Best Practices

Best Practices are part process, part content. Simply knowing the content, that is, the method or process is usually insufficient because of difficulties in getting people to change inside companies. This leads to the necessity of understanding and enabling the Best Practice path.

Definitions: the best way to perform a given process; the best way thus far that has been develop to do something; the way that results in the highest, demonstrated, measurable performance.

To successfully implement new, proven Best Practice methods, a company must also make improvements in several foundation-level areas. Extensive research of companies with decades long, sustained records of consistent high performance, coupled with understanding of how these processes work has shown that they are strong and highly capable in what we term the Four Essential Factors:

Effective Leadership & Culture – perhaps the true “foundation” of Best Practices, because it enables and strengthens the others.
Continuous Improvement Processes – enabled powerfully in the presence of effective leadership and culture.
Effective enterprise systems and processes – communication and work flows are consistently improved, difficulties resolve in a well-led, continuous improvement oriented environment – problems are identified and resolve as a normal course.
On-going education and training – companies seeking to excel over long periods of time require a constant input of new ways of thinking (education), and mastery of new techniques and methods (training).

We, and others, have found that these Four Essential Factors function synergistically; when all four are strong and capable, the results far exceed performance if only two or three are strong. Think of Toyota, General Electric and others that have consistently outperformed competitors decade after decade. Weakness in one can block effectiveness in others.

PROACTION is geared to assist your company in moving ahead powerfully and quickly towards greater, more sustained high performance and competitiveness in the each of the Four Essential Factor areas with low cost publications, free white articles and professional services:

Effective Leadership & Culture

·	Publications – Leadership & Culture
·	Services – we provide individual and team assessments and coaching to enable our current managers to become true leaders to create a solid foundation to enable initiatives such as Lean management and selection and implementation of more advanced systems to be very successful.
·	Free articles
·	Newsletter Archives

Continuous Improvement Processes

·	Publications – Lean / 6 Sigma
·	Services – a PROACTION Lean management trainer and coach will work hands-on, side-by-side with your work teams to enable them to become proficient in lean methods, and to gain confidence along with measurable results in achieving objectively measurable improved productivity and quality in products and services. We can also facilitate Kaizen events – highly focused, over-the-weekend type project to achieve major improvements in a specific area in just a few days. Two benefits – measurable results quickly plus very quick learning for your team.
·	Free articles
·	Newsletter Archives

Effective Enterprise Systems and Processes

·	Publications – select the area you are most interested in:
		- Enterprise Systems
		- Supply Chain
		- Marketing & Sales
		- Business Process Management
		- Production & Inventory
·	Services – PROACTION can facilitate and support your team in a variety of ways to jump start improvements in these areas, such as: _
·		Enterprise software management – we utilize the leading-edge SoftSelect methodology to coach your team in becoming articulate and expert in understanding their company’s overall strategy, truly key, mission-critical requirements, and in bringing software into alignment with these. Click here to learn more about our SoftSelect methodology.
·		Focused expertise projects – to achieve very rapid improvements in a specific area, such as supply chain management or marketing and sales processes, our facilitation-oriented consultants can develop a fast-moving project leveraging your in-house team. We combine class-room style education and training, coupled with project team focused on getting specific improvements in place quickly. Example: Inventory Accuracy in 60 Days.
·		Free articles
·		Newsletter Archives

Education and Training

·	More on Education and Training
·	Publications – utilize our courses as an integral, repeatable part of your ongoing, in-house education and training program at very low cost. Those in PowerPoint format can be edited to customize them for your specific situation.
·	Services –
	·	Course presentations - PROACTION can present any of our own materials to your staff in a class-room setting, on-site or off-site, or via Webinar technology. A senior level, highly experienced professional with substantial experience in the topic will be the presenter.
	·	Education program setup - We can also assist you in setting up your own in-house education and training program, including curriculum design, development of custom materials, qualification and coaching of in-house instructors and follow up processes to validate the effectiveness of the education or training.
·	Free articles
·	Newsletter Archives

The Performance Continuum

Where is your company on the continuum of performance?

· At one end are those who can be said to be ‘striving” – just working to keep up with the pack, to just stay in business. At these companies, opportunities to improve performance are seemingly everywhere.

· At the other end are true, world-class companies that continually improve themselves, creating new and innovative products and services, and literally creating new Best Practices. They usually manage the innovation process with a portfolio approach of mixed low and high risk projects.

· In the middle are those who are, at least for the time being, successful, in business, some degree of market dominance, and who at least partially, utilize proven Best Practices, most typically developed at some point in time by others, i.e., an innovator.

Best Practice Example - As an illustration, 35 years ago, documenting products utilizing a computer-based Bill of Materials capability was an innovative, new Best Practice, developed originally by companies like Black & Decker, IBM, and others. Now, the BoM, as it is called, is a standard practice at most product oriented companies, with only a few laggards still utilizing other, inferior methods.

Most companies are mixed performers, excelling in some areas, while lagging far behind in others. Example: many otherwise leading companies still do not have a defined, structured, integrated marketing and sales process capable of being systematically improved over time, depending instead on a few “star” performers.

PROACTION’s unique combination of content (specific information about processes and methods), and process can bring improvements in your company’s performance that are both quick and sustained over time.

Podcasts - Download our free Getting Started Podcast for more insight into the 4 Essential Factors and the Best Practice path. Also, many of our Best Practice newsletter articles are available in Podcast format for your convenience. (link to Podcast page)

Call us for more information and to discuss your company’s direction and challenges.

Phone: (818) 706-0160