Lean Quote: Resolutions Start With Self Improvement

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing." — Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) Politician. President of the United States

What would you like to change in your life? The new year is traditionally the time to stop, take inventory and set positive goals for life change. And you don't have to focus only on diets or exercise. Improving the quality of your life is broader and more comprehensive and ultimately more important than your waistline. There's no good reason to dwell on the problems of the past unless you want to make yourself feel bad! You can only change the present and then the future. It's never too late.

There are certain self improvement tips you can use to keep your New Year’s Resolutions and keep in track with your self-set goals.

Stay Organized 
An organized work or personal space reflects an organized mind, and vice-versa. By keeping things, thoughts, and goals in order, it would be easy for you to remember your New Year’s Resolutions and stick to them.

Force Yourself to Remember 
Force yourself to remember by sticking to-do notes on your computer monitor (or make it your desktop background if you like), fridge, wallet, or even on your mobile phone. Seeing the same notes over and over again will help you keep your resolutions in mind even if your lifestyle is more chaotic than ever.

Focus on the Process 
Focus on the process rather than the end goal. Take each step one at a time and be happy with your progress. The only way you'll get to where you want to go is to complete every small step along the way, checking it off with pride as you accomplish each step.

This new year realize that all life problems can be improved. Giving up means surrendering to a negative situation rather than using your skills and finding support to move ahead in the best manner possible. Enjoy your journey. It's energizing. It's rewarding. It’s life changing.



 

The Top 10 Posts of 2012

As 2012 goes into the history books I want to take a moment to reflect on this past year. Nearly 159,000 people have visited the site this year which is more than double 2011.  I posted some 230 articles on the site this year.  It has truly been a very positive and full year. 

Here is a collection of the Top 10 posts for 2012 by views:

10. 5 Lean Leadership Behaviors to Transform Your Culture - posted March 5, presents 5 Lean leadership behaviors you need to emulate to make your transformation effective.

9. Lean Quote Impossible Is Not a Fact. It’s an Opinion. - posted July 20, from a popular feature analyzes a Muhammad Ali quote that nothing is impossible.

8. Challenges Facing the Manufacturing Industry - posted March 27, highlighted a new initiative from AME on revitalizing manufacturing in the US.

7. Management Improvement Blog Carnival #166 - posted May 10, was from hosting the Management Improvement Carnival reviewing a collection of recent blog posts.

6. Kanban Flow - A Free, Fast, & Flexible Kanban Tool - posted May 2, reviewed a web app called KanbanFlow for creating personal kanban systems.

5. New Webapp - Pomodoro Daisuki is a Simple Kanban Board - posted February 15, reviewed another new web app called Pomodoro Daisuki which can create simple personal kanban boards.

4. How Do You Define Quality? - posted February 14, was a post at truly attempts to define quality and it's importance to businesses.

3. Quality Improvement in Government? - posted May 22, an ASQ post that looks at why there aren't more quality initiatives in Government agencies.

2. 10 Characteristics of a Good Measure and 7 Pitfalls to Avoid - posted February 22, demonstrates 10 characteristics to create good performance measures and highlights several pitfalls to avoid.

1. The Six-Step Problem-Solving Process - posted May 15, describes a six step methodology that is necessary to solve any problem.


Do you have any favorites not on this list that you would like to share?  Leave a comment.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Merry Christmas and a Gift for You

Merry Christmas to all A Lean Journey Fans! Lean is a gift to us individually and to organizations empowering and inspiring improvement all around us. This holiday season I want to take the opportunity to thank all those who share the passion for continuous improvement and share in the learning on this blog. As a way of saying "Thank You" I want to share a gift you, a free copy of Henry Ford's "My Life and Work".


Henry Ford (1863-1947), founder of the Ford Motor Company, lays out the secret of his success in My Life and Work. Pretty much everything in the Toyota Production System can be found in Henry Ford's 1923 book "My Life and Work".


You can download your copy now here.


For those kindle users you can get a copy here

Twas a 5S Christmas

The folks over at Graphic Products received this great holiday poem which they shared in their newsletter. I thought it would be great to share with all of you.

Anonymous, 2012

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the plant
Machines were not running; production was scant.
We’d been forced to shut down and were incurring large fees,
Cause one of the workers dropped a wrench in line three.

Production mistakes had the owners complaining,
So we’d sent all the workers for refresher training.
The foreman in his hardhat, and I in my tie,
Had just settled down to discuss ROI. 

When out on the floor there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
And ripped the Venetian blinds off the wall with a crash.

The loading dock door somehow had been lifted,
And inside the door snow had already drifted.
When what did my wondering eyes then behold?
But a white-bearded man shuffling in from the cold.    

He had a broad face and a round little belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.
His eyes twinkled bright and his dimples were merry.
The foreman exclaimed, “Now this dude is scary.” 

He spoke not a word but went straight to work,
Rearranging and cleaning like some kind of jerk.
He threw things away that were taking up space,
And organized stuff that was in the right place.    

The tools that were needed he moved to be near;
Equipment not needed he moved to the rear.
He moved with precision, his speed it increased
I picked up the phone to call the police. 

Then from his beard, as pure white as winter,
He pulled out a small DuraLabel-brand printer.
He set it up quick, with no cord or cable,
In the blink of an eye he was printing out labels.   

“Label this counter space, label this drawer!
Label this cabinet, label some more!
From the top of the window to the base of the wall,
We’ll label everything, once and for all!” 

