Lean Tips Edition #119 (1786-1800)

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.

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

Lean Tip #1786 - Review your 2017 Goals and Objectives.

Before you start thinking about 2018, you should think about how 2017 went for you. When we look back on the previous year, we can see areas we succeeded in and areas that need to be worked on in the new year.

Think about the goals you reached, the successes you had, the struggles you encountered, and more. Then, think about what you wish you could have done better and the areas you struggled with.

By completing this step, you'll be able to better figure out what you need to do in 2018 in order to have a successful year.

Lean Tip #1787 - Make Sure Your 2018 Goals are SMART.

You should always make sure that any goal you set for 2018 is SMART.

A SMART goal is:

Specific – What is your goal? Is it specific enough or is it too broad? What needs to be done for you to achieve your goal? Why do you want to reach your goal?

Measurable – How can you measure your progress? How will you know if you’re on track?

Attainable – Can your goal actually be achieved?

Realistic/relevant – Can you achieve your goal? Is the goal worth it?

Time – What’s your time frame for reaching your goal?

This is extremely important when setting 2018 goals because by doing this, you are ensuring that your goals are realistic and attainable.

Lean Tip #1788 - Write Down Your 2018 Goals and Objectives.

Writing down your business and personal goals for 2018 is a very important part goal setting.

Completing this step can help you remember your goal and why you want to achieve it. If I don’t write something down or have it in front of me on a regular basis, I tend to forget about it.

If you can’t remember your 2018 goals, it would be very hard to achieve them. I suggest that you think about:

·       Making a vision board.

·       Putting post-its around your home that list your yearly goals.

·       Placing reminders on your phone, calendar, or whatever else you use for your to-do list.

Lean Tip #1789 - Create a Plan to Reach Your 2018 Goals.

If you want to stay motivated with your goals, then one of the first things you should do is to create a plan on how you will reach your goals for 2018.

A plan can help you focus on the steps it will take to reach your goal, instead of feeling like you are all over the place.

Your plan should detail the steps you need in order to reach your goal, what will happen as you reach each step, when and how you will track your progress, and more. Being detailed with your plan will help you reach your goal and be successful.

Lean tip #1790 - Break Your Goal Apart Into Smaller Goals for 2018.

A year can feel like a long time to reach your goals, and you may forget about them or become overwhelmed with the work it will take to reach them.

One way to approach your 2018 goals is to think of 12 separate goals that relate to an overall goal, one for each month of the year. Basically, each month would be a step that gets you closer to your overall goal.

This can be a great way to stay motivated while seeing the progress you are making towards your overall goal, and you'll know exactly what you need to do in order to be successful.

Lean Tip #1791 - Realign Your Team After The New Year

After the holidays, it can be tough to get back into the swing of things. While your employees might try to wade back into the depths of their responsibilities, you can’t afford to waste too much time. At the same time, however, you don’t want to overwhelm your team, either.

Start the New Year by reviewing where you all left off before the break. Discuss what has been going well, and where there is room for improvement. Once everyone is back on the same page, start looking forward.

Lean Tip #1792 - Streamline Your Processes

While you’re assessing your productivity from the past year, start tweaking your processes to help your team better reach its goals.

Analyze each step of your day-to-day processes, and try to figure out where you can save time, money or other resources. If you can save a minute here, or a dollar there, you could end up saving countless hours and thousands of dollars over the course of the next year.

Not only that, but by streamlining your processes and decreasing the amount of “hang-ups” your team faces, your employees will be more apt to dive in and get to work.

Lean Tip #1793 - Improve Communication In Your Business.

Effective communication is vital to business success. Encourage your employees to share their thoughts about the past and the future. Provide several ways they can communicate with you, from regular team and one-on-one meetings to an online chat platform. Have an open-door policy and be open to receiving honest feedback and ideas. Set the tone for consistent and transparent communication.

