Our ability to change with intention requires well-informed awareness. This applies to change ranging from personal to organizational to societal. Intentionality requires us to pause, scan and be aware of the ecosystem surrounding us as individuals and collectives. The PESTLE Analysis tool is one of my favorites to leverage for a well-rounded pause and resulting analysis. It helps elevate the daily boots-on-the-ground experience to a more macro-level view of our current and emerging circumstances.
Headshots of COE Summit 2024 Keynote Speakers
Tags: COE Summit 2024

Meet the Keynotes: COE Summit 2024

In today’s dynamic business landscape, success hinges on the ability to move from strategy creation to execution. It’s time to ignite a culture of action and excellence.
Woman presenting at a product development meeting
Tags: COE Summit 2024, Product development

Front-Loading Cost Analysis: A Key Practice in Lean Product Development

Many companies face significant challenges in meeting cost targets. Whether they're fledgling start-ups or established conglomerates, companies often encounter a familiar scenario: as their product launch draws near, they are caught in a struggle to reduce ballooning costs. Despite efforts, companies often find themselves compelled to raise prices or compromise on product quality to meet revenue and profitability targets.
Woman presents to a circle of colleagues
Tags: COE Summit 2024, Collaboration, Innovation

How Improvisers Effectively Ideate in High-Stakes Situations

We start with a large number of ideas, agree to build on each other's ideas, and work together to build ideas until we have the best ideas possible.
Question mark with arrows pointing in separate directions
Tags: COE Summit 2024, Change management

How to Beat the Odds of Organizational Change Failure

Change is hard…super hard. We often don’t talk about how likely it is that our change initiative will fail because we don’t want to jinx it. However, studies have put organizational change failure rates at over fifty percent. Just think about that…we’re more likely to fail than succeed. We have to break this failure cycle!
3 min read
Two people wearing hard hats look at a clipboard
Tags: COE Summit 2024, gemba, Culture

The Secret Is No Secret: Why Leaders Need to “Go and See”

Sometimes the greatest ideas come from unexpected places. That’s why I’m an advocate for “going and seeing.”  
Arrows representing change
Tags: Digital Content Archive, Change management, Culture

The Best of Organizational Change: Our Top 5 Recordings & Resources

The new year is well underway, and the Center for Operational Excellence is looking forward to the connections to be made and the programming to be shared that will help your organizations build resilience and adaptability in 2024. We know that many of our member companies are experiencing organizational change stemming from leadership transitions, emerging technology, economic constraints, and a host of other factors.
Black and white winding road

Problem-Solving Roadmaps: Definitions, Examinations, and Common Myths Explained

There is so much noise surrounding continuous improvement roadmaps and how we should approach them. Why are there so many options? Which one is the best one to use and when? Is one problem-solving roadmap better than another? Why? What is the difference between all of them?
Magnifying glass hovering over target
Tags: Data Analytics, Faculty spotlight, Books, COE Summit 2024

How to Identify the Right Performance Objectives

Getting the most out of an engineering or analytics project requires the thoughtful coordination of specifically targeted solution tactics. However, generating optimal returns from this process also, and more fundamentally, presumes that the right problem has been targeted. How do we increase the chances of getting that right, and of advancing on practical solutions to address the right problems?