Presentations
Our partners deliver presentations at trade shows and sponsor our “Results Forums” where our clients present their stories.
The Mystery is History: Unraveling the 1.5 Sigma Shift
Presentation to the ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement
At the virtual ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement (WCQI), Dodd Starbird explained the conundrum of the famous 1.5 Sigma Shift. This statistical problem has vexed both the students and the teachers of Lean Six Sigma, and the answers are in the history books instead of the math books. The mystery is history!
Unlocking Growth: from 1 Kaizen to 20 Million Eggrolls!
Presentation to the ASQ Lean and Six Sigma Conference
At the ASQ Lean and Six Sigma Conference in Phoenix, David Cline from Van’s Kitchen joined Tiffani Siddons from Implementation Partners to tell the story of their growth project. Their efforts to streamline and improve Van’s production lines have enabled the company to deliver on ever-growing customer demand for the company’s popular products. Lean Six Sigma isn’t about cutting – it helps you grow!
Agile Product Development and Agile Lean Six Sigma
Presentation to the ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement
At the ASQ World Conference in Fort Worth, Dodd Starbird led a discussion about combining the speed and flexibility of Agile with other milestone driven project management techniques, as well as the value of taking an Agile approach to Lean Six Sigma projects. Agile thinking can improve execution of any type of project!
Transforming Culture with Client-Focused Teams
Presentation to the Lean & Six Sigma World Conference
At the AQI Lean & Six Sigma World Conference in San Antonio, Dodd Starbird presented three stories that demonstrate the value of Client-Focused Teams. The approach combines cross-functional resources on small teams that target a single pool of customers, both streamlining the work and improving customer experience.
Client Focused Teams - Transforming People and Process
Presentation to the ASQ Lean and Six Sigma Conference
At the ASQ Lean and Six Sigma conference in Phoenix, Jennifer Wilson from ENGIE Insight joined Dodd Starbird to present the story of Ecova’s Client-Focused Vertical Teams. The approach combines cross-functional resources on small teams that target a single pool of customers, both streamlining the work and improving customer experience.
Agile Product Development and Agile Lean Six Sigma
Presentation to the ASQ Quality 4.0 Summit
At the ASQ Quality 4.0 Summit in Dallas, Dodd Starbird led a workshop to discuss ways to apply Agile project management techniques in non-pure-software applications such as medical device product development, as well as using those same methods to accelerate Lean Six Sigma projects.
The Joy of Lean - AME
Presentation to the AME Annual Conference
At the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) 2017 Annual conference in Boston, Dodd Starbird led a workshop that illustrated the value of driving a culture of excellence and joy through Lean Engaged Team Performance.
The Joy of Lean - AQI
Presentation to the AQI Lean & Six Sigma Conference
At the AQI 2017 Lean and Six Sigma conference in Nashville, Dodd Starbird presented another engaging session on the difference between simply saving money with process improvement and driving a culture of excellence and joy through Lean Engaged Team Performance.
The Joy of Lean - ASQ
Presentation to the ASQ Lean & Six Sigma Conference
At the ASQ 2017 Lean & Six Sigma conference in Phoenix, Dodd Starbird presented an engaging session on the difference between simply saving money with process improvement and driving a culture of excellence and joy through Lean Engaged Team Performance.
The Joy of Lean Podcast at the GLSS Just-in-Time Cafe
Transforming, Leading, and Sustaining a Culture of Engaged Team Performance
Elisabeth Swan from GoLeanSixSigma.com interviewed Dodd Starbird on their regular feature podcast, The Just-In-Time Cafe. A free-flowing conversation instead of a presentation this time, we discussed the reason for the book title, the core story in the book from Ecova, and stories that didn’t make it into the book, among other things! The interview starts at 20:25 in the podcast.
Agile Product Development
How to Drive Innovative Manufacturing Engineering
At the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) 2016 annual conference in Dallas, Dodd Starbird facilitated a workshop about the value of Agile in pursuit of innovative solutions for manufacturing product development. Agile is not just for software any more!
The Joy of DevOps
Evolving Agile Principles in IT to Change Culture and Results
At the Atlanta Software & Systems Process Improvement Network (SPIN) July monthly meeting, Dodd Starbird led a discussion about the value of iterative development, blended organizations, automation tools, and collaboration in driving speed to market and improving software quality.
