Lean Quote: Effective Listening

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.

"Of all the skills of leadership, listening is the most valuable—and one of the least understood. Most captains of industry listen only sometimes, and they remain ordinary leaders. But a few, the great ones, never stop listening. That's how they get word before anyone else of unseen problems and opportunities." — Peter Nulty, National Business Hall of Fame Fortune Magazine

The following keys are a positive guideline to better listeing.  In fact, they are at the heart of delevoping better listening habits that could last a lifetime.

Now the choice is yours.  Are you going to be a bad listener or a good listener?

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The Value Of Time

I use the scheduling application Tungle.me which syncs with my existing calendars for easy scheduling and efficiency.  The folks at Tungle.me are trying to understand the needs of the calendar of the future.  As part of this they took a look at illustrating what the value of time is:

The Calendar of the Future got us thinking about the value of time. Every day, hour and minute is more than a spot to fill on your calendar. It's more than a meeting, reminder or tick of the clock. It's our lives.

Time is not a renewable resource, and it waits for no one.

The team at Tungle.me thinks sometimes a little perspective is all we need.



I think Tungle.me has a great point:

Time waits for no-one so what are you waiting for?
Stop wasting time on things you can't control and focus on things you can.

Guest on the Lean Nation Radio Show

I am excited to be a guest on the world famous The Lean Nation radio show Today, Wednesday, October 13 from 4-5pm (ET) on 790 AM Talk and Business, hosted by Karl Wadensten. We're going to discuss what Lean, leadership, and learning have in common.

I have been on the show twice previously.  During my first time I visited VIBCO during tax seaon where we held the show from the Rhode Island State House this past April.  My second appearance on the show was duing SME's EASTEC show this past May.

Lean and Government with Karl on Tax Day 2010

Lean Nation Show from EASTEC

You can listen to my appearance live on 790AM (Citadel Broadcasting, ABC Affiliate) in Providence, RI. The show is also globally available via a live audio stream at 790business.com. I would love to hear your opinions and answer your questions, so feel free to call in to the show. The call-in number is 401-437-5000 or toll free at 888-345-0790.

Can't tune in live? The podcast will be available after the show!

The Lean Nation is the hottest new show on 790AM and airs from 4-5pm, weekdays and streams online at 790business.com. The Lean Nation features real world examples and actionable advice from local and national business leaders on how to reinvent yourself into a lean operation in business and in life. The show's host, Karl Wadensten, is the president of VIBCO, a Rhode Island manufacturing company. Over the last 3 years VIBCO has created a Lean Revolution, using lean methodologies (based on the Toyota Production System). I am looking forward to the opportunity to visit the Gemba at VIBCO prior to the show.

Take a moment to visit The Lean Nation facebook page and join the nearly 500 members.

Lean Quote: Be Accountable, Not a Victim

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.

"When you blame others, you give up your power to change." ~ Dr. Robert Anthony

This accountability chart reflects the different levels of acceptance and non-acceptance of responsibility.  We all operate at different levels of the victim-accountability chart based on the situation.

The more we operate in the victim levels, the more energy is expended in blaming and making excuses.  We are less likely to produce the desired results.

The more we operate in the accountability levels, the more energy is expanded in acknowledging our role, taking responsibility for the problem, in finding solutions.  We are more likely to produce the desired results.

In conclusion, I think it is appropriate to end with this quote:

“Accountability breeds response-ability.” - Stephen R. Covey

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Lean Fulfillment Stream Webinar

In a recent post I reviewed the most recent publication from Lean Enterprise Institute entitled Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream by Robert Martichenko and Kevin von Grabe.  

My summary of the book included:

Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream is a much needed and very complementary addition to the LEI workbook series. The workbook is easy to read with lots of illustrations and examples. It highlights a number of supply chain strategies that Lean organizations will want to understand. This is a good place to start for those lean leaders getting ready to tackle improvements in their supply chain. I recommend adding this book to your Lean library today.

Now the Lean Enterprise Institute is offering a free webinar by the authors of this book called Lean Logistics and Supply Chain Networks: 8 Guiding Principles. This is a proven method for applying lean principles to supply chains and logistics that turns them into smoothly flowing "fulfillment streams" while reducing the total cost of fulfillment.

