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FINESSE Fishbone: The I Stands for Illustrate

FINESSE Fishbone: The I Stands for Illustrate

Technically trained professionals often get wrapped up in things like visualization, which distracts us from our mission. Our mission is to provide information to decision makers, and technical professionals are trusted advisors. So, most of our graphics, visuals, and videos should be informational. The I in FINESSE stands for Illustrate. Illustrate includes all the visuals, graphics, videos, and other media used in technical reports and presentations. These three tips and a short video provide focused examples.

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FINESSE Fishbone: The F Stands for Frame

FINESSE Fishbone: The F Stands for Frame

The F in the FINESSE fishbone diagram stands for Frame. Effective communication requires systems thinking. That’s the good news for most technical professionals – you do not need to be perfect but only need the cause-and-effect bones of FINESSE to work together. These are three tips to help you develop the frame.

Use “The Greatest Fear”

Focusing on your greatest fear is an alternative way to frame a problem. Framing the problem is also the first step in effective communication using the FINESSE approach for problems with high levels of complexity and uncertainty. [Read more…]

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Systems Thinking and a Better Way to Develop Business Presentations

Systems Thinking and a Better Way to Develop Business Presentations

Most technical professionals find themselves bogged down by inefficient presentation preparation methods that result in information overload and diluted messaging. We need a better way. Business presentations are critical in conveying strategic visions, securing stakeholder buy-in, and driving decision-making. Improving the presentation development process results in increased productivity, cost savings, more effective communication, and better work-life balance. This article explores innovative strategies to streamline the development of business presentations. [Read more…]

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Series Kickoff: The Seven Bones of the FINESSE Fishbone Diagram

Series Kickoff: The Seven Bones of the FINESSE Fishbone Diagram

In the upcoming months, look for an article on each of the seven bones of the FINESSE fishbone diagram. I’ll provide three insights and a three-minute video on each bone. You’ll see the cause-and-effect relationships and why communication is a system just like any other type of physical system. The series is a good introduction for those unfamiliar with FINESSE and a refresher for those who are.

Systems Thinking

A system is a collection of interrelated or interacting parts, each of which can affect the behavior or outcomes of the whole. One defining property of a system is that it provides a function that none of the parts can accomplish by themselves. The corollary is that a system is not the sum of the parts but the product of their interactions.

A communication system is the same as any other system. The good news for technical professionals is that you do not have the best-looking, most eloquent, or smartest person in the room to be an effective communicator. You just need to trust the system.

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Communicating PFAS (Forever Chemicals)

Communicating PFAS (Forever Chemicals)

The United States Conference of Mayors created a PFAS Toolkit. The information and resources included provides insights into several key aspects that local governments and businesses should be aware of in relation to PFAS (forever chemicals). Key parts of the PFAS Toolkit are presented here.

PFOA and PFOS in Drinking Water: Overview

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of chemicals developed in the 1940s that have been used in a variety of consumer products like semiconductors, cellphones, textiles, renewable energy, and medical devices. Two chemicals, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) are no longer produced today, but they were once used in a wide variety of industries. Today, trace levels of PFOA and PFOS can be measured in water, air, soil, animals, humans, and some consumer products globally. PFOA/PFOS are persistent in the environment, and some studies suggest that long-term exposure at increased doses may lead to negative health impacts. [Read more…]

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Communicating Reliability Starts with Being Able to Quickly Define It

Communicating Reliability Starts with Being Able to Quickly Define It

Reliability is one of the most overworked and misunderstood words in the world of facilities and infrastructure. Reliability is also one of the most powerful and important words. Properly evaluating and communicating reliability resolves risk, safety, quality, compliance, and human performance. Reliability also frames a powerful and effective systems approach instead of leaving gaps by cobbling together individual assets and components. Effectively communicating reliability starts with being able to quickly define it, [Read more…]

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Five Helpful Tips for Leading Reliability Assessments

