Petanque News

Sharing a Story...

noreply@blogger.com (Pétanque) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:58:00 +0000

Sometimes a story simply needs to be told.

Soi dogs and cats (“soi” is the Thai word for “street”) are animals that are left to fend for themselves: mostly through abandonment, sometimes from being separated from their owners, sometimes from just having been born on the streets. In Thailand, SCAD , based in Bangkok, does amazing work to collect these animals, care for them, and rehabilitate them from disease and injury. They have a pretty good record of finding forever homes for some of the lucky cats and dogs. Most importantly, SCAD also runs an intensive sterilisation program to contribute to animal welfare and as a small intervention to the Soi animal population’s growth. See http://www.scadbangkok.org/

Pétanque’s CFO, Annelize Booysen, currently an Advisory Board member of SCAD, and formerly the General Manager in Bangkok, is one such forever homegiver.

On the left is no-name doggie, brought to SCAD from a temple sterilisation project in April 2009. A monk had apparently been taking care of her since she had been abandoned as a puppy.

On the right is Lambchop, now living in the South of France, April 2010

The story has been told.

PS: Pétanque contributes to various South African animal sterilisation programmes and actively supports http://www.barkingmad.co.za

Branding

noreply@blogger.com (Pétanque) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:41:00 +0000

Yesterday I asked my sisters (18 and 16) what they wanted to be when they ‘grow up’. Jillian (18) advised she wants to be a Fashion Editor. “Oh great!” I replied. "We will finally have someone cool in the family." Jamy (16) said, oh so nonchalantly, she wants to be a ‘brand’. I must’ve been speechless for a good 10 seconds after that. “Where did you hear about being a ‘brand’?” I asked. She looked at me with a ‘what kind of a question is that?’ expression, as if being a ‘brand’ is an age old profession like being a doctor or policeman. All I could think of then was, when I was 16 I certainly didn’t think of being a ‘brand’.
I asked Jamy what she meant and she simply said that should anybody see her name they would immediately know that whatever they are buying is of the best quality. I looked at her in amazement, because as young as she is she recognises the power of a branding.
Do you recognise that power? When people see or hear your name (personal or company), what is the instant feeling they get? Is it that of trust or disappointment?
The key is to make sure you know what your brand stand for and then do all that is necessary to ensure your brand works for you.

2010 Species of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Pétanque) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:22:00 +0000

For the past three years, Pétanque has featured an endangered species. In 2008 we declared our support to Frogs, donating funds and featuring information on frogs throughout the year. In 2009 our focus was on gorillas. For 2010 we focus on two species: the African Elephant and the Swordfish.

How do we choose these? We consult with http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species who provide a list of endangered species, justifying why these species are endangered and from this list, we make our choice.
Here is information on the African Elephant: http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/elephants/african_elephants and the Swordfish:
http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/swordfish_billfish

The Influence Of The Circle

noreply@blogger.com (Pétanque) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:19:00 +0000

Do we ever stop to reflect on the things that influence our lives, our careers and our businesses? A few weeks ago I received a call from CEO inviting me to do the closing address for the Most Influential Women Road Show. Trying to hit the right note and tie in all that might have been said is always a challenge without sight of everyone’s presentations. But then a word popped into my head, “round”.

The thought that at large functions everyone always sits at round tables, the fact that the MIW event is set around rewarding our most influential women, the connections that these occasions allow us to make.
So, what’s round – a circle. How much of an influence on our lives is the circle? The signs for the female and male contain circles!

We speak of the circle of life (spring, summer, autumn, winter), and the continuum of those four seasons in our own lives. We live in a spherical world, we play ball, and we couldn’t live without the wheel. Windmills and now wind farms play significant roles and the sun and moon are both round.

Then, there are the mysterious circles – crop circles, ice circles, earth circles – circles that intrigue and fascinate.

In life we speak of our circle of influence and in business we aim for effective networking circles. And so it goes on – always circular linkages.

Research into the influence of circles reveals that the oldest and most sacred of these is the “Flower of Life”, held to contain the patterns of creation. The first of these images is “The Seed of Life”, formed from seven circles being placed with six fold symmetry that forms a pattern of circles and lenses, which acts as a basic component of the Flower of Life's design.

The same vortex's motion was continued, creating the next structure known as the Egg of Life and this structure forms the basis for music, as the distances between the spheres is identical to the distances between the tones and the half tones in music.

If we continue creating more and more spheres we will end up with the structure called the Flower of Life. The most common form of the "flower of life" is an hexagonal pattern (where the centre of each circle is on the circumference of six surrounding circles of the same diameter), made up of 19 complete circles and 36 partial circular arcs, enclosed by a large circle.

The flower of life shape contains a secret shape known as the Fruit of Life that consists of 13 spheres that hold many mathematical and geometrical laws. These laws represent the whole universe and so bring together math, geometry and spirituality.

The flower of life can be found in all major religions of the world. It is something that connects us all and it is also one of the strongest sacred geometric shapes!

So what has this to do with a closing speech at a business seminar? Well does this shape resonate?