Lean Tip #1794 - Focus on Education & Development

Learning a relevant new skill will make you a more efficient leader, and the same is true for your employees. By focusing on education and growth throughout the year, you can improve operational efficiency, increase product/service quality, and foster an innovative and creative environment. Further, the opportunity to improve or develop new skill sets can translate to employees who are more confident and satisfied in their current position.

Lean Tip #1795 - Build Your Strategy With Your Team

What do you want your business to achieve next year? Be SMART, set goals rather than make resolutions. Especially in business, there is a difference between a goal and a resolution. Resolutions are things you keep, goals are things you attain. Nearly all successful business owners use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based) goals to achieve their goals.

Once you have goals for your business, it’s crucial to get your team on board. Schedule a planning and strategy meeting with your employees, colleagues, and support system to create the plans you need to reach those goals.

Lean Tip #1796 - Engage in Meaningful Dialog

When you make the effort to connect with your team members in person—individually and as a group—you’re establishing a position of caring that motivates individuals in all sorts of crazy-good ways. It’s easy to send short messages in emails, and then rely on these small exchanges for most of your communication. Or, you can focus on what needs to get done next and forget to take a breath, look around, and get to know your employees. Don’t fall into this rut. Instead, ask your team members about their immediate goals and project interests as well as their career objectives.

Lean Tip #1797 - Listen to Everyone’s Ideas

Your entire team has great ideas. They’re in the trenches all day, bringing their own experience and perspectives to the part of the project they’re focused on. For example, if there’s a way to make spreadsheets more efficient or processes more productive, the team members know how. It’s tempting to stick with protocol because you know that works well. But these days the world moves so fast nobody can afford to stay with a status quo for too long. So instead, make it a policy to listen to new ideas (you could structure appropriate time periods for this, too), and this will tell everyone they’re a valuable part of the team. Give the good ideas a try; you never know what might happen—other than the team becomes more invested in their work and the project outcome, for starters.

Lean Tip #1798 – Celebrate Team Successes Publicly.

Buy everyone the same t-shirt or hat. Put team member names in a drawing for company merchandise and gift certificates. Take the team out to lunch or order in pizza. Let the team members share their success story at your weekly company meeting. You are limited in the ways that you can celebrate teamwork only by your imagination.

Lean Tip #1799 – Assign Serious Team Goals

Give your teams really important assignments and projects, not just planning for next summer's annual company picnic. Bring teams in when you're looking at new trends in the market, or need to see things through new eyes. It's important to mix it up and not have the same people making the same decisions all the time. Ask them to challenge the status quo and the conventional wisdom. This will help to keep your company fresh and ahead of the game.

Lean Tip #1800 – Encourage Informal Teams

More work in organizations is accomplished through informal teams than formal ones. It's therefore in your interest to encourage the proliferation of informal teams throughout your company, addressing any and all issues and opportunities that capture their interest. When your employees are able to tackle concerns themselves, without elevating every little decision to top management, you'll have a much more efficient organization.

Guest Post: 3 Common Safety Mistakes in the Workplace

Safety is not as complicated as it truly seems. Many mistakes in the workplace are easily avoidable. Do you manage or run a business that finds itself overwhelmed by accidents and incidents and do not know where to begin? There is good news. Three common mistakes in the workplace that jeopardize safety are often very avoidable and easy to contain. Ignoring minor injuries, not employing a safety-first mindset and fatigued/dehydrated personnel are three common influences that can be easily remedied. Here is how:

1.       Ignoring Minor Injuries – No injury is minor. Whether it is a sprain, strain or simple cut, all injuries must be evaluated and assessed appropriately. It begins with proper antiseptic and antibiotic treatments of cuts to avoid infection as these can result in catastrophic consequences if unabated. Furthermore, working with a sprain or strain can only intensify the injury if it is not given the appropriate rest, isolation, compression and attention. It is imperative to utilize the appropriate first aid practices if you find any employee hurt or injured no matter how small.

