Respect for People: Importance of Work-Life Balance and Taking Time Off

Despite our best intentions to live balanced lives, the modern world demands that we are almost always connected and productive, and this can drain us emotionally, spiritually, and physically. With our hectic lifestyle, we often underestimate the power of relaxation. Most of us have a massive to-do list each day, and we feel we can't afford to slow our pace or we'll quickly fall behind. However, we fail to acknowledge the ways that relaxation can increase our stamina, clear our thoughts, and allow us to get much more accomplished with less effort.

Employees need work–life balance.  It is important for employees to take care of themselves. That means paying attention to all needs, physical, mental, psychological and spiritual.

The more balanced people can be in all these areas, the more creativity and fresh perspective they have to bring to their work. If employees are depleted of energy, then they do not perform a peak levels. Vacation time-off is one key to maintaining this balance. Taking time off can be very positive for the employees and everyone they interact with at work.

If you respect your people you will reward them for their time and effort with a good work-life balance. Giving workers plenty of personal time is very important. This can, in turn, lead to increasing the quality of the work the employees perform. The reason for this is because, first of all, it shows the employees that the company respects their time and, in turn, the employee will respect the company's time by doing their best. Another reason for this is that employees do get burned out, and do need to take mental breaks from working too long.

A more satisfied employee with proper work-life balance has more to give on a daily basis. Most people that have a sense of balance in their lives, between the personal and professional, adapt well to change. It seems that those employees that have other interests, beyond the workplace, deal with change much better than those who are “married” to their jobs. Encourage your staff to have other, meaningful life experiences. Support your employees' getting a real life, hobby, pastime or other interests. Convince them that you understand and encourage a strong work-life balance. Your staff will appreciate your concern and position on this subject. Whether or not they verbalize their need for balance (or even consciously understand that it exists), your staff will appreciate your interest in their total—not just workplace—well-being.

I must say I have enjoyed my time off these last two weeks.  I can’t say it has been completely restful since we have been very busy however the change of pace and time with the family has been invigorating. Next week it is back to normal routine again.

Walt Disney, The Lean Thinker

One of the most successful people that we all know and love is none other than Walt Disney. Walt Disney is the famous voice and creator of Mickey Mouse and the founder of Disneyland. The Father of Mickey Mouse was a Lean Thinker before Lean became well known.

Here are five valuable lessons of competition, the impossible, bias for action, curiosity, and improvement that demonstrate Disney was a Lean Thinker

Competition is Good

“I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn’t know how to get along without it.”

Competition makes you stronger, it makes you better, it keeps you on your toes. Never shrink away from competition; never fail to see the value of competition. Your competitors can provide you with more value than your friends. Learn from the competition, and you will grow.

It’s critical that you embrace competition as well as adversity, Walt Disney said, “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”

Do the Impossible

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”

Walt Disney said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” Life is too short to spend it doing the possible. Learn to pursue the impossible, pursue what others say can’t be done, pursue what has never been done before, pursue your dreams, and turn them into a reality.

You must believe in the beauty of your dreams. Walt said, “When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.” If you’re going to believe, you might as well believe all the way.

Action Always Trumps Inaction

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

I always say that “well done” is better than “well said,” so quit talking and start doing! Quit planning and start practicing; a plan is good, a good plan is even better, but if that plan doesn't get put into action it’s as useless as a four fingered glove. Learn to get into action, start today, whatever you've been postponing …just do it. If you wait for the perfect time, you’ll never accomplish anything.

Curiosity Brings New Solutions

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

I don’t believe in shortcuts because they take too long.

But if there ever was a shortcut, it’s asking for advice from people who are further down the path to you. Find others who do what you want to do, and seek support from them. Let their past mistakes and failures guide you towards your dream.

If the thought of reaching out scares you, remember that they are a lot like you. At some stage, they've also asked for help on what to do next. Don’t be afraid. Be nice and show them respect. It works.

Get Better Daily

“Whenever I go on a ride, I’m always thinking of what’s wrong with the thing and how it can be improved.”

Every day you should become a little better than you were the day before. If you can become one percent better daily, you can recreate your life every 100 days. Learn to get better daily; look for ways to improve, to be kinder, more intelligent, and more helpful.

Disney’s work continues to inspire us and his world-famous cartoons live on. But some of Disney’s best lessons are about how he approached life with an endless dose of curiosity and determination to entertain and awaken the child within us.

Wouldn't you say these are the mark of a Lean leader? Do you think Walt Disney demonstrated such?

Lean Quote: Disney - Developing People is Vital

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 things I've done, the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them toward a certain goal." — Walt Disney

Today, I am still on vacation in Disney with the family where dreams come true. So with this in mind I wanted to look at a quote from Walt Disney on leadership. This one in particular highlights the important role of leaders to develop employees..

