Lean Tips Edition #208 (#3331 - #3345)

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 #3331 – Require Management to Set a Strong Example

When employees are told they are supposed to follow the standards which have been laid out for them, only to find that their managers are not doing the same it can be very discouraging. The leadership team should always be the examples which other people can follow, not a source of trouble for the lean team. Managers at every level should be required to follow the standard and also enforce the same on their teams throughout the company.

Lean Tip #3332 – Create an Implementation Plan with Milestones

Implementation can be a difficult time for any strategy which is why it should be properly planned out. Having a written plan with set milestones is the best way to get the results you’re looking for. When the plan is written and easy to understand it is much easier for everyone at all levels to follow properly. While creating the plan make sure to include all the key teams which will be needed during the implementation process so they can give their input and have a good understanding of how everything works throughout the process.

Lean Tip #3333 – Show, Don’t Tell What The Ideal Workplace Should Look Like

Most people are visual learners by trait. Use visual aids to help the staff understand what your definition of a clean and organized workstation looks like. Before and after pictures can help show a pattern of progression and track success. Place the before pictures outside the workspace so workers can visually track progression.

Lean Tip #3334 – Clearly Define Your Expectations

Every employee should have specific roles that they are expected to fill within the system. These expectations should be clearly defined within each and every job description. Consistently emphasize the importance of completing these tasks and why they are important to the overall success of the company. Your leaders should be able to provide both positive feedback and constructive feedback if certain expectations are not met.

Lean Tip #3335 – Reward Excellence

Take the time to reward your staff or teams that are outperforming. This not a means of rewarding employees for doing their job, but rather pointing out those that go above and beyond the level of standards you layout. As you conduct your monthly audits remember it is important to recognize achievements. Friendly competition and recognition is a powerful tool for improvement.

Lean Tip #3336 – Leave Your Door Open To Be More Accessible

The times when you shut your office door to conduct sensitive business or ensure privacy should be the exception rather than the rule. If you spend most of your time behind closed doors, your staff isn't going to feel a connection with you. Instead, they'll feel alienated and cut off. Even if it means more distractions due to people stopping by to say hello or ask questions, try to keep your office door open whenever possible.

Lean Tip #3337 – Talk to Your Staff If You Want Them to Approach You

Take an interest in your employees beyond just the work they do. Getting to know your staff builds trusting relationships. You don't have to get deeply involved in workers' personal lives, but you should know about their families, interests and hobbies. A simple "Good morning, how was your weekend?" can work wonders in making an employee feel that you care about them. As smart managers know, employees who feel liked and respected are more likely to be productive and enthusiastic workers.

Lean Tip #3338 – Don't Punish the Messenger

If you're the kind of boss who only wants to hear good news, your employees won't tell you everything you need to know-and that will mean unpleasant surprises down the road. Let your staff know they can come to you with potential problems or suggestions on how to improve operations. Recognize that since they're the ones on the "front lines" of your business, they may have better insights than you do into what is really going on.

Lean Tip #3339 – Speak Openly and Honestly With Others

If you want to become an approachable manager, a crucial step is to start speaking openly and honestly with others. It means being straightforward and honest about your intentions and willing to listen to others’ perspectives. Be responsive, show openness to feedback, and communicate openly about what you are doing and why so that everyone in your team feels engaged and invested in your work. Finally, while being honest, respect others’ time and effort.

Lean Tip #3340 – Seek Feedback From Your Team and Others Around You

To be an approachable manager, you need to seek feedback from your team and others around you constantly. It will help you understand the areas in which you need to improve and take the necessary measures to improve your relationship and communication skills.

By getting feedback from various sources, you will be able to understand the needs of your team better and cater to them accordingly. However, take proper note of your feedback, as it can be a valuable tool in your professional arsenal. If handled properly, feedback can help drive continuous improvement and development in your managerial skills.

Lean Tip #3341 – Create an Image of Change

Create an image of the benefits of change and show your audience why taking action is necessary. You can do this through a scenario planning framework. Drawing the best-case scenario, worst-case scenario and realistic scenario can allow your team to react and buy into your vision. You may also use case studies to help your audience visualize what you are working to achieve.

Lean Tip #3342 – Show the Benefits of Your Plan

Showing how the plan is going to help the organization can allow your team to make mental calculations of whether the idea is worth buying into. Sometimes, the perceived loss of current benefits can make some people slow to accept change. If you show them the positives of the change, they may be more likely to be accepting of your plan.

