Lean Quote: Art of Communication is Language of Leadership

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.

"The art of communication is the language of leadership." — James Humes

When you’re leading a group of people, communication is everything.

When it comes to working together, communication is the most important skill that any leader can have.

Communication is the key aspect that brings your message to the masses and allows an organization to move towards a shared vision. 

Having a vision that drives us towards building a company is one thing. The other is the ability to communicate with your employees. There are tons of reasons why leaders should do it.

For example, if leaders want their employees to be engaged, they need to find a way to build a relationship that will allow them to share their vision, so employees can execute it.

Without it, there are just employees who work and leaders who want to conquer the world. Nobody wants that, so if you’re a leader, find a common language with your workers and practice it on a daily basis.

It’s simple. When you talk, you just repeat what you already know. When you listen, you might learn something new.

Without good communication skills, your leadership is void.

4 Ways to Improve Your Idea System

The pitfalls of an ill-conceived employee suggestion program are multiple, legendary and most frequently - avoidable. With organizational commitment, clarity and ongoing communication employee engagement can positively impact your bottom line and your employee motivation and enthusiasm.

Many organizations want to harness the ideas for improvement that naturally exist in their employees. Suggestion boxes are a common, but ineffective, way to engage employees in continuous improvement. They’re usually implemented with the best of intentions by managers who genuinely want to hear their employees’ improvement ideas, but the boxes fail to produce the desired engagement.

If you want to improve your idea contributions, here are some tips I’ve used and found success with over the years for creating an effective suggestion idea system:

1.     Make it easy to contribute ideas

Employees won’t be enthusiastic about contributing their best ideas if it is cumbersome or time consuming to do so. Develop a simple form that includes the problem, the idea and if the employee can implement it on their own. A simple bulletin board can be used to indicate idea status including columns for Submitted, In Process, and Complete ideas. Encourage employees to submit small ideas that can be implemented quickly by them versus large changes that require external resources such as engineering, IT, and facilities.

2.     Make ideas visible.

Make your idea system public so participation (or lack thereof) is visible to all. And so the ideas themselves are visible to all. Things that are visible are easier to manage. Employees want their ideas to be seriously considered and further implemented. If you’re like most people, you won’t go out of your way to submit ideas that likely won’t be followed up on anyway.

3.     Reward and recognize participation

A great way to increase employee engagement in continuous improvement is to recognize people for their involvement. Employee recognition doesn’t need to be anything big or fancy - a pat on the back or a high five is enough to encourage the participating employee and promote the engagement of others. Announcing the impact and recognizing the person who made the improvement encourages others to get involved, and sharing new best practices expands the reach of each idea.

4.     Measure the process, not the results

Measure process effectiveness not individual ideas. Don’t waste time evaluating the impact of individual ideas. The compounding impact of ideas will generate far greater results then an individual idea. Consider measures like 100% participation, ideas per person, days to implement, and number of submitted, in process and completed ideas.

To truly realize improvement, you need both creativity (idea generation) and action (follow through). Whether they speak up or not, you can be sure that your employees are thinking about ways that business processes could be improved every day. The best way to spread continuous improvement in an organization is to broadcast improvements. A idea system is a great way to capture those ideas.

5 Ways to Improve Your Kaizens

The goals of continuous improvement are simple: 1) make things easier 2) better 3) faster and 4) cheaper. Kaizen is the ongoing, systematic, incremental improvement in the way things are done. It is a relentless attempt to eliminate the unnecessary activities, delay, waste, and variation of business processes that add cost without adding value.

Kaizen is a mindset and practice that encourage reflection, teamwork, standardization, mastery of the process, experimentation to find better ways, comparison to baseline accomplishments, incremental and ever-evolving change, and the ongoing improvement of results. It asks the simple question, “How can I do this better?”

If you’re in a leadership position, here are some tips I’ve used and found success with over the years that can make your kaizens more effective:

1. Empower Your Employees

Employees who are closest to the problems on your shop floor are the best-equipped to solve them. They are your greatest assets in your kaizen efforts, so give them the support they need to implement improvements. Developing your team’s abilities through training and support should be as much a part of your continuous improvement program as making improvements to manufacturing processes.

