In 2005, when its last shred of authority over railroads was transferred to another agency, the Texas Railroad Commission’s name became a misnomer.

…

At its creation in 1891, the Texas Railroad Commission was tasked with regulating railroads and protecting farmers who had quickly found themselves depending on the new mode of transportation to move their product to market.

Oil and gas didn’t enter the agency’s purview until 1917, when the Legislature tasked it with regulating pipelines. Over the next 20 years, the commission oversaw much of the state’s oil boom.

Most state-level railroad regulation now comes from the Texas Department of Transportation.
From receptionist to commissioner, agency employees regularly have to explain to people that they have nothing to do with trains or train schedules.

“They need to have a name that’s clear to understand,” said Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas. “It’s horrible in terms of the public having any clue of where to go with concerns and complaints.”

So what’s the big deal? Why not just change the name?

There’s certainly a price associated with this change. The Commission reports that updating signs, forms and publications would cost $100,000 alone. Furthermore, updating the title of the agency would break nearly a hundred years of Texas tradition.

Of course, the state is already paying a tremendous cost by using the outdated name. Those employees waste time every day when they have to explain that the Texas Railroad Commission is not actually in charge of the railroads. Politicians waste time every few years debating—and then discarding—various proposals to rechristen the organization.

The fundamental problem with this issue, however, is that the stakeholders are not sufficiently empowered to act. Citizens, public officials and companies that deal with the everyday business of the Commission have neither the authority nor even the voice to make such an obvious change.

At Slaughter Development, we believe that productive, effective workplaces are run by stakeholders. When the people involved in a process have ownership in the process, the organization thrives. Are you dealing with the challenges of today but still using names or techniques that are no longer accurate? Contact us to learn more.

For regular readers of The Methodology Blog, this is old news. We’ve talked before about ambition and motivation, we’ve reviewed the problems with incentive pay and even gave an entire presentation around intrinsic motivation. Slaughter Development believes strongly that we should motivate workers by empowering them to work.

If you’re a manager, stop worrying about what you pay your employees and start focusing on how to value them. If you’re an employee, stop worrying about what you are “allowed” to do and instead focus on defining your responsibility and authority.

Intrigued? Learn more about our values. Contact us today!

In a recent Indianapolis Business Journal article, Robby Slaughter addresses the idea of achieving work productivity without ringing interruptions. According to Slaughter, the best technique for attaining telephone productivity is simple:

Don’t always answer a ringing phone. Instead, check the caller ID. Balance the benefit of a conversation against losing your current train of thought. Let your voice mail system take a message and pick up the receiver if necessary. Failure to answer an incoming call is also succeeding in concentrating on the task at hand.

On the same token however, telephone productivity is a two-way street; consideration of others is just as crucial. Slaughter encourages courtesy across the board: 

Likewise, be judicious about making outgoing calls. If your objective is to relay crucial information, consider sending an e-mail. Spoken words might make it to the brain more quickly, but written words will be perfectly preserved and can be more easily duplicated and forwarded.

It’s not always possible to avoid the telephone at work. Not even Slaughter Development can deny that there are times when phone conversations are crucial. However, if every situation at work seems to deem a phone conversation necessary, you may want to consider reevaluating processes and communication scenarios at work.

If you or your company could benefit from telephone productivity, contact Slaughter Development today. We’ll help alleviate the ring in your ears!

Both of them are big steps toward the goal of using technology to more effectively support how knowledge workers actually work, and work together.

The first of these innovations is clever bridging between the realms of structured and unstructured data. A review of Chatter in Infoworld states that “Chatter offers a Twitter-style ‘following’ mode, but with a twist: Instead of just following people, you can also follow data sets like price lists and client lists. When a data set you are following gets updated, you are immediately notified of the change. If, for example, you’re about to make a presentation to a client and your company’s pricing data has been changed, you’ll be in the loop instead of unintentionally giving the client outdated information.”

This feature certainly sounds intriguing. Wouldn’t it be great if you could “friend” important information and receive “Status Updates” just like you do from long lost pals on Facebook?

However, it should also be obvious to even the casual user of social media technologies that such a workflow could become overwhelming. If you have even a few dozen active friends on Facebook, you can’t begin to keep up with all of their activity. That’s acceptable for social connections, where we are expected to occasionally drop out of the loop. At the office, however, too much information is already a problem. Will lightweight, social workflows make the situation worse?

There are no easy answers. It certainly is convenient to be able to “follow” a book at your local library and receive an automated email when your it’s your turn to borrow a copy. On the other hand, we’ve all deleted marketing messages from companies that we do care about because of timing or lack of interest. A lightweight, unintentional, structureless workflow is like being surrounded by feathers. The soft texture may be comforting, but there’s nothing to really grab onto. In the end, you can still get buried.

At Slaughter Development, we’re constantly reviewing the latest approaches to workflow to help our clients. New technologies can increase productivity and satisfaction, but only if they match the culture and personality of the organization and its stakeholders. Learn more by reaching out to us today!

When we hear the word “zoning”, most of us think of civic planning. City officials define specific regions of land and specify their fate. By carefully placing commercial, residential and industrial zones, planners can encourage growth and commerce.

There is tremendous power in using “zones” in other parts of work. Think about the zones that appear on a paper form, usually as blank lines or boxes. They tell you where to write and what answers are needed.

Here on the methodology blog, we’ve complained before about forms that are too small. Zoning, however, gives us an even smarter technique for describing spaces. Compare this:

Email Address: ________________________________________________________

To an alternate method:

Email Address:  [ _____________________ ] @ [ ________________ ] . [ ____________ ]

This simple change will help ensure that people can use the form more easily. It also forces the designer of the artifact to truly see how much space is available.

The same concept can be used in physical spaces as well as with paper. You already create “zones” as file folders in your cabinets. You can make these zones more effective by setting up divisions and using clear labels.

Zoning is a straightforward technique with a powerful result. Try it out! Learn more about this approach as part of our Productivity Coaching service.

Granted, there are those adventuresome types who thrive on death-defying acts like cliff diving and sword swallowing as a profession, but generally speaking, being scared in the workplace is never a good thing.

So how can you tell if fear is a problem in your office? In a recent Bloomberg Businessweek article, columnist Liz Ryan lists 10 telling signs that fear is not only present in a company, but wreaking havoc on its stakeholders. Below is a summary of the list:

There is fear in your workplace if . . .

• Concern for reputation outweighs quality of work.
• There is a preoccupation with employee status.
• Distrust halts the sharing of ideas.
• Value of employees are based solely on numbers.
• Rules rather than ingenuity dictate work.
• Title and salary outweigh the ability to freely share ideas.
• The need for understanding is power rather than knowledge driven.
• Wrong people are promoted for the wrong reasons.
• There is an inability for creativity, passion and collaboration.
• Leadership morphs into dictatorship.

Take a moment to reflect and question: Are you or your employees being micromanaged? Belittled? Controlled out of distrust?

As The Methodology Blog has covered on a multitude of occasions, stakeholder satisfaction is vital when achieving success in the office. In Slaughter Development’s view, the greatest way to improve productivity and generate overall success is to empower employees rather than inhibit them. As the list above shows, encouraging subordination and allowing fear to dictate work does little more than create a volatile work environment that breeds intimidation, resentment and mediocrity.

Don’t allow stakeholder passion and creativity to fall by the wayside. Contact Slaughter Development today. We guarantee your stakeholders will find a renewed sense of value through encouragement and trust. And though we may not dissipate fear with popcorn and funnel cakes like theaters and amusement parks, we guarantee our solutions are just as successful and satisfying.

In June, writer Meryl K. Evans studied the question “How can I make a difference with my performance reviews?” By compiling various recommendations, Evans narrowed down the advice to four steps:

• Get the company on the same page.
• Develop your own review process.
• Check in more often.
• Change the focus of the review.

Though every company utilizes the information differently, Robby Slaughter insists that performance reviews are unwise.  After all, no matter how hard you try, your past work can never be changed.  So why focus on the past when you should be focusing on the future? As an alternative, he suggests the following:

Instead of performance reviews, employees and managers ought to mutually define forward-looking performance objectives that include fixed targets tied to future compensation — and honor them.

This viewpoint should be no surprise to longtime readers of The Methodology Blog. Nearly two years ago, we covered Dr. Samuel Culbert’s attack on performance reviews. You cannot change the past, only the future. Isn’t the best way to increase performance to start by defining what we want?

Transform your organization. To learn more about improving business through productive, efficient systems, contact Slaughter Development today!

Writing a blog post in ten minutes is so much fun, I did it again for Roundpeg back in March. But for this year’s Blog Indiana conference, I’ve got to top my previous performance. A blog post in under ten minutes is impressive, but one has to ask if we can do it even faster. So how about a post in a mere five minutes? Do you think it’s possible?