Robert Martichenko and Kevin von Grabe at logistics provider LeanCor have identified eight guiding principles for lean fulfillment:
1. Eliminate waste in the fulfillment stream so that only value remains. (The types of waste are defects or correction, overproduction, waiting, not engaging employees, transportation, inventory, motion, and excessive processing.)
2. Make customer consumption visible to all members of the fulfillment stream.
3. Reduce inbound and outbound logistics lead time.
4. Create level flow
5. Use pull systems.
6. Increase velocity and reduce variation.
7. Collaborate and use process discipline.
8. Focus on total cost of fulfillment.

Robert and Kevin will explain how each guiding principle plays a critical role in creating a lean fulfillment stream during this free webinar on Thursday, Oct. 14, at 2 p.m. (Eastern).
You can also find more information on lean logistics from  LeanCor's  The Lean Logistics Blog.  This blog is place to discuss lean logistics and lean supply chain best practices, industry thought leadership, and continuous improvement.  It is written by LeanCor in-house and on-site lean logistics managers, engineers and consultants, this blog contains lean tools, tips, and tricks from lean practitioners doing the work every day.

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Stop Multi-tasking Before You Can't Anymore!

According to Stanford professor Clifford Nass, the more you multi-task, the worse you get at it, and it adversely impacts your ability to do all kinds of things a brain should do (like, you know, think).

 

Nass, author of The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships, offers a number of tidbits in this video interview:

Anything that makes noise or flashes when something happens is designed to distract you and grab your attention. It's guaranteed to break your concentration and force you to switch tasks. If you are trying to focus, turn them off.

Team building exercises in companies are largely a waste of time. There are very simple things that help us feel bonded with one another.  (Something for me that needs more reflection.)

Us vs. Them is a great impulse in team building. The sense of "us" has a very powerful bonding effect for people. Nass cautions that it has to be thought through. If everyone is "us," then the sense of team is diluted somewhat.

People that multi-task all the time
•Less able to discern relevant from irrelevant
•Less able to manager their memory
•Less able to switch from task to task

Designing interfaces to encourage multi-tasking is the wrong thing to do because it creates bad thinking.

If you want to check email, you must spend 15 minutes with it. Force yourself to spend longer stretches of time when you switch tasks. This will essentially create a mindset of single-tasking instead.

We know more is coming, we just don't know always what it will look like.

We can't have everything. We can't handle the problem of "more" by doing many things simultaneously. We need to become more discriminating and make harder choices. Specifically, we need to stop saying "yes" to everything, and explicitly decide what we will NOT consume, particularly when new materials become available.

Random reinforcement is the best way to grab your attention - better than regular reinforcement. The brain is just wired that way. Turn off the all those alerts!

Instead, make a conscious decision about what you are going to do in each block of time. At the end of the block scan the possible input streams and possible activities, and focus on that for the next block of time. Nass suggests that those blocks are 15-30 minutes.

The more you try the multi-task the worse you are at it. By focusing in blocks of time, when you do nee to multi-task you will be better at it.

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It’s Simply Practice, 10,000 hours of it.

This year I am coaching my oldest sons' mite hockey team (6-8 year olds).  While at a recent training session for coaches an interesting statistic caught my attention:

Consider this: Two-thirds of Canada's pro hockey players were born in January or February. The same holds true in college and high-school all-star teams.

You may ask yourself why.  Well, it turns out that youth leagues in Canada organize kids by age, based on the calendar year. Children born in the first two months of the year are inevitably larger and more coordinated than teammates six to 10 months younger. So they get more ice time, more coaching, and more chances to excel from practice.

In the book Outliers, written by Malcolm Gladwell, it challenges common assumptions about high achievers as it builds a case for nurture over nature, attitude over aptitude.  His insistence that cultural heritage, timing, persistence, and an eye for the main chance are the determinants of success is sure to have readers considering their own destinies.

He also dismisses the notion that the "gifted child" who scores at the top of intelligence tests has advantages. Although some smarts are necessary, beyond a certain level they don't help. What does matter, he says, is simply practice - 10,000 hours of it.  Gladwell repeatedly mentions the "10,000-Hour Rule", claiming that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.  He quotes neurologist Daniel Levitin, who says that scientific studies show that 10,000 hours are required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert — in anything.  .

The 10,000-hour rule undoubtedly applies to Lean. If you want and need to become outstanding at Lean thinking, or at least proficient at Lean, but you don't have the time for 10,000 hours — or 20 hours a week for 10 years. What can you do?

Seize every educational, networking, and mentoring opportunity available.  Attend conferences, participate in educational webinars, and read expert books and articles like those in this blog.  While you can't replace your own learning by tapping into the knowledge of people who have their 10,000 hours, you will reach a level of proficiency that otherwise would have taken years — or 10,000 hours — to gain.

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