Lean Tip #3343 – Lead Your Team by Example

It can be easier to get buy-in from a team if you lead by example. If an idea requires changes of staff, first make the changes yourself to show team members you are prepared to do what you're asking them to do. This can give them an idea of what you're asking of them as well as encourage them to trust you.

Lean Tip #3344 – Be Aware of Emotions

Getting buy-in is an interpersonal activity, often with high stakes involved. Selling your vision is likely to stir emotions such as passion and anger, which, if appropriately directed, may improve your chances of securing a commitment from others. To be successful in getting buy-in, you can pay attention to your audience's emotions while also maintaining your own emotions.

Lean Tip #3345 – Leverage Feedback

Use the team's feedback to improve the original idea. People may be more likely to commit to action if they feel their ideas are part of the plan. Not all feedback may become part of the plan, but it is vital to acknowledge everyone who contributed by saying "our plan." The way you communicate can help show others that the vision is not from an individual, but is the product of a team effort.

Lean Quote: Know Yourself

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 key to an ideal workplace, in one hyphenated word, is this: self-awareness."   —  Neil Blumenthal

Self-awareness is the ability to see yourself clearly and objectively through reflection and introspection. This is a critical tool to help you reach higher levels of job satisfaction, become a better leader, improve relationships with colleagues, and manage your emotions better. It’s also positively correlated with higher levels of overall happiness.

There are many ways to build and practice self-awareness, but here are some of the most effective:

1. Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness allows you to be present with yourself and observe your thoughts in a non-judgmental way. What better way to become self-aware than focusing, nonjudgmentally, on you?

Mindfulness forces you to focus on yourself on purpose, in the present moment. Next time you’re feeling frustrated at work, use mindfulness to check-in with yourself: what thoughts are going through your mind? How are you feeling? Simply being present enough to acknowledge your thoughts, feelings, and emotions, will help you become more acquainted and better at recognizing them properly within yourself.

2. Make Time to Reflect

Reflecting can be done in multiple ways and is customizable to the person reflecting, but the important thing is to go over your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to see where you met your standards, where you failed them, and where you could improve.

You can also reflect on your standards themselves to see if they are good ones for you to hold yourself to. You can try writing in a journal, talking out loud, or simply sitting quietly and thinking, whatever helps you to reflect on yourself.

3. Become a Better Listener, and Ask for Feedback

When you learn how to listen to your friends, colleagues, and managers without evaluating or judging them, you’ll become more empathetic and understand people better. Listening, by the way, isn’t the same as hearing -- like mindfulness, the practice of listening takes purpose and control. Listening to the important people in your life should give you a true sense of how they perceive you.

You can translate those listening skills to yourself, too, and become better at understanding your own thoughts and emotions. Listening to others and yourself is critical to becoming self-aware.

Additionally, it's important to ask for feedback from the people you work with, or lead. It’s impossible to have true, complete self-awareness, if you only turn inwards -- gaining different perspectives on who you are will help you see a truer, more complete picture.

Developing self-awareness might feel uncomfortable at first as you get used to actively seeking critical feedback and viewing yourself from an objective standpoint. However, the impact it can have on your professional relationships, the productivity of your team and the profitability of your company are undeniable.

Empower Your Employees With the Right Mindset

Empowerment. It’s a word often said, a goal, a value, a hallmark of modern leadership. Yet it may be one of those leadership principles that can be misunderstood and difficult to put into action. Especially, when we are talking about empowerment at work.

Create an empowering environment by fostering trust and respect. An empowering leader is a wise teammate. They create the space where great work gets done. To become a teammate, leaders must truly know your team members, their goals, and their strengths. They must understand their sense of purpose and work to support them in achieving it.

For employees to be empowered, they must be part of the conversation. Employees must participate in discussions on achieving current goals and setting new goals. Doing so will enable them to develop a personal stake in these goals and successfully fulfill them. Employees should also be encouraged to participate in shaping new ideas and strategies.

By being part of big-picture conversations, employees feel worthy and valuable to the team's success.

Align individuals to organizational goals. An organization still has a “why” that drives the work and value of the organization. Empowerment derives from having relevant information.

To bolster empowerment at work, ensure team members understand the goals of the organization. Enable them to connect their contributions to these goals. Show them how and why their work matters.

Provide feedback so they will know when they have been successful. Aligning individual and organizational goals means coaching team members to unleash their strengths in service of organizational goals.

Redefine accountability. Individual accountability is at the core of empowerment, but how we define it is important. 

Accountability here means a commitment to achieving organizational goals. But it also allows for risk-taking and new approaches that might lead to temporary setbacks and failures. Accountability includes supporting team members in learning from these moments. It means refocusing their efforts towards the goals using new knowledge and experience.

