Tag Archives: Fort Worth
Karl Presents at 2017 ASQ Roundup Conference
On Friday, April 21, I will present at the Cowtown American Society for Quality Roundup Conference in Fort Worth.
My presentation is entitled “Partnering for Quality: It’s Better Together.”
This is the seventh time that I will have facilitated a session for this group, and the first on this topic.
You can still register for the conference by contacting John Breckline by e-Mail at .
The conference theme is “Learn Today – Apply Monday.” I am pictured below speaking last year, where I had breakout groups.
Here is the information about the exact location: 
Location: Radisson Hotel Time: 8:00-5:00
Fort Worth North – Fossil Creek
1 mile south of I-35W and I-820 North intersection
Submitted by: Karl J. Krayer – President – Creative Communication Network
Krayer Accepts ASQ Conference Invitation to Speak
For the third consecutive year, and fifth in the last seven years, Karl J. Krayer, President of Creative Communication Network, has accepted the invitation to speak at the Cowtown Conference of the American Society for Quality, to be held in Fort Worth on April 21, 2017.
The site for the conference is the Radisson Hotel Fort Worth, on Fossil Creek on Meacham. For registration information, contact Chris Hayden at .
At the bottom of this post are two pictures from Krayer’s presentations last year at the conference.
The two presentations will both be in the Leadership track for programs at the conference. The first one is a repeat of a presentation Krayer has given twice before at the conference. He was asked to deliver an encore presentation due to the extraordinary high marks given by participants on their program evaluations last year. Here is a description:
Organizing Change for Productivity and Results
Quality initiatives in most organizations typically involve changes in methods, processes, priorities, and other factors. People don’t resist change. They resist initiatives in which they are uninvolved and uninformed, which produce chaos and uncertainty, and which are imposed upon them. This type of change results in lost productivity for an organization. In this dynamic, interactive, and fast-paced session, learn how to maintain productivity during change with a three-component system that is systematic, systemic, and inclusive. Explore: (1) seven phases that provide change agents direction, (2) methods to gather and diffuse information to keep everyone involved and informed, (3) roles and responsibilities for each group in the organization that is impacted by the change throughout each phase of the process, and (4) mistakes that cause change initiatives to fail. Learn how this system allows organizations to “get it right the first time.” Become proactive by embracing change as positive, rather than focusing on how to survive, cope, avoid, manage, or adjust. This session is based upon the book that Karl co-authored with Bill Lee, Organizing Change: An Inclusive, Systemic Approach to Maintain Productivity and Achieve Results from Jossey Bass/Pfeiffer/Wiley (2003).
The second is new to the conference this year. Here is a description of the program:
Partnering for Quality: It’s Better Together!
Attention to teamwork and quality began in earnest in American business in the mid-80’s. Yet, today, many individuals and organizations do not practice teaming on the job. In this highly interactive and fast-faced presentation, you will learn the documented advantages of working in teams, four major processes to build partnering (goals, roles, processes and procedures, relationships), and links to effectiveness and efficiency on tasks and projects. Throughout the session, you will hear real-life examples of the presenter’s experience with teamwork and improved quality in the construction and utilities industries, among others.
Keys to Successful Change Initiatives
Many people have asked me what are the keys to successful organizational change? The kind of change that will actually stick? This happened most recently late in the spring, when I facilitated a workshop on this topic at the American Society of Quality (ASQ) annual Cowtown Roundup in Fort Worth.
The best-selling business book I co-authored with Bill Lee, Organizing Change (Jossey 
Bass/Pfeiffer, 2003) had three guiding principles:
inclusive – involve as many people as possible, and as deep in the organization as possible, in that it is difficult to not support a change initiative you helped create
systematic – follow a logical set of steps to phase in the stages of the change initiative.
systemic – consider the impact of the change initiative on other units of the organization, as well as other organizations, consumers, and other environmental factors, and not just your own.
However, the first step is do not announce the change initiative! Never begin change with the change. Acknowledge the problem. Investigate. Discover. Observe. Ask questions. Listen. Learn. In some cases, a problem does not even warrant a change. In others, after conducting such due diligence, the change initiative that you actually promote may be entirely different from what you originally thought.
In other words, go slow. Be thorough. Find out what is going on. Many change initiatives fail because they are simply not proper and appropriate for the purported problem they are intended to correct.
Apology / Apologia – coaching
Sara here: I have gotten some response to the post I offered about coaching. I’ve offended some and for that, I apologize. That is why this is titled “apology/apologia.” It is to say that I am sorry for causing reaction – and I would offer my argument to support what I believe about coaching with all sincerity.
I used the term “judgement” and that was a poor choice of words. Let me be clear that I didn’t mean that anyone was “judgmental” in working with other people. Language is a tricky thing. I suspect we often don’t communicate by speaking the same language.
Let me take another run at this. I was talking about the relationship that should exist between a coach and a client. I firmly believe that a coach has the responsibility to remain neutral toward client and client’s situation. A coach’s responsibility is to assess rather than vote. I substitute vote for judgement because I mean taking a position (rather than being judgmental). By refusing to take a position, the coach can be curious about the effectiveness of a client in ways that are outside the coach’s experience. Language does make creating the distinction challenging.
By the way – there are weaknesses in the world and in people, no denying. However, the job of the coach is not in the area of weakness. What differentiates a coach from other helping professions is that they to assess how the client sees themselves, help them expand their perspectives and open clients up to their own blind spots. Ergo, the difference between fixing what’s broken vs discovering new paths. In fact, in the world of neuropsychology: the work of Daniel Goleman, David Rock and others is reinforcing this understanding of coaching and its effectiveness in helping people change…creating new neuropathways rather than trying to redirect old ones.