People connecting with people forming a Flower of Life shape, people connecting with people to create a knowledge pool and people connecting with people for the betterment of all can be a cornerstone to business enjoying smooth sustainability. My life’s work is now focused on assisting people and businesses to grow and the circles within the Flower of Life reminded me how strong the influence of the circle can and should be.

It’s also an opportunity to reflect on how the Flower of Life might impact within our business world. I am continually faced with companies battling with knowledge transfer, where fear drives those that have the knowledge to want to hold on to it and those that need the knowledge not knowing how to access it. This not only creates knowledge barriers but also team dysfunction.

Back to the evolution of the Flower of Life – how did it happen? From the Seed of Life. What can we plant within our own business “circles”? Seeds. What seeds? Mentoring seeds.

Being a mentor, being mentored, or facilitating the bringing together of two people that might not otherwise connect can be life changing. Many companies have recognised the benefit to business to be derived from mentoring and have introduced mentoring programmes. Some have made it part of the performance evaluation methodology.

Sadly, these attempts at creating knowledge sharing circles often fail. Why? Because people do not know what’s expected of them, either as a mentor or as a mentee and so the connections do not offer both parties as much as is expected, needed or anticipated. The matching process can be flawed and the programme is not monitored and therefore evaluation is impossible.

Much fear is attached to the process – mentors concerned about “giving away too much information” that might deprive them of their career and for mentees, who often think that they are being “tested” in some way, so do not relax and embrace the process but who are guarded and unresponsive.

Great opportunity exists but without the correct support structures, initiatives are doomed to fail. Expectation is created but with poor results. Formal mentoring is best served through a structured process that has integrity otherwise it won’t be as effective as it could be.

Nothing is achieved when individuals are instructed to run mentoring programmes or be a mentor without explaining the outcomes envisioned and the procedure necessary to facilitate that.

Essentially mentoring allows two people to connect with each other over a period of time (often structured) that will allow both to grow from the process. It is where advice can be shared, and challenged, so that all involved experience new understanding. It leads to team members realising and performing to their full potential, people that are goal oriented and motivated and individuals, who become confident, think creatively and show initiative.

Teams become cohesive and future leaders can be identified and nurtured so improving team member retention.

And that’s as it should be – a shared experience, where one person may take the lead but two people gain and businesses are enabled. The business knowledge circle becomes complete.

Yvonne Finch is a coach, team and strategic business development specialist who also runs mentoring programmes for companies and organisations nationally. Her structured approach enables companies to measure outcomes and have team members expertly supported whilst the mentoring process is correctly monitored.

Research on the “Flower of Life” - Wikipedia

Media Release: Global Awards for Excellence in BPM & Workflow 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Pétanque) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:16:00 +0000

Pétanque, along with the South African Post Office, proudly accepted the Silver Award for Excellence in BPM and Workflow 2009 for the Middle East and Africa region on 24 November!
The winners of the 2009 Global Awards for Excellence in Business Process Management (BPM) and Workflow was announced at the Awards Ceremony presented in a special webinar on Tuesday November 24, 2009 at 12 noon EST chaired by Derek Miers, lead judge. Co-sponsored by WfMC, BPMFocus and BPM.com and now in their 16th year, these prestigious awards recognize user organizations that have demonstrably excelled in implementing innovative business process solutions to meet strategic business objectives. There are five geographical regions. Each region receives Gold and Silver Awards.
During the ceremony, Derek Miers acknowledged all the Finalists and then described the major highlights of each case study after announcing the Gold and Silver winners. Commenting on the Pétanque- South African Post Office submission, he stated that the case study was in his opinion to be ranked in the top 5 globally due to the impact of the project, based on people engagement, innovative application of IT and benefits realized. The judges recognized how the project applied process in an innovative way to engage many people in the organization to achieve enterprise strategic goals. The judges were unanimous with some votes, yet at odds on others with surprising results. They all agreed, however, that this year the Finalists were the toughest to date to select just two winners per region - faced as they were with exceptionally high quality submissions.
Michélle Booysen, Ph.D, PMP and Managing Director of Cape Town based Pétanque Consultancy (www.petanque-c.com) remarks: “This is a fantastic achievement for Pétanque: the space in which we work locally and internationally is very competitive and we are particularly pleased to be acknowledged for the edge that VizPro®, our in-house developed application of process as a principal business management tool, brings. In proudly partnering with the South African Post Office we have demonstrated the powerful impact of VizPro®.”
Nominated winners receive a silver bowl on a wooden base and Nominator winners receive a silver tray. See picture of the table of trophies here (click on picture to enlarge).
The slides from the webinar have been posted to www.bpmf.org for viewing and linking.
The Winners and Finalists of this year's awards will be published in the BPM Excellence in Practice 2010. The Excellence in Practice annual book series profiles the winning case studies each year of the new winners of the BPM and Workflow Awards with the emphasis this year on Impact, Innovation and Implementation in BPM Excellence in Practice 2009.The Digital Edition has just been released.
For a copy of the case study, contact Justin at justin@petanque-c.com

Tuna and Corporate Governance: the sustainability element.

noreply@blogger.com (Pétanque) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:02:00 +0000

Time Magazine, 9 November 2009, runs and article on how our appetite for Tuna is killing off one of the ocean’s most magnificent creatures. Graphs show how the BlueFin, YellowFin and BigEye species are not replenishing fast enough. These are used mostly for sashimi, with Japan consuming over 80% of global production. At the same time, the West is catching up on sushi consumption, but the alarming statistic is that the West’s demand for canned tuna (Skipjack and Albacore) has caused supplies in some areas - in the last year - to have dropped by 50%.

