Everyone should read ‘Out of the Crisis’ - and then re-read very five years! There is simply no greater Western figure in continuous improvement ideas and philosophies. And it’s a fun read, as cranky, curmudgeonly Deming berates Western management for laziness, sloppy thinking and blaming workers, instead of studying and improving their own process. We share many of Deming’s ideas during our programs, such as:

Quality and productivity are directly related - improving quality leads to increased productivity and profitability.

The "14 points" for management, which are a set of principles for effectively managing an organization to improve quality and productivity.

Close to W.E. Deming in the pantheon of great thinkers about quality and productivity, Joseph Juran was an American engineer and management consultant known for his work in the field of quality control and improvement. The ideas we share from Juran include:

The idea of "fitness for use" which is the concept that the quality of a product or service should be evaluated based on its ability to meet the needs of the customer, rather than just conformance to a set of specifications.

The "Pareto principle" also known as the 80/20 rule, which states that a small number of causes (typically around 20%) are responsible for the majority of effects (around 80%).

The Toyota Way, by Jeffrey Liker was published in 2004 and is perhaps the foundation of what has become one of the most widespread improvement frameworks of the last 20 years - ‘Lean’. ‘Lean’ is the synthesis from an MIT study of the management principles and practices of Toyota detailed in ‘The Machine That Changed The World’. Widely adopted by consultants worldwide and applied well, and equally mis-applied badly, across organisations worldwide.

We introduce ‘Lean’ principles and tools (as interpreted by Western ‘Lean’ practitioners) in many of our workshops, but equally importantly, share the sources of ‘Toyota Production System’ and the underlying foundations.

We discovered Klas Mellander and ‘the Power of Learning’ while gaining accreditation to deliver the wonderful Celemi interactive learning workshops ‘Apples & Oranges’ - which teaches business finance - and ‘Livon Lite’, which teaches marketing and brand positioning.

‘The Power of Learning’ is simply brilliant for anybody who wants to help people learn. We discover the difference between teaching and learning. We discover how to engage, motivate and awaken everyone’s natural curiosity.

The AT&T Handbook is the bible for Statistical Quality Control. Our Statistical Quality Control Workshop - ‘X-bar R Charts’ - is based on this handbook - the culmination of a life’s work of Walter Shewhart.

Walter A. Shewhart was the inspiration for W.E. Deming. We teach Shewharts’ methodologies in our ‘Statistical Process Control Chart’ workshop, where you will learn how to construct ‘X-bar R Control Charts.’

Kaizen is a long-term approach to improvement that involves small, incremental changes made by all employees in an organization, rather than large-scale changes made by a select few.

Kaizen involves all employees in the process, as they are closest to the work and often have the best ideas for improvement.

From Imai we learn the concept of "gemba," which refers to the "actual place" where work is done, and the importance of going to the gemba to observe work processes and identify areas for improvement.

"The New Shop Floor Management" is amazing - the ideas are simple yet profound, and the graphics - WOW - simple stick figures, but they say so much!

We cover many Suzaki teachings such as the importance of involving all employees in the management of the shop floor, as they are closest to the work and often have the best ideas for improvement.

Shop floor management is not just about improving efficiency, but also about improving the overall quality of work life and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

The creators of ‘Six-Sigma’ shamelessly stole and repackaged the Statistical Tools outlined in Kaoru Ishikawa’s book "Guide to Quality Control" with little attribution! This is the classic guide to statistical tools for improvement.

We cover the use of statistical tools and methods, such as statistical process control (SPC) and design of experiments (DOE), to monitor and improve processes.

While a ‘Guide to Quality Control’ is a straightforward, factual and simple ‘how to’ of the major quality tools stolen by the Six-Sigma crowd, Kaoru Ishikawa’s major opus, “What is Quality Control - the Japanese Way” is a fascinating glimpse into the mind of the creator of the ‘Ishikawa Diagram’ .

In some parts amazingly insightful, in other parts - well, possibly xenophobic, or perhaps just a little racial or cultural superiority - a great read.

"The Machine That Changed the World" by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Roos in 1990 introduced to the world ‘Lean’, which became a whole movement and its’ own culture. We love ‘Lean’ as an idea, but it also needs cultural understanding as we apply the ideas in Australia.

The concept of "lean production" is an approach to manufacturing that emphasizes the elimination of waste, the reduction of inventory, and the improvement of flow in the production process.

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu Goldratt, is written in the form of a business novel and considered a classic. The main ideas we share from ‘The Goal’ are:

The Theory of Constraints (TOC) - the idea that every system has a constraint, or bottleneck, that limits its overall performance, and the goal of any organization is to identify and manage these constraints to improve overall performance.

‘Breaking through to Flow’ is, in our view, the most important text since ‘The Machine that Changed the World.’

Performance Frameworks have embraced ‘Breaking through to Flow’, and in particular the Glenday Sieve. We call it ‘Green Stream Thinking’ - a way of looking at the world which can dramatically transform how you go about everything.

We use the Glenday Sieve in our ‘Levelled Schedule’ Implementation Project. Please contact Glen to learn more about ‘Green Stream Thinking’.

"Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness," by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler, has been widely influential in the field of behavioural economics, policy, and management, with practical, actionable advice for how to create effective nudges.

