Category Archives: Management

Unintended Consequences

Using data to understand your processes and improve them is very useful. But using data often results in unintended consequences. If you don’t have a good understanding on the pressures collecting data will bring to bear on the system you … Continue reading

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Process improvement, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Support Theatre

Support theatre provides the appearance of supporting customers when in fact it is just treating customers poorly based on a management system that disrespects customers. It is a similar idea to security theatre that has become so popular for government … Continue reading

Posted in Customer focus, Fun, Management | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Acting Without Theory Often Results in Wasted Effort

When you act without theory you can find yourself beating your head against the wall, in ways similar to this woodpecker bangs its head against this sign. This bird may have copied the pecking behavior without understanding the theory. Pecking … Continue reading

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Transform the Management System by Experimenting, Iterating and Adopting Standard Work

In this short video, Dr. John Toussaint describes how ThedaCare applied leadership standard work to create a successful management transformation. The changes to the management system were tested by applying standard work for all positions in 2 parts of the … Continue reading

Posted in Management, webcast | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Most Popular Management and Leadership Quotes on Our Site in 2015

These were the most popular quotes on the Curious Cat Management and Leadership Quotes web site in 2015 (based on page views). Follow the link on the quote text for the source and more information on the quote. Having no … Continue reading

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20 Most Popular Posts on the Curious Cat Management Blog in 2015

This is a list of the 20 most popular posts on the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog last year (as measured by page views, as recorded by my analytics application). The Toyota Way – Two Pillars (2010) Stated Versus Revealed … Continue reading

Posted in curiouscat.com, Management, Popular | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Culture Change Requires That Leaders Change Their Behavior

This month The ASQ Influential Voices are reacting to Luciana Paulise’s post: Facing Cultural Barriers by Leaders to Strengthen a Culture of Quality [the broken link was removed]. As Luciana stated: leaders need to change their behavior first if they … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Most Popular Links on Management Sub-Reddit in 2015

I created the management sub-reddit many years ago. The management sub-reddit provides links to worthwhile management content and the members indicate those links they liked. Here is a list of the most popular links added in the last year. People … Continue reading

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Making Your Case to Senior Executives

This month Dr. Suresh Gettala writes about the Talking To the C-Suite About Quality in the monthly ASQ Influential Voices post. My take is a bit different than Dr. Gettala (and most others) in that I believe CEOs are so … Continue reading

Posted in Management | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Change Management: Create a Culture Seeking Continual Improvement or Use Band-Aids?

Successfully shepherding change within an organization is often a challenge. Often change management strategies are mainly about how to cope with a toxic culture but exclude the option of fixing the toxic culture. Why not address the root causes instead … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments