In my previous article, “Prying Management Away from Old Assumptions,” we talked about the relationship between thinking, system, and performance. W. Edwards Deming told us that to improve performance, the system has to change and that the system represents 95 percent of any organization’s performance. But Deming’s message fell on deaf ears and what didn’t change was the thinking. Thinking must change for the system to change.

So, where do we begin? We begin with understanding our organization as a system by getting knowledge to perform using “check.”

The Vanguard Model for “check” is a six-step process:

1. What is the purpose from a customer’s point of view?
2. What are the type and frequencies of demand?
3. How well does the system respond to demand in achieving purpose?
4. Study the flow.
5. Understand system conditions.
6. Thinking… more important, management thinking

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