Additionally, engaging team members to identify problems and suggest improvements in their work areas encourages a sense of ownership over their work, which can improve overall motivation, morale, and productivity.

2. Make Changes Happen

Kaizen is not “brainstorming” but it is “trystorming”. Changes have to be implemented. People get used to ways they perform work. It is necessary to convince them that new methods will be better. Increase their motivation, involve them into process of changes, allow "trystorming" (enable workers to try new ways without consequences).

Remember to use your wits, instead of reaching for your wallet – and try to think outside the box! Often, a bit of innovative thinking can go a long way and doesn’t require additional investments.

3. Focus on Small Changes

Approach change in small, incremental steps; if you improve by just 1% every day for a year, you’ll be 37 times better than when you started. Test and implement small changes. This increases the speed to improvement and reduces the pressures and risks of implementing a major change.

To this end, focus your improvements on solving the root causes of issues. This allows employees to catch and contain small issues before they become larger and costlier to eliminate, and it prevents the same problems from reoccurring.

  

4. Document Your Process and Performance Before and After Improvements Have Been Implemented.

In kaizen, it’s important to “speak with data and manage with facts.” In order to evaluate improvements objectively, existing procedures must be standardized and documented. Mapping the process’s initial state can help you identify wastes and areas for improvement and provide a benchmark for improvement.

Measuring performance against existing benchmarks allows you to demonstrate gains from your kaizen efforts and keep the company aligned around improvement. It also allows you to identify areas where your efforts are working–or not–so you can make strategic decisions about future improvements.

In order to measure performance objectively, you should identify metrics that quantify improvements. These may include metrics revolving around quality, cost, resource utilization, customer satisfaction, space utilization, staff efficiency, and other KPIs.

5. Enforce Improvements

It’s easy for employees to regress to their old ways. Enforcing the changes you’ve made to your processes is important for the improvements you’ve made to last, and it’s key to sustaining continuous improvement in the long term.

In order for improvements to last, they must be standardized and repeatable. Standardizing work is crucial to kaizen because it creates a baseline for improvement. When you make improvements to a process, it’s essential to document the new standard work in order to sustain the improvements and create a new baseline. Standard work also reduces variability in processes and promotes discipline, which is essential for continuous improvement efforts to take root.

Successful kaizen efforts can result in benefits such as increased productivity, improved quality, better safety, lower costs, and improved customer satisfaction. Kaizen can also lead to benefits in a company’s culture, including improved communication among employees, improved morale and employee satisfaction, and an increased sense of ownership in the company among employees.

Lean Quote: Art of Communication is the Language of Leadership

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.

"The art of communication is the language of leadership." — James Humes

When you’re leading a group of people, communication is everything.

When it comes to working together, communication is the most important skill that any leader can have.

Communication is the key aspect that brings your message to the masses and allows an organization to move towards a shared vision. 

Having a vision that drives us towards building a company is one thing. The other is the ability to communicate with your employees. There are tons of reasons why leaders should do it.

For example, if leaders want their employees to be engaged, they need to find a way to build a relationship that will allow them to share their vision, so employees can execute it.
Without it, there are just employees who work and leaders who want to conquer the world. Nobody wants that, so if you’re a leader, find a common language with your workers and practice it on a daily basis.

It’s simple. When you talk, you just repeat what you already know. When you listen, you might learn something new.

Without good communication skills, your leadership is void.

Guest Post: 6 Key Traits of a Lean Successful Leader

In many organizations, the leader is nothing more than a job position… it’s actually the business owner or manager. In practice, however, the manager is not necessarily a leader of that organization. They may handle more paperwork than others, make hiring decisions, and attend more meetings. A leader, however, is much more than that.

This is someone with strong personality. A true leader follows the Lean principles of respect for others, continuous personal improvement, inspiring teams to improve their practices, and focus on providing value for the customers.

In theory, it all sounds pretty simple. But what’s a Lean leader really like?

We’ll list the six character traits that make a big difference.

1.     Humility

What?

