CSI's John Pyecha to speak at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Annual Conference

John Pyecha, Principal for Competitive Solutions, Inc. (CSI), will speak on Monday, June 7th at the BRIDGING THE GAPS: Society of Manufacturing Engineers Annual Conference in Nashville, TN. John's session will begin at 4:00 PM with the topic of "Scorecards: How to Educate, Facilitate and Motivate."

John is a popular and energetic public speaker. He offers several public accountability workshops, leadership workshops, a scorecard workshops each year. Visit the CSI website at www.competitive-solutions.net for more information on upcoming workshops, events and webinars.

John works with several nationally-known, highly successful organizations, such as the US Army, Michelin Tire, Harley-Davidson, Revlon, Genentech, Boar's Head, and several others.

CSI's consultants have been chosen to speak at many conferences around North America in 2010. You can see the calendar of upcoming speaking engagements and download selected slides shows at www.competitive-solutions.net.

New Starter Bundle Prices for PBL ScoreCard

Traditionally scorecards are meant to serve one main goal; they show the current state of the business. Unfortunately, many organizations today are satisfied to only meet that goal. In reality, this is a flawed objective. To illustrate the point, think of a thermometer which tells the current temperature. Now think of a thermostat, which tells current temperature as well as giving one the ability to control the temperature. Many companies have scorecards which only work as a thermometer. They tell employees the temperature but do not give them a way to change it! Business Scorecards should be viewed as a thermostat and used as such.

Competitive Solutions, Inc.^® is offering some excellent Starter Bundle prices to help you make that change from using a thermometer-style scorecard to a more powerful, more meaningful thermostat-style solution. By eliminating any up-front investment customers can get started for less than $1 a day per user! To make it easy, Competitive Solutions, Inc. is now offering three Starter Bundles for customers needing up to 10, 25, or 50 users.

Knowing the "temperature" of your business is good, but simply not good enough. Take control of your own success with PBL ScoreCard^® today!

Get Started Today:
Sign up for a live, online demo
Request a free trial on www.pblscorecard.com
Come to a scorecard workshop

I speak today at the 95th Annual ISM Conference in San Diego

CSI's Shane Yount speaks today at the 95th Annual ISM Conference in San Diego

Shane Yount, Principal for Competitive Solutions, Inc. (CSI), speaks today at the 95th Annual International Supply Management Conference in San Diego. Shane's session begins at 9:00 AM with the topic of "Scorecards: The Key to Accountability."

CSI's Paul Hock selected to speak at the 2010 Oklahoma SHRM Human Resource State Conference and Expo

CSI's Paul Hock selected to speak at upcoming 2010 Oklahoma SHRM State Human Resource Conference and Expo

Paul Hock, Senior Business Process Consultant and Project Manager with Competitive Solutions, Inc. (CSI), has been selected to speak at the 2010 Oklahoma SHRM State Human Resource State Conference and Expo to be held at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel & Convention Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Paul will speak on Friday, May 7th, 2009, 7:00am. The topic of Paul's presentation is "Leadership GPS - Growth, Performance, Sustainability"

Paul Hock is a popular and energetic public speaker. He offers several public accountability workshops, leadership workshops, a scorecard workshops each year. Visit the CSI website at www.competitive-solutions.net for more information on upcoming workshops, events and webinars.

CSI's consultants have been chosen to speak at numerous conferences around North America in 2010. You can see the calendar of upcoming speaking engagements and download selected slides shows at www.competitive-solutions.net.

Measuring Your Training Effectiveness

One of the most crucial components of a training program is often overlooked - a method to audit training implementation. All too frequently, organizations implement a training plan without a clear definition of the results they require from the training, or the appropriate means to achieve the results.

Without a plan, training efforts often yield no results or unintended results leadership was not expecting. By knowing what is expected of the training and the appropriate measures to gauge effectiveness, leadership has the ability to objectively analyze all results and modify their training plan as necessary.

To circumvent this difficulty, leadership must first determine their current state and their desired future state. Leadership must then define the specific skills that are necessary to achieve their desired state. Finally, leadership must determine the outcomes they expect to see as a result of training. While this may seem like a great deal to accomplish before the training actually begins, it is in fact these steps that will go the farthest in ensuring the highest possible return on training investment.

Based on the training 'pre-work' information, leadership has the tools to develop and implement an effective training plan. Some components of an effective training plan include: training outcomes, standard operating procedures, and an audit process to create an environment of continuous improvement and accountability for training implementation. When establishing an audit process, leadership must develop a schedule that determines the frequency of training process audits, a corrective action plan development for skill deficiencies, as well as recognition system for skill proficiency. By employing a process of audit, follow-up, and re-audit, the skill acquisition and implementation become a part of the culture, rather than a typical 'program of the month' initiative.

