【翻译】第四十九篇 Getting management on board to support statisticians' roles
本帖最后由 小编D 于 2011-12-16 13:48 编辑
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InWith the Right CrowdGettingmanagement on board to support statisticians' roles
by Ronald D. Snee, Roger W. Hoerl and Angela N.Patterson
First, the good news. The importance of statisticsrelated to the way the world does business has never been greater:
· Large-scale statistical training throughimprovement initiatives like Six Sigma has spread statistical thinking, and ithas become common in fields such as finance and healthcare.· Commercial statistical software puts theability to do complex statistical calculations on the desktops of managers andexecutives who neither have nor need specialized statistical expertise.· About half a million students each yeartake a general introductory statistics course in college in the United States.· The web puts vast storehouses ofstatistical information at everyone's fingertips.·
Now, the bad news: The statistician and qualityprofessional might become the proverbial middle men who get cut out by theseadvances.
Consider the plight of travel agents. Whenwas the last time you booked an airline ticket or hotel reservation through aliving, breathing travel agent? Why should you when it's easier and cheaper todo it yourself using powerful web based programs that can instantly scour theuniverse for the best deals? Using the business term for "cutting out themiddle man," travel agents have been "disintermediated."
Statisticians run a similar risk unlessthey find a way to break out of their traditional roles. During the past 40years, much of the work done in corporate statistics groups can be described intwo ways:
It's a precarious position. You can nolonger own statistics when anyone with a computer can download and usestatistical software. Further, narrow technical tasks can easily be moved tolow-cost countries, and many cost-conscious businesses are asking why theirpeople can't analyze data themselves.
As demand for statisticians' traditionalservices dries up, statisticians must move from the role of passive consultantto active colleague. In other words, they must do what travel agents have sofar failed to do: find a way to add significant value in the face ofdevelopments that have made their traditional services widely available forfree.
Think marketingThere are two compelling reasons forstatisticians to become active partners, particularly with managers. One ofthose reasons is opportunistic and the other idealistic. When the infamous bankrobber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he said. "Becausethat's where the money is."
Managers control the resources of time,money, personnel and equipment. They are where the action is—setting direction,goals and objectives—and if you want to be in on that action, you need to dofar more than regard managers as a distant end-user of your services.
The idealistic motive comes from theconvergence of your vocational ideals and values with theirs. Managers areresponsible not only for the day-to-day running of the business, but also forimproving the way work gets done. Like the best statisticians, the bestmanagers want to help people succeed. They want to see process performanceimprove and data based approaches and scientific management really work. Inrealizing those goals for the organization, managers want to fulfill theirpersonal goals.
How do you create opportunities to workmore closely with managers? Think marketing. Like a veteran marketer, you mustfirst identify your customers and their needs. Where is the value you can addto make the most difference—in manufacturing, supply chain and distribution, orin a particular division, department or discipline? Which managers in the areayou have identified possess the requisite resources and authority to bring youon to a project?
But before you propose to help, determineexactly what needs those managers and departments have in terms of criticalissues and operational, financial and corporate objectives.
You can do this by interviewing managersabout their goals and the challenges that keep them awake at night. Also,interview the managers' colleagues for their perspectives. This intelligence,combined with your knowledge of the company's objectives, should enable you tosee a clear picture of the needs of potential partners.
Once you understand a potential partner'sneeds, then you can (again, like a marketer) create your value proposition,which details the benefits you can deliver at what cost. In creating your valueproposition, be sure you can deliver what you say you can. In fact, you shouldunderpromise and overdeliver.
For example, based on your background in finance,you might realize your company is not getting the best possible return relativeto the risk it is taking when investing in a particular portfolio. Rather thanlecture people on the use of statistics, you are more likely to succeed if youdevelop an overall value proposition that quantifies the types of returns thatshould be possible, relative to the risk appetite of the business.Once you get people's attention with this highlevel analysis, you could then develop a more detailed business case—tailoredto a specific manager—outlining a conservative estimate of the increasedreturns, level of effort and resources that would be required, and the generaltimeframe of implementation and financial return.It would be most effective to couch this analysisand recommendations in the standard terminology and metrics of the business,such as return on investment. Simply put, the value proposition and businesscase enable the manager to decide whether your services are worth it.
