“The stories, apocryphal or not, that circulate in an organization reveal its devotion (or lack of it) to quality, and serve to inspire its people to live (or not live) the quality message.”
What stories are being told in your company?
Tom Peters & Nancy Austin, A Passion for Excellence: The Leadership Difference, 1985
I have spoken at PCBC, the big West Coast building conference most of the past 15 years and I always enjoy it. The event has been very well-run, quality of programming is excellent, the staff is great and you can do a lot worse than hang out in downtown San Francisco for a few days. I have been there so many times that I know all of the streets and how to get around, walking or driving. I even have my favorite hotel and off-the-beaten-path restaurants. Yet as PCBC begins later this month, I...
The title of this blog is tongue in cheek (or maybe foot in mouth) as a follow up to a blog I wrote a while back titled, "Second Floor Laundries are Just Stupid, or are They?"
When this blog made it's way to the pages of Professional Builder in the April 2012 issue my inbox...
"What we hear too often is, don't confuse me with the facts, I know what I want to do." Bill Denney PhD
Technology has made gathering data so much easier. However, the problem is we can be overwhelmed by it. Surveys, stats, city, state and national data sources can be accessed and reams of paper can be printed to provide us with the information we need. But the key is interpreting that data, knowing how to use it, knowing what it is telling us. Where are the gaps in the market, what are price points that customers can afford etc. The key is to gather data and then analyze it and make decisions...
A young doctor was just setting up his first office when his secretary told him there was a man to see him. The doctor wanted to make a good first impression by having the man think he was successful and very busy. He told his secretary to show the man in.
At that moment, the doctor picked up the telephone and pretended to be having a conversation with a patient. The man waited until the "conversation" was over. Then, the doctor put the telephone down and asked, "Can I help you?"...
This week's installment of Charlie Scott on Customer Satisfaction in Home Building questions how new houses are delivered to customers. Admittedly this entry is a bit cryptic, and you will have to study it, but hopefully this cryptic analogy will bring some clarity to your home building company's delivery process. Clearly, there is no one "right" way to deliver homes to customers, but it is critical that a home building company deliver on all promises and meet...
The focus is the customer, it’s about their needs and wants. Sometimes when we try to improve our customer focus and we try to achieve a ‘wow factor’ we actually just add fluff, which at best is window dressing which doesn’t do any harm, but nor does it have benefit and it still adds cost and time. But in the worst case adding fluff can lose you a customer.
For instance a case where clients were invited to their first meeting with the design team. Prior to this the clients had only...
My son Tyler (second of 4 children), age 29, is taking a new position with a homebuilder after having two good building industry jobs in the past, both of which vanished in the housing recession. Despite the previous disappointments, he sees this as a great opportunity with a real chance to grow with a good company. It got me thinking about all the work I have done in my career, where I did well, where I screwed up, who I have hired, who I have fired, and all the people I have watched soar...
Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a tool that can assist in identifying where your areas of risk lie and helps structure solutions.
By using a table list, key steps in your process i.e. either a project or at the highest level, the core functions of your business. Against each of these steps note what the particular failures might be. Then give each a 1-10 score, 10 being worst for each failure representing its severity i.e. cost, impact on the customer etc. Then score 1-10...