Five Helpful Tips for Leading Reliability Assessments

Assessing critical infrastructure and facilities is essential for maintaining performance as systems age. Mid-level engineers are frequently tasked with leading a reliability assessment with limited training. The good news is that you don’t need to be a subject matter expert to be successful. But you do need a structured collaboration approach and a mental model to help you through the tough spots. Success rises and falls based on the quality of the facilitation. [Read more…]

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How Building Better Business Cases Improves Reliability

A Business Case Evaluation (BCE) is a decision-making tool that assists in making value-based funding decisions. Business cases are developed in the early capital and operating budget planning cycles as a standardized and systematic process to analyze the benefits and costs of various options to solve an identified problem or a cost-saving/revenue-generating idea. A big part of building better business cases is analyzing the system over the long term for monetary and non-monetary aspects. Building better business cases improves reliability and performance by formally documenting “needs” versus “wants.” Business cases serve as a powerful communication tool at all levels of an organization. [Read more…]

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The Rising Tide of Young Professionals: Overcoming Intergenerational Communication Gaps in Reliability Engineering

Young professionals (under 40) will make up over half of the workforce by the end of next year. That means communication between young professionals and experienced professionals is essential for workplace success. Younger professionals dominating the workforce means that reliability engineering is undergoing formative changes. These are a few general thoughts on the impacts of the changing workforce and five ways it will impact reliability engineering.

Some General Thoughts on Intergenerational Communication

Here are a few thoughts on intergenerational communication from my recent interview on The YoPro Know Podcast.

On Using Social Media

Companies are generally awkward with social media and how to reach the younger generations. On the one hand, companies know to try. On the other hand, the HR people and some of the technical managers are really bad at it.

Companies should do a gap analysis on reaching young professionals. There are inadvertent things companies do that really cause them to stumble inadvertently. Most companies do too much of a cookie-cutter approach to recruiting and retention.

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Communicating Asset Management: Four Powerful Articles Improve Success

Communicating with FINESSE and JD Solomon Inc. are jointly focusing on asset management in early 2024. The articles include how to facilitate asset management plans, ways that asset management plans fail, how organizational context impacts implementation, and how to communicate asset management to senior management. These powerful articles will improve your asset management success!

5 Tips to Improve Facilitation of Asset Management Plans

Facilitation is a structured session(s) in which the meeting leader (the facilitator) guides the participants through a series of predefined steps to arrive at a result that is created, understood, and accepted by all participants. Not all asset managers are great facilitators.

These are my Top 5 tips for facilitating asset management plans:

5. Get the Right People Involved

4. Don’t Overthink the Gap Analysis Tool

3. Create a Charter

2. Establish Organizational Context

[Read more…]

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Re-Introducing Communicating with FINESSE on Accendo Reliability

We launched Communicating with FINESSE two years ago to help technically trained professionals become better communicators and facilitators. Breaking it away from JD Solomon, Inc. as a not-for-profit organization was a first step in building a broader community to execute the mission. We have done that in many ways, although such endeavors never go as fast as you first imagine. Today, we summarize seven key concepts of Communicating with FINESSE.

#1 Systems Thinking Is the Foundation

The good news for most of us is that communication is indeed a system. Even better, as technical professionals, we are blessed with the reality of what that means. The next time you serve as a trusted advisor, remember that effective communication requires systems thinking.

Why Systems Thinking Produces Effective Communication – Accendo Reliability

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Two Books Help Reliability Engineers Communicate and Collaborate

Two Books Help Reliability Engineers Communicate and Collaborate

These two books help technical professionals improve their communication and collaboration skills. Employers seek soft skills across the many market sectors to complement the technical skills they assume are present. These two groundbreaking books provide the fuel to propel your career.

Facilitating with FINESSE

The results of our work often depend on the quality of the facilitation. Facilitating with FINESSE addresses ways to improve interactive, peer-to-peer communication when working in teams.

The book provides the techniques to facilitate ten different technical applications from good to great. [Read more…]