2.       Not Employing A Safety-First Mentality – This may seem like a repetitive principle but nonetheless it holds truth. Safety-first is more than a mentality, it is a way of life. It is an attitude that implores personnel to think of safety before anything else in the workplace. This often transforms and transcends leading to best practices that result in a transformative culture. A safety-first mentality means assuring protocols are observed, standards are met and behaviors are fostered. Failing to do so often leads to complacency which leads ultimately to an increase in avoidable accidents, incidents and injuries as a result of a lax attitude towards overall safety. Don’t slip up and don’t let up on being safety champions.

3.       Fatigued and Dehydrated Employees – This is a matter that is often overlooked and in many cases understated so we will once again reiterate the fact that it is a serious issue that can yield potentially deadly outcomes. The greatest obstacle most workers face is fatigue and dehydration. The sad truth is this can be easily avoided. A tired or dehydrated forklift operator or general laborer is far more likely to get injured, endure heat stroke or even improperly handle any material hazardous or otherwise. This can ultimately place all other workers at risk.  It is essential that management and leadership implore and champion the appropriate frequency of breaks to ensure all workers are hydrated and ready to perform. This is especially true on hot summer days where it is imperative to take frequent breaks and drink enough water over the course of the day. In addition, it is also prudent for all employees to attempt to sleep eight hours per night to assure adequate energy for the next work day. While this cannot be enforced it should be promoted. Assuring workers also get adequate time to recover and replenish through food is also another safeguard that should be taken seriously.

About the Author: Tom Reddon is a forklift specialist and blog manager for the National Forklift Exchange. He also sits on the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA) Executive Dialogue team. Follow him on Twitter at @TomReddon.

Lean Quote: Learn From Past

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.

"We can draw lessons from the past but we cannot live in it." — Unknown

Look back at the previous year. Assess what went well and what didn’t, and find takeaways from both, the mistakes and successes. Review your business plan and make updates. Were there big moves you wanted to make last year but didn’t? Take a hard look at where you’ve been, and perhaps where you wanted to go but didn’t, so you can better know where you should be heading.

Unless people reflect on what they learn, they run the risk of completing a string of disconnected activities.  Try these tips to enhance learning:

•Before an activity, tell them what you believe they can learn from the experience.
•Talk with them about what they are learning.
•Use effective, open-ended questions to help them fully realize what they learned from the experience.
•Discuss with them how they will translate what they learned into new situations and opportunities.

Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. History, recent and otherwise, is filled with examples of successful business models and spectacular business failures. Think about what the people you admire do well, and consider what went wrong for those who end their careers mired in scandal or disgrace. Lessons can be found everywhere.

Great leaders -- indeed, great people -- are constantly learning and always trying to improve themselves. There’s always something that you can work on or a new skill to master. Be sure to keep your mind open to new ideas and possibilities.

Creating an Environment of Teamwork

Many departments do not operate as teams—that is, “practice teamwork.” Members may talk to each other at the printer or over lunch, and their work efforts may be designed to meet the overarching objectives of the department, but these employees’ work on a day-to-day basis is largely done as individuals, which is unfortunate, for many business experts now believe that teamwork is critical to organization productivity and profitability.

To get the most out of your employees, you have to create a work environment for teamwork. Try these 5 tips to make teamwork happen in your workplace:

1.     Set Realistic Expectations

When expectations are not clearly set, and the roles not clearly defined and understood, the team won’t be able to focus on the tasks and goals. The success of the team in many ways depends on realistic expectations.

To transform a group of strangers in a united team, you also need to allow the team to take part in forming and decision-making, and an opportunity to present their ideas and get support for the same.

2.     Build Strong Leadership

A failure or success at collaborating reflects the company's leadership. If the leaders and managers have an innovative approach to team building, demonstrate collaborative behavior, support creativity and social relationships, teams are focused and efficient, and they achieve results and perform well. Innovative leaders, who are supportive, flexible, and task- and relationship-oriented, lead the most productive teams.