Client Experience in Professional Services Conference
Implementing Project Management Standards to Improve CX
At the Client Experience in Professional Services (CXPS) conference in Durham, NC, Dodd Starbird presented a 3-hour workshop that highlighted opportunities to apply a hybrid of standard project management and Agile development processes in order to deliver a better client experience. The participants applied the concept of using Agile iterative design techniques to deliver more prototypes and a more interactive experience.
ASQ World Conference
Service Data Quality: When 99.7% Isn’t Good Enough!
At the ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement, Jen Wilson from Ecova joined Dodd Starbird to present a case study in the quality improvement for a data entry team. Their project cut defect rates by more than 50%, providing a dramatic improvement for their external customers and internal users of the data.
LOMA Customer Service Conference
Scrum: Applying Agile Project Management to Life Product Development
Annette Brommel from the Principal Financial Group collaborated with Dodd Starbird to deliver a concurrent session presentation about the results of their 2015 project to apply a Scaled Agile Framework to the company’s Life Insurance product development projects. The approach has resulted in effective delivery of new products to market, with “more work getting done quicker”!
ASQ Lean & Six Sigma Conference
Service Data Quality: When 99.7% Isn’t Good Enough!
At the ASQ Lean and Six Sigma Conference in Phoenix, Jen Wilson from Ecova joined Dodd Starbird to present a case study in the quality improvement for a data entry team. Their project cut defect rates by more than 50%, providing a dramatic improvement for their external customers and internal users of the data.
IIEE Lean Six Sigma Conference
Applying Industrial Engineering to Engage Transactional Teams!
At the IIE Engineering Lean Six Sigma Conference in Atlanta, Dodd Starbird presented a case study in the modern-day application of classic industrial engineering concepts to engage transactional (non-manufacturing) teams. The people are the machine!
ASQ's Service Quality Conference
Transaction Checking: Quality Control or a Safety Net?
Dodd Starbird delivered a reprise of the presentation from the ASQ WCQI in Nashville, challenging current practices in transactional quality checking. The participants heard and discussed stories of teams that streamlined their quality checking processes, focusing their quality checking efforts on prevention rather than rework. The projects resulted in better quality with less effort spent on checking—a win-win!
ASQ's World Conference on Quality and Improvement
Transaction Checking: Quality Control or a Safety Net?
Dodd Starbird delivered a presentation to the ASQ WCQI in Nashville, challenging current practices in transactional quality checking. The participants heard and discussed stories of teams that streamlined their quality checking processes, focusing their quality checking efforts on prevention rather than rework. The projects resulted in better quality with less effort spent on checking—a win-win!
Des Moines Results Forum
Transformation at Principal Annuities
The team from Principal Annuities Operations presented the results from their Engaged Team Performance project that transformed their processes, systems, and culture. They have achieved their “Mission 24” of getting over 95% of their work done within 24 hours of arrival!
LOMA Customer Service Conference, Orlando FL
Reorganization of a Sales Support Team
A sales team at Principal invested a year re-inventing its processes and performance so that it could reduce costs, empower employees and deliver breakthrough service improvements. When the dust cleared, this project delivered:
- A new organizational structure
- Improved information access
- New team measures and individual accountabilities
- Team goals that incent collaboration and team results
American Society for Quality (ASQ) Lean and Six Sigma Conference
Really Lean Six Sigma: Streamlining Quality Checks
Dodd Starbird delivered a presentation to the ASQ Lean and Six Sigma Conference in Phoenix, illustrating ways that combining Lean and Six Sigma concepts can drive great value in Quality Checking functions. The participants heard and discussed stories of teams that streamlined their quality checking processes, combining value and flow analysis with the “hard math” of sampling calculations. The projects resulted in better quality with less effort spent on checking—a win-win!
Des Moines Results Forum | Lean Training Leads to Streamlining an Outsourced Task
Jolene Matney and Cindy Tuttle from Mercer Consumer’s Claims department delivered a presentation to the Des Moines Results Forum, with a success story from process streamlining and insourcing an outsourced task after training leaders in Lean and Engaged Team Performance.
Implementation Partners conducted a 5-day training session in August 2013, and Mercer’s Claims team then executed a project that has saved $410,000 annually, enhanced employee morale, improved customer satisfaction, and reduced transaction lead time for claims payments to policyholders. It’s living proof of a training event that had over 10:1 ROI – a win-win for everyone!