Upon becoming an esteemed member of the Institute of Directors (South Africa), I received a comprehensive “Director’s Toolkit”. In amongst the range of topics covered in the toolkit, is the Sustainability Handbook, described on the first page as “A comprehensive guide to responsible corporate behaviour and sustainable business practices across the triple-bottom-line”.

A few weeks ago, I attended the launch of the King III Code of Good Governance. “King II” preceded “King III” in 2002, known as the King Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa. King II made an important contribution to the understanding of corporate governance and corporate citizenship in South Africa, and has been studied and applied globally. King III focuses on leadership, sustainability and corporate leadership.

Placing the spotlight on sustainability, it is clear that enterprises (read organizations) must know that they cannot continue to operate without understanding their impact on society, the environment and stakeholders.

King III advocates a shift from sustainability reporting to integrated performance. This means that enterprises must create and implement and monitor processes that link effective leadership, sustainability policies, innovation, fairness and collaboration into strategies and processes for sustainability, which in turn must deliver the enterprise promise (vision).

In the meantime, what do I do whilst enterprises, private and government, strategise, plan and decide on how to be sustainability focused?

1. I can get an online guide that shows what fish I should order or buy.
2. I can speak to my sushi chef and ask: is this tuna from a sustainable source. I will probably decline the tuna if I don’t like what I hear.
3. When the need for a tuna mayo on rye comes my way, before buying the can, I will check the label to see if the tuna was sourced from sustainable pole and line fishing.
4. And I will check in on WWF and see where and how I can help to increase marine reserves.

That is my contribution to corporate governance in the enterprise of my being a citizen of this earth.

2009 Finalists Announced

noreply@blogger.com (Pétanque) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:26:00 +0000

2009 Finalists Announced in Global Awards for Excellence in BPM & Workflow
November 3, 2009—Lighthouse Point, FL. Future Strategies Inc., is pleased to announce the Finalists for the 2009 Global Awards for Excellence in Business Process Management (BPM) and Workflow. Co-sponsored by WfMC, BPMFocus and BPM.com and now in their 16th year, these prestigious awards recognize user organizations that have demonstrably excelled in implementing innovative business process solutions to meet strategic business objectives. There are five geographical regions. Each region receives Gold and Silver Awards.

This year the Awards Ceremony will be presented in a virtual format with the Gold and Silver winners announced in a special webinar on Tuesday November 24, 2009 chaired by Derek Miers, lead judge.

Awards Director Layna Fischer commented on the strength of the entries, especially those implementations with BPM and workflow extending beyond corporate boundaries to support customers, suppliers and trading partners. “We received a record number of high-quality entries in the North America region,” said Ms Fischer. “World-wide, the trend continues to increase of successful integration of multiple systems.”

Regional Finalists were selected by a panel of judges drawn from the sponsors.

Michélle Booysen, Ph.D, PMP and Managing Director of Cape Town based Pétanque Consultancy remarked: “Amidst serious competition in South Africa, we are proud not only to represent Africa as a finalist but also to be associated with the South African Post Office in its continued drive for improving performance and service delivery”.

Europe
· Faculty of Manufacturing Technologies, TUKE, Slovakia nominated by Czestochowa University of Technology, Poland
· Homeloan Management Limited (HML), UK nominated by Lombardi Software, USA
· SNS Bank IT, Netherlands nominated by Red Hat, Netherlands
· Swisscard AECS AG, Switzerland nominated by Action Technologies Inc., USA
Middle-East Africa
· Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, United Arab Emirates nominated by Newgen Software
Technologies Ltd., India
· NAFITH Logistics PSC, Jordan nominated by TraxAware Software LLC, Jordan
· Nokia Siemens Networks, United Arab Emirates nominated by Appian, USA
· South African Post Office, South Africa nominated by Pétanque Consultancy, South Africa
North America
· AmerisourceBergen Corporation, USA nominated by Metastorm, USA
· Citi GTS Group, USA nominated by Pegasystems Inc., USA
· Lincoln Trust Company, USA nominated by Lincoln Trust Company, USA
· Nuclear Regulatory Commission, USA nominated by HandySoft, USA
· Pinellas County, Florida, USA nominated by Global 360, Inc., USA
· San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, USA nominated by Interfacing Technologies Corp., Canada
· San Joaquin County Information Systems Division, USA nominated by Oracle, USA
Pacific Rim
· AEGON Religare Life Insurance Company LTD., India nominated by DST Global Solutions, Hong Kong
· Genpact Ltd., India nominated by Savvion Inc., USA
· Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited, India nominated by Newgen Software Technologies, India
· Reliance Life Insurance, India nominated by Savvion Inc., USA
· South Australia Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Australia nominated by HandySoft, USA
South and Central America
· Cerrejon Coal Mine, Colombia nominated by Bizagi, Colombia
· QUALA SA, Colombia nominated by Pectra Technology, USA

Finalists receive additional recognition by having their case studies published in the annual volume of BPM Excellence in Practice by Future Strategies Inc.