Working with managers
Not all managers are alike. In seeking out managersto ally yourself with on proposals or projects, you will find at least fourcommon types:
An appetite for leading change.· A desire for a win-win relationship.In addition, the ideal manager will exhibit thequalities of loyalty, trustworthiness and high integrity that inspire everyoneon the team.Unfortunately, not all managers are ideal or evencollaborative. Further, not only are all managers different, but they are alsonot equal—some have more power than others.
Therefore, to find your way to themost beneficial alliance—for you and the organization—you should thoroughlyunderstand where real power resides. Who are the movers and shakers withinfluence to command resources (including you) and to lead or initiate the kindof projects to which you can add value? Such knowledge of the real dynamics ofthe organization is power, but it also can mean making hard choices: workingwith a credit hogging do-it-yourselfer manager with real power versus acollaborator manager with little leverage in the organization. See the sidebar"Click With Managers," for tips on making your relationships with themanagers succeed.
Working with teams
Of course, most significant projects involve notjust one-on-one relationships with managers, but also entail work with teams.If your role has been primarily consultative in the past, then working as anintegral part of a team outside your department might be a relativelyunfamiliar experience. Like work with managers, teamwork requires some skillsbeyond purely technical statistical ability.1, 2Your statistical expertise, however, is part ofwhat got you on the team. You have the opportunity to help the team putstatistical thinking to work and to make sure the team gets the maximum valuefrom data and statistical techniques.3You should therefore promote a standard problemsolving approach, such as define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC)that systematically structures data-driven techniques.4 Simply resorting to data in an ad hoc fashiongreatly diminishes the power of statistical methods and the value you can bringto the team. By contrast, frameworks like DMAIC enable the team to buildsuccessively on each stage of its work, use statistical methods to get at theroot causes of problems and solve them once and for all.During a project, there might be teachable moments.These times are when you can educate the group about precisely how statisticalthinking can solve the problem at hand and similar problems that might arise inthe future. But don't play the role of expert witness or use statistical jargonto intimidate or dominate other team members.Remember, too, that you are trying to help the teamfind the best business solution, not the best statistical solution. Certainly,as the team's primary interpreter of data, you are in a position of power, butyou should use that power responsibly and diplomatically.Participation as an equal team member also requiresadditional skills.5-7 You will need an understanding of group dynamicsand the ability to facilitate and manage team meetings. You should also be ableto teach statistical principles to nonstatisticians in a way they canunderstand and put to practical use.You should possess general business understanding,especially of finance, as well as a specific understanding of your company'sbusiness: its markets, customers, strategic objectives and key success factors.As you acquire or exercise these skills and gainadditional trust and authority from managers and teammates, look foropportunities to assume broader, more consequential roles, such as project orinitiative leadership.In summary, successful collaboration with managersand teams results when you:· Learn about the subject, issues andbusiness of the client group.· Focus on helping people be successful bydelivering results and positive financial impact for the organization.· Provide the best business solution,which might not be the optimal statistical solution.· Promote the scientific method and theeffective use of the right data.· Move from a consulting mind-set to acollaborative, leadership mind-set.Insofar as you put these principles to work, youwill succeed in transforming yourself from a merely nice-to-have resource to avaluable must-have colleague, thought leader and change agent.
Click with managers
It is unlikely you will match well withevery manager. Personal chemistry with a colleague is mysterious. Nevertheless,once you have made a compelling case for your participation in a project, thereare some useful principles you can adopt to help the relationship with themanager succeed:
The manager is the boss. In all likelihood,you sought out the manager, not the other way around. And even though you mighthave been included on a project because you proposed it or demonstrated how youcould add value to an existing activity, that doesn't mean you are in charge.Even the most collegial managers will expect to call the shots, because theyare ultimately held accountable for results.
Money is the language of management. Youmust be able to help translate process and operational improvements intofinancial results. What will shorter cycle times, the eradication of rootcauses of problems or a reduction in process variation mean in terms of fasterspeed to market, increased equipment uptime and higher productivity? And whatwill those improvements mean to the top or bottom lines?
Deliver useful results and information.Advertisers long ago figured out that consumers are interested in the benefitsof a product, not its features, no matter how impressive. Similarly, managersdon't care about the complexities or technicalities of your statisticalanalysis; they just want information they can use to be successful.
Focus on their needs, not your brilliance.That means developing your skills clearly and concisely presenting statisticalstudies to managers.1
Challenge, don't attack. Think of yourselfas a thought leader who has a unique perspective. Adding that perspective mightinvolve disagreeing with the manager, but do it dispassionately and in a spiritof mutual inquiry. Be especially on guard against trying to dominate or win byhigh-handedly invoking statistical arcana that only you understand.
