Lean Tips Edition #173 (#2806-#2820)

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 #2806 – Foster a Creative Environment.

Allow team members to brainstorm in an open, nonjudgmental framework that embraces the team's purpose and direction. The team has to be secure enough to take risks, both individually and as a team, to be willing to suggest daring ideas. There are numerous ways to give employees the security they need to take risks and be creative. Try periodically hosting a lunch event to celebrate the biggest team flops – to show that "we can't win if we don't fail, and we can have fun by laughing at our mistakes."

Lean Tip #2807 – Build Team Cohesion.

Create a means of communicating that allows for easy workflow, establishes a distinct set of priorities and makes all colleagues feel included. Keeping everyone on the same playbook enables team members to focus and flourish. Jeff Bezos famously established a "two-pizza rule" for the size of teams at Amazon: The number of people on a team was not allowed to exceed what two pizzas could feed. This limit kept the teams at a manageable size, fostering productivity and accountability.

Lean Tip #2808 – Visualize Ideas.

As humans, we interpret visual information much more quickly than verbal information. That’s probably why traffic lights are colors, not words.

Give team members the opportunity to use visuals to clarify and share their ideas at the simplest level. You can do this with anything from rough sketches to full-scale presentations. Most people learn better and retain more when they have seen something, and a shared whiteboard, real or virtual, is a great tool.

Lean Tip #2809 – Give Your Team the Power to Make Decisions

Giving your team the power to make decisions is a great motivation for teamwork. As a manager, you often rely on the expertise of your team for your own decision-making. So why not shift and share the power with your team? This gives them the autonomy and confidence to make decisions that allow the team to move closer towards the overall goal.

Lean Tip #2810 – Foster Creativity and Innovation in Problem-Solving

There are many ways to approach problem-solving and it is usually based on our own personalities and perceptions. For that reason, it is important to give the floor to your team in order to listen to different approaches to problem-solving. In listening to other perspectives, you are likely going to learn from the individuals in your group and adopt practices that promote effective team work.

It’s also important to give your direct reports the chance to solve challenges on their own (by coaching them and asking open-ended questions), instead of trying to give them all the answers and information they need.

Lean Tip #2811 – Make Communication a Two-Way Street

Teamwork only works when team members feel like they can speak openly, share ideas without getting shot down (and build on those of others), make suggestions, and voice their opinions. Make sure communication isn’t just flowing downward, but also upward and between team members. Multi-way communication is the goal. 

Lean Tip #2812 – Promote the Utilization of Your Resources

Your resources aren’t just money and products; they’re the people who hold your business together. Every employee, regardless of what department they work in or how long they’ve been with your company, has their own set of skills, strengths, and knowledge that can be valuable to others. By encouraging each person on your team to look at their peers as a valuable resource, they’ll begin to work together as a team to resolve issues, create new ideas, and even learn new skills.

Lean Tip #2813 – Lead by Example

You should conduct yourself in the way you would like your team members to behave. There is a famous saying that one should be the change they would like to see in the world, and similarly, a manager should live up to the change they would like to see in their office. Make a constant effort to lead by example, so your team knows how you expect them to behave. 

Lean Tip #2814 – Create a Culture of Collaboration, Not Competition

The ultimate goal of teamwork is to foster collaboration but sometimes it might turn into a competition when you’ve multiple teams. Employers often make the mistake of comparing teams with each other which is indeed a terrible practice.

Each team has got its own set of responsibilities and members with unique skill sets. If you’re comparing them with someone else, it’s like disregarding them and their work. It affects team morale and brings down their motivation when they see you praising others. This also gives rise to internal conflicts within the teams that hinder progress.

Hence, you must refrain from creating any sort of competition amongst your teams and encourage inter-team communication.

Lean Tip #2815 – Encourage Trust and Cooperation Among Employees on Your Team.

Remember that the relationships team members establish among themselves are every bit as important as those you establish with them. As the team begins to take shape, pay close attention to the ways in which team members work together and take steps to improve communication, cooperation, trust, and respect in those relationships.