Scary telephone syndrome

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:59:00 +0000

As a project manager, one of the things I enjoy most is the interaction with people - working with project team members, getting to know the people behind the “worker”, enjoying the humor, the peculiarities and even the traits that can make someone challenging to work with. However, something has been puzzling me for years now – why are some people scared of the telephone? Or are they scared of people? Or if not people, what are they scared of?

I first noticed this behavior (I call it “scary phone syndrome”) when I managed a project with the development team being in Germany and the systems analysts locally in Cape Town. We had tight deadlines and each analyst had to work with one or two developers in Germany to explain systems requirements, perform testing, sorting out defects. When tasks started to slip, I regularly received the excuse “I emailed So-and-So yesterday but he has not responded”. My regular response was – “Perhaps So-and-So never received the email, why don’t you phone”?

I must have repeated my “don’t rely on email, phone!” mantra hundreds of times over the years. And still I encounter people on projects and outside the project space who somehow think email is the one and only communication tool and once you’ve sent your mail, you have shifted responsibility onto the recipient. My goodness, what would you have done in the era before email? Send a memo? We used to talk to one another!

The PMBOK and other project management material describe communication channels and the appropriate use of each very well and I don’t want to repeat theory here. But I’d like to challenge project managers, project team members and anybody responsible for delivering work to consider other communication tools before simply resorting to email. Email is great, don’t get me wrong, but when something warrants a conversation or if the communication is urgent, rather phone or at least follow up your email with a call.

And if you suffer from the “scary phone syndrome” then the good news is that we have great tools like instant messaging. My Skype address is mj.fick and on Live Messenger you can use my email address mj.fick[@]petanque-c.com. Feel free to “chat” and let me know if you have other cures for this nasty disease. :)

The potential role of unstructured processes and content in BPM

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:53:00 +0000

The Pétanque/SAPO presentation at the ITWeb BPM Summit 2009 explored “The potential role of unstructured processes and content in BPM”. Given our VizPro® work at SAPO, we addressed this topic under the following sub-headings:

Identifying the unstructured processes in an organisation that would benefit from BPM;
Recognising the benefits of including unstructured content into processes;
Examining how to combine unstructured and structured content to deliver performance improvements.

In summary, our presentation conveyed the message that unstructured processes will become more prevalent in how we do business in the future, which means that:

structured processes must provide for unstructured content more readily, defining the framework within which such unstructured content is deployed: for example, when an armed robbery takes place in a retail shop, there is a framework within which to act, there cannot be a definitive process.
some unstructured processes are unstructured because the people do not see the sense in adopting to structure process and these should become structured in order to be efficient: which means that the focus must be on behavioral change: the process is there, it is the people that need to adopt the change based on the benefits it holds for them, the outcomes and the enterprise.

View the presentation here , and for the pointer following on the three bullet points, refer page 27 onwards in the presentation.

Case Study series #6

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:59:00 +0000

Case study: Process Mapping the process that is needed to effectively manage strategic investments.

Enterprise: State Owned Enterprise

Pétanque role: Delivered VizPro®

Duration: 2 days

Scope: In order to ensure that strategic investments in the organisation are managed effectively throughout, from concept to delivery, it was necessary to determine what the full lifecycle of an investment is, to start off with. From this, the step by step activities that is needed to effectively roll out and track each investment, were defined, debated and agreed on by key role players.

Application: The result of this project is that role players are clear on their respective accountabilities, stakeholders understand the full scope of work that tracks an investment, and management is provided with assurance that all elements are defined and assigned for actioning.

Benefit: Transparency, role clarity, progress tracking, risk management tracking, resource management.

Introducing Ferose Oaten

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:39:00 +0000

We are most privileged and pleased that Ferose Oaten is joining the Petanque team as a Non–Executive Director.

Ferose Oaten is the Managing Director and Sole Member of AVTS Roadworthy Stations. She serves as President of the RMI (Retail Motor Industry Organisation) and Chairperson of the BWA (Businesswomen’s Association) in the Cape.

On a personal level, Ferose Oaten (neé Chilwan), was born and raised in Athlone on the Cape Flats, the only daughter in a family of 7 children. Passenger transport was the family’s main business as she was growing up. She studied Librarianship at UCT, and then went on to work at the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station for 12 years, occupying positions ranging from information management to human resources, transport management and finally in quality process management. She also completed an Executive Management Programme at the University of Stellenbosch Business School in 1992.

She left Koeberg to join AVTS as the Test Station Manager at the end of 1992, and took over the business, in a buy-out in 1997. Since then, she has grown the business from the one branch, to 7 branches in the greater Cape Town area.

She is 49 years old, married to Brian Oaten, who is an exceptionally supportive husband, and has a 27 year old daughter and a 20 year old son.