Every leader has two jobs. Your job is to help the team succeed by accomplishing your mission. That's the job that gets the most attention, but your other job is just as important. Your job is to help your team members succeed, too. "Succeed" means doing a good job, developing skills, earning autonomy, growing, and much more. Neither job is "the most important." They're equally important, and often support each other if done well.

Developing people means challenging people. But just issuing challenges isn’t enough. It would be disrespectful to not also teach a systematic, common means of developing solutions and meeting those challenges. Leaders facilitate the solution of problems by pinpointing responsibility and developing employees. Leaders do not solve other people’s problems. 

Good leadership is not reflected in the leader’s actions, it is reflected in the impact and effect of those actions on the team. A leader should adapt to the environment and what the team needs today without losing sight of what will be needed tomorrow and always preparing for that moment when he or she will no longer be there. Guaranteeing the growth and sustainability of the team and the individuals that comprise it beyond the leader’s time is the ultimate trait of a great leader. In fact, the true success of a leader can not be measured without considering the results of the succession plan.

 

Leadership Lessons From Walt Disney - Part 2

While I am on vacation at Disney World I a sharing some leadership lessons from Walt Disney himself.  To continue from the previous post on Leadership Lessons from Disney we will discuss another 6 lessons. 

#7 Explore, Probe, And Know What Is Going On In Your Organization… And Act Upon The Information! 
Leaders cannot make the right decisions or take the right actions without knowing the truth. You need many ways to stay informed. One of the best ways to know what is going on is to establish comfortable relationships so that people at every level feel comfortable discussing an issue or topic with you. Be available for people when they need you. Learn the truth by observing your operation from the customer and employee points of view regularly.

#8 Actively Observe And React To The Performance Of Your Direct Reports - Take Time For Recognition, Coaching, And Counseling! 
Feedback is a powerful thing, and it is hard to improve without it because we have a hard time seeing our own faults as others see them. Train yourself to always notice performance, both positive and negative, and provide feedback. Coach and train your team on better ways to perform as a role model because people learn from what they observe more than what they are told. You deserve what you tolerate so never ignore or tolerate poor performance or bad behavior. Learn to think of “ARE”: Appreciation, Recognition, and Encouragement.

#9 Expand And Act Upon Knowledge And Experience Of The Best Service Available Anywhere! 
Don’t be a dinosaur. Continuously learn and expand on your knowledge and experience in these four areas: 1) Technical competence 2) Management competence 3) Technology competence 4) Leadership competence Keep up with the fast pace change in your business. Participate in professional networking, learn from your competitors, and aggressively solicit input on best practices. 

#10 Partner Effectively And Successfully With Staff And Other Cross-functional Partners! Partnership skills may be one of the reasons that some Leaders get such great results and are remembered fondly while other fail because they do not develop strong relationships with people. A good partner is available, keeps people informed, honors commitments, responds promptly, and stands up for what is right. Build trust by welcoming input and constructive feedback and asking for and offering help. 

#11 Demonstrate A Passionate, Professional Commitment To Your Role!!! 
Passion is the driving force that enables people to attain far more than they ever imagined. Commitment means you will go all the way for what you believe in. Passion and commitment go hand in hand. Demonstrate personal ownership by doing it right, and doing it right each and every time you do it. Make sure your job is something you love to do and be excited about coming to work. Remember to have a positive attitude because of the saying “Good attitude, good results; bad attitude, bad results.” 

#12 Understand And Demonstrate Mastery Of Business Fundamentals! 
Understand your business unit’s strategic plan and that of the company. Continuously improve your core business processes so they will create a competitive advantage. Be aware of global trends that may impact your business for the better and the worst. Don’t be a fence sitter. Be decisive and make tough choices. Know where and when to take risks and when to be cautious. Learn to operate the business as if it were your own. 

The trail of success always leads back to leadership. Poor leadership or great leadership has a lot to do with everything that happens in the world in one way or another. Leadership is simply defined as making the right things happen. What do you think, did Walt Disney get it right? Are you employing these lessons to be a great leader or do you know someone you exemplifies these lessons?

Leadership Lesson From Walt Disney - Part 1

For the next two weeks I will be taking some time off with my family rejuvenating. We are vacationing in Disney with our 3 young kids.  I am always amazed by the visionary and frankly Lean-like thinking of Walt Disney.  To that end I would like to share some leadership lessons from Disney that we can all learn from.