Lean Tip #2816 – Start With Small, Simple Changes

To display the physical benefits of the ongoing change, choose a high-visibility work cell which will serve as a model. This space will be the designated location to implement your first projects.

Avoid beginning with lengthy, costly, and complicated undertakings. Instead, make small tweaks with a big payoff, such as improving a substandard workstation. Once you’ve finished your first project, ask your employees to examine the issue that has been solved—they’ll have the proof right before their eyes.

Starting small means, you’ll be able to show the results to your team quickly and reduce the risk of failure.

Lean Tip #2817 – Ask Employees To Pitch Ideas

Getting employees involved is the surest way to overcome resistance to change—even if you provide Lean training. You will need to make them understand that the ownership of the transformations doesn’t solely rely on 1 or 2 people; instead, it’s company-wide ownership. That way, a Lean culture will permeate all echelons of the business.

One of the best ways to have team members participate in the transition is to gather their ideas by using a suggestion box or board. Your supervisors and those spearheading the improvement process can also help employees make recommendations on an ongoing basis.

Responding to all suggestions quickly is a reliable approach to show that you open to change and innovation.

Lean Tip #2818 – Ask Employees To Help Implement An Idea

Once you’ve collected the various concepts and encouraged employees to play a role in devising the solution, why not ask them to continue the creation process by, for example, having them design their new lean manufacturing workstation? Besides feeling proud of his accomplishment, an employee can improve upon his workstation again in the future according to the company’s unique requirements, when need be.

Lean Tip #2819 – 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.

Documenting improvements, making sure standard work is up-to-date, and training employees on new procedures can help sustain the progress you’ve made in your continuous improvement efforts.

Lean Tip #2820 – Be Deliberate and Patient.

Creating a culture of continuous improvement is an exercise in demonstrating continuous improvement. You need serious commitment and sustained energy. Many of us make a practice to look for the quickest, highest value wins. Kaizen is more like the effect of oceans on the beach. It’s relentless and disciplined. It can take time to produce the results that many organizations want. A company with this kind of mindset may not be completely ready for kaizen. Also, keep this in mind: even if you have a healthy organization, it will likely be resistant to change.

Lean Quote: 3 Keys Steps to a Genuine Open-Door Policy

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.

"A true leader has to have a genuine open-door policy so that his people are not afraid to approach him for any reason."   —  Harold Geneen

An open-door policy refers to the practice of business or organizational leaders leaving their doors open so that employees feel welcome to stop by and meet informally, ask questions, or discuss matters that have been weighing on their minds.

These days, with open office environments, co-working spaces and remote team members working around the globe, the “open-door policy” is more metaphorical than ever before.

Follow these three key steps.

1. Set boundaries

Your goal as a manager should be to keep a finger on the pulse of what’s really going on with your team. So, how do you make yourself accessible for meaningful discussions without turning yourself into a counselor or micromanager?

Clear communication lays the first building block to creating a successful open door policy. Even managers who encourage frequent, informal conversations through “walk around management” may need to establish set office hours, say before and after team meetings. 

If daily interruptions and vent sessions are limiting your productivity as a manager, another option might be to schedule weekly one-on-one meetings with each team member.

2. Always listen intently 

The next step in a successful open door policy requires that you listen intently to what an employee has to say. Let the person “speak their truth,” without interruption from phones, email or other people.

Recap what you heard the person say in order to make sure you fully understand the problem. Beware of being dismissive of an employee’s vent because a genuine issue may be lurking behind their frustration.

If the employee brings a recurring issue to you, there’s likely a root cause that needs to be addressed. You might say, “I notice there’s a pattern here. What do you think the solution is?”

By driving the conversation toward solutions, you discourage endless venting and encourage employees to come up with their own solutions.

Remember, not every person thinks in terms of solutions or problem-solving. Walking such employees through decision-making processes teaches them to rely on their own abilities.

3. Focus on the solution

Time, yours and your employees, remains a key component to maintaining a well-oiled open door. After all, endless interruptions compromise your ability to lead your team and your team’s productivity.