She serves on the Board of the Businesswomen’s Association as its National Vice-President and is the current Chairperson of the BWA in the Cape Region. She is also the Regional Chairman of the NVTA (National Vehicle Testing Association) affiliated to the RMI, and has been elected as President of the RMI (Retail Motor Industry Organisation) in August 2006, having taken over the position from Brand Pretorius. She has previously served on the Boards of the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency for 5 years, and before that, the South African Roads Board, both appointments by the Minister of Transport.

Ferose is actively involved in the FREE SAFETY TEST campaigns, where all Cape NVTA members offer free safety critical tests to motorists 3 times per year, prior to the easter, winter school holiday and festive periods.

Entrepreneur magazine published an article on Ferose in its August edition. Read the article here.

Your team as the driver of process optimisation

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:58:00 +0000

Process performance is an increasingly hot topic, as the current economic climate requires organisations to reduce costs by becoming more efficient, and also by improving the workforce effectiveness. Much attention is going to measurement of performance, which is obviously critical. Nevertheless: a process can only be as good as its people, and therefore, the teams participation in the development of the processes is fundamental in developing processes that will benefit the organisations performance.

VizPro® is based on the principles of participation, integration and communication. In a VizPro® workshop a facilitator enables a team to discuss and challenge end to end processes, to improve the process, and to create transparency between the different roles and departments. Understanding of the bigger picture, and the opportunity to engage, share concerns, opinions, and ideas, is critical for people to feel acknowledged and to be part of the process. With people as the baseline of the organisation, process optimisation starts with intensive communication with the team.

Getting the basics right

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:22:00 +0000

A week ago I decided that I was tired of staring at the same furniture in the same position in our living room. So, clever as I am, I decided to round up all the resources I could find (Dad and siblings) to move some items around to create the illusion that we bought new furniture. I conveyed the new layout verbally to my ‘reluctant volunteers’ and after many minutes, finally convinced them.

About 15 minutes into ‘the big move’, my siblings and I realised that this new layout was a designer’s nightmare. We (read ‘I’), neglected the very first step of any project: planning.

Instead of designing the room on paper I decided that my head was good enough. Instead of listing all the design dilemmas (project risks) and ways to mitigate them, I decided to deal with them as they came along.

I’m the first to admit that planning isn’t fun, but it is a necessity. And unfortunately, even in business this is the first phase where we attempt to cut corners. If nothing else, just remember this: “Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” (Tom Landry).

By Jeanne Fredericks

Women in Directorship

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:25:00 +0000

Meet Michélle Booysen at the Women in Directorship Breakfast in Sandton, where she will be joining guest speaker Jane Notten, author of the book 'My Success, Your Success' in which Michélle was featured along with 25 successful South African female entrepreneurs. Jane will talk about the DNA of a Woman Entrepreneur.

Click here to find out more about the Institure of Directors, and here to register for the event.

Event details:
Date: Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Time: 07h00 for 07h30 (Presentation commences at 08:00)
Please note that NO breakfast will be served between 08:00 and 09:00
Venue: IoD Training Centre, Grayston Ridge Office Park, Katherine Street, Sandton

BPM Summit 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:10:00 +0000

A few days to go to the BPM Summit 2009, organised by ITWeb.

Exploring the potential role of unstructured processes and content in BPM, that's the topic presented by Pétanque MD Michélle Booysen and Marietjie Lancaster, SAPO's Group Executive: Strategy. They will highlight how to identify the unstructured processes in your organisation that would benefit from BPM, what the benefits of including unstructured content into your processes are, and how to combine unstructured and structured content to deliver performance improvements.

If you haven't registered yet, visit the ITWeb website. After the event you can contact us to obtain the presentation.

Going green makes business sense

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:24:00 +0000

Apply these simple principles in the workplace to dramatically reduce your carbon footprint, and at the same time reduce your operating costs, improve employee productivity and satisfaction, and optimise life-cycle economic performance:

Avoid misprints: don't print or photocopy e-mails, forms, and other documents unless absolutely necessary. Instead, publish documents electronically, post one copy at a central bulletin board, or distribute them as attachments via e-mail
Don't preach to the masses: print only as many copies as you really need. With meeting handouts, ask staff members to share.
Turn over a new leaf: use double-sided printing and copying. Many printers and photocopiers allow you to set double sided or "duplex" printing as a default.
Cheat your sheets: lay out your publication with as little white space as possible: Reduce margin widths and font sizes, and use single-spacing if possible.
Be a perfectionist: utilize the spell check and print preview functions of your word processing program before printing any document.
Trap the scrap: use the back sides of old photocopies, printed sheets, and outdated letterhead for notes and scratch paper. Pages can be used in full sheets, or cut in half or quarters. Stack the pages in labelled trays, or staple them into notepads. Store them near printers and photocopiers, along with a stock of used envelopes that can be used to route internal communications.
Let the sun shine in: use only as much lighting as you actually need, and utilize daylight when possible.
Light only your inner flame: utilize the power save feature on computers and photocopiers throughout the day.
Dishes aren't like excuses - you can use the same ones over and over again: eliminate the use of paper, plastic, and Styrofoam dishware. Provide staff with reusable coffee mugs and other dishware. If you have a dishwasher, don't run it until it is completely full.
Make it as easy as falling off a log: post clear instructions as to what is recyclable on or near recycling and compost bins. Place containers in highly trafficked, easy-to-access locations.
Become an environmental evangelist: encourage staff members to join the recycling and reuse effort. Post fun signs around the office and highlight conservation in your employee handbook. Invite staff members to bring to work items they can't recycle easily from home such as cell phones, batteries, and ink cartridges. Recognize employees who exemplify best environmental practices.
Become a part-time gardener: encourage employees to join you in planting trees at the workplace or in selected communities. GREEN your neighbourhood!