Get to know the managers. Understand theirissues and concerns and the unique pressures of their jobs. For example, seniormanagers have different needs than middle managers. They are typically morefocused on business results and less on operational specifics.
Middle managers have the toughest jobs ofall. They must balance direction from above with the realities of getting thework done. Remember, too, that managers are complex people, and you should tryto get to know them from those perspectives as well.
Deliver bad news thoughtfully. Because ofthe predictive and analytical power of statistics, it often falls to the statisticianto be the first to understand that something won't work or isn't working asplanned. In delivering bad news, take care not to give the manager ammunitionto shoot the messenger and ignore the message.
Always review your conclusions with themanager before presenting them to a wider audience. Be sure your conclusionsare based on rock solid, clearly articulated analysis. Don't merely present theproblem, but whenever possible offer a potential solution.
Fulfill the opportunity. Focus on solutionsand results, not on methods. The idea is to make a difference, not showcase adiscipline. Always strive to deliver results in scope, on time and withinbudget.
Share the success story together. Joinmanagers in publicizing the results of a successful project, inside and outsidethe organization. Invite managers to co-author articles and speak at meetingsand conferences.
Help the manager succeed beyond the scopeof the project. Little things mean a lot. For example, you can pass alongarticles and books relevant to the manager's needs and interests.
You can provide the manager with usefulintelligence about your discipline and the organization. Big things mean evenmore: suggesting high-performing job candidates, performing above and beyondthe call of duty, and identifying additional opportunities. —R.S., R.H. andA.P.
你好，我是小编H。请对以下文章有翻译兴趣的组员留下你的预计完成时间和 邮箱，并发短信息联系小编H，以便小编登记翻译者信息以及文章最终完成时的奖惩工作。感谢支持翻译组！
InWith the Right CrowdGettingmanagement on board to support statisticians' roles
by Ronald D. Snee, Roger W. Hoerl and Angela N.Patterson
First, the good news. The importance of statisticsrelated to the way the world does business has never been greater:
· Large-scale statistical training throughimprovement initiatives like Six Sigma has spread statistical thinking, and ithas become common in fields such as finance and healthcare.· Commercial statistical software puts theability to do complex statistical calculations on the desktops of managers andexecutives who neither have nor need specialized statistical expertise.· About half a million students each yeartake a general introductory statistics course in college in the United States.· The web puts vast storehouses ofstatistical information at everyone's fingertips.·
Now, the bad news: The statistician and qualityprofessional might become the proverbial middle men who get cut out by theseadvances.
Consider the plight of travel agents. Whenwas the last time you booked an airline ticket or hotel reservation through aliving, breathing travel agent? Why should you when it's easier and cheaper todo it yourself using powerful web based programs that can instantly scour theuniverse for the best deals? Using the business term for "cutting out themiddle man," travel agents have been "disintermediated."
Statisticians run a similar risk unlessthey find a way to break out of their traditional roles. During the past 40years, much of the work done in corporate statistics groups can be described intwo ways:
- Performing technical tasks, such asanalyzing data and designing experiments at the request of someone directing aproject.2. Advising others how to attack astatistical problem.3. These types of activities have typicallybeen referred to as statistical consulting. In the days before all of the goodnews, this role of enabler made sense. Corporate statistics organizations grewcomfortable in this role, "owning" the organization's statisticalmethods. As a result, statisticians came to be viewed as narrow specialists,such as accountants or lawyers, and as passive consultants rather than equalmembers of business teams.
It's a precarious position. You can nolonger own statistics when anyone with a computer can download and usestatistical software. Further, narrow technical tasks can easily be moved tolow-cost countries, and many cost-conscious businesses are asking why theirpeople can't analyze data themselves.
As demand for statisticians' traditionalservices dries up, statisticians must move from the role of passive consultantto active colleague. In other words, they must do what travel agents have sofar failed to do: find a way to add significant value in the face ofdevelopments that have made their traditional services widely available forfree.
Think marketingThere are two compelling reasons forstatisticians to become active partners, particularly with managers. One ofthose reasons is opportunistic and the other idealistic. When the infamous bankrobber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he said. "Becausethat's where the money is."
Managers control the resources of time,money, personnel and equipment. They are where the action is—setting direction,goals and objectives—and if you want to be in on that action, you need to dofar more than regard managers as a distant end-user of your services.