You probably didn’t expect this to see in a list of a leader’s character traits… so seeing it at the top of the list is really surprising.

Let’s start by saying that humility is underestimated. There’s no rule that leaders should be aggressive, pushy, and in the center of attention all the time. In fact, that’s what Lean leaders should not be.

This is a person who is aware of their own actions. They practice self-reflection. They evaluate their own flaws and weaknesses, which is a rather introverted character trait. This doesn’t mean that the leader shouldn’t be communicative. It just means that they are aware of their own worth, but are not imposing their influence on anyone. They respect everyone, and that’s exactly what drives people around them. 

2.     Leading by Example

Lean leaders are teachers. But this is not the type of teacher who hands out textbooks and expects people to “study” what’s in them. They want the people in the organization to learn, and they inspire them to do that by setting an example.

This is someone who will join all training sessions and learn together with the employees. And when it comes to teaching, they can still make great presentations and write clear guidelines. However, the leader always participates in the process of continuous improvement.

3.     Growth Mindset

“We’ve always been doing things this way. It has worked for us so far, so it has to keep working. Something else is the problem.”

That’s the fixed mindset. Some managers are used to the organization’s lasting practices, and they resist any suggestions for changes.

That’s not who the Lean leader is.

This is someone who will analyze a problem from different aspects and test various solutions until they find something that really works. They encourage all members of their team to suggest ideas, driven by their creativity and passion.

4.     A Strive for Perfection

We’re not using “perfectionism” as a term, since it has a rather negative connotation. A Lean leader strives for perfection, knowing that it can never be achieved. This doesn’t turn them into a frustrated individual, though. It doesn’t turn them into someone who is always unhappy with someone else’s or their own performance.

The Lean leader recognizes growth, but is also aware of the space for continuous improvement. They believe that everything can be done better as long as they keep up with the good work.

5.     Self-Confidence

The leader has an authority to make decision. Even if they aren’t in a position of authority (the leader doesn’t have to be a business owner or a manager), they still make decisions on a daily basis. These actions make a profound impact on the future of the organization.

A leader is aware of that responsibility. They consult team members on important decisions, but they always come forward with self-confidence. They have a responsibility to convince the team that they are going towards the right goal, implementing the right methods.

Self-confidence is defined as belief in “one’s personal judgment, ability, power, etc.” It’s an inner state that defines how one feels and thinks about their own actions. A leader may not be born with impressive self-confidence. However, they are willing to develop that state through learning and practice. When they know enough and they have enough experience, they believe in themselves. When that state is achieved, the team believes in the leader, too.

6.     Respect

Out of all personal traits on our list, this is the one that makes the most important impression on a leader’s followers. They treat everyone, from employees to customers to stakeholders, with utmost respect. Each action they take is characterized with respect towards other people.

As a practical example, you won’t see a Lean leader using Twitter in an offensive manner. They will still show their humorous side, but they will never do it at the expense of offending someone. Whenever they criticize something or someone, they are doing it with facts and arguments. They always acknowledge the good things and indicate the flaws in a respectful way. They always push other people towards growth, but they do it through encouragement and support.

What’s a Successful Lean Leader, Exactly?

A great Lean leader is more than a manager. This is a strategist, coach, mentor, and worker. All at the same time. Their main focus is continuous improvement. By working on their own improvement, they reflect those values in the organization and in the team of people who choose to follow them.  

About the Author:

Becky Holton is a real expert in education. She has been working as a writer for 7 years at College Paper, a-writer.com, Essay Writing Land. She is a successful blogger who writes about education technologies, assignment writing  tips at bestessaytips.com.She likes new discoveries, art architecture and reading literature. She enjoys her work and she wants to share her knowledge with others. Find her Twitter.

Lean Quote: The Secret of Your Organization Success is Determined by Your Team Daily Management

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.

"The Secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda." — John Maxwell

"The secret of your organization success is determined by your team daily management." — Lean Institute Asia

Lean (continuous improvement) organizations make use of daily management systems that are designed so that problems can be quickly identified, front-line staff are empowered to fix the problems that they can, and problems that the front-line staff cannot fix are escalated and countermeasures created quickly.

