Process mapping for effective Knowledge Management by Irwin Hirsh

Biotechnology is a knowledge-driven business, which for decades has relied on SMEs and tacit knowledge sharing to move projects forward. By and large, this has sufficed. However, as baby boomers retire, being in one role for three to four years now makes a team member an 'old-timer,' and it becomes imperative for a business to make operating process knowledge explicit and easily accessible to the people performing the standard work.

Hiding behind 'Respect for People' -
What your Lean Consultants may not be telling you

Despite the well-documented benefits of digital transformation such as accelerated efficiency, heightened time to competency, and enhanced knowledge retention, there persists a noticeable reluctance to embrace change, particularly when it involves disrupting entrenched processes and workflows.

Get your staff moving with the Action Priority Matrix

Despite the harsh title, lack of staff movement isn't solely the fault of the team; rather, it often reflects shortcomings in leadership and organizational processes. In today's fast-paced business environment, stagnation is not an option. Are you finding it challenging to mobilize your team and drive meaningful progress? If so, you're not alone.

Knowledge Management (KM) for a Faster Time to Market

This article explores Knowledge Management (KM) systems in the Pharmaceutical industry in the context of CMC process development, emphasizing their significance in achieving a faster time to market. It outlines the challenges of poor KM, such as manufacturing process variability and inadequate documentation, and introduces two critical KM systems: Quality Risk Management (QRM) and Business Process Knowledge Management.

Unveiling the Hoshin Kanri Dilemma: A Path to Effective Strategy Execution

Bridging the gap between strategy and execution demands a holistic approach that integrates strategic vision with practical implementation. By addressing the identified shortcomings and leveraging innovative tools, organizations can unleash the full potential of Hoshin Kanri and achieve enduring success in today's competitive landscape.

Debunking the myth that 'Lean is Dead' in the era of Industry 4.0
Pre-recorded Webinar - Watch Now!

Engage with industry experts Pedro Monteiro, John Dyer and Andrew Lenti as they unravel the dynamics of Lean Management in the digital age. Interactive Q&A Session: At the conclusion of the webinar, we invite you to watch this pre-recorded event!

HIRE or FIRE a consultant immediately if you are still making these 7 critical empire-building mistakes

Have you been spending more time working ON your business as an empire builder or are you stuck working IN your business as a fire fighter? If you answered the second, it's time to change the narrative! Our team has put together a 7-step self-assessment to help you better align & articulate your vision to those tasked with helping you grow. Check it out here.

Mastering Change Management and Continuous Improvement:
A Practical Guide To Using The R-A-C-I Accountability Matrix

Delve into the impact of the R-A-C-I Accountability Matrix on change management and continuous improvement. Uniting roles and responsibilities, this guide illuminates its integration with the P-D-C-A cycle for streamlined efficiency, informed decision-making, and successful change implementation.

Finish What You Started! Lead KPIs for Decision Makers to
Increase Focus & Execution Efficiency

Published in collaboration with TheLeanMag

In recent years, the topic of agility, flexibility and the ability to pivot to cater customer needs has become so popular that many companies have become counterproductive trying to prove to be an 'agile' organisation. Find out why this is the case and how to avoid it in this exclusive blog!

Transform Managers Into Leaders With These 3 Simple KPIs

Published in collaboration with TheLeanMag

In this article, we share our simple methodology that has served our team over and over again throughout the years as a starting point in putting time management at the top of each business relationship and giving managers opportunities to grow into leaders by being better prepared to approach uncomfortable situations via transparency and non-confrontational reporting.

5-steps to retaining company know-how -- WEBINAR

Published in collaboration with Pétanque NXT

It was great to see you at our "ProThink Talent Management" panel discussion where we joined up with guest speaker, Andrew Lenti from TOPP Tactical Intelligence to share the 5 steps to stop losing company know-how and eliminate 'the forgetting curve'. Here is our complete webinar!

Why they didn't choose our competitors. 8 competition-crushing secrets in change management execution

By Andrew Lenti, Managing Director at TOPP Tactical Intelligence Ltd.

This article was featured in the 10th edition of The Lean Mag's. It covers our second semester of 2021 in bringing to life 4 new business relationships and the secrets learnt within about managing large project portfolios in fastly-growing companies from the top-down.

The 7 tell-tale signs that your operational excellence program is still in the digital Stone Age and how to get out of it

By Andrew Lenti, Managing Director at TOPP Tactical Intelligence Ltd.

