The Importance of Empowering Employees For Improvement

Empowering employees is the ongoing process of providing the tools, training, resources; encouragement and motivation your workers need to perform at the optimum level. If your organization is looking for a way to speed processes and still produce quality materials and services, focus on employee empowerment. When you show an employee you trust them, and give them timely information and the authority to find solutions, they will be able to solve problems and provide solutions more rapidly than someone without that empowerment.

Most corporations, however, fail to recognize and empower their most important assets: employees. Empowerment in the workplace is an often-misunderstood concept. Employee empowerment is a term that many managers and organizations think they understand, but few actually do, and even fewer really put into practice.

Many managers feel that by empowering employees, they relinquish the responsibility to lead and control the organization. This is not the case. Empowerment is actually a culmination of many of the ideas and tenets of employee satisfaction.

Employee empowerment has been described and defined in many ways but is generally accepted as: the process of enabling an employee to think, behave, act, react and control their work in more autonomous ways, as to be in control of one’s own destiny.

For an organization to practice and foster employee empowerment, the management must trust and communicate with employees. Employee communication is one of the strongest signs of employee empowerment in an organization. Management must be willing to communicate every aspect of the business to its employees in an open and honest manner. This communication may include: elements of the strategic plan, financial performance, key performance indicators and daily-decision making.

Effective employee empowerment not only has positive implications for employee satisfaction, but also many other organizational facets. Empowerment of employees results in increased initiative, involvement, enthusiasm & innovation. From large corporate giants to a small business operation, this concept holds true. This is because; empowerment caters to an important human need which is common to any employee, regardless of work setting. This is the need for recognition and self actualization. In some people, this quality is high while you may find others with a limited level of these needs. Sometimes, the need may exist yet, overshadowed by other more pressing needs or hides deliberately to suit organizational culture. Yet, it is important for managers to realize that each employee can be given responsibility, decision making rights, and resource allocation powers so that they can complete an assigned task successfully with minimum management intervention. This in fact creates “mini managers” who are self directed across all levels of the business.

Good people that are enabled to make decisions and take autonomous action are a competitive force that can transform every aspect of your business.

Ten Guiding Quality Principles To Differentiate Your Business

Quality is an important factor when it comes to any product or service. With high market competition, quality has become the market differentiator for almost all products and services. Therefore, all manufacturers and service providers out there constantly look for ways of enhancing their product or the service quality.

Organizations that are successful at creating superiority in quality make use of numerous strategies. It is my experience that despite some differences in these strategies among organizations, there was a long list of common practices.

To continually improve your products and services in accordance with the customer needs and in order to prosper in your business keep with the following principles.

1. The Customer defines our Quality. Their opinion of our products and services is paramount.
2. Quality comes first. To achieve customer satisfaction, the quality of our products and services must be our number one priority.
3. Zero Defects is the Goal! Our Quality goal is to be defect free and provide industry leading reliability.
4. Our work must be done with our customers in mind, providing better products and services than our competition.
5. Not only do our Customer assess the quality of our products, but also the quality of our services. Deliveries must be on time. Quality includes service Quality not just product Quality.
6. Quality is everyone’s job. Each individual can influence some parts of the manufacturing process of a product or service they provide, therefore, effecting the quality of its output AND ultimately the customer’s satisfaction.
7. Quality excellence can best be achieved by preventing problems rather than by detecting and correcting them after they occur. Focus on prevention rather than detection.
8. Continuous improvement is essential to our success. We must strive for excellence in everything we do, in our products, in their safety and value, in our services, our human relations, our competitiveness and our profitability. Every employee plays a role in Continuous Improvement.
9. Do it right the 1st time all the time. All work must be without defects from the very beginning. The standard of quality can be attained by completing standardized process, which assures not only improvement in the quality level, but also effects cost optimization.
10. Customer and suppliers are our partners. The company must maintain mutually beneficial relationships with customers, suppliers and our associates.
11. Each employee is a customer for work performed by other employees or suppliers, with a right to expect good work from others and an obligation to contribute work of high quality to those who, in turn, are his or her customer.
12. Employee involvement is our way of life. We are a team. We must treat each other with trust and respect.

