2024 Autumn: #RaisingStandards

(Virtual)

Root Cause Analysis

Root cause analysis is a core skill for analysts and forecasters but is something that few of us do well.  If we want to predict or shape the future it is vital that we understand the past. In this webinar we will explore:

- Why do we need root cause analysis
- How do we ensure we are asking the right questions
- Common Mistakes
- Use of technology to support root cause analysis

Data Visualisation

Explore effective ways of presenting data in a meaningful, interesting and engaging way. Improve the way you inform and persuade your key stakeholders.  
 - Understand why your existing reports don’t excite or engage your stakeholders
 - Learn the basics of data visualisation and how to communicate information
 - Apply “2 key questions” and start the use the tools and resource you need 

The Pyramid Principle for Effective Communication

Like us our stakeholders have limited time, we rarely read every emails and report we receive end to end, and neither do they. We may have just a few seconds to land our message and get our audience to take action or read on. The pyramid principle is a simple technique to help you structure your communications and reports to quickly answer the “So what?” and land your core message.

Emotional Engagement & The Power of Stories

Often facts and data will not get our message across. We need to understand our audience and use emotional engagement techniques to bring our insight to life. In this module we explore some simple emotional engagement techniques to make your communications, presentations and reports more meaningful. We also explore the power of stories in understanding our stakeholders and overcoming their fears and doubts.

The Strategy Pyramid & The Four Lens model

This module covers the strategy pyramid and three-lens model in an organisation, focusing on streamlined strategic implementation:
 - Strategy Alignment: Aligns all actions with organisational objectives, considering key stakeholders like customers, colleagues, and regulators.
 - Operational Strategies: Outlines specific strategies for various operational aspects, supported by precise performance measures.
 - Process and Quality Improvement: Emphasises refining processes through targeted diagnostic measures and quality checks to align closely with strategic goals.

The Improvement Cycle

This module covers key aspects of The Forum’s Improvement cycle within an organisation:
 - Focussing on what matters most: Differentiates between measurement and improvement, focusing on activities that add value.
 - Operational Rythmn: Establishes measurement and monitoring systems to identify and analyse opportunities for improvement.
 - Diving Actions & Improvement: Encourages individual empowerment and actionable changes to foster ongoing growth and learning.

Customer Outcomes

This module discusses enhancing customer outcomes through quality and improvement processes under regulatory frameworks:
 - Customer-Centric Outcomes: Emphasises achieving the right customer outcomes to enhance satisfaction and loyalty while reducing costs and boosting revenue.
 - Cultural and Measurement Shift: Moves from tick-box evaluations to outcome-based assessments, necessitating significant changes in performance culture.
 - Quality and Process Improvement: Advocates for a holistic approach to quality, assessing the entire customer journey to drive improvements across the organisation.

What does good quality look like?

This module examines quality frameworks and the essential components to include within diverse organisational contexts:
 - Customer Understanding and Interaction: Stresses the importance of genuinely listening and understanding customer needs, emphasising human interaction over scripted responses.
 - Outcome-Oriented Service: Advocates delivering appropriate outcomes by balancing customer expectations with business needs, avoiding overly rigid process adherence.
 - Efficient and Effective Communication: Focuses on efficient use of time, clear communication, and setting precise expectations to prevent unnecessary follow-ups and enhance customer satisfaction.

Types of Framework

This module delves into three types of quality frameworks suitable for diverse organisational needs:
 - Performance Frameworks: Measures and targets performance with scoring mechanisms, aiding in performance management and meeting organisational goals.
 - Coaching Frameworks: Supports individual improvement without direct measurement, focusing on future actions and collaborative development across the organisation.
 - Customer Journey Frameworks: Generates insights for continuous improvement by analysing the entire customer experience, identifying both pain points and best practices.
 

Aligning Quality Measures

This module explores aligning quality assurance measures with organisational goals to enhance quality and demonstrate the value of the quality function:
 - Quality Focus: Emphasises improving actual quality rather than just scores, integrating customer experience, company alignment, colleague support, and compliance.
 - Customer-Centric Measures: Uses feedback like CSAT and NPS, along with operational metrics such as First Contact Resolution (FCR) to reflect real customer satisfaction.
 - Business Perspectives: Considers financial impacts, evaluating handle times, sales effectiveness, and churn to align quality actions with business objectives.

Safeguards vs Checks

This module covers the importance of implementing safeguards and checks to enhance quality processes:
 - Risk Identification: Focuses on finding and correcting mistakes, but highlights the limitations of manual monitoring and the negative impact on team morale.
 - Safeguards Over Checks: Advocates for implementing safeguards to prevent errors, reducing the need for constant checks and improving efficiency.
 - Proactive Measures: Encourages exploring safeguarding options before adding more checks to the quality framework, ensuring a more sustainable approach to risk management.

Objectivity and subjectivity & The challenge of accuracy

This module explores the balance between objectivity, subjectivity, and accuracy in quality assessments:
 - Consistency Challenges: Highlights the difficulties of achieving perfect accuracy in quality checks, noting limitations in both human and automated evaluations.
 - Objective vs. Subjective Criteria: Explores how subjective assessments can sometimes offer more reliable insights due to their flexibility in interpreting context, compared to the rigid nature of objective metrics.
 - Quality Check Optimisation: Advocates for regular calibration of quality systems to improve accuracy, while warning against overemphasising precision at the expense of broader quality improvements.

Calibration

This module explores Quality Calibrations, focusing on methods to ensure consistency and clarity in quality assessments:
 - Purpose of Calibration: Emphasises the importance of calibration for maintaining consistent standards and ensuring fairness in quality assessments.
 - Key Steps to Calibration: Details essential steps such as identifying variances, focusing on critical issues, understanding discrepancies, defining standards, and implementing actions.
 - Calibration Strategies: Advocates for customising the calibration process and involving relevant personnel like quality assessors and frontline advisers to align with organisational goals.