TouchPoint One

TouchPoint One Our ideal clients know that there is a better way to do things and are not afraid to push the boundaries and challenge traditional ways of thinking.

We work with C-Suite executives and managers of water and utilities organisations to improve their lives and the lives of their teams through the development and implementation of practical and easy to use systems and processes. They want to grow and empower their people and remove as much red tape as possible, while still keeping some checks and balances in place. Our ideal client wants to be recognised as a leader and innovator within their industry.

14/11/2021

Is your Summer Readiness and Response Plan up to date OR do you have one?

Here we go again - Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Damaging Winds and Large Hailstones here in Southeast Queensland.

Rolling into Summer 21/22 and it is great to see that most of the country is not a tinderbox ready to ignite, or already being impacted by fires.

We cannot be too complacent about our ever changing weather though. The Bureau of Meteorology have recently released their Severe Weather Outlook which predicts above average rainfall, particularly over the eastern two-thirds of the country.

I'm not here to predict the weather but I am here to ask you; is your Summer Operational Plan up to date OR do you have one? Either way it's time to act now.

Have you assessed the criticality and risk associated with the loss of your assets, do you have standby plant or generators on hand or available, have you checked your critical spare parts, are your access roads and fire breaks in good shape, are your teams across what to do in the event that you are impacted by severe weather?

We couldn't have predicted what has happened in the past few years, let alone would could happen in the next 6 months. You can control your readiness and how you respond to what you can predict.

TouchPoint One is here to make sure all the systems are in place for you to respond in the best possible way. Reach out and book some time for a chat about how to review or create a Summer Operational Plan.

You cannot assume what was ok last summer will be ok this year.

Ask Craig Meinicke for more information on how to be ready this Summer.

Parkinson's law states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion".Without even recognising ...
26/09/2021

Parkinson's law states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion".

Without even recognising it, this law affects all of us to some degree.

Think about how much you get done in a normal day, and then think about how much you get done on the day before you are going on holidays.

Having structure in your day helps to address Parkinson’s law by having a series of deadlines which create focus.

SOP’s and other operational documents do the same, they create structure and provide clear direction which prevents our natural tendencies to drift.

Be nimble!Great organisations are nimble and can make and implement changes on the run to improve how they work and what...
22/09/2021

Be nimble!
Great organisations are nimble and can make and implement changes on the run to improve how they work and what they achieve. They remove all the roadblocks from their people to make changes and improve how they work.

When something doesn't work, they change it, when a SOP is out of date, the people using the SOP can update it and move on, no committees, no review processes, they trust that their people know what they are doing and are making 'best for organisation' decisions.

This approach to change is challenging for some organisations, it requires a shift in the way they approach governance and risk. Operational businesses are about operations, their core function is to produce something as efficiently and effectively as possible.

We need to make sure we are not stifling innovation through over regulation of SOP's and other operational documentation.

In a previous post I described how there is an opportunity to use more photographs in SOP'S to reduce the word count and...
22/09/2021

In a previous post I described how there is an opportunity to use more photographs in SOP'S to reduce the word count and to improve effectiveness.

Moving on from the development of a SOP, the next stage is to make sure people apply the SOP as was intended.

We all learn in different ways, some can read and understand, others need to have something demonstrated to them to learn, while others need kineasthetic experiences to embed learnings.

The characteristics of a kinaesthetic learner are that they need a multi-sensory learning environment for deep learning as they learn through ‘doing’.

There are some real benefits for operational teams to introduce kineasthetic learning to their training programs. The ability to learn through doing and sharing within a team environment creates opportunities to share knowledge and experience in ways that is not possible in more structured learning environments.

Tears from the IT department! Sometimes you hear a quote that stays with you and you still get a laugh thinking about i...
21/09/2021

Tears from the IT department!
Sometimes you hear a quote that stays with you and you still get a laugh thinking about it. I was working for a client a few years ago and we were trying to set up a new user account. Seems like a pretty straight forward thing to do, however the process was arduous to be kind.

At one point my colleague noted that 'this organisation makes 80% of its water from dams and rivers, the other 20% comes from the salty tears of working with the IT department’.

Now I don't want to be unkind to all the hard working IT workers out there, but some IT processes I have seen over the years create a lot of work for not a lot of added benefit.
Sure there are risks to manage, but there are risks in pretty much everything that is done in an operational organisation.

The trick is to make sure the SOP's and procedures you are writing address the risks while at the same time don't introduce additional stuff that is not needed. Think of it like creating minimum viable documents, just include what is required and nothing else, trust me your co-workers will love you for it.

We humans are visual creatures. We rely heavily on visual cues in everything we do in life and as we are being bombarded...
16/09/2021

We humans are visual creatures. We rely heavily on visual cues in everything we do in life and as we are being bombarded with more and more information, the time and concentration we have left means we often skim read a lot of words presented to us.

