This course is intended for experienced auditors. It will make you thoroughly familiar with the complete body of knowledge so you’re prepared for all material on the CQA exam. Taught by a subject matter expert in an interactive setting, it includes a sample test.
The Certified Quality Auditor Refresher training, developed and delivered by the ASQ Audit Division, is a two-day course designed and taught to help experienced auditors become better prepared for the CQA exam.
For more information please go to

http://asq.org/training/certified-quality-auditor-certification-preparation_CQAR.html

September Program Meeting – September 14th, 2011

“Quality In The Procurement Process”

A quality procurement process that is inefficient is highly unlikely to achieve the required results. This discussion details how to streamline the procurement process attaining highest quality products/services for patients and, at the same time, ensuring that procurement itself achieves value for money for the organization.
Presented by: Boris Tsinman
Joint Director, Procurement & Supply Chain
Lakeridge Health and Rouge Valley Health System
About the speaker:
· 25 years of experience with a wide variety of projects and contracts in both the public and private sectors.
· Mechanical Engineering from Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia
· 17 years with the Federal Government of Canada, mainly in the field of Procurement and Contract Administration of Science and Professional Services, Environmental Projects, Research and Development and Electronics
· Manager of Procurement and the Provincial Drug Distribution Program at the Capital District Health Authority in Halifax Nova Scotia.
For more information go to http://www.asqtoronto.org/en/SectionMeetings_34/

Spring Seminar 2012

Please mark your calendars for our very special Spring Seminar which will be held in conjunction with the ASQ Quality Management Division http://asq.org/qmd/ . The Spring Seminar organizing committee is currently working on securing a venue which will determine the date, it will most likely be in April 2012. More information on the Program and Keynote will follow as it become available.

And he just won’t let go. You see the three of them stood before Gate N1 as its passengers boarded the plane. The girls hugged this man and he, in return, kept assuring them in his own quiet way, it was going to be just fine.

The passengers slowly disappeared down the ramp to board the plane.

The girls and their father kept talking. Him on bended knee; them desperately trying to drag him down the ramp to the plane.

And he kept talking and reassuring them.

In the midst of the story sat a man. He sat with his head down, never that far away from the three, looking up every once and while with a face of reassurance, yet with profound sadness.

I caught his eye. We had a short conversation. Turns out his best friend was putting his daughters on the plane to send them home to his former wife. After a month with his daughters, this was a tough morning for his friend. His friend would likely not see them form another good six to eight months. Yet, those are the rules and his friend would honour the agreement.

The boarding area was now empty. The final passenger had vanished down the ramp to the plane.

It was time for the girls to board the plane. He quietly took his daughters to the gate, gave them one final hug, handed the staff the boarding passes and paper work and then watched them disappear down the ramp.

And as they vanished into the darkness of the loading ramp, he slowly walked back from the ramp towards his friend.

As he turned to look at his friend, the ball cap did it’s best to cover the heart break and tears that covered his face.

They just stood there. Nothing said, yet the silence and look of pain their faces at that moment said it all.

As they both watched the plane slowly taxi away from the gate, nothing was said. Yet, in that moment, everything was said.

Life is made up moments of caring. Caring deeply for the people we call our family, caring deeply for those who make us part of their family.

To the friend, the father and the girls, their experience at the airport remains a caring moment in time.

It is a moment that demonstrates the best in people that I shall treasure for life.

For it represents what it means to care deeply, to be human and to be our very best when it hurts.

And it is that ability to be our best, despite all that is happening in our lives, that makes us truly human.

The e-mail inbox.

I’m often asked if there is a way to manage the large volume of e-mail that arrives every day. I know the question often comes up during the summer season when people dread the large number of e-mail messages waiting in their e-mail box when they get back from holidays. Here are a few tricks to consider as you deal with the challenge of e-mail.

1. Tell people early if you are going to be away. That allows people to plan ahead so they make sure you have time to answer their questions well before the final day you are in the office.
   
2. Make a decision about what you will do with e-mail when you are away. Are you going to answer messages, not answer messages, ask someone to answer messages, etc.? It is important to let people know what you will with e-mail when it arrives when you are away.
   
3. If you take your smart phone with you, turn off the chimes, bells or any other alerts. Take a few minutes, two or three days in advance of your departure, to change the settings so your smart phone will not sound or alarm when you are away on your vacation.
   
4. When you return from vacation, take the first two days to listen to what has happened while you away. Balance the time between answering the e-mail and spending time with staff and colleagues. Mixing up your e-mail and phone conversations can make the process of “catching up” fun and engaging.
   
