As 2019 comes
to an end and we look toward 2020 I wanted to revisit some tips. The Lean Tips
published daily are meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and
some knowledgeable tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey. Here are
the top 10 Lean tips from this past year:
Lean Tip #2007
- Show Your Team Members That You Support Them And Are Committed To Helping
Them Realize Their Goals.
The importance
of demonstrating to team members that you truly care about them as individuals,
that you want to help them improve their professional skills, and that you
support them being architects of personally satisfying careers simply cannot be
overstated.
Leaders who ask
for their employees’ input when constructing development plans will gain
commitment, loyalty, and respect from their team members. Leaders who treat
their employees as extra bodies, on the other hand, will not manage to retain
talented people for very long.
It’s crucial
for leaders to listen, and listen well, to what employees really want from
their jobs and their perception of how they can contribute to the organization.
Although it
seems like a small gesture, leaders who ask employees to be actively involved
in the creation of their personal development plans show these employees that
their opinions matter and that they are at least partially responsible for
ensuring that their careers are challenging and meaningful.
Lean Tip #2230
– Inspire Employees
Employees are
the eyes and ears of your business operations. If there are weak spots in your
system, it’s likely employees know about them. It’s also likely they want a
better process for completing tasks. But when your staff thinks you’re a “my
way or the highway” leader, they usually aren’t motivated to come up with
solutions.
Involve your
employees in improving business operations. Ask your staff where improvements
can be made. Take notes of the flaws that are pointed out and solutions
offered. Make sure your employees know their opinions matter and you are open
to suggestions. In addition to accelerating your business process improvement,
showing your employees that they add value to your small business can take the
stress off of your staffing management plan by keeping employee turnover at a
minimum.
Lean Tip #2285
– Commit to Continuous Learning.
Make a
commitment to improve your own skills and competencies. If you’re not
continuously learning, why should your employees? Lead by example and your team
will follow.
Show that you
are interested in their success (why wouldn’t you be?). Ask questions about
where they see their career going, or how they see their role evolving in the
company. Even if they don’t have a plan laid out yet, these questions will make
them think about their career and what they want to accomplish within the
organization.
Show your
employees that you don’t just want them to do better so you look better, but
that you’re actively interested in their career, accomplishments and
professional success.
Lean Tip #2312
- Be Present and Attentive
Teamwork is
impossible when people think you don't care about them.
Rather than
being that person who tears around the office, constantly absorbed in the next
meeting, the next quarter, the next campaign, blind to the human beings in your
midst, be that team member who takes time to give their full attention to each
conversation.
When team
members see you listening to them, they will be more likely to buy into your
teamwork-building efforts. As old-fashioned as it may sound, teamwork is the
result of a group of people who care enough about each other to work together.
Lean Tip #2331
– Create Regular Thinking Time
Operations and
manufacturing managers are time poor. They’re often so involved in the
responsive day-to-day that very few create space in their diary to think. They
often have KPIs for continuous improvement, but are limited in their capacity
to point their curiosity in new and potentially impactful directions.
Make the habit:
To allow yourself this ‘space’, book an hour of time a fortnight to read
industry news, or analyze your shop floor data in a new way.
Consider
different perspectives and possibilities and visualize how you’d do things
differently. Then pick up these ideas in your next scheduled slot, and share
the well-formed ones with your team or manager,
so they can be actioned or developed further.
Lean Tip #2334
– Create Opportunities for Everyone to Contribute
Getting bogged
down in urgent tasks can stop the important things like incremental
improvements, from being addressed. That's where your staff can come in.
Many of the
best ideas come from employees, and higher levels of staff involvement will get
the greatest buy-in for change. What’s more, it can also boost company
performance.
But how do
their ideas get through?
Make the habit:
Make it easy for improvement suggestions to be fed back into the system through
an improvement suggestion program:
• Use the intranet, a social forum or a
suggestions box
• Recognize all suggestions publicly
via official written communication or at monthly catch ups
• Verbally encourage ideas from all
staff levels
• Provide a framework: outline how
improvement ideas should be tied to businesses goals
• Publicly reward any actioned
suggestions, provide rewards for the best idea
• Ensure the business is actively
assessing and implementing suggestions, to keep staff motivated to contribute
• Showcase or demonstrate ideas that
were successfully implemented and executed.
• Importantly, make work a safe place
to contribute by regularly encouraging suggestions, giving feedback and
admitting your own mistakes.
Lean Tip #2388
- Make the Improvement Real
Employees
aren’t idiots. When senior management
seeks to drive change in the organization, they like to have a “quick win” that
can be used as an example to the entire organization. But sometimes, in their haste to have a
trophy win, senior managers choose a change that yields very little result and
does little to improve quality, lead times or other key performance
indicators. Employees realize this and
see the program as one more in a series -- the “flavor of the month” -- for
performance improvement. Instead, work
with employees to get a substantial win -- something that is indisputable and
will lead the team to believe in the program.
Lean Tip #2397
– Demonstrate Your Genuine Concern For Employees
Great bosses
realize that they can't achieve their goals if their people aren't performing
at their very best. Employees, especially in times of stress and challenge,
look to management for solutions. They seek guidance when they feel uncertain
and isolated from organizational decisions that are out of their control. As a
first step, be an example of transparency and honesty. Open the lines of
communication between management and employees. Talk openly and regularly about
what you know, and encourage input. Show you truly care about your people's
welfare by understanding their concerns and by doing whatever you can to help
them. This not only helps you solve any problems you have direct influence
over, but also helps them by allowing them to talk freely about what is
troubling them.
Lean Tip #2414
– Encourage Teamwork Among Employees.
There is a
reason that people flock to team sports. When a group of people pulls together
to win the big game, it often comes an infectious feeling that engulfs everyone
around them—from teammates to the fans—the sense of camaraderie and success
spreads to the masses. The same can be said for the workplace environment. When
a large account or significant client needs your services, developing a strong
team of employees gives them a sense of greater purpose. Pulling them together
to work towards a big company goal can be incredibly satisfying, and allows
them to bounce ideas off each other to ultimately meet the needs of your
client. It adds a sense of cooperation, consideration, and confidence in not
only each other but in the company, itself.
Lean Tip #2416
- Create a Workplace Environment Free of Fear.
So many
business and companies tend to operate in a performance-based environment. This
sort of atmosphere is a favorable environment for fear and uncertainty to grow
in, so keeping employee engagement steady is especially important. Allowing
your employees to make choices without having to run everything up to the chain
of command, allows them great moments within their career. Coincidentally,
these performance-based environments can also lead to the fear of getting
reprimanded if their decision falls flat. Managing a business where employees
are punished for mistakes or a wrong choice is a sure-fire strategy for staff
to become disengaged and unwilling to take the risks sometimes necessary for
success. This is another opportunity to choose a kinder, more positive approach
with your staff that can still be effective, without diminishing their levels
of engagement.
These 10 Lean
tips can help you with your journey in 2020. What advice would you share for
the New Year?
