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July 2010
How to Test Your Decision Making Instincts - Highly Recommended Paper
This paper by Andrew Campbell and Jo Whitehead published in Mckinsey Quarterly is a must read for all Health Executives. It examines and guides the use of gut feeling while giving valuable advice on how to balance analysis the art with the science in decision-making. A good consultant will help an Executive team find the right balance and use techniques that leverage both.
July 2010
"Factory Efficiency Comes to the Hospital" - LEAN Process Improvement:
Read the New York Times article
TWO years ago, the supply system at Seattle Children’s Hospital was so unreliable that Susanne Matthews, a nurse in the intensive care unit, would stockpile stuff — catheters in the closet, surgical dressings in patients’ dresser drawers and clamps in the nurse’s office. And she wasn’t the only one.
INSITE Consultancy is currently working with Fraser Health to apply LEAN process improvements and getting great results.
Health Minister Kevin Falcon calls for Innovation: INSEAD publishes, "In search of an effective innovation policy"
An effective innovation policy is one that should at least involve some of the following:
First, it needs to focus more on what is urgent and less on what is desired. In other words, a greater focus on removing barriers rather than setting targets and milestones. The Silicon Valley success story was not inspired by a government-designed socio-economic plan, but by a strong culture of entrepreneurship fuelled by immigration, foreign students and venture capital. In fact some might argue that Silicon Valley businesses succeeded despite and not because of government.
Second, it needs to be based more on what is available and less on what is missing. Too often, innovation policy recommendations overlook or underestimate the existing potential and exaggerate the value of what is lacking. For example, if family and friends happen to be an important source of finance for new ventures in an area where seed capital is scarce, then introducing (tax) incentives to entice more friends and families to invest in such ventures might be a more effective policy instrument than to propose setting up a government fund. This would be an example of a policy based on what exists, rather than what is missing.
Third, innovation policy needs to recognise that the role of government can be critical without necessarily being radical and thus give priority to improving, rather than overhaul existing systems. Making adjustments to existing education systems, financing channels and public delivery institutions can be easier to achieve than creating new replica of whatever works in other countries. The Nordic countries may serve as excellent models in this regard, where socio-economic systems were improved to become more competitive and more sustainable, without doing away with the main pillars of their socio-economic systems.
For a more effective innovation policy it is important to understand the factors behind success and failure within existing socio-economic framework conditions, and then to explore and identify the most malleable interventions that can be done on the system to increase its rate of success and reduce the rate of failure. Finally, it needs be pragmatic and not ideological, and so needs not be universal and valid for all players and places at all times.
Dr Sami Mahroum is the Director of INSEAD’s Innovation & Policy Initiative based in Abu Dhabi.
July 2010 Negotiating to Win - Value Negotiation
Read the article and watch the video interview
At INSITE we recently handled the negotiations on behalf of on of our clients. The outcome had to be the basis for a successful long term relationship. This INSEAD article is promoting a new book called, "Value Negotiation" which encapsulates the essence of those negotiations. We think this will resonate with many of our clients....... From the most mundane transaction to strategic high-level boardroom dealings, knowing how to negotiate is integral to success and survival. Yet few have mastered the art of successful negotiation or ‘value negotiation’ as INSEAD Affiliate Professor of Decision Sciences, Horacio Falcao, calls it.