Originally published at 'The Lean Mag', this article explores the necessity of digital tools in a post Covid-19 workplace, the benefits you can't afford to ignore of virtual continuous improvement and how to identify if your company is falling behind in its digital transformation duties.

Where do you begin your continuous improvement journey?

By Katie Labedz, President at Learning to Lean Management Consulting

For those of us who need that special spark to ignite continuous improvement in our personal lives, new author Katie Labedz simplifies this topic in easy-to-digest bite-size chunks highlighting the major benefits offered for the minimum investment required.

The three failure modes of change

By Philip Holt, SVP Head of Operational Excellence, GKN Aerospace

Whatever you might call your change programme or initiative, be it a Lean Deployment, Continuous Improvement Initiative, Business Transformation, or one of numerous other titles, one thing is for sure, organisational resistance will be present. Read what our friend Philip Holt of GKN Aeropace has highlighted as being the 3 main causes of change initiative failure.

How reducing the cost of quality will pay dividends for years to come

By Neetu Choudhary, Continuous Improvement Leader, Speaker, Author, Facilitator

This month we had the pleasure to meet Neetu Choudhary, Continuous Improvement Leader. Neetu goes into detail in this article on why every organisation should not neglect the 3 core elements to investing in quality; preventive costs, appraisal costs, and failure costs.

5 ways spreadsheets are killing your PMO and why you should be using project management software to stay competitive

By Andrew Lenti, Managing Director at TOPP Tactical Intelligence Ltd.

Meeting, e-mail, reporting and spreadsheet fatigue! These are all the symptoms your company is suffering because you are not using a robust software solution to connect your project management office and their portfolio of projects to their key stakeholders. In this compiled publication, our team has put together a list of the massive costs your are enduring by keeping everything manual and by relying on spreadsheets to track and disseminate critical information.

Stakeholder capitalism, social media, and the shocking behaviour of the new corporate citizen

By Andrew Lenti, Managing Director at TOPP Tactical Intelligence Ltd.

Having had some time to digest a scene that we recently witnessed online during the mass confusion created by the conclusion of the US presidential elections, we put our thoughts to paper in this short piece on how transparency by way of technology is shaping the future of politics and stakeholder management.

PODCAST: Building and sustaining continuous improvement leadership discipline

Recently, our Managing Director was put to the test by the talented Emma McDermott of UK-based The Business Transformation Network (The BTN), 'the world's home for business transformation content and networking' on Continuous Improvement and how to create a fail-fast/fail-forward work culture. Delicate topics for organisations requiring strong leadership skills at all levels of the company. WARNING - best suited for those accustomed to challenging the status quo. No naysayers allowed!

Lean is an emotional Journey: BTFA if you want to successfully PDCA

By Philip Holt, Senior Vice President, Operational Excellence at GKN Aerospace

This summer we have the pleasure of welcoming Philip Holt to our team as a TOPP TI friend, mentor, and contributor. Philip is a published author and Operational Excellence Senior Vice President at GKN Aerospace, the world's leading multi-technology tier 1 Aerospace supplier and has over 30 years of business experience in leadership roles with extensive studies in areas of Lean management. In this exert from his upcoming book 'Living Lean', Philip brings to light the importance of emotional intelligence when bringing change into organisations.

Leveraging talent abroad to grow your business

By Andrew Lenti, originally published in The Business Transformation Network

A small business's guide to using performance metrics to master the art of outsourcing, remote governance, and agile cross-continental synergy cultivation.

As a team, one of the biggest discoveries we continue to make over the years lies in our ability to consistently improve our working relationship with our overseas product development partner allowing us to optimise ongoing performance with our clients.

Aspiring entrepreneurs beware, blood suckers are everywhere!

5 Tips to managing the endless amount of noise in your first years as a start-up - Originally published on LinkedIn

The world wide web is an endless sea full of opportunists living from 'gig-to-gig' claiming to be experts having the answer to all your business needs. In your first years as a start-up you will learn the true definition of 'noise' as you will be lost in confusion trying to understand who and who not to listen to. One of the biggest risks that we have learnt to manage over the years is the risk of losing time in non-value add relationships which not only waste your time, but also demoralises the people around you who are counting on you to ensure that their contribution is not made in vain.

The secret to business process optimisation

Originally published in Solutions Review online business journal

We were recently featured in Solutions Review, US-based tech online forum dedicated to the stories that are unfolding everyday around the latest advancements in enterprise solutions, BI and data analytics, applications and networks, mobility and the cloud.