American Society for Quality (ASQ) Customer Service Conference, 'Win-Win: Myth-busting the Service Level v. Cost Dilemma'
Dodd Starbird delivered a presentation to the ASQ Customer Service Conference in San Francisco with a project story from Principal Bank. The story challenges the conventional wisdom that good service has to be more expensive.
Implementation Partners facilitated Principal Bank’s “EZB” (Easy to Do Business) project in 2010, which reduced direct labor cost by over $500,000 per year, improved customer satisfaction, and reduced transaction lead time for critical activities such as Safe Harbor Account Distributions by 80%. Faster is cheaper!
Des Moines Results Forum | Flexible Work in a Call Center
Lacy Larson and Brad Craig from the Principal Financial Group led a discussion called “Collaborative Contact Center” at the recent Des Moines Results Forum. Their team combined operational work within their call center, using a “priority protection” approach to enable the team to do both kinds of work more efficiently. The team cut “average speed of answer” (ASA) in the call center in half while reducing the overall operational cost per call and transaction as well, all with a more postiive and productive environment for employees!
ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement | Leveraging Lean to Realign Customer-Focused Teams
David Cline, VP of Business Process Improvement for Ecova, collaborated with Dodd Starbird to present a session at the 2014 ASQ WCQI Conference in Dallas. Ecova’s Utility Expense Management team transformed their department through improving processes and performance, leading to a restructure that reduced functional silos and created right-sized teams that are aligned to better serve groups of customers. The effort has resulted in volume-adjusted savings of over $1.2 million annually.
LOMA Customer Service Conference | Earning Customer Satisfaction
Lacy Larson, Vice President of Life Insurance Administration from the Principal Financial Group, collaborated with Dodd Starbird to present a session entitled “Earning Customer Satisfaction” at the 2014 LOMA Customer Service conference in Orlando. The workshop featured a project story about a department’s transformation to integrate streamlined processes, engaged team performance, and blended operations/call centers. The team cut “average speed of answer” in the call center in half while reducing the overall operational cost per call and transaction as well, all with a more postiive and productive environment for employees!
AQI Lean & Six Sigma World Conference | Reorganization for Engaged Team Performance
Sarah Brethouwer, Senior Consultant with Implementation Partners LLC, presented a session entitled “Reorganization for Engaged Team Performance” at the 2014 AQI Lean & Six Sigma World Conference in San Antonio. The presentation featured a project case study about a team that did a time study prior to a significant reorganization of their department, leading to an annual savings of $2.6 million in labor costs and higher team ownership and engagement, as well as other positive impacts. The story illustrates the value that the Engaged Team Performance (ETP) approach adds to organizational design, effectively combining data analysis, process streamlining, and team participation in the change effort to gain a great result!
American Society for Quality (ASQ) | Lean Six Sigma Conference Reorganization for Engaged Team Performance
Sarah Brethouwer and Dodd Starbird presented a session entitled “Reorganization for Engaged Team Performance” at the 2014 ASQ Lean Six Sigma conference – the discussion featured a project story about a team that did a time study prior to a significant reorganization of their department, leading to an annual savings of $2.6 million in labor costs and higher team ownership and engagement, as well as other positive impacts. The story illustrates the value that the Engaged Team Performance (ETP) approach adds to organizational design, effectively combining data analysis, staffing modeling, and change management and leading to a great result!
Des Moines Results Forum | Customer-Focused Teams at Ecova
The Results Forum gathered at Dos Rios in downtown Des Moines to hear a presentation about an organizational transformation at Ecova, delivered by David Cline (VP of Business Process Improvement) and Jennifer Garcia (Senior Director, Operations). Jennifer’s team transformed their department through improving processes and performance, leading to a restructure that reduced functional silos and created right-sized teams that are aligned to serve groups of customers.
Des Moines Results Forum | Engaged Claims Teams Working From Home
The Results Forum series met at Americana in downtown Des Moines to hear a panel presentation titled, Organizational Transformation: A Case Study with GuideOne Insurance. The panel presentation, delivered by GuideOne leaders of Claims and Human Resources, is a story about how an insurance claims unit with high cost, overhead, and other challenges transformed their department through restructuring, improving processes and performance, leading to a transition of the department’s employees to work from home. The Engaged Team Performance approach to this organizational redesign delivered transformational results and over $5MM in annual cost savings (more than half from labor) with minimal impact to employee turnover.