Let’s be clear: this is an insane proposition. Not only am I suggesting that I can write a blog post in about the amount of time it takes to listen to a Lady Gaga song, but I’m betting I can increase my efficiency by 50%. At that rate, I’ll be writing a blog post in two-and-half minutes in 2011, in 1:15 in 2012 and in only 37.5 seconds by 2013. So yes, this is a crazy idea.

Will I succeed? There’s only one way to find out. Come join me for the final Saturday breakout session: Producing Content Without Agony. I’ll do my best to create a entire blog post in the time it takes to brush your teeth. Plus you’ll learn some great strategies for creating content in record time and without frustration.

With retirement only two years away, my father-in-law is certainly ready for the soothing life that comes after a long, successful career. Here’s what he had to say:

I have so many projects around my house that I’ve wanted to do for years. Its just so hard to believe that I’m finally going to have the time to do them. I honestly can’t wait.

So, when his company approached him four  months ago and asked him to gather information on his social security history, he was anything but disappointed:

I was happy to embark on the researching process since after all, it meant that I’d be organized and worry-free come retirement.

Instead, all he found was headache after headache.

Turns out, his  social security benefits package changed in 2010; creating an unexpected problem.  Since he has not yet retired, the social security office claims they can not and will not provide him the financial history he needs to decipher whether it has affected what he’s already accrued:

The representative said that, until I retire, history and paperwork cannot be processed. I told them that my company needed the paperwork so they could prepare my retirement package, but that didn’t seem to matter.

Despite the difficulty he was encountering with the social security office, he had faith that his company would be able to proceed without the information. Again, he was wrong.

My company told me that without the history, they would have to make a decision on my social security without proper reference and I would therefore have to accept whatever was quoted—whether or not it was accurate.

Needless to say, after months of wasted time, effort and sanity, my father-in-law is still in social security limbo. He is currently filing a petition with his company to have their policies changed so that other aspiring retirees don’t find themselves in the same difficult position he is currently in.

I won’t let this go. I’ve worked too hard for too long to make retirement a painstaking task.

As The Methodology Blog has covered before, this type of work frustration results when we don’t make time to recognize and address broken processes. Stakeholders, particularly those who have dedicated many loyal years to their company, deserve to feel valued and in control of their career. Yet, as we learn from this story, allowing broken processes to remain undetected and unchanged only results in frustration.

Don’t deny your employees what they deserve. If inefficiencies in your office are limiting stakeholder satisfaction, it’s time to re-evaluate and improve the areas that are creating the problem. Take the initiative to support them by contacting Slaughter Development today. We’ll help you regain efficient, logical systems in your office by redirecting processes that improve stakeholders’ present and future.

Miller, a recent transplant to Indianapolis, felt that the only way to get a perfect home was to build it to order:

My wife and I had a laundry list of things we wanted in a house and really didn’t want to compromise. So, we figured instead of spending hours searching for something that didn’t totally fit our needs, we’d build a home that could satisfy everything.

So, with contractors in place and blueprints made, the extensive project began. Yet, little by little, Miller discovered it wasn’t so easy.

There were millions of tiny decisions we had to make—hardware, light fixtures, flooring, paint. You name it, we picked it. We were so detailed that we even decided where we wanted all the electrical outlets to go in every room. The only problem was that with every change we made to the original floor plan, the more it cost us.

Turns out, before breaking ground the Millers were already $10,000 above their initial quote. They soon found themselves at a crossroads: relinquish their deposit or continue building despite their original budget.

To help make up their minds, they requested a tour of a completed home that was similar in cost and style. If the finished product was nice, they would stick to their plan.

We didn’t make a single decision in the show home and yet we loved it more than the one we were building. In fact, when the contractor told us it was a bigger, more expensive version of the one we selected, it didn’t matter. We decided right away that we wanted it.

Despite being financially over-extended, Miller and his wife decided to move forward building the more expensive home—utilizing the exact floor plan and interior concept. In the end, their decision-making came down to one thing: accepting someone else’s design.

When it comes to defining a project, knowing what you want can be a great advantage. Clarity assists in making smart choices and helps battle indecision. However, at times even the most decisive person needs assistance on some level. Whether its making small choices that influence the larger outcomes or by providing suggestions that broaden the point of view, having a collective team you can trust is invaluable.

When aspiring to create a project in a team environment, take into account all points of view. Success begins and ends with logical, thoughtful and collective decisions. As The Methodology Blog has covered before, Slaughter Development believes perspective is extraordinary when it comes to innovation and efficiency. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you design, build or even reconstruct a project to make it the best it can be.