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Winter 2013

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Living Lean: How Associations Can Waste Less, Do More Reprinted with permission from ASSOCIATIONS NOW By: Mary Byers, CAE, and Harrison Coerver The pursuit of operational excellence may be a given in the for-profit environment, but it is often a stranger in the association community. Many associations are so focused on member services or value propositions that they don't take time to assess operational effectiveness. Consequently, it is a powerful strategy when applied to the nonprofit world. Associations burdened with slow, inefficient processes simply can't effectively battle more efficient, streamlined competitors. One way to ensure operational excellence is to adapt lean production practices designed to maintain or improve value with less work. In lean thinking, waste is anything that does not contribute to value, a view that takes some time to sink in. Any activity that consumes time, resources, or space but does not add value to the product, service, or activity is considered waste. Identify Waste To date, the lean movement has been primarily applied in manufacturing, so it might seem difficult to translate to service organizations. Yet, lean approaches are being adopted in areas as diverse as call centers, higher education, and software development, and there's plenty associations can learn to achieve operational excellence. First, it's essential to understand waste. In the mid-20th century, Toyota engineer Taiichi Ohno identified seven 10 wastes, which we've listed below, along with examples applicable to associations: overproduction: manufacturing items before they are needed (e.g., holding unnecessary inventory, such as books or directories) waiting: the time an initiative spends waiting for action, such as between committee and board meetings transportation: the time and cost to get volunteers to and from meetings motion: gathering inventory to deliver to members inventory: membership certificates waiting to be shipped, unsold learning tools, and so on overprocessing: when more work is done than required, such as when association staff overdoes an event because a volunteer leader thought it was important defects: a committee recommendation that the board sends back for modification or a committee that meets but produces no outcome As lean thinking evolved and expanded beyond manufacturing, an eighth waste emerged: the waste of human capital—one easily applicable to trade associations, professional societies, and other nonprofits. Analyzing the waste of an association's human resources is straightforward. It happens in three ways: 1. suboptimization: not using human capital to its full potential 2. improper utilization: using human capital for work that has no value and should not Connections | Winter 2013

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