PCI Conference | Boston, MA Organizational Transformation: A Case Study with GuideOne Insurance
Dodd Starbird and GuideOne Insurance
The panel presentation, Organizational Transformation: A Case Study with GuideOne Insurance, is a story about how an insurance claims unit with high cost, overhead and other challenges, transformed the department through restructuring, improving processes and performance. The Engaged Team Performance approach to this organizational redesign delivered transformational results and over $5M in annual cost savings.
American Society for Quality (ASQ) | Lean Six Sigma Conference Leveraging Lean Six Sigma to Create Engaged Teams
Dodd Starbird and Sarah Brethouwer
Engaged team performance combines and aligns process and performance with the customer’s needs to deliver transformational results in driving a Lean Six Sigma culture. Session attendees heard a story about a financial institution committing to change and establishing capable processes and driving strong performance – using Engaged Team Performance (ETP) concepts to change both culture and results. Session outcomes included:
• Combine process improvement with team performance concepts
• Discuss experiences with org design as a result of Lean Six Sigma projects
• Immediately apply key concepts with your existing initiativesDes Moines Results Forum | Engaged Teams in Information Technology
The Results Forum series held in Des Moines gathered downtown at Dos Rios to enjoy an evening of Engaged Teams in Information Technology and to hear the story of “Culture, Teamwork, Joy!” presented by Rich Sheridan, CEO of Menlo Innovations in Ann Arbor, MI. Rich captivated the audience with his energy and the story behind the unique culture at Menlo. Through energy, creativity and imagination, Menlo is creating a sustainable culture of software innovation.
Des Moines Results Forum | #6 Engaged Team Performance in Project ACE
The Results Forum series in Des Moines met downtown at Dos Rios to hear a the story of a 2011-12 Engaged Team Performance effort at the Principal Financial Group’s Full Service Accumulation Support Operations team, which they named “Project ACE” (Admin Support Compliance Efficiencies). Laurie Shultz, Bev Peters, and Lynda Cook delivered a great presentation about their efforts, focused on both their centralization of a dispersed work process as well as the performance data/controls that they’ve used to drive a culture of customer-focused excellence in the recent year.
ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement | The Joy of Software Innovation with Engaged Teams
Dodd Starbird partnered with Rich Sheridan, CEO of Menlo Innovations, to present one of the top-rated sessions of the ASQ conference in 2012. Engaged Team Performance (ETP) streamlines processes and at the same time designs those processes for optimal team performance, delivering spectacular results. The session’s key takeaways were illustrated with a story from Menlo Innovations, a software company that is revolutionizing the industry through teamwork and collaboration, using seemingly low-tech methods like handwritten 5×8 cards, constant self-measurement, and shared workspace to drive breakthrough efficiency and effectiveness.
ABA Real Estate Conference, Boston, MA | Evolution of a Strategic Decision: the Mortgage Servicing Journey at Principal Bank
In 2010, Principal Bank took a hard look at its priorities and work compared to its vision and mission, and the leadership team concluded that servicing its own mortgage portfolio had become a strategic distraction.
Initially, the leadership deployed Lean Six Sigma process streamlining and Engaged Team Performance (ETP) concepts to deliver improved collections process effectiveness. After taking a significant write-down of non-performing loans, the company reviewed its charge-off processes, realigned its collections processes to focus internal team members on restructuring activities, and hired an external vendor to get a temporary help for its delinquent collections. Collections performance improved.
But as the company went through the process of improving, the leaders began to realize how far Servicing was from their core competency, and they decided to look for a sub-servicer that could both manage loan transactions more efficiently and collect on delinquent loans more effectively. Transitioning the $600 million portfolio of assets to a sub-servicer was just the right thing to do. Four months later, their portfolio left the building, and the change has driven a positive financial impact of over $5 million per year.
LOMA Customer Service Conference, Las Vegas, NV | Engaged Team Performance in a Call Center
Technology solutions have revolutionized business processes for contact centers, using data to drive significant improvement in performance. But most call centers have great opportunities to combine appropriate technology with process and performance improvement. Engaged Team Performance (ETP) integrates those concepts into a single method that can significantly improve productivity with only modest technology investments. Participants in this session heard a story a project that improved operational efficiencies by sharing work and capacity between a contact center and its supporting operational production team.