Daily tiered meetings are an integral element of daily management system. The number of tiers might vary with respect to the size of the organization. The objective of the tiered meetings is to have an alignment across the organization to achieve a common goal. The result KPIs & process KPIs are monitored on a day-to-day basis. The result KPI of one tier might be the process KPI of another. Thus the linkage between hierarchies too is maintained in achieving the common goal.

Tier 1: Start of shift, led by production team leader with production team. The idea is to focus on abnormalities. That’s an opportunity to get better.

Tier 2: Led by supervisor with production team leaders and any dedicated support group representatives.

Tier 3: Led by value stream manager or equivalent with supervisors and support group representatives or staff members. The goal is to visualize gaps in the system, drive team problem-solving and to improve the overall business. Tier 3 is the first place where the overall business goals are being addressed in the problem-solving process.

Tier 4: Led by plant manager with production and support staff members.  Focused on "run-the-business" as well as "improve-the-business" activities.

The backdrop for tiered meetings is primarily a visual process performance metric board and is supplemented with things like a task accountability board, posted leader standard work, and suggestion status board.

Daily accountability is a vehicle for ensuring that focus on process leads to action to improve it. The structure of the daily accountability process is straightforward — a series of four brief meetings to review what happened yesterday and assign actions for improvement. These are fast-paced, stand-up meetings at the work location that emphasize quickly resolving or investigating to the next level interruptions in the defined process.

As with the other principal elements of lean management, daily accountability relies on disciplined adherence to its processes on the part of those who lead the four-tier meetings.

Lean Tips Edition #136 (2235-2250)

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 #2236 - Eliminate Waste

Lean principles aim to identify the waste found in nearly every business and minimize or completely eliminate it, if possible. Using the acronym “DOWNTIME” reveals the 8 types of waste Lean Manufacturers target:

• Defects can lead to rework/salvage and scrap. It is arguably the most costly type of waste, especially if a defective product makes it to the customer.
• Overproduction is making more product than that which is ordered, potentially causing an inventory shortage and wasting labor hours that could be used elsewhere. Additionally, the manufacturer runs the risk of having obsolete inventory if the customer that generally uses the product decides not to order more.
• Waiting comes in several forms. The most obvious, perhaps, is a line shutdown while waiting for parts or equipment repair. Finally, there is in-process waiting that occurs when an employee has to wait for a machine to process before he or she can take the next step in the process.
• Not using people’s talents is a waste of their abilities, and it could hold a manufacturer back when it comes to innovation.
• Transportation happens throughout the manufacturing process, from the supply chain to material delivery and specific production areas.
• Inventory has five major categories: finished goods, sub-assembly, raw component, office supplies and Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO). Obsolete or overlooked inventory can build up in all of these areas, taking up valuable space.
• Motion includes bending, reaching, lifting and walking. Something as simple as sharing a tool between workstations can lead to a lot of wasted motion in retrieving it.
• Excess processing happens whenever time is spent on product features that do not impact part functionality. For example, painting a part that won’t be seen is non-essential and excessive, provided it still functions properly without paint.

As you read through the DOWNTIME definitions, did a few examples of waste within your facility come to mind? If so, be proactive; make detailed notes about the inefficiencies and work to minimize them, asking for help from your colleagues as needed.

Lean Tip #2237 – Organize with 5S

Through the continuous improvement process, the more organized a manufacturer is dictates process efficiency. Start from the top down, building value streams on the production floor based on assembly complexity and volume. Then, divide those value streams into work cells for each assembly. Within those work cells, every tool and work instruction are identically placed in order to implement a one-piece flow, based on the Lean Manufacturing 5S organizational methodology:

• Sort
• Set in Order
• Shine
• Standardize
• Sustain

The 5S principles are proven in keeping any workspace — offices included — running efficiently.

Lean Tip #2238 - Discard Conventional Fixed Ideas

Part of problem solving is thinking “outside of the box.” Encourage fresh perspectives and ingenuity in your team in order to develop innovative ways to forward Lean manufacturing without changing what is already efficient and successful. With such a rapidly evolving climate in manufacturing, sometimes conventional thought is what leads to the problem in the first place!