3.     Create an Environment of Trust

Innovation and creativity thrive when people trust each other and have trust in their organization. To get your team communicate freely and easily, one needs to build an environment of trust. If employees don’t feel trusted and respected, they will not participate or share their ideas.

The fear of being ridiculed is a great threat to innovation and success. If you promote team’s autonomy, you are supporting your team to discover better ways of accomplishing goals. While autonomy can result in mistakes and misjudgment, it’s essential to have a team who is ready to learn from their mistakes and inefficiencies.

4.     Invest in your employees’ skills and expertise

The company that supports their employees through seminars, mentoring, coaching and participation in relevant conferences and events, empowers collaborative behavior, supports community and promotes the environment in which people know they can excel. Such company’s policy is especially important for teamwork. The most productive employees are those ready to learn and improve in their field of interest.

5.     Provide Team Resources

No matter how talented a company's individuals might be, teams cannot be successful without the proper resources. Teams need a designated and available place where they can regularly meet. Nothing much can be achieved in an over-crowded lunch room. All employees need to be given adequate time to devote to their team meetings, with no grief from supervisors. And make sure to supply your teams with an appropriate budget if required, and the permission--with guidance--to spend it as they see best for the company.

Employee teams are one of the best ways to get things done in any business. When you take a group of independently talented people and create a team in which they can merge their talents, not only will a remarkable amount of energy and creativity be released, but their performance, loyalty and engagement will be greatly improved.

Five Leadership Lesson From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday celebrates the life and contributions of America’s greatest champion of racial justice and equality, the leader who not only dreamed of a color-blind society, but who also lead a movement that achieved historic reforms to help make it a reality. We commemorate as well the timeless values he taught us through his example — the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service that so radiantly defined Dr. King’s character and empowered his leadership. 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. left us with so many words and lessons that we can apply to evolve into a transformational leader.

1) Articulate a Powerful Vision

Leaders communicate a concrete vision of the future with a clear call to action to inspire others to get there. People want to follow someone who they know is going somewhere. People do not follow leaders who don't care about their values, their wants and needs, or the hopes and aspirations of those in the organization.

2) Challenge the Status Quo

Excellent leaders simply are not passive; they are active. They will challenge the status quo and not settle for business as usual. When there's a major challenge facing your organization, you must step forward to initiate new methods of getting things done to solve problems and ignite innovation.

3) Be Courageous

Being courageous does not mean you're not afraid. It just means you care more about something else greater than what you fear. Don't be reluctant to take on new initiatives even if they may not pan out. Those who raise their hands climb the ladder faster. Courageous leaders do what's right, not what's easiest, and focus on the good of the many over the good of one.

4) Walk the Talk

Actions speak louder than words. If your actions do not back up your messages, your lack of focus can become detrimental to your team and your career. People will respect and follow leaders who do what they advise others to do.

5) Demonstrate Faith in People

Wholeheartedly showing someone you believe in him is the simplest, most powerful thing you can do to bring out his best. Leaders have faith in not only in themselves but others. The authentic leader readily acknowledges the commitment and hard work of her followers. When times are tough, people need to know that their work matters. An excellent leader listens to the ideas of the followers and responds.

Excellence and leadership should be the signature traits of all of us, street sweeper or president. To be an authentic leader, you simply have to act — to "lead by example."

Lean Quote: All Progress Is Precarious

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.

"All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem." — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Indeed, I think that this great man was right about the notion of progress which culminating in a solution leads us to another problem. Thus, the progress is so ephemeral and therefore has no end.

Lean is a journey that never ends. There will always be a gap between where you are (current state) and where you would like to be (True North). Since there will always be a gap, there will always be an opportunity to improve. The road to continual improvement can be a rocky one with many ups and downs. 

Change requires taking risks by embarking into the unknown. Those risks can sometimes be simple, while other times taking risks can be extremely costly – as civil rights movement leaders like Dr. King.

Improvement won’t happen if we are refusing to change. Improvement necessitates change for the better – changing our expectations, changing our worldviews, changing the way we do things, changing our plans and priorities.

