Got ACOs? The Future of Health Care Systems

Healthcare reform has brought Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) into the spotlight again. This post highlights the positive and negative sides of ACOs and what they can bring to the healthcare industry.

Healthcare Process Improvement: Six Steps to Cope With Booming Aging Population

With more than 3 million baby boomers becoming Medicare eligible this year alone, healthcare providers are facing the quandary of providing superior patient care while remaining financially viable. An important part of your strategy needs to address how to achieve speed in patient care and claims processing while simultaneously improving quality.

Common Challenges of Six Sigma Public Sector Development

Workplaces in the private sector and the public sector have many similarities. After all, objectives need to be met and daily work needs to get accomplished. Through our experience with business process management we have identified five major differences between sectors.

Lean Six Sigma in Government is an Effective Strategy

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has provided government agencies with great opportunities to spend money on their local projects. The President’s new initiatives also require accountability. With these new expectations in place, it would not be prudent to spend the funds wildly. However, as is often the case, the funds will only exist and be available for a limited time frame.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Continuous Improvement Team

Continuous Improvement is the ongoing effort to improve products, services or processes. The challenge is that in order to sustain improvement throughout your organization, it requires commitment from the people within your organization and the right tools and training for getting the job done.

Guidon Hosts Virtual Conference on Achieving Operational Excellence

We’re fast approaching our first annual Operational Excellence Virtual Conference.  Our purpose behind the event is to take advantage of the latest technology innovations to help our clients and friends exchange ideas, learn from each other and to hear from leading thinkers on the challenges of leadership and thriving in the new economy...

Top Five Reasons CFOs are Playing a More Significant Role in Quality Improvement Programs

For the past few decades, chief financial officers (CFOs) were left to focus on “bean counting” and played little or no role in an organization’s quality improvement initiative. Increasingly, that role is changing and more organizations are having CFOs front and center in leading quality efforts. Here are the reasons why...

Lean Six Sigma Can Help Agencies Manage Stimulus Funds

In a recent interview on Fox Business channel, I had the opportunity to discus how effectively the stimulus funds are being deployed.

Begin the Ascent

Welcome to the Guidon blog where we will offer insights and learning from our work with public and private sector clients and how they are navigating the current economic crisis.

The ‘WIIFM’ Factor with Lean Six Sigma

One of the most frequent conversations that comes along from Lean Six Sigma and other Continuous Improvement practitioners is around their frustration with senior leaders and sponsors who “don’t get it” regarding Lean and Six Sigma or business process improvement.  Most of the time the conversation is about a gap in sponsorship, buy in, leadership, etc. and the people I am speaking with are venting their frustrations.

“Undercover Boss” – Waste Management Uncovers Waste

Healthcare Embraces Lean Principles

A recent article from the NY Times Sunday business section...

Stimulus Spending Needs Jidoka – The Proof Is In the Pork

Information on recovery.gov recently reported that the Department of Agriculture was paying $1.2 million for 2 pounds of frozen ham.

“Cash for Clunkers" Doesn’t Have to Be a Lemon

Over the weekend my father-in-law decided to take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program and went car shopping.

Carpe Diem

This time of year, I spend a significant amount of time with clients framing their business strategies for next year. In the midst of those discussions, invariably the executives turn to a comparison of their competitors and how they might gain ground on the front-runner (assuming it is not themselves).

Government Efficiency: CPR for Our New CPO

With the recent confirmation of the first federal Chief Performance Officer (CPO), Jeffrey Zients, a sprig of hope has emerged among the performance management and improvement crowd.

Stimulus Is No Place For Pork!

While government is clearly not a business, many of the tools and methods that work in business can also work in government.

Preparing to Manage the Stimulus

In a recent survey completed by Government Executive Magazine’s research arm, the Government Business Council, data revealed that only 66% of government managers who were aware of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) anticipated meeting or exceeding the expectations of the funding program.