-article from "Living Your Leadership Legacy" Newsletter
by Competitive Solutions, Inc.

Competitive Solutions, Inc.(CSI) is a leadership training and consulting company that specializes in helping organizations improve communication, develop meaningful business scorecards, create accountability at all levels and set behavioral expectations using a business alignment system called Process Based Leadership.®

CSI Invites You to Tour One of the Most Successful Organizations in Good Times or Bad: Harley-Davidson

The Harley-Davidson Motor Company has long held the image of challenging stereotypes and the status quo.

This is more than an advertising image to Harley-Davidson. It is the foundation of how they run the business. On April 23rd this U.S. based motorcycle manufacturer will open their doors for a private tour of the facility. This is a rare opportunity to see successful business-focused work groups in action. This plant also has the unique distinction of being the only Harley-Davidson facility to produce an entire motorcycle, the groundbreaking VRSCA V-Rod®.

Harley-Davidson’s success is based on a joint partnership between the company and two unions. This partnership extends throughout the facility – all areas and all levels and all 900+ employees. This is a true high performance group-based operation with full participation of all employees focusing on bottom-line business results and improvement. Employee work groups meet regularly to discuss production targets and develop action plans to address issues. The three primary benefits they have achieved as a result of their group structure are:
• Full involvement by all employees in the business and its success
• Business accountability at all levels of the organization
• Decisions are made at the point closest to issues by those involved

In conjunction with this tour, Competitive Solutions, Inc. will conduct a Process Based Leadership® workshop on April 21st-22nd. The workshop will focus on structured processes that concentrate on improving the bottom-line business results using non-negotiable processes to drive communication, trust and accountability. Discover accountability techniques, performance management systems, case studies and break-out sessions in this dynamic workshop. Not only will you be able to benchmark your organization against Harley-Davidson, you will also learn the steps your organization needs to take to operate with focus, urgency and accountability. You will learn about the importance of each of these steps and see how Harley-Davidson has used them to drive business success.

Full Agenda & Registration Form
Call (800) 246-8694 to get signed up today!

The cost for the Harley-Davidson Workshop and Tour is $1,595 per person. This includes breakfasts, lunches, materials, and transportation to and from Harley-Davidson.

CSI's consultants lead several public workshops across North America each year. You can also see the calendar of upcoming speaking engagements or download selected slides shows at www.competitive-solutions.net.

Competitive Solutions, Inc. Works with Red River Army Depot to Get Bradley Tanks Back to Iraq

The Army will repair over 1,000 Bradley Tanks this year at a cost of $1.2 million each. An additional 400 will be upgraded with the latest electronics at an average cost of $3.5 million.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes, who oversees the Army’s re-equipping effort, says the Bradley's protection and firepower make it ideal for soldiers in a tough fight. "The Bradley is a remarkable platform," he says. "It can hold a squad of infantrymen and provide direct-fire support. The 25mm gun is a wonderful cannon. It gives you enormous flexibility. It's amazingly agile, very reliable and responsive. This vehicle will flat kick a--."

Competitive Solutions, Inc. began working with the Red River Army Depot (RRAD) two years ago. The Army Depot is responsible for repairing the Bradley Tanks to get them back to the war fighters in Iraq. The last new Bradley rolled off the assembly line in 1995, and the Army plans to use the armored vehicles for decades. This makes the work done by the Depot all the more important.

RRAD realized that they needed to implement a process to get the tanks delivered in less time with more reliability. They turned to Competitive Solutions, Inc. CSI assisted RRAD in improving communications, developing meaningful business scorecards, creating accountability at all levels and setting behavioral expectations using a business alignment system called Process Based Leadership®. In addition to working with the Red River Army Depot; CSI works with Corpus Christi Army Depot, Rock Island Arsenal, Tobyhanna Army Depot, Sierra Army Depot, Blue Grass Army Depot and Letterkenny Army Depot. Regardless of the industry, organizations search for a competitive means to maximize workforce potential, reduce cost and overhead, and increase quality.

Because no new Bradleys are being built, the Pentagon must rely on an extensive network to keep the Army’s 4,700 Bradleys rolling. "There is no dealership to take these vehicles to,” states Col. Paul Lepine, Program Manager for the Army’s heavy brigade combat teams. "When we service them, we need to take them through this extensive process that costs a lot because of the extensive touch labor and cost of materials. It took a year or more to repair Bradleys at the start of the war. But most vehicles can now be returned to service in five months. The quicker we can get these Bradleys back to the war fighters in Iraq the better. They’re lifesavers!"

(Segments of this article were taken from USA Today, June 26, 2008)

Competitive Solutions, Inc.(CSI) is a leadership training and consulting company that specializes in helping organizations improve communication, develop meaningful business scorecards, create accountability at all levels and set behavioral expectations using a business alignment system called Process Based Leadership.®