Category Archives: Decreasing costs

Red tape

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Jonathan Smith

‘Reducing red tape’ has been a hot topic between not-for-profits and government agencies over the last couple of years. The Western Australian Government has been driving a ‘free market‘ approach to encourage NFPs to be more entrepreneurial and innovative in … Continue reading →

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Customer service cultures

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Jonathan Smith

Last year I had a couple of experiences highlighting why social researchers suggest people are becoming disengaged and cynical about government, and also why people often say rude things about public servants. To me they are very powerful examples of … Continue reading →

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The only six businesses in the world?

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Jonathan Smith

In the ongoing search to understand business and help organisations be more effective, I’m currently researching a framework to describe the fundamental nature of all businesses in the smallest logical number of categories. I’m thinking of this as the ‘periodic … Continue reading →

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Risk management: Part 3

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Jonathan Smith

Look back at earlier posts on risk management: [Part 1] [Part 2] Part 3 Risk management vs risk avoidance In some circles, especially in non-commercial sectors, ‘risk management’ is commonly confused with ‘risk avoidance’. And you don’t have to be a genius to … Continue reading →

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Risk management: Part 2

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Jonathan Smith

More on risk management: [Part 1] Part 2 [Part 3] Risk management plan One common approach to risk management is to create a risk management plan. The process of creating such a plan can be fun, as a whole bunch of … Continue reading →

Posted in Decreasing costs, Increasing revenue, Positioning for the future, Quality | 3 Comments

Risk management: Part 1

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Jonathan Smith

Risk management and other buzzwords ‘Risk management’ has joined the growing lexicon of management terms being bandied around to make the speaker sound impressive and knowledgeable, while the original meaning has been steadily eroded. When people start latching on to … Continue reading →

Posted in Decreasing costs, Increasing revenue, Positioning for the future, Quality | 2 Comments

Measurement 101

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Jonathan Smith

I love measuring things. Maybe it’s because I was deprived of good quantitative data during my formative years studying a liberal arts degree. Or maybe it’s because the first thing I ever seriously tried to measure was my own work … Continue reading →

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The Balanced Scorecard

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Jonathan Smith

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC), created by Arthur Schneiderman and popularised by Kaplan & Norton, is a commonly used framework for setting organisational performance measures along four dimensions: How do customers see us? What internal processes must we excel at? How … Continue reading →

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Mental health part four – ideas

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Jonathan Smith

The story so far: part one described an application of Open Space Technology for community consultation on the subject of mental health. Part two proposed a thought experiment: wouldn’t it be great if the mental health profession could cure all … Continue reading →

Posted in Decreasing costs, Positioning for the future, Quality, Two-way communication | 3 Comments

Mental health part three – “help is the sunny side of control”

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Jonathan Smith

Parts one and two described an application of Open Space Technology for community consultation on the subject of mental health, touched on possible vested interests within the structure of the mental health marketplace, and proposed a thought experiment: wouldn’t it … Continue reading →

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