Leadership Articles

Business » Leadership | By Jacquelyn Donner @ Tuesday, 18th November 2008 @ 2:18 PM

A fundamental element of Six Sigma philosophy is that unless we are prepared to invest in the measurement of quality, we cannot improve quality, if we don\'t measure quality, and don\'t follow-up on these measures, then we are sending a signal that we really don\'t value quality. This, in turn, affects day-to-day behaviors and activities of all employees. Generating new measures requires new questions. If we continue to ask the same questions, we will continue to ask for an... more...

Business » Leadership | By Jacquelyn Donner @ Tuesday, 18th November 2008 @ 1:39 PM

Defect Opportunities can exist at any level of a hierarchy (complex, system, subsystem, component, and element levels). The hierarchy level concept can be applied to every business situation. For example, there are many levels to a policy, service, project, assembly, design, etc. For each of these levels, we count the number of opportunities and defects for each CT. This information will eventually be used to calculate separate Sigma metrics in order to obtain true estimates of process capabilit... more...

Business » Leadership | By Jacquelyn Donner @ Tuesday, 18th November 2008 @ 12:55 PM

Training for Six Sigma must flow down from top to bottom. If Six Sigma is to be driven off the strategic issues of the business, then it follows that senior management must gain adequate exposure to Six Sigma philosophy, concepts, and methodology before any action is taken. Based on this training, senior management is then in a position to wisely identify the high-level focus of Six Sigma, to establish broad goals and, perhaps most importantly, assign the right resources. Similarly, befor... more...

Business » Leadership | By Jacquelyn Donner @ Tuesday, 18th November 2008 @ 12:51 PM

Most organizations find it useful to have a way to evaluate the capacity of products, services, and processes. This step provides them with an idea of where they are on the Six Sigma map, where to focus improvement projects, as well as point out areas where data is available or needs to be collected in the future. It is important to note that there may be different approaches used to apply these concepts because each situation is different. There are three types of analysis that can be do... more...

Business » Leadership | By Laurie Taylor @ Monday, 17th November 2008 @ 5:41 PM

A successful leader is engaged in their business and they stay engaged by practicing the art of intentional inquiry. Learning how to ask the right questions that require your team to think instead of simply responding, is an art that requires experience and practice. It\'s also the basis for good coaching. Most leaders don\'t know how to ask questions that encourage employees to speak their minds. Each time a leader has an opportunity to force an employee to think, to ... more...

Business » Leadership | By Forest Marie @ Wednesday, 29th October 2008 @ 12:00 AM

When pursuing an online career, there are several programs and companies for you to look into. While it can be difficult to decipher one opportunity from the other, it is important you look for the qualities of a good leader. You will be amazed at how much of an impact the leader can have on your online success. One of the top reasons so many entrepreneurs fail on the internet is because of a lack of training and guidance. Companies cannot expect brand new people to jump into a new progra... more...

Business » Leadership | By maureen collins @ Wednesday, 22nd October 2008 @ 2:05 PM

Many managers do indeed talk straight. They identify problems, decide on solutions, allocate responsibilities, and communicate it all to their people with standards and deadlines. For many reasons however, things often do not turn out as planned. When that happens, managers react by talking even straighter, and often louder, with more instructions, clearer priorities, and more deadlines. But still the job is not done! Management would be easy if only people would do what they have been told to d... more...

Business » Leadership | By maureen collins @ Monday, 20th October 2008 @ 10:37 PM

It is not unusual for a new manager to find that his or her predecessor has, maybe for years, tolerated performance from a team of a lower standard than they are willing to accept. Not only has the newcomer to deal with the normal problems of gaining acceptance from the team, he or she has to step up to some difficult conversations early on in their relationship with people who are probably going to be resistant to changing their behaviour. How do you convince a person to improve their p... more...

Business » Leadership | By Wayne Messick @ Monday, 20th October 2008 @ 9:01 PM

Effective leadership is the only competitive advantage you\'ll ever have that will endure against all others. Are you then an effective, 21st Century leader? What would your people say about your leadership? Would they say that your leadership is the one key element that insures their long term success? And how much of your energy is being spent helping your subordinates become effective leaders? Would your employees say that you are giving it everything you\'ve got - making a ... more...

Business » Leadership | By Ron Subs @ Saturday, 18th October 2008 @ 1:20 AM

Every time you walk into a bookstore it seems as though the self help section grows exponentially. There is a reason for that. Self help and leadership books are fantastic resources to help people learn how to cope on a variety of levels with a large variety of different situations throughout the course of their life. As a business leader you have probably spent hours over the years bent over leadership books, learning from experts in the industry. If you have not, it is never too late to... more...