And change necessitates ideas, plans, investments/sacrifices, and the courage to move from what is currently deemed comfortable. Leaders of change are often ridiculed because of their courage to challenge the status quo, but that’s where historical legacies are forged.

Thank you, Dr. King, for having the courage to make the world a better place.

The Strategic Planning Tool to Achieve Excellence

Traditional planning methodologies focus on steering an organization in the direction desired by top management. Often referred to as management by objective (MBO) since top management establish the objectives, targets, evaluate whether employees meet these targets. Unfortunately, as we know, you can’t achieve the desired results by just dictating individual targets.

Companies must determine ahead of time what the vision and direction will be. A proper strategy must assign clear responsibilities and show what resources are to be committed. Metrics and timelines must be defined. Management must decide what core elements are to be deployed and the order of deployment.

In Lean Thinking “Hoshin Kanri” is the process to select those annual objectives that will give the organization the greatest possible advantage. The word hoshin is formed from two Chinese characters: ho stands for “method,” shin means “shiny metal showing direction.” Kanri stands for “planning.” Together, hoshin kanri is used to communicate a “methodology for setting strategic direction,” in other words, a management “compass.”

Hoshin kanri translates the strategic intent into the required day-to-day behavior. It is not another attempt to improve MBO. While hoshin kanri and MBO both aim to deploy company goals and encourage employees to achieve them, there are several radical points of departure. Specifically,

• Hoshin kanri deploys the voice of the customer, not just profit goals. More than the traditional MBO description of projected market share, profit goals, and revenues, hoshin kanri maps and controls the path to a new design based on customer priorities. It describes the behaviors needed to achieve the policies that support the strategic vision.
• Hoshin kanri deploys breakthrough strategies. It concentrates resources on strategic priorities and chronic problems by going after root cause(s) of obstacles to achieve dramatic improvements in performance.
• Hoshin kanri controls the means and methods, not just the results. It manages cause and effect linkage of supporting strategies, measures, and targets to ensure that employee efforts are realistic, synergistic, and add up to the total effort required to meet corporate objectives.
• Hoshin kanri is a continuous improvement management process, not calendar-driven system. MBO typically establishes a set of quarterly and annual goals. In contrast, hoshin kanri identifies a few critical breakthrough objectives that require coordinated and focused effort over an extended period of three to five years. Annual objectives are established within the context of these longer term objectives.
• Hoshin kanri emphasizes frequent reviews up and down the organization. In MBO, the performance review, often an annual event, does not capture or communicate valuable feedback to inform future rounds of planning. Hoshin kanri uses an explicit inter-level communication system to continually distill local lessons and channel them upward to the leaders of the organization. It routinely tracks performance, reviews the capability of the entire planning system, and modifies it accordingly.
• Hoshin kanri is not tied to performance appraisals. Authentic hoshin kanri separates the evaluation of personnel from the evaluation of the strategy. It focuses not on personnel, but on the quality of the strategic assumptions and the discipline of the planning system.

Hoshin kanri is not a strategic planning tool, it is an execution tool. It is a system to deploy an existing strategic plan throughout the organization. In other words, hoshin management is an idea handler, not an idea generator. It depends on a preexisting statement of direction typically generated by an augmented strategic planning process.


The hoshin kanri process identifies and concentrates resources on the vital few stretch achievements that support the vision. It separates those performance issues that require dramatic improvement from the many incremental improvements that can achieved at the local level. All the changes that the leadership believes to be incremental are skimmed out of the strategic plan and addressed through quality in daily work. The remaining category of contribution – the vital few breakthrough achievements – becomes the core of the hoshin kanri process.

Hoshin Kanri is the system for setting management’s compass toward True North. It is a tool to align people, activities, and performance metrics with strategic priorities. It can be used to communicate direction, coordinate activity, and monitor progress. It enables members of the organization to work together in the most creative way to define and achieve the strategic intent.