Managers should try to solve any issue the first time, within the parameters of what’s functionally achievable. By slaying problems as quickly as possible, you set up your team for maximum success, particularly when you involve them in the decision-making process. Things could get worse if you and your team fail to act.

The rationale behind the open-door policy is to develop trust and communication between employees and management, and facilitate a regular feedback process that deals with and improves day to day issues in the work environment. Such a policy is more important than ever since the transition to remote work, as managers need to find new ways to communicate and engage their employees.

How To Improve Employee Engagement At Workplace

Employee engagement goes a long way in determining productive outcomes for both the individual employee and the organization as a whole. While engagement has been improving, the rate at which it is increasing is still relatively slow. 

Going by Gallup data, only about 34% of American workers report that they are engaged at work while the number worldwide is 13%. 

Several factors hinder employee engagement, such as job market unease, distrust of managers, organizational tumult and lack of cohesion between members of teams, and other reasons specific to employees. The good news is that organizations can significantly improve employee engagement by changing how they relate to them and pay attention.

Here are 9 strategies applicable to all organizations to improve their employee engagement.  

Set the Tone at Onboarding 

Onboarding is the critical time to connect new employees with the teams and the organization. It needs to be exciting enough but not overwhelming. Follow the best practices such as introducing mentors who aren’t managers, prioritizing building relationships with coworkers, including the executive level leadership at onboarding events and meetings and ensuring smooth transitions to regular work.  

Measure Your Employee Engagement 

Without a way to measure the employee engagement levels, your program won’t meet the set goals. Using employee engagement surveys is essential to collect data on where the teams stand and the areas that need improvement.

Conduct the surveys more than once a year and aim for 100% participation. Pulse surveys are excellent tools to get an instant idea about the state of engagement in your organization.

 

Speed Up Feedback, Appreciation and Rewards

Reinforcing positive behavior is an effective way to improve performance in employees. The trick is that the appreciation and rewards given for good performance have to be immediate, if not timely. Letting months pass between appreciations would dampen the enthusiasm.

Therefore employees need to be recognized proudly and loudly to set an example that motivates others to perform better. 

Align Employees with the Company’s Core Values 

Belongingness is another strong determinant for employee engagement. The secure feeling comes with being accepted and included in a group with a robust individual identity.

Having the employees align with the company's core values by promoting them through the work culture is an effective way to condition them to pick up the values and develop a sense of belonging. 

Maintain Transparency 

Transparency is often underestimated as a factor that contributes to trust and, ultimately, employee engagement. Trust also fosters a sense of belonging to the organization and helps them realize their link to the wider teams and stakeholders. 

You can start by promoting transparency in the work culture and break down barriers between teams by fostering cross-team relationships. Also include discussions about important company metrics in the general meetings. 

Give Individual Attention 

As the workforce becomes more multigenerational, multiethnic and multinational, it helps tailor engagement approaches centered more on the individual to help employees feel valued. 

When you understand the individual tendencies of the employees, it becomes easier to assign roles and responsibilities they are most comfortable doing and have the best chance of excelling. Surveys that help organizations hire people who are best suited for specific jobs can boost engagement. 

Listen to Employees

Listening to your employees is the simplest way to convey that their voice matters and are valued members of the organization. The approach helps to quickly pinpoint and solve problems and predict problems that could arise. 

Companies are increasingly using quarterly or monthly pulse surveys to understand trends and find ways to improve engagement. 

Provide Training and Coaching 

Your organization’s focus on the continuous development of its employees communicates that they are valued and care about their growth. When your employees feel that the company is investing in their future, their engagement and productivity increases. 

One-on-one coaching by mentors and managers is another crucial ingredient that reinforces your organization's commitment to its workforce.

 

Prioritize Feedbacks 

Engagement with your employees is not possible without feedback. Their word matters, so if you’re not soliciting their feedback, do it right away. To make it friendlier, keep the feedback anonymous and easy to access. Once the feedback is received, come up with a plan of action for it or share your reasons why it’s not possible to change something privately or when appropriate. 