Organizations that engage in a relentless pursuit of delivering high-quality products and services outperform those that do not. Customers’ satisfaction depends on having the right quality of goods and services to meet their needs. Ensuring achievement of quality goals is an important management duty. Quality directives should be compulsory to everyone in the corporation. Compliance to customer expectations (not just specifications) is a must.

Lean Quote: It's Okay to Be Wrong

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.

"If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." — Sir Ken Robinson

Many people think it’s the end of the world if they’re wrong. They’ll go through all kinds of contortions to not admit a mistake, even going as far as covering things up, blaming someone else or denying that it ever happened. The amazing thing is that being wrong is liberating. It gives you a chance to stop, reevaluate and move in a more beneficial direction.

The ability to be wrong is a significant part of self-awareness because it indicates that you’re mature and healthy enough to admit a mistake, learn from it and move on. It’s the difference between an individual who stays stuck repeating the same error over and over because he never fixes the underlying cause and the person who is able to move past it. You get to choose whether being wrong holds you back or helps you grow and succeed.

"Wrongologist" Kathryn Schulz makes a compelling case for not just admitting but embracing our fallibility.

 

Resist The Tendency To Skip The Current State Map For Real Improvement

A reader who recently watched “The Secrets to Creating an Effective Value StreamMap Webinar” asked when is okay to skip the current state map.

A value-stream map is a visual depiction of the flow of materials and information that provide the customer with a product or service. It also describes the lead time of various operations and can be used as a starting point for analyzing necessary activities and the amount of waste in the value stream. A current state value-stream map depicts the current situation as is. A future state value-stream map depicts what the value stream should look like after planned improvements have been implemented. Value-stream mapping is a useful tool for grasping the current situation and for planning improvements.

There is a tendency to skip mapping the current state and go directly to the future state map. But if we don’t understand the current process, we can’t really make intelligent decisions about how the future current state might or should look. A lot of companies want to skip the development of the current state map and get right into brainstorming ideas for improvement. We must reduce this impulse.

Skipping the current state map is like building a house without surveying the land or visiting the site.  Doing so can lead to a home that can’t be built and an upset homeowner.

The key to creating an excellent current state values stream map is to document what you actually see with your own eyes. We are not interested in how the process is supposed to work, or was designed to work. Always collect current-state information while walking the actual process to understand the real flow. You will uncover more going to the Gemba.

Too many Lean practitioners skip value stream analysis and jump right to identifying specific sources of waste and removing them. Unfortunately, as they note, this often results in local improvements, but rarely results in significant overall improvements in the overall value stream or in improved products for customers. To really have an impact, you need to begin by streamlining the entire value stream, and only after that, drill down into specific processes to eliminate waste.

The current state allows us to “see” the waste which enables us to develop future state value stream maps, identify opportunities for improvement, and initiate improvement action plans. If you don’t do the Current State, you might never find your waste and once you do one and find the waste, it give you a platform for continuous improvement.

Leaders Are You Developing Your Employees

One of the most important qualities of a good leader is the ability and desire to develop their employees. Taking an active role in the development of your team demonstrates confidence and concern for the future of the organization.

All people have more energy and ability within them than they could ever imagine. Your job, as a leader, is to discover this truth for the benefit of your organization as well as yourself. When you discover someone’s potential, you can help her develop her potential and become more productive and skillful. There is no service better than helping others to soar to excellence and become better human beings.

Unfortunately, many organizations do not plan properly for the development of their people and teams. People development without proper planning in place normally results in internal and external conflict, which leads to confusion, low productivity, less motivation, and therefore loss in various ways. When the right plan for development is designed based on the employees’ needs, desires, and potential the expected positive outcome will be achieved.

