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Being a Six Sigma professional, one could compare me to a carpenter with a hammer - yes, everything looks like a nail! Besides the lack of organizational efficiency and effectiveness and external forces which depend on unsustainable resources, such as oil, where else have we been short-sighted?

The task is overwhelming for a systems thinker like me, so I decided to ask a few of my trusted colleagues, "Why do companies have unnecessary layoffs?"

Here is what I heard:

1. Lack of effective hiring and retention
2. A lack of understanding how to see their businesses as living people, process and tool organisms
3. A lack of collaborative thinking and reflection
4. A lack of long-term incentives
5. Personality conflicts
6. Conflicting priorities
7. Not having the right people at the right place at the right time
8. Lack of cross training
9. Lack of passion being a responsible citizen of our country
10. Low value placed on sustainability
11. Politics - often times managers are not asked about the decision to lay off...only who to lay off
12. A lack of self awareness

For my birthday, a friend of mine and I visited Chef Emeril Lagasse's restaurant in South Beach. As we are both process professionals, we were amazed at how succinct and quality focused each of the interactions were not only with us as customers - also with one another.

After dinner, we asked our waitress Danae, "How are you able to pull off such a quality focused dining experience?" She answered, "It's a process." These words were music to our ears. We both have worked for many Fortune 500 companies whose leaders simply do not understand the importance of the word process.

We were so impressed that we asked to speak with the general manager, Sebastian Tribout. Mr. Tribout advised us that Chef Emeril himself created 15 commandments for our dining experience. I asked him how he was able to get his servers to buy into these commandments. He told me that each employee must earn each role that he or she plays.

In essence, each one is crossed trained and can serve in multiple roles. He went on to say that the turn-over rate in his restaurant is lower than those of other restaurants in the area, and I believe it. His servers look happy, and the team work was like watching a symphony.

There is much communication going on between the servers themselves, as well as between the chefs and managers. I have been to this restaurant many times, and I am amazed at the quality of the food, as well as how succinct the dining experience is. What exceeded expectations was getting a thank you card shortly after our visit!

Put simply, if we focus on the value of our work according to the customer that we wish to obtain and retain; cultivate the value each employee brings; and manage our resources accordingly, we can beat unnecessary layoffs.

From all of us quality focused business consultants to you, Chef Emeril, "BAM!"

Nina Segura B.S., M.A., CSSBB
Metaspire Consulting - "Performance improvement from strategy to execution."
Web: http://www.metaspireconsulting.com/
Our Whitepapers: http://www.metaspireconsulting.com/white_papers

"I think a major act of leadership right now, call it a radical act, is to create the places and processes so people can actually learn together, using our experiences." Margaret J. Wheatley

By Nina Segura
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