Practice self-awareness. A leader may discover she feels uncomfortable with releasing power to others.  Feelings like “what if they get it wrong?” or “I don’t feel like I’m adding any value” can be challenging for leaders who may then inadvertently act in a disempowering way.  Empowering leaders know themselves well. They keep tabs on their inner dialogue to guard against disempowering actions.

Employee empowerment in the workplace is the key to unlocking the full potential of your organization. Empowered employees are more productive, engaged, and committed to achieving their goals. In addition, they feel valued and respected, which creates a better work environment for everyone. To create a workplace empowerment culture, you need to start by clarifying roles and responsibilities, providing necessary resources, delegating authority effectively, and cultivating a flexible work environment.

How To Cultivate Employee Satisfaction for Optimal Business Success

Image Source: Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/photos/GFrBMipOd_E)

You need happy and satisfied employees to have a successful, long-lasting company. How your employees feel about work can affect how they operate, and if they aren’t satisfied or don’t have the proper tools, it can affect your customers. Ultimately, if your employees are fulfilled in their roles, your customers benefit from the productivity and higher standards your staff brings to their work. Let’s talk about how to make this happen.

Make Sure Employees Are Satisfied

You shouldn’t assume your employees are happy and satisfied with their work. You must ask them how they feel. You can get feedback from your employees anonymously through surveys. Or bring them in for one-on-one meetings. If you do, ask them how they like their job and the changes they’d like to see to be happier at work so they can pass those feelings on to the customer base.

A happy employee will be more engaged, they’ll show empathy, and they’ll want to go above and beyond to assist because they know it’s for the betterment of the company. You want employees who are happy when they show up for work each day. So ask them what you can do to get them there.

In addition to being happy, your staff also needs to be motivated. If you get the sense that they’re not there yet, then the office environment may be to blame. Are the leaders in your organization going above and beyond to show the employees that they’re appreciated, and are you providing some sort of initiative for them to give 110%? Consider providing recognition and rewards for a job well done, including physical rewards like gift cards and meaningful perks, such as the chance to move up within the company when they meet certain thresholds.

Some employees may want more challenges to help work feel less monotonous. These employees are great for your company. Give them the chance to take part in research and development (R&D), or provide them with tasks outside of their wheelhouse. Make sure these new tasks can contribute to customer satisfaction as well, such as creating a new help desk user interface. Furthermore, you could even consider funding professional development courses for employees who want to learn new skills. 

Give Your Employees The Tools They Need

The next step is to provide your staff with the proper tools to ensure customer satisfaction so you get positive reviews. In addition to giving them a good computer with a reliable connection, you also want to provide the tools to help them get through any interaction. Implement a ticket or help desk system to escalate service needs that may be new to them.

Also, provide a knowledge base of helpful information, including documents, how-tos, and other guidance they can access with a few mouse clicks. While text can be helpful, try to also mix in some videos and screenshots because they can give the employees a better picture of what they need to know. Finally, provide the staff with a way to report bugs in the system when they come across them. Often, your customers need to use these same systems, so ensuring that they work properly can keep everyone satisfied.

It’s also vital to continue to develop your employees over time because there are many perks to doing so. When they know that their hard work will pay off and that they could be promoted in the future, they’re likely to show more effort. Not only that, but they’ll likely stay at your company for longer and refer other top-notch employees who will further satisfy your customer's needs.

Just ensure you follow through on the development aspect instead of providing empty promises in the hope that you’ll see a bump in their production. Sit down with each employee, outline the steps they’ll need to take to be promoted, and provide guidance on achieving those goals. If they do the work, then follow through on your word. Your employees will appreciate that you appreciate them, and they’ll go above and beyond to meet the customer's needs.

Determine If Your Customers Are Satisfied

There are multiple stages in the customer’s journey. Most, if not all customers buy a product or service because it solves a problem they have. If your employees are doing good work because they’re happy in their roles, your product/service should work well from the get-go. This is the first stage at which customers can be satisfied.

Thereafter, customer satisfaction is directly influenced by customer service in the event that something goes wrong with your product/service. Their satisfaction may also be influenced by how your brand portrays itself online and elsewhere.

Throughout these stages of the customer’s journey, seek feedback to determine if your employee satisfaction efforts are lending themselves to business success.

You can gauge customer satisfaction in many ways, starting with capturing feedback immediately after a sales or service transaction. Once the customer has been assisted, the employee can offer them a chance to fill out a survey and answer honestly about how satisfied they are with what transpired. It’s wise to get their opinions immediately after the interaction so the details are fresh in their minds.