You can’t move forward if you don’t grow and you can’t grow if you never leave your comfort zone. When possible, give your employees challenging assignments. Help them prepare by providing them a safe environment to learn from the mistakes that they are bound to make.

Most people want to learn and grow their skills at work. Encourage experimentation and taking reasonable risk to develop employee skills. Get to know them personally. Ask what motivates them. Ask what career objectives they have and are aiming to achieve. You can make their career.

There is nothing more demotivating than feeling you’re in a dead-end job. Talk to employees about what direction they’d like to see their career path take, and help them identify opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them achieve those goals. Share with them ideas they can use for their own career management within the organization. Move past any fear you may have of your employees leaving – by caring about their growth and aspirations, you will probably get a more productive, loyal, and longer-term team member than if you don’t have these conversations.

Managerial training responsibilities extend far beyond simply going over work procedures and sending employees to classes when they need to master a new skill. Effective workforce training is an ongoing process that requires supervisors to engage in ongoing skill development with their employees. Managers must engage in informal training needs assessment on an ongoing basis, paying attention to employees' strengths and weaknesses and identifying gaps that can be overcome through training opportunities.

In order to get the most from your employees, you need to invest time and resources in their development. Annual performance reviews simply aren’t enough. Make a point to sit down with each employee on a monthly basis (or more frequently, if possible) and provide them with specific feedback and areas of improvement.

Creating a positive learning environment will encourage development and help your employees gain confidence in their position. Learning should be relaxed and clearly explain the reasoning behind every new exercise and lesson. Negativity will only inhibit the learning process, so it's important to be patient, allow for mistakes, and always reward new achievements. This positive feedback will reinforce and affirm the efforts of your employees, and encourage them to continue learning.

Remember, as a manager, one of your primary duties is to develop your people. Your employees are your most important resource.

Lean Quote: Leave Your Excuses At The Door

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.

"I do not believe in excuses. I believe in hard work as the prime solvent of life's problems." — James Cash Penney

Many businesses will face immense challenges on the road to success. They will also be presented with opportunities to overcome these challenges. Don’t squander your potential with self-imposed limitations. Don’t make excuses for why you cannot capitalize on your opportunities.

The story of NASCAR's Richie Parker asks you to leave your excuses at the door.

“I can’t say that there’s things I can’t do. Just things that I haven’t done yet.” Richie Parker is an automotive engineer at NASCAR racing team Hendrick Motorsports

On your transformational journey there will undoubtedly be challenges but learn for Richie Parker to leave excuses at the door. This inspirational video should be a lesson to us all that we can overcome much more difficult challenges if we set our mind to it.

 

Daily Lean Tips Edition #55 (811-825)

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey.  Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Click this link for A Lean Journey's Facebook Page Notes Feed.

Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #811 - Share Successes Within Your Company

One of the best parts about creating an environment that fosters collaboration and experimentation is sharing successes and failures so that everyone can learn from it. When you do something that you consider a success such as developed a new app or even a new strategy that was effective, share it. Not only can it benefit the community at large but it will make your staff feel recognized and feel that they are contributing to something bigger.

Lean Tip #812 - Commit to Culture Change and Failing Fast

While creating a culture of collaboration and innovation within a very traditional and rigid organizational structure can be challenging it can definitely be achieved. But, make no mistake it requires a major culture change within the entire organization that must be led from the top. Senior management must focus on breaking down the silos in the organization to have more of an open culture and leadership.

Lean Tip #813 - Celebrate the Work of Others.

Celebrate your successes! Find ways to publicize your ongoing collaborative work, giving credit to those who have taken on new roles. As projects draw to a close, focus on the ways collaborative work has enhanced the customer and company. Use your celebrations to recruit new supporters and fortify future collaboration. In this way, collaboration becomes rooted in the company’s culture.

Lean Tip #814 - Keep Your Organizational Hierarchy as Flat as Possible to Foster Collaboration.