5. When sifting through large stacks of e-mail, try to sort out what needs to be done now, what can wait and what can be passed on to anther colleague. “Now- Wait – Ask” can be a simple rule to help quickly sort out what really needs to done quickly upon your return.
   

Vacation is a great time to take break, catch your breath and step out of the pace of the workplace. Consider “re-entry” with your e-mail as an opportunity to see how the rest of the world spent their time when you were away. Careful attention to planning ahead, managing e-mail while you are away coupled with a retry plan can help take the stress out of managing your e-mail.

Have a great vacation!

1. Plan ahead. If you are interesting hosting a special event (e.g., planning retreat), start exploring potential dates and locations during the summer. People can get dates and locations into their calendar during the summer and be prepared for the fall.
   
2. Organize your Personal Calendar. July is a great month to sit down with your calendar and identify key dates that will be important to you and organization in the fall. For example, I like to mark in calendar the key dates when government reports are due (e.g., September 30th). That allows me to book time in my calendar to complete reporting requirements etc.
   
3. Resource Forecast. Review the financial performance of your organization during the months leading up to June. Will the organization end the year on budget? Do you anticipate some challenges ahead? Thinking now about resources challenges can help identify where to focus your work in the fall.
   
4. Fun Factor. Don’t forget to include fun into your plans for the fall. What are the fun activities you and or your organization will undertake in the fall?
   

Enjoy the summer. It’s a great time to take a break, make a plan and reflect on the accomplishments of the last six months.

Grinding Through the Workload

If you are looking at a long list of things to get done this week, you are not alone. I’m often asked how does one manage the growing list of work with a busy schedule. Here are three (3) tips that you may find helpful.

• Tip #1 – Turn off Your E-mail
  

  Yes, turn off your e-mail. One way to get some focused work done is to turn off your e-mail and focus on the task at hand. Personally, I like to check my e-mail about every 50 minutes. I put my Blackberry away to avoid the flashing light or beeps from incoming e-mail. This allows me to focus. With less interruptions, I can get some work done.
  

• Tip #2 – Make a List the Night before and stick With It
  

  If you make a list of things that need to be done the night before, it’s easier to get started on it first thing in the morning. I find I can only plan about three major things to complete in a day. I have to account for phone calls, sudden meetings etc. I think the key is to make the list as reasonable as possible to ensure you can be successful.
  

• Tip #3 – Ask for Help with Getting Organized
  
  

  If you find the lists are getting too long, seek out assistance in getting organized. The help can be in the form of a friend, a colleague or a course. I think it is just helpful to ask for tips and advice from others on how they manage their busy workloads. One of the best investments I made two years ago was visiting the folks at Priority Management for their one day training program on Microsoft Outlook.

   

If you are looking for a training program, I highly recommend the course. To learn more visit http://www.progressivetraining.ca/MSOutlook.htm

Strategic Plan Update – The fall is a good time of the year to review the status of your strategic plan. Set aside time for your board and senior time to review the status of the strategic plan. In building a process for reviewing your plan, you may want to consider the following resource.

Link: http://www.ontla.on.ca/library/repository/mon/14000/262906.pdf

Contract Obligations – If your organization is funded by a funder, set aside time to review the terms of the contract. Is your organization on schedule to complete all of the requirements of the contact, on budget and on time? If not, develop the plans required to close the gap to ensure your organization can meet the terms of the contract.

Quality Management Review – Establish a time to review the quality indicators and measurements for your organization for the period ending June 30th and then ending September 30th. Is your organization on track with the required indicators? If not, explore what steps are required to bring the indicators into standard. (Tip – What processes need further investigation?)

For an additional resource, consider using the Ontario Health Quality Council’s Report as part of the review process. The following is a link to the LHIN Analysis Report

Link: http://www.ohqc.ca/pdfs/11-lhin_analyses_en.pdf

Watching the Money – The economy continues to evolve and the fall will be a good time to consider the economy and its impact on your organization. There are a wide variety of sources on the economic trends for Ontario, Canada and other countries. A great resource on economic trends is the Canadian Banking system. To learn more about the resources, visit the following resource page from our website.

Link: http://thedesk.ca/index.php?module=Weblinks&func=category&cid=3

The fall appears to be far away. However, planning for special meetings on key topics and confirming dates this summer will enable staff, volunteers and funders to work together to reach the goals needed for the 2011/2012 fiscal year.

Here are five new lessons I have learned about myself.

• I really need at least 30 minutes a day to plan the next day. There are no short cuts. The time is needed to reflect on the day completed and identify what MUST get done on the next day. With so many opportunities and distractions, it is easy to get lost.
  
