Armin Cruz on Nested Metrics A Framework to Business Strategy

Armin Cruz on Nested Metrics

A Framework to Business Strategy

Armin Cruz is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt that specializes in LEAN methodologies in the financial transactional industry.  Armin Cruz received his MBB while serving as a Vice President at Bank of America’s Process Excellence division.  Armin currently serves as Director and Head of Continuous Improvement for a public firm in the financial real estate and property management industry. Armin Cruz earned his MBA from the University of Phoenix, and his BA from the University of Texas at Dallas.  Armin Cruz lives in north Texas with his wife, three dogs and is anxiously awaiting his first baby boy in December.

Often times the process-centric executive faces two problems simultaneously.  First, one may face a daunting and complex volume of business problems.  Additionally, you, as the line of business executive may have a lack of clarity in your reporting and data.  To find a brief presentation on solving business problems please search SlideShare for a presentation titled “4 Steps to Solving Business Problems.”

Once you know how to solve the problem, the operational excellence coach must consider the current reporting strategy.  Many organizations experience two dimensions of fallacies with data interpretation.  First, when organizations are heavily siloed and dependent upon their own reporting the unit may experience a bias.  The second dimension is in the nested hierarchy, or better a lack thereof.  The metrics and reporting system should (but often does not) have a nesting relationship in that one metric should flow to a group of metrics.  Then the group rolls up to an indicator, the indicators to a Key Performance Indicator (KPI).  This way, when you are at the top of the data model you know if you pull a lever what actions to expect at the ground level.

This leads us to the data quality issue.  Those familiar with statistical measures of control and analysis may be familiar with the “signal to noise ratio” and the value it brings to a line of business leader.  In order to facilitate strong business decisions the data presented needs to possess a strong signal to noise ratio.  This topic/concept is more complex than the scope of this article, however, at a minimum reach out to a statistician or Six Sigma Master Black Belt to perform a detailed analysis.  This process driven expert will be able to advise on a course of action to ensure this is a non-issue.  In general, one way to calculate this is to take the difference between the sample mean and the mean of the hypothesized value divided by the standard deviation over the square root of the sample size.  The higher the numerator in relation to the denominator the stronger the ratio, and the less noise you have in your data.

For more information about this topic, please read my Slide Share title “4 Steps to Solving Business Problems.”  You may also reach out to me on my personal website and request more detailed information.

Point of Contact:

Name: Armin Cruz

Phone: (972) 333 – 9502

Email: armin.j.cruz@hotmail.com

Website: www.armincruz.us

SlideShare: www.slideshare.net/ArminCruz

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ArminJCruz

Armin Cruz on the Role of an Operational Excellence Coach and Leader

Armin Cruz on the Role of an

Operational Excellence Coach and Leader

Armin Cruz is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt that specializes in LEAN methodologies in the financial transactional industry.  Armin Cruz received his MBB while serving as a Vice President at Bank of America’s Process Excellence division.  Armin currently serves as Director and Head of Continuous Improvement for a public firm in the financial real estate and property management industry. Armin Cruz earned his MBA from the University of Phoenix, and his BA from the University of Texas at Dallas.  Armin Cruz lives in north Texas with his wife, three dogs and is anxiously awaiting his first baby boy in December.

The role of an operational coach can be a complex one, and is often shrouded in ambiguity.  The operational excellence coach must be sure to drive a few key critical components with complete candor to the senior executive leadership team.  The first is the ability to solve business problems.  Second, the coach needs to provide a clear definition of metrics to success and create action plans to close any gaps.  Third, and finally, the coach needs to be able to have a seat on executive steering committees.

Solving business problems must be in the wheelhouse of the operational excellence coach.  If you cannot describe your process to solving problems, you don’t know what you are doing is a phrase made famous by W. Edwards Deming.  If you are struggling on how to solve business problems, consider reading my white paper and reviewing my SlideShare titled “4 Steps to Solving Business Problems.”  In short, the operational excellence coach must

1) Define the environment

2) Define the objective

3) Create at least two avenues of approach

4) Conduct an after action review.

As you review the 4 steps, consider building a detailed plan around each step.  The details and the documentation is what will aid to keep you on track.

Once you know how to solve the problem, the operational excellence coach must consider the current reporting strategy.  Many organizations experience two dimensions of fallacies with data interpretation.  First, when organizations are heavily siloed and dependent upon their own reporting the unit may experience a bias.  The second dimension is in the nested hierarchical, or better a lack thereof.  The metrics and reporting system should (but often does not) have a nesting relationship in that one metric should flow to a group of metrics.  Then the group rolls up to an indicator, the indicators to a Key Performance Indicator (KPI).  This way, when you are at the top of the data model you know if you pull a lever what actions to expect at the ground level.

Third, the coach must locate and be an active member in executive steering committees. One cannot understate the value of understanding change as it occurs.  However, just as importantly as being aware is the ability to enact change as it happens.  The operational excellence coach must know when to act as an amplifier and change agent, and when to take corrective action to halt potentially disruptive change.

For more information about this topic, please review and follow me on twitter with @arminjcruz, or search About.Me for Armin Cruz.  Additionally, I am on SlideShare; please search Slide Share for a presentation titled “4 Steps to Solving Business Problems” by Armin Cruz. You may also reach out to me on my personal website and request more detailed information.