This book introduced the idea of a "nudge," a subtle change in the environment that can lead to better decision-making without restricting freedom of choice. Small changes in the way information is presented or the way choices are framed can have a big impact on people's behavior.

"Freedom from Command and Control: Rethinking Management for Lean Service" John Seddon introduced the principles of Lean Service aimed at reducing waste and improving efficiency in service organizations.

Traditional management practices, which rely on command and control, are ill-suited for service organizations and are a major source of inefficiency, waste, and poor customer service.

The ideas and concepts behind ‘Lean Service’ are demonstrated in our ‘Lean for Service, Office & Admin’ workshop.

Brilliant.

Simply Brilliant.

For anybody who wants to improve a Service Organisation, the first book you should read.

Transformational.

Performance Frameworks would love to help you implement the ideas behind “I Want You To Cheat’.

We cannot even begin to summarise, in all justice, the impact this book can have.

"The Lean Toolbox for Service Systems," by John Bicheno, is a guide to the implementation of lean principles in service organizations. The main ideas we share are:

The application of lean principles to service organizations can improve efficiency, reduce waste, and increase customer satisfaction.

Value stream mapping, process flow analysis, and standard work, can be used to implement lean principles in service organizations.

"Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness" by Robert K. Greenleaf, is a classic in the field of leadership and management, and our favourite text on the nature of Leadership.

Servant leadership is a philosophy in which the leader's primary focus is to serve the needs of their followers, rather than to exercise power over them. Servant Leaders are more effective than traditional leaders because they inspire trust, create a positive work environment, and foster the growth and development of their followers.

"The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations" by John Kotter is a guide to leading change in organizations, based on the real-life stories of people who have successfully led change in their organizations.

In our ‘Change Leadership’ workshop we introduce Kotter’s ideas, including his eight-step process for leading change. We cover the importance of storytelling to communicate the vision for change and to inspire and motivate others to take action.

Gwendolyn Galsworth has written extensively about visual workplace and visual thinking. In our ‘Visual Workplace’ workshop we introduce many of her visual methods to improve communication and productivity in the workplace. We explore using visual cues, such as signs and labels, to guide employees and improve efficiency, as well as using visual management techniques, such as Kanban boards, to track progress and identify areas for improvement.

We ‘show’ the Visual Workplace by taking people on ‘Virtual Site Tours, presenting hundreds of visual devices and visual ideas from many organisations in Australia and organisations around the world.

For a while in the early 2000’s Australian Management became obsessed with blockbuster management books from the USA - Good to Great, Built to Last et al - and sought to inflict their ideas on Australian organisations. It never quite worked. Turns out, the cultural differences are bigger than people realised, and we never quite got excited about Hedgehogs, BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) and Flywheels.

At the same time, ‘The First XI - Winning Organisations in Australia’ was published to not quite the same acclaim. The First XI contains wonderful ideas and lesson that work well in Australia, perfectly suited to our cultures. We introduce many concepts from the First XI in a number of workshops.

"The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society" argues that empathy and cooperation are not unique to humans, but are also found in other animals. These traits have evolved over time as a way for animals to survive and thrive in their environments.

Empathy and cooperation are fundamental building blocks of social organization, and that they are more deeply rooted in human nature than aggression and selfishness.

We present many of the ideas from ‘Age of Empathy’ in our workshops and learning events.

We enjoy the ideas presented by Seth Godin across many, many books - The Purple Cow, and especially Linchpin, in particular.

Seth encourages readers to find their unique talents and passions, and to use them to create value for others.

From ‘Linchpin’ we stole his concepts of ‘Creating a Culture of Dome’, which we present in Visual Project methodology and workshop.

We were introduced to ‘Lean Manufacturing That Works’ by our friend Pernille Larsen, who heads up a wonderful Lean consultancy in Queensland (visit http://www.pl-lean.com/).

This practical guide to implementing ‘Lean’ in manufacturing is down to earth and straightforward, providing a great template. This covers the ‘What’ and ‘How’ to implement Lean.

We have embraced the ‘Presentation Zen’ holistic approach, emphasizing the importance of simplicity, storytelling, design, delivery, and innovation in creating powerful and effective learning events.

We teach learners ‘Presentation Zen’ as they put forward their implementation projects to colleagues and management.

Most people are familiar with a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) for developing strategy. But few people know that this dates from 1959 - and the world has changed.

We prefer the SOAR framework from Appreciative Inquiry -Strengths, Opportunities, Actions and Results.

The Appreciative Inquiry approach improves performance, creates a positive work environment and enhances organisational culture. It is a process of discovering the best in people, their organizations, and relevant world around them to create a future based on the best of what is.

From ‘Gamestorming’ we have adapted a variety of games and techniques to generate new ideas and solve problems.

We have learned to enhance Brainstorming techniques, improved Mindmapping, introduced Role-playing to explore different perspectives and generate new ideas.

From Gamestorming we have discovered new ways to develop creativity and problem-solving skills. You will discover them in our workshops, learning events and implementation programs.

From "Brain Rules for Work" we have incorporated a number of practical strategies for creating a work environment that is conducive to learning, productivity and overall well-being.

We have used the concepts to help learners understand the science behind how the brain works, and how this knowledge can be applied to the workplace, promoting learning, productivity, well-being and creativity.