Employee engagement is increasingly becoming a necessity in all organizations today. To help your employees reach their best performance, it is essential to make them feel valued and become a part of their professional growth. Software solutions offer a platform through which it is possible to measure employee engagement in a meaningful way, implement the strategies discussed above, and offer rewards and recognition.

About the Author:

Kathleen O'Donnell is a freelance writer and employee communications and culture expert, with 6+ years of experience in corporate internal communications. She’s also a full-time traveler who loves spending her time writing in little cafes across the world.

Four Ways to Promote Transparency in the Workplace

Transparency is the practice of being open and honest with others, no matter how challenging it might be. For both personal and professional relationships to thrive, you need to eliminate the stigma that comes with being straightforward. 

Workplace transparency is proven to breed long-term success. Done well, transparency creates trust between employers and employees, helps improve morale and lower job-related stress while increasing employee engagement and boosting performance. And being transparent costs nothing, which gives it an exceptional ROI. 

If you want to create transparency where you work and encourage those around you to do the same, here are four ways you can get started. 

1. Eliminate ambiguity.  

Remove any potential for confusion from all workplace communication, including company guidelines, roles, responsibilities and processes. Accountability begins with a clear understanding of who is responsible for which parts of the business, and employees struggle when management leaves important information open for interpretation. To avoid potential problems, follow up often and be firm about your expectations for open communication at all levels in the future. 

2. Provide access to information 

Within an organization there is often a lot of information that is not available to employees. Often this information is not made public because it is sensitive or for some other reason. However, there might be information that can be shared with employees, but isn’t. In order for you, as a leader to be transparent, you should consider if more information should be available to employees, and provide access to it. 

3. Involve people in decision making 

What’s even better than explaining your decision, it to involve others in the decision making process. You can do this in a number of different ways. Sometimes a quick poll on a subject can be enough to get input from others, in other cases you might want to hold a workshop or brainstorming session in order to make a collaborative decision. This approach to decision making does not only make you more transparent as a leader, but can also help you come to better decisions for your organization. 

4. Build a culture of empowerment 

Empowering employees means trusting them to make decisions about your organization. This is a key part of building a transparent culture. Empowered employees are more independent and productive. It also encourages collaboration and cultivates a safe space where everyone can express their opinions. Employees and other people don’t have to be concerned about being penalized for making a mistake. Instead, they’re encouraged to learn from the experience. 

At its core, transparency is about maintaining an open dialogue so everyone is heard, able to share, and empowered to do their best work. 

Bringing this transparency into your workplace won’t always be easy, but you may find the rewards are worth the work it takes to make it happen. 

Lean Quote: Four Most Important Words In An Organization

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.

"What do you think?"   —  Tom Peters

Use the Four Magic Words “What Do You Think?”: This is a favorite quote from management guru Tom Peters. Asking your employees for their ideas is the ultimate display of respect and empowers them to solve their own problems.

I started blogging in June of 2004, and the best part of it, frankly, is the wonderful comments that come from India at 1 a.m. or come from anywhere. And one morning when I logged on, I had gotten a lovely comment from a guy by the name of Dave Wheeler. And it went like this: “What are the four most important words in an organization?”

And the four words were: What. Do. You. Think.

And I thought about it and I thought, “My God. This is just bloody amazing.” What does What Do You Think mean? What Do You Think, when you say it to me, means: You are a person of value who has an opinion that I want to hear. And so, I’ve started taking it to its ultimate extreme and saying, “Okay, I want you to keep a little scorecard. Keep it in your pocket, wherever else. How many times” —and I do, everybody’s watching this— “how many times in the course of a day do you say—not five words, not three words, not 10 words—What Do You Think?”

You know, we hear this about empowerment and that about empowerment and this program and that program and this training course and that training course. I would argue, in the world of engaging people, nothing is better than the four words: What Do You Think? Try it. Count it. Measure yourself. See what happens.