This blog is about performance improvement in the workplace

I spent years as an executive overseeing improvement programs.  I know I’m not alone. From positioning a product launch against the competition, improving sales, reducing engineering costs to introducing the latest production method, improvement is always on the business agenda.

Thing is, it rarely worked out quite as well as I’d hope. To be frank, I sometimes failed outright. Sometimes, it produced great results for a while, but then things reverted to how they always had been.  The change did not stick.  I learned the meaning of the saying: The more it changes the more it remains the same.

So, I started to pay attention to what made improvement projects work, or not work. I discovered simple fundamentals.  When they’re missing, success is hard to come by, no matter how great the improvement program.  I also learned why all these training seminars we paid for gave so little tangible results.  (Don’t get me wrong, I think these seminar are important – it just that there something missing). 

I used what I learned as an executive with the teams I managed, and today, working with other companies.  With expertise both in R&D as well as in sales, (my bio is here). I discovered that the process is not discipline specific.  It became my business.  I enjoy it (because it works).

Then, a good friend with expertise in production asked me to explain it to him.  I did - but I couldn’t.  I was unclear.  It sounded good, but he didn’t quite get it.  So I took time to write it down.  When I was done, he said I had made it clear.  This blog was born.

Writing this blog, I clarify the methods I advocate and use – for myself as well as others.

I invite comments.  If what I say makes sense, or readers have been doing it at work, they can share stories.  If they disagree, the arguments allow us to dig deeper and improve the process – for all.

I write what I know, or discover, about what it takes to make lasting changes that improve performance.  Don’t look for the latest best practice in sales or manufacturing – that’s not what this blog is about (I’ll link to those).  The focus is on what it takes to make improvement stick: Performance Matters.