Let us know how you green your office (and reduce operating costs)!

By Justin Siljeur

Customer Care - Surprise and Delight: real time experiences SA Post Office

noreply@blogger.com (Michélle Booysen, PMP) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:36:00 +0000

Given the difference between standard customer care, surprise customer care and delight customer care (refer earlier blog on Customer Care: Surprise and Delight), here is another real time experience.

I was speeding with my car a month ago, not much, but enough to cause a fine, which arrived in the tell tale packaging in my post box earlier this month. The SA Post Office is a pay point for fines – yaaaay! Well it used to be a delight, now it is a standard.

So I go to the Post Office who takes only cash for this sort of inconvenience. I cashdraw from the ATM right next to the Post Office and expecting the exercise to take a good 5 to 10 minutes of waiting, I am surprised to see the queue moving extremely fast, with three customer care ladies doing their jobs very quickly and efficiently.

Within 2 minutes I present my fine and cash and the lady is soooooo friendly. More surprise. I lament my money spend on something as useless as a fine and then she notices my wallet, which is small, but very unique. She delights in the wallet, and asks me where I had bought it and compliments my taste in wallets.

That was my delight: a brief moment of interaction, laughter and silly banter, but I needed the break in the stresses of the day and left the Post Office smiling.

Customer Care - Surprise and Delight: real time experiences Woolworths

noreply@blogger.com (Michélle Booysen, PMP) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:17:00 +0000

Given the difference between standard customer care, surprise customer care and delight customer care (refer earlier blog on Customer Care: Surprise and Delight), here is a real time experience during the week:

I need to buy some garments. I go to Woolworths, and being rushed, quickly make a selection. Why Woolworths: I enjoy the displays and frequent changes that Woolworths makes in its stores - it is bright, clean and interesting. I expect that of Woolworths, it is the standard for me.

The surprise was that the garment was priced in range with competitors, and in addition, the queue to the cashier was less than 30 seconds wait, and the cashier was friendly when I presented my purchase.

And here is the delight: when the cashier took the garment of the hanger, she looked at me, then at the garment, and most diplomatically asked: Ma’am, are you sure this size is correct. “Yes”, I said, “it is my size”. She discreetly put the garment on the counter and again said, “I am not so sure”. I had to agree, it looked way too big even though it was the size I usually take. She called the supervisor, who offered to fetch a smaller size, and when the latter arrived, it certainly looked “more my fit”.

Why was this delight: she cared enough not to make me go home, find the garment too big, and either donating it or returning it, only to receive the value from my buy much later or not at all. Well done Woolworths on excellent staff and great training.

The Job Description of a Knowledge Worker

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:58:00 +0000

We recently decided to go back to the drawing board to fill a position within our company. We followed our Recruitment and Selection process, and reviewed the Job Description for the new candidate. We summarised the job, listing essential duties and responsibilities, job requirements, key performance areas, and personal attributes. My colleague and I critically brainstormed about the position and the role that the new candidate would have to fulfil. The discussion we had sparked my interest, as we were not clear on how to include all the additional activities outside the core Job Description. I explored reasons behind this and came across something really interesting: The Job Description of a Knowledge Worker!

In the old days, work was obvious; it was clear what needed to be done: fields had to be ploughed, machines tooled, boxes unpacked, cows milked. You knew what you had to do – you could see it. It was clear when work was finished, or not finished. What was then known as “work”,was later transformed to assembly line, make-it and move-it kinds of activity-, and then to information processing, determining what next action needs to be taken.

David Allen (well-known for his book “Getting Things Done”) hits the nail on its head posing the question: “Which of you are doing only what you were hired to do?”

If you had a chance to stick to a specific Job Description for long enough, you would figure out soon enough what you needed to do (how much, at what level) to stay sane. However, things are not always that rosy in an age where continuous growth is critical.

In his book, “Getting Things Done”, Allen provides two reasons for the constant shift in the definition of our jobs:

The organisations we’re involved with seem to be in constant morph mode, with ever changing goals, products, partners, customers, markets, technology etc. These all, by necessity, shake up structures roles and responsibilities.
The average professional is more of free agent these days than ever before, changing careers as often as his/her parents once changed jobs. Even 40-somethings and 50-somethings hold standards of continual growth.

Little seems clear for the long term anymore, as far as what our work is concerned. I’ve come to the realisation that in today’s “Knowledge Age”, the professional doesn’t really have a fixed job description!