Examine client data and look at metrics such as satisfaction score and social sentiment analysis to determine their satisfaction level. You can also determine the satisfaction of your customers by looking at your return on investment. Are they returning to you after their first visit and spending money? If they’re not, then you may need to make some changes. 

Social media presence is also important because it’s a great tool for marketing your products and services. However, you must meet your customers where they are. Before you do a full-scale marketing push, research and survey your customers to see the platforms they frequent most so you know you'll reach them. Once you figure that out, engage with them regularly.

You can learn much about your customers and your employees based on how they act on social media. Most people will have no problem voicing their frustrations when they receive a broken product or get lousy service, and you can help them when you see their comments. You can also pay attention to how your staff acts on social media. Do they also complain about their job? Are they curt when the customers complain? If you’re seeing friction, then you have work to do. 

The point is that you can’t properly service your customers if you don’t have content employees, so you need to work on doing what’s best for both parties. Properly motivate your staff and then survey your customers to see if they’re satisfied, and continue to make tweaks until you get it just right.nsure your teams, business, and consumers genuinely thrive as the landscape continues to evolve.

About the Author: Luke Smith is a writer and researcher turned blogger. Since finishing college he is trying his hand at being a freelance writer. He enjoys writing on a variety of topics but technology and business topics are his favorite. When he isn't writing you can find him traveling, hiking, or gaming.

Lean Quote: Top 10 Ways to Motivate Employees

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.

"People work for money but go the extra mile for recognition, praise and rewards."   —  Dale Carnegie, Leadership Training Guru

Motivating employees presents a challenge to even the most experienced managers and executives. Couple that with a small or non-existent budget, and it can feel climbing Mount Everest. There’s relief, though. Most employees are motivated by non-cash, not-so flashy rewards. In fact, many employees stay on top of their game when managers and leaders give sincere, deserved recognition and rewards with small or no price tags.

To jump-start motivation today, it’s important to know what motivates people. Then apply proven, inexpensive or no-cost strategies that will keep your employees motivated at work.

Recognizing good work is the No. 1 way to motivate employees – by their own admission in several studies. But that alone won’t sustain motivation.

Instead, managers can mix up motivation tactics from the top 10 things employees say keep them happy and interested in work.

1. Public praise and recognition. One note of caution: Make sure employees aren’t embarrassed by public recognition before you single out anyone at a department or company event.

2. Opportunity to show off a great job. Most employees like to share their successes. Bonus: Others can learn from and be motivated by them.

3. Hearing about the positive impact they have – on the company, their boss, co-workers, a project, a customer, etc.

4. Earning extra time off. Employees usually enjoy earned time off more than time off that is just handed to them.

5. Training and development opportunities. This report will give you low-cost ways to train employees.

6. Being treated with respect by managers and co-workers. So managers need to check that employees treat each other well.

7. Opportunities to mentor new hires.

8. Inclusion in projects and decisions beyond their normal job tasks.

9. Receiving and being trained to use top-notch technology. This report will give tips on how to offer technology at lower costs.

10. A relaxed open work environment can be a huge motivator. If everyone is feeling comfortable, they’re not afraid to throw out ideas. Even if an idea doesn’t work initially, that doesn’t mean it won’t lead to the solution that wins in the end.

The Importance of Honesty at Work

We often tell kids that honesty is the best policy. The truth of the matter is that philosophy holds true for employees, too, especially when it comes to the workplace.

The expectation of honesty at work means you have to be clear and open with everyone. When you are, it demonstrates trust and creates an environment of transparency — another vital element in all great organizations.

Openness and honesty at work make for an environment where people feel trusted, especially by company leadership. When you have an environment where information is communicated with clarity, it opens the door for greater connection and productivity.

Do your employees really know what's going on with your company?  Be honest with your employees they can handle the truth.  Remember, sharing information with employees is good for a couple of reasons: one, it's the right thing to do, and two, it's good for business. 

Here are five reasons you should embrace transparency:

1. People assume the worst when they don't hear from leaders. Silence from the executive office causes a lot of fear and resentment, which certainly doesn't contribute to a productive culture. Maybe the news is bad, but maybe it's not as bad as they are imagining. And even if it is, once they know the truth they can plan and act accordingly.