#1 Foster An Inclusive Environment! 
 Workplace inclusion is making sure that everyone matters and that everyone knows that he or she matters. It is about engaging and involving your team by asking their opinion and making it clear you want to hear their point of view. One of the main responsibilities of Leader is to develop future Leaders. Personally get involved and take time to do the so-called soft stuff really well otherwise your team won’t take care of the hard stuff. Disney defined its approach to inclusion with the acronym RAVE for Respect, Appreciate, and Value Everyone. 

#2 Design Your Organization Structure For Success… “Break the Mold!” 
Organization structure is critical to getting the best results. The most important thing is to make sure that every individual clearly and completely understands what he or she is responsible for, what level of authority he or she has, and how he or she will be held accountable. 

#3 Make Sure You Have The Right People In The Right Roles! 
Hiring new people and promoting people to new levels are really important to do well and carefully. Each time you have an opening you have the opportunity to add talent and strength your team. Make sure the candidate has the right level of expertise and experience for the job but also consider how the person will blend in with the current team. 

 #4 Ensure That Employees Are Knowledgeable About Their Roles! 
Leaders are responsible to train and develop their team members. Education is power. Training and development are two of the best ways to improve self-confidence and self-esteem in everyone. Lead by example - attend all training, communicate best practices, and observe actual conditions and behaviors. The best way to develop people is for the leadership to be actively involved in coaching, counseling, and educating the employees. 

#5 Make Dramatic Leaps In Service! 
Make dramatic improvements for customers, employees, and for business results. Great leaders don’t maintain anything. In order to improve things you need to know how good they are. Demonstrate zero tolerance for anything but perfection. Visit other places known for “world class excellence” and see what you can learn. 

#6 Implement Effective, Structured Processes For Getting Work Done! 
We have a process for everything. Leaders have the responsibility to identify process problems and opportunities for improvement so that they are not a hassle and that the make sense. Ask the people doing the work and customers using your products or services for their opinion. Spend time finding out what process made things go wrong and change that versus looking for someone to blame. Great Leaders ask “why” a lot. Implement processes that work and follow-up to ensure they are still working. 

 Stay tuned, in the next post I will present another 6 great lessons of a Great Leader.

Lean Quote: The Truths of Failure

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 can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying." — Michael Jordan

Success always starts with the knowledge of what failure would be, because if you haven't defined what failure is, you haven't defined what it isn't, i.e. success.

Ultimately though, we most often learn through trial and error. We reserve the word success for the accomplishment of difficult things and there are few difficult things you get right on the first try.

Hence while success does not ALWAYS start with failure, it would be fair to say it does most of the time. If you aren't failing, you're not trying, and if you aren't trying you aren't succeeding.

Some of the most successful people are those who fail the most. With each failure you grow, you become bigger, you learn new and important things and you get one step closer to reaching your goals.

Big dreams and big goals can only be realized as long as you are ready to fail – again and again. Learn from the most successful people and adopt a similar attitude towards failure.

The happiest and most successful people know that…

#1: Failure is an integral part on the way to success and self realization.

#2: Whenever you step outside the comfort zone and whenever you try something new, failure becomes inevitable.

#3: Each failure brings you one step closer to reaching your goals.

#4: Failure is a great teacher and it allows you to learn some of the most valuable life lessons.

#4: Each failure makes you stronger, bigger and better.

#6: Making mistakes is not a big deal as long as you learn from them and avoid repeating them.

#7: Failure teaches you that a certain approach may not be ideal for a specific situation and that there are better approaches.

#8: Successful people will never laugh at you or judge you when you fail, because they have already been there and they know about the valuable lessons you can learn from failure.

#9: No matter how often you fail, you are not a failure as long as you don’t give up.

#10: Each time you fail, your fear of failure becomes smaller, which allows you to take on even bigger challenges.

Treat every mistake as an opportunity to learn and grow. Don’t feel stupid or doomed forever just because you failed at something. You can always find other opportunities. Failure is an expected part of the process of finding solutions.

Fear of failure is a genuinely scary thing for many people, and often the reason that individuals do not attempt the things they would like to accomplish. But the only true failure is failure to make the attempt. If you don't try, you gain nothing, and life is too short a thing to waste.

The 10 Truths of Failure originate from Robert Spadinger at Pick the Brain.

Read more at http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/10-great-lessons-can-learn-highly-successful-people-failure/#KvXKhH748ChbVQjM.99

 

Daily Lean Tips Edition #66 (991-1005)

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 #991 - Get On Board With Change

A manager must be supportive of a change before he or she can successfully lead direct reports through the change process. This means that managers and supervisors have sufficient awareness and desire around the change itself before they begin engaging their direct reports. To achieve this, the change management plan must have specific elements aimed at building support with managers and supervisors.