By Justin Siljeur

Customer Care: Surprise and Delight

noreply@blogger.com (Michélle Booysen, PMP) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:51:00 +0000

Customers and customer care is, and for the past few years has been, a hot topic: with many opinions (in books, magazines, and all manner of electronic communication) on how to retain existing customers and have the edge to bring in new customers, ahead of the competition.

Starbucks, the successful global coffee vendor, prides itself in delivering pleasure and delight. The book The Starbucks Experience highlights the “5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary”.

The book summary describes, amongst others, one of the success elements of Starbucks:

Principle 3: Surprise and Delight
As early back as 1912, The Rueckheim brothers, who are behind the successful candy brand Cracker Jack, already knew that adding a surprise to each package would dramatically increase the appeal of their product.
In that vein, delight is the caramelized popcorn – the basic product customers get – while surprise is the prize they get! Customers want the predictable and the consistent, while hoping for an occasional positive twist or added value thrown in. Customer delight comes from surprise as well as predictability.

For us, in the consulting service, the pleasure should relate to delivering what was promised on time, in budget and in scope better than the competition could hope to, and, if it is a repeat customer to deliver even better than before.
The delight is what needs to come after the pleasure – that extra, unexpected, and usually unplanned value to the client. What this would be depends on the client: perhaps it is about saving time for the client by doing something that would take the client 30 minutes, and for me it would take 15 because I have the fast track to do the activity. Or making them smile or laugh when there is much pressure. Perhaps it is just acknowledging something about them or their business, a feel good element which is offered with sincerity. The delight is what makes your service or business unique and stand out.

Last week I did an informal survey on what people understood under this topic of pleasure and delight. Surprised I was to learn that the survey respondents ALL regarded what is standard practice as the surprise, and regarded what is surprise, as the delight.

Here is an example:

A - The standards for business service delivery:
Be on time and present professionally.

B - The Surprise:
Be on time and deliver a fun, high energy, informative, value packed message that the audience enjoys.

C - The Delight:
Close the presentation 10 minutes earlier and offer refreshments and time for informal discussion: this gives the short-of-time people in the room a breather to enjoy tea/coffee or to leave early and be less rushed for the next appointment, and creates one on one discussion opportunity for those who did not want to publicly speak and wanted more information.

In my survey, A was seen as the surprise, B as the Delight. The surprise provides an edge; the delight is the key to different customer or client care. The survey respondents completely missed the key to unique Customer Care.

This is what the customer wants

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:53:00 +0000

The other day I felt like playing chef at home. Of course none of the ingredients that I needed could be found in our kitchen (recipe books always get that wrong…), so I sought out a store that should have all the stuff I needed.

I needed farfalle, mustard, non-alcohol wine and chocolate mousse. That sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? I picked up the pasta and mustard and headed off to the frozen section for the chocolate mousse. Oi! I could not see Cadbury’s anywhere. There was another cheaper brand though, so for about 5 minutes I was torn between, "Should I or Shouldn’t I". I decided I should. I bought the smallest tub, opened it and tasted some. It tasted terrible, but at least I found that out before I got home!

I couldn’t find the wine I was looking for either. So again I was torn, should I buy what I found here and scout for the rest of the stuff somewhere else, or do I abandon what I have and buy everything elsewhere. It took me a ½ hour already to get what I had, so I went with the first option.

It took me 10km to find the store that had the wine I was looking for, and another ½ hour to find the nearest Woolworths for their chocolate mousse.

It sounds crazy to do so, but I want what I trusted. As any other consumer, I was willing to go with something cheaper, hoping I would find the same result I would with Cadbury or Woolies, but couldn’t compromise on quality like that. So I went the extra mile to find quality.

Spending some time on the road on my quest for a good meal, I started thinking about service delivery in general:

If you are a service provider and are selling something new the client, don’t be angry or even surprised if the client wants to sample a small bit first. Create that sample environment and deliver the best you have to offer.
If the client does not want what you can offer, find another client, but keep this one in the loop, just in case they change their mind or you can deliver in the future.
If you can’t offer what the client wants, consider a strategic alliance with those who can.

All the customer wants is to whip a meal, and they’re desperate for the right ingredients.

By Jeanne Fredericks

BPM Summit to showcase strategies

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:01:00 +0000

Pétanque is taking part in the ITWeb BPM Summit 2009 at Montecasino in Johannesburg, taking place 25-27 August 2009. Our Managing Director Dr. Michélle Booysen and Ms. Marietjie Lancaster (Group Executive: Strategy, SA Post Office) will explore the potential role of unstructured processes and content in BPM, on the first conference day.

Andrew Spanyi, an expert in business process management (BPM), change management and performance measurement, will give keynotes at the inaugural BPM Summit. Spanyi, founder and MD of consulting and training services firm Spanyi International, will discuss how to leverage BPM to deliver real business value.

Also giving a keynote address at the event is Kurt Oellermann, business agility leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

ITWeb's events manager Ros Creamer says this will be a key event for BPM professionals in SA, with the two-day conference featuring 24 speakers and 13 case studies. ”On the third day there will be a choice of two interactive workshops. Aattendance at one of these workshops will consolidate and deepen the knowledge gained at the conference.”