The idealistic motive comes from theconvergence of your vocational ideals and values with theirs. Managers areresponsible not only for the day-to-day running of the business, but also forimproving the way work gets done. Like the best statisticians, the bestmanagers want to help people succeed. They want to see process performanceimprove and data based approaches and scientific management really work. Inrealizing those goals for the organization, managers want to fulfill theirpersonal goals.
How do you create opportunities to workmore closely with managers? Think marketing. Like a veteran marketer, you mustfirst identify your customers and their needs. Where is the value you can addto make the most difference—in manufacturing, supply chain and distribution, orin a particular division, department or discipline? Which managers in the areayou have identified possess the requisite resources and authority to bring youon to a project?
But before you propose to help, determineexactly what needs those managers and departments have in terms of criticalissues and operational, financial and corporate objectives.
You can do this by interviewing managersabout their goals and the challenges that keep them awake at night. Also,interview the managers' colleagues for their perspectives. This intelligence,combined with your knowledge of the company's objectives, should enable you tosee a clear picture of the needs of potential partners.
Once you understand a potential partner'sneeds, then you can (again, like a marketer) create your value proposition,which details the benefits you can deliver at what cost. In creating your valueproposition, be sure you can deliver what you say you can. In fact, you shouldunderpromise and overdeliver.
For example, based on your background in finance,you might realize your company is not getting the best possible return relativeto the risk it is taking when investing in a particular portfolio. Rather thanlecture people on the use of statistics, you are more likely to succeed if youdevelop an overall value proposition that quantifies the types of returns thatshould be possible, relative to the risk appetite of the business.Once you get people's attention with this highlevel analysis, you could then develop a more detailed business case—tailoredto a specific manager—outlining a conservative estimate of the increasedreturns, level of effort and resources that would be required, and the generaltimeframe of implementation and financial return.It would be most effective to couch this analysisand recommendations in the standard terminology and metrics of the business,such as return on investment. Simply put, the value proposition and businesscase enable the manager to decide whether your services are worth it.
Working with managers
Not all managers are alike. In seeking out managersto ally yourself with on proposals or projects, you will find at least fourcommon types:
- Low-risk managers think small, avoidoutside help to keep the budget down and avoid rocking the boat at all costs.
- The resisters come up with infinitereasons why your proposal won't work, always know a better way and don't reallywant help.
- The do-it-yourselfers gladly accept allthe help they can get and take all the credit they can.
- The collaborators want help, appreciateeveryone's contribution and will challenge and reward you throughout the courseof a project.During your career, you will likely work with allfour types at one time or another. It goes without saying that the collaboratoris the most desirable type to work with. But even beyond the collegiality ofthe collaborator, the ideal manager will have some additional attributes:· A significant need for your help.· Adequate funding and a willingness to spendit.·
An appetite for leading change.· A desire for a win-win relationship.In addition, the ideal manager will exhibit thequalities of loyalty, trustworthiness and high integrity that inspire everyoneon the team.Unfortunately, not all managers are ideal or evencollaborative. Further, not only are all managers different, but they are alsonot equal—some have more power than others.
Therefore, to find your way to themost beneficial alliance—for you and the organization—you should thoroughlyunderstand where real power resides. Who are the movers and shakers withinfluence to command resources (including you) and to lead or initiate the kindof projects to which you can add value? Such knowledge of the real dynamics ofthe organization is power, but it also can mean making hard choices: workingwith a credit hogging do-it-yourselfer manager with real power versus acollaborator manager with little leverage in the organization. See the sidebar"Click With Managers," for tips on making your relationships with themanagers succeed.
