Tracking and measuring everything

It's clear that if you had to manage 300M$ worth of medical equipment, that goes rented in hospitals all over the USA, you would have to find out a way to track where every single piece of equipment is at every single moment: isn't it? And if you had to service equipment at a rate of more than 200 a week, you'd be very careful in knowing what's going on: wouldn't you? Well, this is what the guys at UHS do in their local office in Minneapolis (and in the other 85 offices across the country): for every piece of equipment that they manage, they know at every time where it is, who has touched it, how much time it took to fix it, what spare parts were necessary, how much it costed to repair it, etc. And every specific indicator is clearly showed in a dasboard and benchmarked against the performance of the other UHS offices (I'd call it "positive competition"). And part of the bonus compensation of the employees is determined according to how good their performance had been: I assure you the guys here keep track of anything, and strieve to do better and better!
I can guess this is not only good management practices, but it's something that roots in the american culture. Have you ever seen a baseball match (the same applies to football, basket, anything) on ESPN or any other tv channel? At every moment they show you batting average, run batted in, home runs, wins, strikeouts, etc. etc.
So, keeping track and measuring things is both a matter of culture and good management: in any case it can be done, and there's no excuse not to do it!

Next stop ... London!

So, my week at RTKL in Dallas is over now. Thanks to all the great people that welcomed me, and put up with me and my tons of questions (some of those not too dumb, at least I hope ...). Thanks to Debbie (and Marty often connecting with us from Saudi), Lorraine, Pippa, Mike and Keith (with me in the picture taken today shortly before my departure)! And to Steve, Gary, Pam, Jennifer, Melody, John, and all the other colleagues of your great team.
Next stop London, then! Looking forward to meeting Lorraine and Pippa there and doing some great work together!

A picture is worth a thousand words ...

An old phrase by Frederick R. Barnard used to say "One look is worth a thousand words"; in fact it was stolen from the original chinese proverb saying that "A picture is worth ten thousand words" (and if you google the phrase you'll find at least other 5 claimed origins ...). So, how many words may a 3D rendering of your new operating room be worth? And a computer graphics live animation? But the guys at RTKL go beyond all of this, so here you are with a complete mockup of the new operating room, filled with equipment and furniture. And a group of nurses and surgeons visiting it (at a 6.30am meeting!), using the equipment, moving the lamps, making suggestions and coming up with the final decisions ready for the architectural construction drawings. And there were two of these mockups to explore, good for the medical staff to compare the different layouts, plus patient rooms. Wow! And now let's go back to the whiteboard ... oops ... to the CAD station ...
PS You may have read of how Apple used to design its new retail stores a few years ago ... Apple had a full store mock-up hidden in a San Jose-area warehouse for a year prior to opening an actual store, so they could test out various layouts and designs. They continue to tinker with the formula-- furniture, lighting, merchandise mix, so-called "collateral" (those brochures and cards, etc.), placement of objects, etc.
Pursuing excellence ... sounds familiar?

It's nice to be nice

During these days of intense "watching and learning" at RTKL I sometimes happen to spend some time on a desk just checking my email or going through the notes I took during the day. Today I occupied Shalenta's desk and I immediately noticed a framed sheet of paper welcoming her at her new company. How nice it must have been getting welcomed by your new colleagues and managers that handwrote phrases as "We are so glad to have you on board and look forward to working with you", or "We are glad you have joined our team. Welcome".
And what to say of the recognition as "employee of the quarter"! It may cinically mean little to somebody, but I think that being given a boost is good for anyone of us (not just for the egomaniacs...).
Final remark for any HR department (and for any employee welcoming a new colleague): it's nice to be nice!

2nd-5th of August 2010 - RTKL, Dallas, TX

Partnering with the guys at RTKL will require a lot of thoughtful action and bravery on both sides, but it’ll be a lot of fun, also!
To express my feelings these days here in Dallas, dealing with Debbie, Marty (on call from Saudi), Keith, Mike, Lorraine, Pippa, … and a lot of other great professionals (the best medical equipment planning team you could dream of doing work with), and trying to figure out how to take the best reciprocal advantage of the partnership between our companies, please let me quote Seth Godin a little bit (it’s easy to look smart when quoting smart people …)

Business Development is a mysterious title for a little discussed function or department in most larger companies. It's also a great way for an entrepreneur or small business to have fun, create value and make money.
Good business development allows businesses to profit by doing something that is tangential to their core mission. Sometimes the profit is so good, it becomes part of their core mission, other times it supports the brand and sometimes it just makes money. And often it's a little guy who can be flexible enough to make things happen.
The thing that makes business development fascinating is that the best deals have never been done before. There's no template, no cookie cutter grind it out approach to making it work. This is why most organizations are so astonishingly bad at it. They don't have the confidence to make decisions or believe they have the ability to make mistakes.
Business development people are exploring the unknown. That means that there's more than cash on the table, there's bravery and initiative and excitement. The best business development people I've ever worked with are able to capture the energy in the room and amplify it. They'll build on the ideas being presented, not make them smaller.

Full story at:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/09/understanding-business-development.html

Dealey Plaza, Dallas - November 22, 1963

How strange is it being today in a place where sometime in the past an event occurred that changed the history of a Country and maybe meant even more? So much has been written about this place and so many things are yet to be revealed. I wasn't even born when President Kennedy was shot in Dallas, but I feel the grieve for the man (remember the picture of little John at his father's funeral) and the emotion of History, here today, in the form of a hundred meters of a street and a couple of grassy knolls.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also

This phrase from the Bible echoed in me today as I was wandering alone around Dallas in a hot saturday afternoon, far from home and family with one whole more week before seeing the ones I love again. All in a sudden I heard a distant though familiar sound of bells, and following it I got to the beautiful cathedral "Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe". I entered with other people approaching the church and attended the Holy Mass; it was in spanish, but the structure of the service is exactly the same everywhere, so I could easily follow it. The Holy Gospel of today was about putting attention to what really matters in life, and the priest preached the importance of friends and family, and how important it is to pay them time and attention.
They say that nothing happens by pure chanche, and today I had another confirmation of how this is really true! I miss my loved ones, but I'm not here by chanche, nor it was a pure chanche hearing that bell in the distance ... getting to an unexpected familiar place in a stranger and so different country.
We shall all put attention to what really matters to us, where our treasure is. In case of doubt, ask your heart, he knows the answer!