As technology has evolved we have learned to interact with the world using more and more visual cues, our brains have evolved to absorb, analyse, and react to visual information in increasingly effective ways.

Given this, why do we often create SOP's and other operational documents that contain pages and pages of words? A photograph marked up with some simple arrows and notes will often replace 100 words of text. Add this up over a SOP with 10+ steps and you are saving a ton of reading.

We challenge clients to consider reviewing their current SOP templates to include more images and reduce the word count. Makes things a lot easier for the people developing the SOP as well as for the people using it.

Reach out for more information.

Start with the end in mind!Well constructed SOP's have a logical sequence, they are easy to follow and they make sense. ...
15/09/2021

Start with the end in mind!

Well constructed SOP's have a logical sequence, they are easy to follow and they make sense. A tip to achieving this is to start developing your SOP with the end in mind.

When I say that I mean what is the clear goal that will be achieved at the end of the activity?

Thinking about the end goal and what is involved to achieve the goal you may decide that a SOP is not really required for this task, and that is OK, if the task is simple, easy to achieve, and importantly easy to teach then spending the time to document the activity is probably not required.

When you do need a SOP, having a clear picture of what a successful outcome looks like is important and makes writing the SOP much easier.

You can't manage what you can't measure. And you can't measure what you don't know. And the only way to know how somet...
13/09/2021

You can't manage what you can't measure. And you can't measure what you don't know. And the only way to know how something is done and how long it will take is to observe, record, and document.

We create annual operations and maintenance budgets based on our best guess of the quantum of work and the time it will take to do this work. O&M plans, SOP's and other operational documents are the only way to truly build a first principles O&M budget.

Many organisations will be starting to roll into their 2021/22 budget cycle, if you are part of this process, my tip is to spend some time to review the O&M plans, SOP's and other operational documents that form the basis of your O&M budget.

If you find your documentation lacking, make sure there is a line item in the budget for operational improvements.

Two Futures.....If you have not come across Simon Bowen yet I encourage you to look him up and connect. One of the key ...
09/09/2021

Two Futures.....
If you have not come across Simon Bowen yet I encourage you to look him up and connect. One of the key things Simon does is to to help businesses explain their services to clients.

In this process he uses a model he calls the two futures model. This model clearly demonstrates that everyone has two futures, one where we commit to improving and one where we drift and go backwards.

The genius about this model is that we all start from the same point and over time the gap between where we are when we commit to improvements versus where we would be if we continued to drift gets wider and wider over time.

We all have a tendency to focus on the bright shiny objects and neglect the other important yet less glamorous things. This is especially the case when it comes to documenting processes; we never proritise that work.

The critical thing with our two futures is that the first steps are small but done regularly over time, they create momentum and they create good habits.

Set a goal for your team to develop or review one SOP a week, this wont take long but the improvements over time will be game changing for your team and your organisation.

Where do you see your choices leading your organisation? Reach out if you'd like to know more about your choices.

Are you really OK? A conversation could change a life.R U OK have a great conversation guide, conversation roleplays a...
09/09/2021

Are you really OK? A conversation could change a life.

R U OK have a great conversation guide, conversation roleplays and more to help you ask the question. ❓

So, don't wait until someone's visibly distressed or in crisis. Make a moment meaningful and ask them how they're really going 👍

https://www.ruok.org.au/

Chicken or Egg? Which comes first, process or technology?Many organisations make the mistake of buying new technology a...
08/09/2021

Chicken or Egg? Which comes first, process or technology?

Many organisations make the mistake of buying new technology and then working out how to use it.

Makes more sense to understand how your organisation works and then buying the technology that supports how you work.

Anyone else experienced this problem?

The words 'positive' and 'non-conformance' are not words that you would normally see together. In any organisation the n...
06/09/2021

The words 'positive' and 'non-conformance' are not words that you would normally see together. In any organisation the need to be compliant or to conform with regulation and other requirements is at the core of how we operate.

The phenomenon of positive non-conformance occurs when people choose to do an activity differently to the documented processes because they have identified a way to do the activity more efficiently or safer. They are doing their work safely and efficiently in spite of the documented processes.

Managers and supervisors tend to jump in and address the non-conformance to manage their risks rather than looking at the underlying reason for the non-conformance.

People on the ground who are working every day within policy frameworks and in accordance with operational SOP's are best placed to know when something will work and when it will be a dud.
Capturing end user input into operational processes, procedures and SOP's is essential.

This doesn't mean that operational staff have to write the documents, just that they need to be consulted and when they identify a better way to do something there is an easy conduit for the feedback to result in real change.

Keep your operational staff doing what they do best, but make sure you have a process for developing and testing your SOP's to create a culture of positive conformance.

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Ferny Hills, QLD
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