Lean Tip #2239 - Don’t Just Talk About it, Do it!

Once you have a Lean strategy in place, put it into fast and thorough action. Naturally, implementation is what ultimately yields results and improvement. The last think you want is to devise and formulate a Lean campaign that then sits on the shelf and collects dust. Run with your Lean plans as soon as you have everything nailed down.

Lean Tip #2240 - Concentrate on Bad Processes, Not People

By concentrating on the processes and building continuous improvement, you will have the culture change that you are looking for. Also, correct mistakes immediately. Don’t wait for the next shift, the weekend or maintenance to do it.

Lean Tip #2241 - Use Kaizen Workshops to Teach and Make Rapid Changes

Use a talented and experienced facilitator who has a deep understanding of lean tools and philosophy but keep training focused on a specific problem. This helps to keep the training relevant to real world situations and ensures that there are tangible outcomes from training activity. The kaizen might have an objective to reduce setup time from 80 minutes to 60 minutes in four days, for instance.

Lean Tip #2242 -  Organize Around Value Streams

In most organizations, management is organized by process or function. In other words, managers own certain steps in a process but nobody is responsible for the entire value stream. In the second edition of Lean Thinking (2003), the authors recommend a matrix organization where there are still heads of departments but also value stream managers, similar to Toyota's chief engineer system. Someone with real leadership skills and a deep understanding of the product and process must be responsible for the process of creating value for customers and must be accountable to the customer.

Lean Tip #2243 - Keep Leadership Focused on Long-term Learning

A crisis may prompt a lean movement, but may not be enough to turn a company around. Once the crisis has passed it can be all too tempting to go back to business as usual. Company leadership has to stay focused on Lean for the long term – not just to solve one problem.

Lean Tip #2244 - Create a Positive Atmosphere

Be tolerant towards mistakes committed in lean environment with a supportive and learning attitude. Have patience with progress as this will be key to get results and also try to create a blame free supportive environment. Have courage to take risks at crucial stages to push things and resources to meet the plan and achieve results.

Lean Tip #2245 - Set up a Lean Enterprise Steering Team

This team would be responsible to provide support in the planning, resourcing, implementation, and follow-up accountability for implementation. The steering team is often identical to the normal line management team. The internal resources and external consultants would provide consulting support to the team. This infrastructure would resolve inter-departmental issues.

Lean Tip #2246 - Benchmark with Other Companies

Visit other companies that have successfully implemented lean to get ideas and understanding; other companies are often delighted to present their lean implementation progress. Networking is key to ensure global understanding with other companies implementing Lean.

Lean Tip #2247 - Identify Lean Stewards Who are Passionate About Lean. They Will Continue to Fuel the Fire.

Adoption of any tool and process takes commitment and an open mind to evolve and grow.  We find that without people that are passionate about the process, teams can become complacent.  Although anyone can take on the role of Lean steward, we have found transformation works best when the project management office owns the process and the tool. With project management owning the process, organizations can aim for continuous improvement and a consistent process across functional teams.

Lean Tip #2248 - Use Visual Management To Control The Workflow

Use visual management principles to provide visibility of work-in-progress (i.e., status of orders, projects, reports, etc.). A visual communication system ensure that standards are in place so that work is completed on schedule. Visual Management should be implemented in the office areas as well as in production areas.

Lean Tip #2249 – Share More, Not Less.

Even in a small company, silos emerge. A policy of more sharing will help everyone stay in touch with what others are doing, and create a collective expectation. Keeping everyone pointed in the same direction is hard; sharing more about what’s going on, how you’re doing things, reasoning behind decisions, etc. will help.

Lean Tip #2250 - Plan/Do/Check/Act (PDCA).

Part of building an innovative culture is letting people experiment. So, plan what you’re going to do, do it, then check to see if you get the result you wanted. If you see success, then you act on it. You don’t want to put something into practice without knowing that it will achieve the desired result. Checking results before you act allows you to ensure that you’ve worked out all the kinks before you implement change.