Lean Tip #992 – Build Competency for Change

“Leading change” is a personal competency that managers and supervisors can build. And, the competency is not necessarily natural. It takes a particular set of skills to lead a group of employees through a change process. Many times, there are great managers who struggle in times of change. Appreciating “leading change” as a unique personal competency and working to build that competency in managers and supervisors is a critical step, and one that is often overlooked.

Lean Tip #993 – Provide the Tools Necessary For Change

Managers and supervisors not only need competencies in leading change, they need tools to help them help their people in times of change. Many times, the tools needed to manage change are different than the normal tools managers are familiar with using. One of the most important tools you can provide to managers and supervisors is a model for understanding the human reaction to change.

Lean Tip #994 – Provide Support for Change

Managers and supervisors will need support when taking on the role of "leader of change". Some of the tasks and responsibilities that come with being a good coach of employees through change are difficult. In many instances, this is a completely new undertaking for a manager or supervisor. You need to provide outlets and opportunities for support when managers are leading change.

One area of support necessary will be helping them implement the processes and tools you have provided for leading change. Opportunities to try out new approaches for identifying resistance in a safe setting can go a long way in helping managers and supervisors to be successful.

Lean Tip #995 - Foster Creative Learning Processes.

Often, employees want to make suggestions about the way things are done but don't have a way to voice their ideas. Develop a method that makes it easier for staffers to share their creative ideas or suggestions with top management.

Lean Tip #996 - Challenge Employees with Unfamiliar Jobs

Stretch assignments are growth-oriented exercises with some inherent risk. They’re designed to push participants past their skill level. Even failure offers valuable lessons that can add new skills, improve confidence and solidify employee commitment. You want to give participants first-hand experience in many different roles throughout your company. They’ll gain exposure to different divisions and gain new expertise.

Lean Tip #997 – Practice and Expect Open and Honest Communication

As a leader, you set the example for how your entire team communicates. Communicate openly, honestly, clearly, and with the commitment to address the greater good of your business and those on your team will communicate the same way.

Lean Tip #998 – Promote Teamwork for Problem Solving

A quarterback needs his receivers. A pitcher needs his fielders. Even a golfer needs her caddy. Studies have shown that groups of people working together produce significantly greater results than people working independently. As a leader, you need to not just build a great team, but also get your team actively into the game. Share your vision. Involve others in solving problems. And delegate responsibilities that allow everyone to contribute to the success of the organization.

Lean Tip #999 – Influential Leaders Empower Employees

As a leader you need to inspire your employees to do more. To improve their behavior, develop their skills and talents, work better and harder and achieve great results. Successful leaders understand the importance of influential leadership and how it impacts employee engagement.

Lean Tip #1000 – Teach Your Staff To See Problems As Exciting Opportunities For Improvement

Every organization has problems. The key is to notice the problems, without dwelling on the negative. When someone spots a problem, bring your team together to brainstorm solutions. Point out how you can make changes to make your business stronger and more successful. And most importantly, don't shoot the messenger. Recognize and show appreciation for people who bring problems to your attention.

1000 Tips shared over 5 years, a milestone worth noting. Due to it's popularity I think we shall continue.

Lean Tip #1001 – Adopt An Open Communication Style

Collaboration tools compel organizations to become less hierarchical in how they distribute information. This open communication style allows employees more insight into what is going on and helps them feel they are part of the business. Those that don't adapt to this new way of communicating, which tends to facilitate more transparency and quicker decisions, will be left behind.

Lean Tip #1002 – Prepare to Adapt to Changes in Communication For Successful Collaboration

Companies expend lots of effort vetting collaboration tools and yet too often end up disappointed in their performance. Technology can be a great tool for facilitating collaboration, but company culture and management initiative are still the engine that drives it, especially at the beginning. Many changes are necessary in workflow and communication style that are frequently not comfortable for employees to accept. Priming the company to adapt to these changes is a key factor in facilitating a successful collaboration initiative.

Lean Tip #1003 - Simplicity is Key for Productive Collaboration.

The collaboration method must make our jobs more efficient, not create more cycles of work. A discussion board can often help get the dialogue moving among a large team, but in some instances it is necessary to pull the discussion away to a smaller group for a final result.

Lean Tip #1004 - Craft Simple, Outcome-Oriented Goals

The more complicated a goal is, the more room for interpretation and extrapolation. Go the extra mile to make your goals simple and concrete. Outcome-oriented goals focus on results rather than just products and can provide greater clarity and focus.

Lean Tip #1005 - Discuss How the Team’s Goals Tie into the Organization’s.

By linking a team’s or project’s goals to larger company goals you can find inspiration and a higher sense of purpose. Everyone on the team will feel they are playing a meaningful role.