Originally published in 'Solutions Review' online, this article focuses on digital transformation and organisational maturity prior to ensuring product deployment success

How to have healthy, meaningful disputes with your IT service provider

By Andrew Lenti, Managing Director at TOPP Tactical Intelligence Ltd.

With our end-of-year performance evaluations underway with our service vendors, we have outlined the 10 CTQ (critical to quality) factors to help set expectations between you and your IT service provider and ensure that quality is kept at centre stage. Included in this post is an easy-to-use job aid and even quicker to communicate quality control template you can use with long distance IT service providers to enrich your daily relationship and ensure growth on both sides of the relationship.

13 ways to build a fail fast, fail forward work culture in your organisation

By Andrew Lenti, Managing Director

In our quest to assist companies in creating a 'fail-fast, fail-forward' culture, we share this memoir which touches upon how capturing lessons learnt are part of the growth process and are valuable building blocks for companies who rely on innovation to stay competitive.

In this article we share 13 key principles that we use at TOPP TI to help organisations put a structure in place to allow their 'Intrapreneurs' a safe place to experiment, brainstorm and cultivate that next big idea that will keep your company competitive and bring you to your next destination in innovation.

Why I hated teamwork and how I became a team player

By Andrew Lenti, originally published in The Business Transformation Network

Have you ever been critiqued for not being a team player? Perhaps the finger should have been pointing in the other direction. Here is our Managing Director's story originally published by The Business Transformation Network, 'the worlds home for business transformation content and marketing'.

I spent 17 years working in big companies. Despite the common corporate mantra promoting collaboration and team building, among my inner circle I was known for my despise of teamwork. I hated it! I like to have complete control of my work and want to be left alone while I am doing it.

Challenges of equipping new graduates with an Industry 4.0 mindset

Our joint-interview featured in Bryant University's summer edition of Bryant Magazine

Last summer we were invited to participate in a 4-way interview with technology leaders including Todd Gustafson, President of Hewlett Packard Federal LLC regarding the many challenges which the uncertainty of the fourth industrial revolution are creating for preparing future generations to enter the workforce. Our own Managing Director Andrew Lenti participated offering insight into how TOPP TI's approach disrupting the technology market starts first on the many years of industry experience and know-how of our team and second on our creativity and capacity to break free of status-quo thinking when designing business solutions.

Continuous improvement: Challenging the status quo

Our Managing Director's interview at InTouch Networks - UK's leading consulting network

Recently, our CEO was chosen by the team at InTouch Networks to help bring awareness to the business consulting community about what challenges one will face when pursuing a career in continuous improvement consultancy, stepping out of your comfort zone, and how technology is rapidly raising the bar for organisations worldwide who seek continuous improvement discipline.

Continuous improvement embodies culture, discipline and performance. For an organisation to continuously find opportunity in innovation, the staff need a free-thinking work environment.

Value stream mapping, waste reduction & SIPOC automation

Why multinational organisations should be using the SIPOC at all levels of the organisation

Process re-engineering is about the optimisation of business interactions. Understanding where a process can be optimised starts with understanding what interaction related friction is causing your process to slow down and produce non value-add activity. In functionalised, task-oriented organisations leveraging the synergies of shared service centres of excellences, most operational teams are specialised in a limited group of business activities and rarely have 360 degree visibility into all the touchpoints required for the complete end-to-end service delivery to the client.

Agreeing to perform: Influence courageously to bridge the gap between Human Resources and Business Ops

Optimise performance and collaboration via digital transparency

A common misconception of operational excellence automation is that the software itself installs a culture of 'Kaizen' continuous improvement and resolves operational issues. Nothing could be more distant from the truth.

Operational excellence software assists in supporting a work culture to be better prepared to take action based on the real-time feedback and the lessons learned which are being lived by your staff in the day-to-day work environment. Given that the concept of operational excellence does not stop at business process management, it is important that your software offers efficiency in the management of the tool sets needed to manage your business processes as well as give visibility into your most valuable company resource; your staff.

Discipline made easy

3 simple reasons to convince your COO to invest in continuous improvement automation

Automated operational excellence to foster loyalty and maximise performance

Continuous improvement is not only about processes but it is also about the people that support those processes, the tools they have at their disposal to do their job, and their understanding about their organisational structure and its strategy. Continuous improvement is about discipline and performance. Industry trends in talent management are showing that it is becoming more and more important to cultivate performance using a feedback-driven culture offering real-time insights into the knowledge gaps which are impeding growth. Software is starting to become an essential element in instilling the core corporate disciplines necessary to guarantee steady growth via pro active and ongoing waste elimination.