Working with teams
Of course, most significant projects involve notjust one-on-one relationships with managers, but also entail work with teams.If your role has been primarily consultative in the past, then working as anintegral part of a team outside your department might be a relativelyunfamiliar experience. Like work with managers, teamwork requires some skillsbeyond purely technical statistical ability.1, 2Your statistical expertise, however, is part ofwhat got you on the team. You have the opportunity to help the team putstatistical thinking to work and to make sure the team gets the maximum valuefrom data and statistical techniques.3You should therefore promote a standard problemsolving approach, such as define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC)that systematically structures data-driven techniques.4 Simply resorting to data in an ad hoc fashiongreatly diminishes the power of statistical methods and the value you can bringto the team. By contrast, frameworks like DMAIC enable the team to buildsuccessively on each stage of its work, use statistical methods to get at theroot causes of problems and solve them once and for all.During a project, there might be teachable moments.These times are when you can educate the group about precisely how statisticalthinking can solve the problem at hand and similar problems that might arise inthe future. But don't play the role of expert witness or use statistical jargonto intimidate or dominate other team members.Remember, too, that you are trying to help the teamfind the best business solution, not the best statistical solution. Certainly,as the team's primary interpreter of data, you are in a position of power, butyou should use that power responsibly and diplomatically.Participation as an equal team member also requiresadditional skills.5-7 You will need an understanding of group dynamicsand the ability to facilitate and manage team meetings. You should also be ableto teach statistical principles to nonstatisticians in a way they canunderstand and put to practical use.You should possess general business understanding,especially of finance, as well as a specific understanding of your company'sbusiness: its markets, customers, strategic objectives and key success factors.As you acquire or exercise these skills and gainadditional trust and authority from managers and teammates, look foropportunities to assume broader, more consequential roles, such as project orinitiative leadership.In summary, successful collaboration with managersand teams results when you:· Learn about the subject, issues andbusiness of the client group.· Focus on helping people be successful bydelivering results and positive financial impact for the organization.· Provide the best business solution,which might not be the optimal statistical solution.· Promote the scientific method and theeffective use of the right data.· Move from a consulting mind-set to acollaborative, leadership mind-set.Insofar as you put these principles to work, youwill succeed in transforming yourself from a merely nice-to-have resource to avaluable must-have colleague, thought leader and change agent.
Click with managers
It is unlikely you will match well withevery manager. Personal chemistry with a colleague is mysterious. Nevertheless,once you have made a compelling case for your participation in a project, thereare some useful principles you can adopt to help the relationship with themanager succeed:
The manager is the boss. In all likelihood,you sought out the manager, not the other way around. And even though you mighthave been included on a project because you proposed it or demonstrated how youcould add value to an existing activity, that doesn't mean you are in charge.Even the most collegial managers will expect to call the shots, because theyare ultimately held accountable for results.
Money is the language of management. Youmust be able to help translate process and operational improvements intofinancial results. What will shorter cycle times, the eradication of rootcauses of problems or a reduction in process variation mean in terms of fasterspeed to market, increased equipment uptime and higher productivity? And whatwill those improvements mean to the top or bottom lines?
Deliver useful results and information.Advertisers long ago figured out that consumers are interested in the benefitsof a product, not its features, no matter how impressive. Similarly, managersdon't care about the complexities or technicalities of your statisticalanalysis; they just want information they can use to be successful.
Focus on their needs, not your brilliance.That means developing your skills clearly and concisely presenting statisticalstudies to managers.1
Challenge, don't attack. Think of yourselfas a thought leader who has a unique perspective. Adding that perspective mightinvolve disagreeing with the manager, but do it dispassionately and in a spiritof mutual inquiry. Be especially on guard against trying to dominate or win byhigh-handedly invoking statistical arcana that only you understand.
Get to know the managers. Understand theirissues and concerns and the unique pressures of their jobs. For example, seniormanagers have different needs than middle managers. They are typically morefocused on business results and less on operational specifics.
Middle managers have the toughest jobs ofall. They must balance direction from above with the realities of getting thework done. Remember, too, that managers are complex people, and you should tryto get to know them from those perspectives as well.
Deliver bad news thoughtfully. Because ofthe predictive and analytical power of statistics, it often falls to the statisticianto be the first to understand that something won't work or isn't working asplanned. In delivering bad news, take care not to give the manager ammunitionto shoot the messenger and ignore the message.
Always review your conclusions with themanager before presenting them to a wider audience. Be sure your conclusionsare based on rock solid, clearly articulated analysis. Don't merely present theproblem, but whenever possible offer a potential solution.
Fulfill the opportunity. Focus on solutionsand results, not on methods. The idea is to make a difference, not showcase adiscipline. Always strive to deliver results in scope, on time and withinbudget.
Share the success story together. Joinmanagers in publicizing the results of a successful project, inside and outsidethe organization. Invite managers to co-author articles and speak at meetingsand conferences.
Help the manager succeed beyond the scopeof the project. Little things mean a lot. For example, you can pass alongarticles and books relevant to the manager's needs and interests.
You can provide the manager with usefulintelligence about your discipline and the organization. Big things mean evenmore: suggesting high-performing job candidates, performing above and beyondthe call of duty, and identifying additional opportunities. —R.S., R.H. andA.P.
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