Point of Contact:

Name: Armin Cruz

Phone: (972) 333 – 9502

Email: armin.j.cruz@hotmail.com

Website: http://www.armincruz.com

Foursquare:  https://foursquare.com/arminjcruz

Vine:   https://vine.co/Armin.Cruz

Armin Cruz discusses the merits between a Circle of Excellence and a Community of Practice

Armin Cruz discusses the merits between a

Circle of Excellence and a Community of Practice

Armin Cruz is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt that specializes in LEAN methodologies in the financial transactional industry.  Armin Cruz received his MBB while serving as a Vice President at Bank of America’s Process Excellence division.  Armin currently serves as Director and Head of Continuous Improvement for a public firm in the financial real estate and property management industry. Armin Cruz earned his MBA from the University of Phoenix, and his BA from the University of Texas at Dallas.  Armin Cruz lives in north Texas with his wife, three dogs and is anxiously awaiting his first baby boy in December.

Both a Circle of Excellence (CoE) and a Community of Practice (CoP) have their merits and shortcomings.  We would like to contrast the two briefly to provide a high level summary.  As we have discussed a CoE is a fairly formal hierarchical structure that many firms in America take full advantage of.  A CoE is typically comprised of many different skilled-based job families within a given function.  For example, if you are in a customer service CoE the organization will likely consists of:

 1) Customer service agents

 2) Customer service managers

 3) Customer service executives

 4) Customer service business support managers

 5) Customer service HR business partner

Typically the unit will possess a relatively flat structure, with the aim to break down the silos within a business or organization.  The desired business outcome of a CoE is to reduce cycle time, increase quality, and take advantage of shared services within the team and reduces cost. 

A CoP on the other hand is an informal collection of skill-based teammates.  For instance, within the customer-service CoE there may be a select few that are very process centric. Within the CoE a leader within the organization may form a CoP.  The CoP aims to drive a reduction in waste, duplication, and replication while also aiming to generate synergy within other CoEs and CoPs.  The CoP created here should meet with other CoPs to further refine the process within other groups and further deconstruct the silo effect within a business environment.  The increased focus and visibility will assist the leadership to dismantle non-value add activities.  After all, if there is waste within one group it may be a discussion around priority on the budget.  However, if two or more have the same issue, one can stand reasonably sure that the customer / consumer / client is experiencing this inefficiency as well.  This is the first step to inclusion in an operating budget and annual strategy plan.

For more information about this topic, please review and follow me on twitter with @arminjcruz, or search About.Me for Armin Cruz.  Additionally, I am on SlideShare; please search Slide Share for a presentation titled “4 Steps to Solving Business Problems” by Armin Cruz. You may also reach out to me on my personal website and request more detailed information.

Point of Contact:

Name: Armin Cruz

Phone: (972) 333 – 9502

Email: armin.j.cruz@hotmail.com

Website: http://www.armincruz.com

Vine:   https://vine.co/Armin.Cruz

Foursquare:  https://foursquare.com/arminjcruz

Armin Cruz introduces the Community of Practice (CoP)

Armin Cruz introduces the

Community of Practice (CoP)

Armin Cruz is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt that specializes in LEAN methodologies in the financial transactional industry.  Armin Cruz received his MBB while serving as a Vice President at Bank of America’s Process Excellence division.  Armin currently serves as Director and Head of Continuous Improvement for a public firm in the financial real estate and property management industry. Armin Cruz earned his MBA from the University of Phoenix, and his BA from the University of Texas at Dallas.  Armin Cruz lives in north Texas with his wife, three dogs and is anxiously awaiting his first baby boy in December.

Many of you have heard of and probably have operated within a Circle of Excellence (CoE).   However, we would like to take a moment to discuss the thread that weaves different CoEs together within an organization.  As a brief recap, a CoE is a formal organizational with a hierarchal structure by function.  Typically this can be a tactic used to shorten cycle times, and flatten a highly vertical or siloed organization.  A Community of Practice (CoP) on the other hand is a very loose and informal organization.  There is no hierarchical structure, to the contrary, it is beneficial to have a ‘coalition of the willing’ rather than a mandate that anyone take part. 

This brings us to the first point on the formation of the CoP.  There are two common approaches you can take.  First, approach your human resources business partner to conduct a search using their talent software.  Many such as PeopleSoft, and Taleo have the search component based on skill, competency, or other critical factors.  We highly advise you to conduct a focus group session for the CoP you are sourcing.  For instance, if you are seeking a process-centric CoP you may want to do a search on the following skill based certifications:  Agile, Six Sigma, Business Process Management, and Operational Excellence.  Also, consider searching by job code and/or title such as process design consultant, process re-engineer, operational excellence, or business support and optimization.

The second way is to conduct an interview with each CoE executive and ask for their recommendation.  This inevitably possesses an advantage and a disadvantage.  The advantage is the increased likelihood of participation.  However, there is also a decrease in the ability to avoid bias.  The person selected could have the executives agenda in mind, and may not be as transparent as others.  One would be prudent to try the HR route first, and this route as a backup. 

Regardless of the path you select, the most important factor is to set up regular routines.  As this is the thread between CoEs you must meet regularly to ensure transparency, eliminate duplication, and share thoughts and ideas.  This thought leadership may serve as an innovation center within the organization and spark pride of ownership.

For more information about this topic, please review and follow me on twitter with @arminjcruz, or search About.Me for Armin Cruz.  Additionally, I am on SlideShare; please search Slide Share for a presentation titled “4 Steps to Solving Business Problems” by Armin Cruz. You may also reach out to me on my personal website and request more detailed information.

Point of Contact:

Name: Armin Cruz

Phone: (972) 333 – 9502

Email: armin.j.cruz@hotmail.com

Website: http://www.armincruz.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/Armin Cruz

Instagram: https://instagram.com/arminjcruz/