American Society for Quality (ASQ) | Lean Six Sigma Conference Building and Revitalizing a Sustainable Lean Capability in an Already Successful Organization
James Zurn and Roland Cavanagh
- Learn a proven approach to building a sustainable lean capability woven into the corporate fabric and culture
- Discover key items and deliverables leading to successful adoption and expansion
- Understand the choices available and the course QLogic has planned for building on a successful Lean deployment
Des Moines Results Forum #5 | Engaged Team Performance at Delta Dental of Iowa
The Results Forum series in Des Moines had a record crowd present at Dos Rios to hear a the story of the 2011 Engaged Team Performance effort at Delta Dental of Iowa, which they named “SPARC” (Streamlining Processes and Reducing Cost). Cheryl Harding (VP & COO) delivered a presentation and then directed questions to a panel that included Greg Shireman (VP, Sales) and Ranae Calvert (Director, Risk and Underwriting) as well as other Delta Dental leaders and team members in the audience.
The SPARC project streamlined processes, deployed new workflow technology, established visual performance controls, and changed the organizational structure, driving a culture of customer-focused collaboration that changed pretty much everything.
American Bankers Association (ABA) Annual Conference | Engaged Team Performance in Banking
Sarah Brethouwer and Dodd Starbird delivered a presentation to the ABA Annual Conference with a project story from Principal Bank.
Implementation Partners facilitated Principal Bank’s “EZB” (Easy to Do Business) project in 2010, which reduced direct labor cost by over $500,000 per year, improved customer satisfaction, and reduced transaction lead time for critical activities such as Safe Harbor Account Distributions by 80%.
LOMA Customer Service Conference | Engaged Team Performance in Life Insurance Administration
Lacy Larson and Dodd Starbird delivered a presentation to the LOMA Customer Service Conference with a project story from Lacy’s team at The Principal Financial Group®.
Implementation Partners assisted Lacy’s Life Insurance Administration’s project teams to deploy process changes and performance controls in late 2006, with another project in 2010 to enhance team collaboration, and since then the department has reduced staffing by 28%, reduced cost per transaction by 37%, improved customer satisfaction, reduced transaction lead time below the LOMA median, and sustained high employee morale. Processing higher volumes today with a high-performing team, their efforts have realized an annualized savings of $2.5 million per year.
Des Moines Results Forum #4 and Book Signing | Engaged Team Performance (ETP) at Principal Bank
Art Bacci, President & CEO of Principal Bank, and Sarah Brethouwer, EZB project leader, presented the results from their “EZB” (Easy to do Business) project, applying Engaged Team Performance (ETP) concepts to streamline processes, enhance collaboration, and drive new levels of performance.
Des Moines Results Forum #3 | Strategy & Account Reviews for Sales
Karsten Gebert presented a new concept for applying traditional process, customer, and data analysis methods to revolutionize performance in the most critical function for any company: driving sales.
Cover Your Bases | Usually considered separately, process focused management and organizational development can be combined during process improvement
A Quality Progress Article by Matt Rowe
LOMA Committee Presentation | Transactional Lean and Engaged Team Performance
Dodd Starbird delivered a presentation to the LOMA Group Insurance committee, with a case study in Transactional Lean process streamlining. The Principal Financial Group® sponsored the 1.5-hour discussion, and the case study centered on one of their most successful projects, in their Group Proposal Services (GPS) department.
Implementation Partners led the GPS project team to deploy process changes and performance controls in late 2006, and since then the department has reduced staffing from 65 to 38 people (through attrition, not layoff!), improved customer satisfaction, and sustained high employee morale. Processing similar volumes today with a high-performing team, their efforts have realized an annualized savings of $1.2 million.
Des Moines Results Forum #2 | Team Performance Controls
Julie Stanley from Group Proposal Services at Principal Financial Group® presented a success story from her team, which has achieved great results in the last three years using Team Performance Controls.
VOS | Voice of the Stakeholder Webinar
Roland Cavanagh and Dodd Starbird joined Cameron Karr from MarketTools to host a webinar about the future of Voice of the Customer in a technology-enabled world.
Des Moines Results Forum #1 | Process Streamlining
Cheryl Paine, Director of Marketer Services for the Principal Financial Group®, and Jim Cushing, Executive Director of Performance Improvement for Iowa Health HomeCare, delivered presentations on their results from process streamlining efforts.
Click here for the Principal Financial Group® Marketer Services PDF.
Distressed CDOs | A White Paper
Implementation Partners delivers a concise description of the process and data issues that led to the financial crisis, with a proposed solution that has since been implemented by government and industry leaders.
Slideshow or Gallery Walk?
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relative merits of alternative methods of presenting information to small to mid-size groups, in an effort to enable presenters and facilitators to make a more informed choice.