2. Transparency helps employees connect to the why. When employees are working in a vacuum, they can't see the financial "big picture," and decisions leaders make may seem ill-advised or unfair or simply inexplicable. Transparency connects them to the why—and that understanding propels them to act. You can ask people to change their work habits and established processes all day long. But if they don't know why they're being asked to change, they won't change—at least not for long.

3. Transparency allows for consistent messaging across the organization. When you commit to transparency, people don't have to get their (speculative, distorted) news through the company grapevine. They hear what's really going on, in a controlled and consistent way, from their managers. This, in turn, creates organizational consistency. When everyone is hearing the same messages from their leaders, everyone is motivated to respond in similar ways. And this consistency trickles down to the customers, who get the same basic experience regardless of who they're dealing with.

4. Transparency leads to faster, more efficient execution. When times are tough, execution is everything. And the ticket to good execution is good alignment: All sectors of an organization must understand exactly what's required so they act in a coordinated and collaborative fashion. Transparency is what facilitates that kind of alignment. It's all about a shared sense of urgency.

5. Transparency facilitates the best possible solutions. In transparent cultures, leaders encourage employees to solve problems themselves. And because those employees are the people closest to a problem, and because they must live with the outcome, they almost always design the most effective, efficient solution.  And, of course, they'll also have instant buy-in.

Honesty really is the best policy. It’s not easy and it might sting from time to time, but when you do it right, honesty will create a better work environment and position your brand to be more successful in the long-run.

The more transparent the work environment, the happier the employees are.  The happier employees are, the more productive they are.  Ultimately, honesty builds trust in the company and confidence in leadership. Voicing the truth enables all of us to identify the issue and work as a team to better it.

It all has to start with you, the leader. Model the culture you want to see. Hold yourself accountable to the same standard you hold employees to. Stay competitive, deliver a better product, and build an engaged team of skilled workers to take your business to the next level. Just do it with honesty and transparency at the forefront.

5 Ways to Build a Strong Team

When I first became a manager, I really struggled with figuring out the best way to develop my team. I was so used to doing it all myself, that I didn’t realize that I had to unlearn a few of the practices that had gotten me to management level. I soon realized that as a manager, your teams’ success equates to yours. And not only that, but your ability to inspire and develop people is critical to your own future, as the higher you climb up the leadership ladder, the more you depend on the success and strengths of others to achieve key objectives and goals.

Empowering staff is an essential part of a manager’s job and assist them to reach their potential and it is an aspiration any manager should have. It’s also important to remember how tricky management can be because it requires dealing with different types of people and they all have their own personalities, goals, behaviors and motivations. This means there’s no single encompassing solution when it comes to managing a team.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer for the best way to manage a team, there are effective approaches that managers can adopt to support their staff, help them be productive and achieve their potential. Here are 5 ways that you can develop your team and earn yourself some kudos at the same time:

Build time into your schedule to devote to their growth

You’re busy, so are they, so you need to plan time for development, rather than just hoping it falls into place. It simply won’t happen if you wait for some time to crop up. See their development as something so important that it’s worth setting time aside for it.

Identify the skillsets that will make the team member more valuable to you

Do they have strengths in a specific area that would really advance your department in the eyes of customers or stakeholders? Are there skillsets they demonstrate that would add real value to your team or wider constituents? By identifying what you need and helping people develop those skills, you create an observable increase in the value of your team member.

Create opportunities for further growth and development

It won’t happen on its own. You have to pro-actively work towards developing those opportunities. What self-development could the person carry out? What e-learning and blended learning sessions could they immerse themselves in? Is there any mentoring sessions you could take with them? Identify what you could put in place for them, so they see the value in devoting the time to it.

Create a learning culture within the team

This means acting as the conduit to their learning, growth and development. Encourage them at every opportunity; acknowledge the efforts they are making; recognize any progress and success they are experiencing. A learning culture with drive their confidence and their will to improve.

Feedback, review and enhance learning processes

Feedback is the breakfast of champions, so ensure that you identify progress and feedback what successes they have enjoyed. Review the learnings and their applications. Create chances for them to share learnings within the team. That way, you build more reasons for your team member and others to enhance their knowledge and act upon it.

The last thing I want to emphasize is a caution. None of this will work if you don’t focus on building trust among your team. Your team needs to know they can trust you. Treat them with dignity, respect, and let them know that they are each valuable. If they know their success matters to you, they will respect your development feedback and reward you with the effort of improvement. And that’s one of your most important responsibilities as a manager – one that can be very rewarding as you help people achieve their personal best.

These 5 tips will help your team member take responsibility for their learning and choose their direction, rather than just seeing their role as a job that won’t augment their career opportunities within your department or company.