With greater emphasis on practical information and 'hands on' exercises, attendees will have the opportunity to ask more questions, share experiences with fellow workshop attendees and take away key information to use in their own organisation, adds Creamer.

According to ITWeb, the BPM summit will help professionals create a strategy to enable a single partnership of people, processes and technology to drive the successful implementation of BPM in their businesses.

View the full conference programme here. Early bird discount applies till 24th of July: Two day conference R2 950 + VAT (14%) = R3 363.00 (or R4 503.00 for two day conference and post conference workshop). Register for the event here.

Pay it Forward

noreply@blogger.com (Michélle Booysen, PMP) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:38:00 +0000

Kevin Spacey stars in a movie, which if I recall correctly, is called Pay it Forward. The story is about a boy who believes that if you do a favor for someone, or support a cause or simply just help a person or an animal, you create a system of goodwill which will eventually provide returns forward payer.
In the past month, I was reminded of this concept three times: in all three instances the goodwill and honesty of people astounded me. For instance, on Friday I lost my wallet with credit cards, driver’s license, gym access cards, etc, etc. A kind man phoned me just after noon, said he had picked up my wallet in the street (it must have dropped from my car after I paid the parking attendant and opened the door) and asked where can he bring it to in order to return it to me! After being reunited with these vital pieces of plastic, I said to him that he has no idea how much trouble he had spared me! And so it is: in business, in life: do what you can to make life easier for others, it will come back to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:50:00 +0000

If you haven’t worked with Pétanque before, you might have questions about us, or our business process mapping & analysis methodology VizPro®. We tried to address the common questions on our frequently asked questions page. Still have questions? Please ask us to call or email you.

Vervang tyd Vermorsing

noreply@blogger.com (Elisabeth Stavenga) — Mon, 25 May 2009 13:32:00 +0000

This blog post is written in Afrikaans, scroll down for a translation in English.

Nie lank terug nie praat ek en ‘n vriend oor hoe motor bestuur ‘n aktiwiteit van tyd vermorsing is. In die algemeen is dit ‘n tydverdryf waarin jy absoluut niks verig nie. Of so het ek altoos daaraan gedink totdat ek terloops gedurende ons gesprek, genoem het dat ek toneelstukke skryf as ek bestuur. Sy wenkbroue het twee vraagtekens teen sy voorkop gemaak, natuurlik gedink ek bedoel skryf met ‘n potlood en papier sonder om ag te slaan op pad reëls, maar ek het hom gou gerus gestel dat ek dit net in my gedagtes skryf.

Lank ná hierdie gesprek ontdek ek, dat ek maar nog altyd op my kreatiefste was terwyl ek êrens oppad was. Byvoorbeeld, ek het nooit my skool opstelle of mondeling voorbereidings vir ure by die huis soos die ander kinders gedoen nie. Ek het net my skool sak op my rug gesit en in my kop, terwyl ek oppad skool toe was, my woorde sorgvuldig georden sodat ek dit later net op papier hoef vas te lê (of as dit mondeling was – ‘n paar notajies te maak). As ek nou mooi dink, kan ek met sekerheid sê dat my voorheen se ‘tydvermorsing’ my al baie ure se werk bespaar het.

Die punt is: ek het as kind (onwetend) besef dat daar altyd maniere is om tyd te bespaar sonder om die kwaliteit van die produk of diens op te offer. ‘n Mens moet net weet waar om te kyk. Vir Engels en Afrikaans het dit soos ‘n bom gewerk, maar ek sou hierdie metode gewis nie vir wiskunde kon gebruik nie.

Gaan kyk ‘n bietjie in jou organisasie waar daar tyd ‘vermorsing’ is wat met tyd ‘besparing’ vervang kan word. As jy wil kan óns dit vir jou doen deur ons proses metodiek, VizPro® te gebruik. Al wat dit van jou verg is net een e-pos of telefoon oproep.

Replace Time Wasters

Not long ago a friend and I spoke about driving and how it is one of the biggest ‘time wasters’. In general it is an activity where you achieve absolutely nothing. Or that is what I always thought of driving until I mentioned, during our conversation, that I write plays while I’m driving. He looked at me with a very concerned look in his eyes, obviously thought I meant writing with a pen and paper and paying little attention to the rules of the road, but I immediately explained that I meant writing in my head.

Quite some time after this conversation I realised that I was most creative while I was on my way somewhere. For example, I never prepared any of my essays or oral pieces for hours on end at home like the other kids. I simply walked to school and carefully rearranged the words in my head, which meant it took me a lot less time to jot them down on pen and paper. If my memory serves me right, I can honestly say that my previously-thought-of ‘time waster’ (driving) saved me many hours of actual work.

The point is: as a child I realised (unknowingly) that there are always ways in which you can save time without sacrificing the quality of a product or service. You must just know where to look! My method of writing worked like a bomb for English and Afrikaans but I certainly couldn’t use the same method on Maths or Physics now could I? Investigate where there are ‘time wasters’ in your organisation which can easily be turned into time savers. If you want we can do it with you by using our unique process methodology, VizPro®. All it takes is one phone call or email from you.

By Jeanne Fredericks