Happy New Year! Let’s take a brief pause on our newsletter series covering DMAIC to recognize the year ahead of us. For those of you born in the last century, like me, it may seem strange to realize that we are through one full quarter of the 21st century. I’d like to recap a few things and discuss the coming year.
In 2024 we began CI Mastermind Live (CIMM). This is a supplement to our CI Mastermind coaching program. In 2024 we were just trying it out, while in 2025 we really hit our stride. We have 40 regular participants with 10 to 15 people joining our sessions every month. Honestly, we did not have a clear goal beyond providing some free coaching. The value has become much greater as we now have a real community. It can be lonely being the gal or guy that is trying to convince people of the ongoing need for improvement or taking the time to investigate a process versus just trying a bunch of solutions to see what happens. I am proud to say we’ve created a place for like-minded people to come together, share challenges, share solutions, share new ideas, and re-energize ourselves to take on the obstacles that come with driving continuous improvements.
For 2026 I am working on a six month plan of CIMM Live topics. Stay tuned; these will be on the website soon. https://www.chalmersst.com/cimlive/ Additionally, in 2026 I will add a component of goal setting and accountability to the monthly sessions. Given that this is a community that values learning and taking action, the goals will be about knowledge development or possibly career goals. If you have not joined one of our sessions, please do! You can learn more about us with the link provided above.
In 2025 we continued to develop and refine our CI Mastermind content and the platform. We added new features and functionality, including a tool specifically for managing Leader Standard Work. https://cimm.chalmersst.com/ Knowing that the challenge with Leader Standard Work is maintaining the routine and discipline of capturing what happened every day we invested in an AI feature to gamify the practice. It launched at the end of the year, so we are still learning how impactful this feature will be. I am open to letting people in on a trial basis. So, if you are interested in trying it out, send me a note.
We completed a record eight Green Belt certifications in 2025. Our loyal customers continue to return to the CI Mastermind Program. If you don’t know about this program, please take a look at our webpage: https://www.chalmersst.com/ci-mastermind/. I recommend you download and read our case study. Unfortunately, in 2025 we saw a drop off in new enrollment in CI Mastermind. Given the strong impact to members and results to their sponsor companies, I found this disappointing. It left me wondering if companies were cutting investment in developing their people. Sadly, some of the reasons we heard in 2025 for not joining the program were, “we don’t have the time” or “we just want classroom training.” My response to this is that there are no short cuts to continuous improvement. It takes practice and that takes time.
In 2026 we will continue to promote the program. We will refine our messaging. Spending two hours a week for 4 months to solve a $30,000 or $50,000 problem is a necessity. Organizations have to solve these problems to stay competitive. Leaders know this, but they are faced with tough challenges prioritizing scarce time. We will get better at telling this story to our prospective clients. Their business depends on it.
Also, in 2025 we took a look at our offerings and built new messaging to help people understand our work. Good selling requires us to educate our prospective customers. In 2026 we’ll continue this work on messaging and build content on our YouTube channel. In the past, the channel was just a repository for testimonials. In the spirit of education, we will broaden the channel’s purpose and regularly post educational content, as well as information about Chalmers St. and the services we provide. I hope you will visit the channel and tell us what information you’d like to see more of. https://www.youtube.com/@chalmersstconsulting
I am proud to say that in 2026 we will celebrate our 10 year anniversary. The Chalmers St. business is continuing to do well and the start to 2026 is looking excellent. We have a great team with a tremendous amount to offer companies who are serious about Continuous Improvement, optimizing their supply chain, and overcoming the obstacles to increasing their scale. We are starting 2026 with a strong backlog, new customers, and of course an extraordinary team that I rely on every day.
Thank you to the Chalmers St. team:
Mir Ateeb Ali, Vikas Routhu, Mike Shannon, Greg Snyder, and Verkia Ndzegha.
Thank you to all our clients who make it possible for us to continue pursuing our mission (which means helping you achieve yours!)
Thank you to all the readers of this newsletter and those of you that engage in CI Mastermind Live.
Thank you to all the others I’ve networked with over the years who help us execute strong business practices and deliver stellar results to our clients.
I look forward to continuing all of these relationships while chasing aggressive targets in 2026!