The more layers and levels of management, team leaders division heads, etc., that you have in your company, the more challenging it becomes for information to travel throughout the organization, and the more people are likely to become territorial. BY keeping the layers of information to minimal we can empower people to provide solutions and to be directly attached to all of our company goals.

Lean Tip #815 - Push Decision Making Down

Try to push decision making down to the lowest level of your organization. If you allow the people in your company who are directly connected to the problems that emerge, to be able to make decisions to fix those problems, you typically will get the best solutions. More succinctly put, the people who encounter the problems all of the time, usually know the best ways to fix the problems. We know that if you do not empower those who encounter the problems to be able to make decisions in how we fix them, then ultimately everyone just develops "work arounds" and the problem gets greatly delayed in being resolved.

Lean Tip #816 - Establish the Core Values that Comprise the Continuous Improvement Culture.

Establish the core values that comprise the continuous improvement culture such as a focus on supporting the customer, teamwork throughout the extended enterprise, receptivity to evolving continuous improvement concepts and tools. These core values will create a sense of belonging and a common vision for all involved.

Lean Tip #817 – Regular Communication Fosters Collaboration

Ensure regular communications to foster collaborative interactions among leaders, stakeholders, and practitioners at all levels.  Where needed, schedule face to face meetings and where not needed, use the communication and collaboration tools and capabilities of the enterprise to keep all members updated and involved.

Lean Tip #818 - Use a Consistent Approach for Projects

A consistent and structured approach for project identification and execution will provide the organization with the ability to identify, select, and manage continuous improvement projects. It should also provide post-closing process steps to continually refine the improvement project methodology and to act upon the lessons learn from the project effort.

Lean Tip #819 - Facilitate Process-Centric Thinking

Process-centric thinking does not have to be overly complex. Sometimes, all it takes is a thoughtful examination to uncover significant areas for improvement. Rather than tolerating mistakes and repeat errors, facilitate process-centric thinking to continually improve, correct, and overcome execution difficulties.

Lean Tip #820 - Turn Employees into Problem Solvers and Improvement Specialists

The most important aspect of lean is to involve employees in developing lean processes. Many times companies create a culture in which the employees don't make the decisions, management does. Then when problems occur, employees are unable to diagnose or solve problems without involving a supervisor. lean reverses that by revolving around employees and looking to them as the improvement specialists.

Lean Tip #821 - Measure, Audit, Review and Continue to Improve Processes

A common saying with our lean program is, “If you can't measure, you can't improve.” Without a baseline, you will not be able to show improvements, so you must measure virtually every process.

Use audits to not only sustain the improvements from Kaizen, but also expose new problems and resolve them with your employees' involvement and input.

Create a culture that continually looks to improve processes — even ones that aren't broken. Through lean you will learn to look at things differently and develop an eye for improvement. The key is to get as many “eyes for improvement” as possible.

Lean Tip #822 - Teach Others What You Learn.

One of the best ways to deepen and solidify your new knowledge is to teach it to others. Give a presentation, run a seminar, teach a class, or volunteer to run a small internal workshop to teach others in your organization what you are learning. Real learning occurs when you share it.

Lean Tip #823 - Focus on the Big Picture

Explain the long-range plans of the company and reinforce them regularly. People often become so focused on today's problems and routine duties that they lose sight of the big picture. When some members of the team concentrate on putting out fires, others can dedicate more time to reviewing processes to eliminate future problems.

Lean Tip #824 - Create a "We" Culture

Team building starts at the top. If senior executives encourage an environment where the organization uses less "I" and more "we" in how they communicate, everyone will feel supported, included and important to the organization. This eliminates an employee's fear of standing alone and shows that the entire organization is thinking about the company.

Lean Tip #825 - Recognize Success, Regardless of Its Origin

The worst organizations are those that think good ideas or successful programs only come from senior-level individuals. Conversely, good organizations encourage creative thinking from all levels and give credit when a creative idea or solution comes from junior or mid-level employees. This is one of the most crucial components of developing a teamwork-based culture.