• I have only so much processing power in a day, period. I’m not sure where I developed the bad habit of thinking that I could process information all day long. It is important to take some time out which is not processing data. It’s something I’ve learned to include in my calendar.
  
• I have a different work week. The one think I enjoy about my work is the diversity of projects. With the diversity is a seven day work week. Some weekends are off, others are on, week nights are on and others are off. So, I’m starting to build that into the planning.
  
• I can only do one thing at a time. Not sure if that is news but it is the truth. Trying to keep six things going at the same time is simply not that much fun. With a single focus approach, I tend to get things done quicker and they make more sense.
  
• I can find additional time by making the software work for ME. I continue to experiment with various pieces of software to see how they connect with each other. I discovered I can write my blog entries in MSWord and post them to my blog. That saves me about 10 minutes per blog. Add that up over a year, it adds about a day to my year in saved blogging time. I’ll take it!

The Priority Management Course was a solid investment. There are immediate and long term benefits and I know I am just starting to discover. They secret is to stick with the process and the principles over time.

I’ll keep you posted on the journey.

Jerry

1. You can change Outlook from a Mail Machine to a power time management and client management system
2. You can see just where you are wasting time each and every day
3. You can get about 90 minute back per day when you stick with the system

For me, the above three lessons are invaluable.

The concept of being able to think through work, personal time and a social life really does lead to an organized day.

I’ll keep you posted as I move through the journey.

Jerry

For me, it was a great way to organize my day, my projects and frankly, my life. I enjoyed mapping out the days with my trusty pencil each night and then seeing how the next day would unfold. I like the idea of keeping track of important notes using the Communication Planners as well as have a record or important notes in my A-Z directory. I just liked how it looked and worked.

I migrated to my first Palm Pilot back in the late 90′s. Why, too much stuff to carry. Between a lap top, cell phone, pager and Palm, I felt I was carrying a small office on my back.

Yet, I missed by Priority Management Binder. For as much I tried to make things look and work on my computer in the Priority Management style, it was never quite right.

Let’s see, I tried Time and Chaos software. It worked for a while until the upgrades cased system problems. I overlaid, Agendus from Iambic on Outlook to make it work. That worked until Agendus crashed my main computer on a regular basis. But the final straw was realizing that I was not keeping up on my work and the software fixes did not do what I needed done.

So, I pulled out my old friend, my Priority Management Binder and made a phone call.

This week I had the opportunity sit down with the folks at Priority Management. We made some “adjustments” in Microsoft Outlook and within a short period of time, I had an electronic version of Priority Management Binder.

Now, I’m in the process of getting things organized electronically just like used to do with paper and pencil.

The good news is I continue to use The Bat for my e-mail client and Outlook for Tasks, Meetings and the A-Z directory. In short, I have a great way to make Outlook look and feeling like my Priority Management Binder.

And that, is a good thing.

I’ll keep you posted on my journey.

Lesson #1 – Invest in a Surge Protection for your Electrical Panel
Electricity is electricity. It is important to invest the right combination of surge protection and battery back up systems for your place of work. If you work in your home, do talk your local electrician for the best combination of protection for your equipment. You will be surprised at the equipment you can buy in order to protect your equipment and yourself.

Lesson #2 – If it’s on your roof, get it grounded.
Take a look on the roof of your home or office. If you have metal things on the roof, are they grounded to ensure you and your office are safe. For example, if you have a Satellite Disk on your roof, is it properly grounded? If not, talk with company that owns the equipment and ask them to take the necessary steps to ensure it is safe.

Lesson #3 – Insist on Safe Work by Service Companies
I get really concerned when Bell Canada strings “wires” through the trees as a temporary solution to fix a phone line. While I understand it is a temporary solution, temporary should take days, not multiple months. Keep after Bell if you have “temporary wring” hanging the trees. It is a unnecessary risk that can cause problems for your phone, Internet and property.

Lesson #4 – Prepare for the Worst
Even with the best protection in place, things can happen in a blink of an eye. I think it is important to keep in mind that with the best plans, things can go wrong. Equipment can stop work, things get destroyed and work can be interrupted. The key is to plan for the worst, hope for the best and keep moving forward. Which leads me to the last point.

Lesson #5 – Always be Thankful
Yes, be thankful. In my case, its “stuff”. It’s a pain to fix, replace or repair. However, its just stuff. The good news is that no one got hurt and I’m here writing about it today. And for that, I am thankful!

Life is challenge where the lessons are provided well in advance of the class. The key is to keep learning, whether one finds they are in class or life.

After all, sometimes, life is the class.

Be well,
Jerry