He yelled this out loud, the right jolly old elf,
I laughed to see him, in spite of myself.
He labeled the floor and he labeled the cables.
“With 5S in place, to work they’ll be able!”  

And then in a twinkling, I knew what he meant!
Our workplace had been as confusing as heck!
I joined him in working and when we were through,
You knew where things were and you knew what to do.

I thanked him profusely but he remained stoic,
And went to the break room and purchased a Coke.
I called him a hero, a magical man,  
But outside the building he’d already ran.

He greeted twelve reindeer and jumped in a sleigh
And up from the ground his team then flew away
But I heard him exclaim as they rose through the night:
“I’ll come back next Christmas to audit your site!”

Want more holiday cheer? DuraNews authors provide their DuraLabel-based holiday ideas for your reading pleasure.

Lean Quote: Don't Try to Boil the Ocean

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Don't try to boil the ocean." — Meg Whitman

If you haven’t heard this phrase before, it’s used as an illustrative term for saying you’re trying to do too much with the resources you have available—perhaps to the point of detriment. So when someone says to you, "Don't try to boil the ocean" they are saying you don't have enough of something needed to achieve such a large-scale goal. Unfortunately, we tend to tackle too many goals, overwhelming and exhausting ourselves before measurable progress is made. Many think they can fix everything and address every concern, which means little or nothing gets done, and then they lose focus and move on. All too often these companies lack a sense of realism and priority when dealing with problems. Sound familiar?

In the midst of a world of problems, avoid the temptation to boil the ocean. You can‘t do everything at once, as much as you would like to. You will kill yourself with stress and discouragement if you try. Change the things you can. Focus on conquering what is around you. Force yourself to focus, completing one or two tasks very well. Create action plans for dealing with one or two issues – achieving visible progress will serve to keep individuals interested, invested in the process, and give them a sense of accomplishment. Opportunities will present themselves when you do that. Those opportunities will then put a different set of challenges around you to tackle.

There is the easy and the difficult, the simple and the complex, the achievable and the ambitious. Attempting to “boil” the ocean is not a practical task to take on due to its sheer magnitude–failure is a near certainty. When trying to solve too large a problem or too many problems at once you make your chances of success slim. The better solution is to look to your strategic plan and objectives. Pick one or two activities that directly support these objectives. Do them. Actually accomplish. Don’t get part way on many tasks, but finish a few important tasks. 

Take a cup from your ocean of work and boil it instead of trying to boil the ocean to get a cup of water.


 

Lean Quote: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Actions speak louder than words! An expression where doing what you say you will do is a greater determinant of behavior and character. People can say anything, but when what they say and do are contrary, it’s easier to judge by what is done instead of by what is said. 

Let your team know that you will empower but in proportion to each team member’s ability and the amount each asks for. Err on the side of generosity. Be honest as you empower so that the team members know they need to support each other as they will all have doubts!

Set projects around staff development programs to encourage everyone to try out new ideas. These are assigned to a mentor who champions the ideas set out in the project and encourages follow up. Encourage empowered decisions and innovation by mentioning the ideas in company newsletters, meetings, etc, and by explaining the benefits that have accrued to the organisation. Develop team ownership and rewards by allocating part of the remuneration package to the achievement of departmental/team targets though it should be noted that empowerment should be the reward in itself.

People will usually listen to what you say, but they really pay attention to what you do. You can't say one thing and do another if you want to be effective as a leader. What you say is important. However if your actions are different than your words people will assume the actions are what is true.



 

No Email Day and Reducing E-mail Waste

Yesterday was No Email Day, a campaign to encourage people to stop using email for 24 hours for greater productivity and to realize how email has become abused/overused. The organizers would like you to do something more productive with the time saved from no email. This could simply involve other forms of communication like actually talking to someone face to face, picking up the phone or even writing a letter (remember those?) or spending time away from work to reconnect with the offline world.

In honor of this day I thought I would shares some rules that can help you reduce the inefficiencies that email can cause.

Some “Organizational Rules” to Reduce E-mail Waste 
Rule 1 – Limit “CC’s” to only those that are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. Make a rule that employees can choose to BLOCK all CC e-mails. 
Rule 2 – No more than two “cycles” back and forth between correspondents. If the issue is not resolved by that point, USE THE TELEPHONE! 
Rule 3 – No unnecessary forwarding of attachments; use a hyperlink instead. 
Rule 4 – Always include the POINT and URGENCY of the e-mail in both the subject line and the first few lines of the text. 
Rule 5 – Consider using the first few sentences of an e-mail as an ABSTRACT that summarizes the remainder of the communication. Below the abstract, add additional detail with the comment, “More detail follows…”. 
Rule 6 – KEEP IT BRIEF! No e-mail should be more than 20 lines in length (consider using a network filter to block any that are longer). 
Rule 7 – Start the subject line with “ACTION” whenever immediate action is required by the addressee. Actions should be identified at the beginning of the e-mail. 
Rule 8 – Try using the SUBJECT LINE to communicate the ENTIRE message, followed by “EOM” which stands for “End of Message”. 
Rule 9 – Limit the number of times during the day that you cleanup or respond to e-mails. Turn off the e-mail alarm, so YOU control when you deal with e-mail.

Fewer interruptions means more time spent at work on value added activities. Using these rules can help email from becoming a wasteful distraction that can cost companies and you lost productivity.

SAVE YOUR INBOX WITH 5S FOR EMAIL.