Leadership Lessons from John F Kennedy

Every year, Americans celebrate Presidents Day as a day of remembrance — a day to look back and learn from our nation’s greatest leaders. In today’s competitive market, business leaders are looking for the edge that will put their organization and workforce ahead of the curve.

As we celebrate President’s Day today, I want discuss President John F. Kennedy (JFK). As a young boy space was inquisitive so I’ve always appreciated his vision to be the first. JFK is known for his dedication to country, as he often recalled his time in the armed forces as a motivating factor for leadership. His famous phrase is a reminder to work hard and live for the betterment of others: 

“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Here’s a snapshot from JFK of lessons for today’s leaders.

1. Ask Great Questions

Space leadership had become a measure of world leadership. America was already behind the Russians, who had launched a man into space April 12, 1961.

Kennedy responded to the Soviet achievement by doing what the best leaders do. He posed the key question: “Is there any…space program which promises dramatic results in which we could win?”

Experts scrambled and advised Kennedy that putting a man on the moon was seen as a race where the U.S. “may be able to be first.”

Armed with this assessment, Kennedy made the first of many “hard decisions” related to America’s space program. On May 25, 1961, JFK challenged America with the goal of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” He wanted it done “before this decade is out.”  And he wanted to beat the Russians.

2. Play to Win

Kennedy’s competition was the Soviet Union. The American-Soviet Cold War battle was for preeminence in space. The stakes were enormous.

Speaking in Houston on September 12, 1962, JFK declared, “We choose to go to the moon.” In that speech he provided the rationale for this audacious initiative and the specifics for winning.

Competing, said JFK, was not enough. “Everything we do,” said Kennedy, “ought to really be tied into getting onto the moon ahead of the Russians.” Some leaders confuse making money with their organization’s purpose and then wonder why their employees are less than enthusiastic about meeting performance objectives. People want to win. Leaders put their people in position to claim victory.

Are you committed to winning?

3. Unify and Inspire People

Great leaders inspire people to rally around a cause that’s bigger than themselves. This is the reason your organization’s mission (its purpose beyond making money) and vision (where you’re going) are so important. They must translate beyond the financial performance of the organization. They must inspire people to show up every day and give their best. This is how top-performing organizations drive accountability.

Does your company’s mission give your team something to cheer for?

4. Challenge Your Team

America started from a position well behind the Russians with the odds stacked heavily against us. In casting his high risk/high reward vision, JFK surrendered day-to-day decision-making, effectively motivating his colleagues to solve their own problems. Owning the outcome forged commitment and drove peer accountability.

Is everyone committed? Does everyone know what is expected of them to help us win?

5. Make Your Challenge Public

Public commitments drive personal and organizational accountability. JFK made public his vision of beating the Russians to the moon. And he held NASA accountable for winning the race. For people of strong character, falling short is an embarrassment – perhaps the most undesirable of consequences.

Are the people on your team capable of overcoming incredible challenges? If not, what – or who – is holding them back?

The power of Kennedy’s “We choose to go to the Moon” speech resonates today, providing a blueprint for any leader seeking to unify a group of people in order to accomplish a difficult task.

What are you doing to move from success to significance?

What legacy are you leaving?

Lean Quote: Without Passion You Have Nothing

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.

"Without passion you don't have energy, without energy you have nothing."   —  Donald Trump

Passion is the driving force that enables people to attain far more than they ever imagined. Without passion there is no drive to succeed. It is the fuel of the will, and everything you do as a leader must express your passion. Passion is contagious and is easily shared. Passion will bridge moments of weakness, and will drive you past your failures while reaching for your goals. Passion radiates from you and is easily detected by others.

Passion is not style. There are a lot of different styles -- charismatic, quiet, confident. But it all comes down to this motivating sense of commitment to what you do. Vince Lombardi said “the difference between success and failure is energy … fired with enthusiasm.”

Enthusiasm; intensity about a subject; willingness to engage others on their terms with respect to the threats and possibilities; deep knowledge about the subject; examples from one's own experience - all of these are marks of passion.  These are attributes that can be studied, learned, and acquired over time.  They grow from believing that there must be a better way for your organization to survive and prosper in a competitive world.

Passion is literally the fuel that propels you toward success. Passion allows you to think, feel, focus, act, attract and create the events conditions and circumstances that you most desire to see you through difficult times. Passion is what propels you to begin taking the necessary action steps that will allow you to begin changing your current situation.

Great leaders take vision and passion to the next step by investing their time and energy to create environments in which employees are engaged in meaningful work and eager to contribute. When this is realized, the result is competitive advantage.

Show Your Employees Some Love

It’s February 14th and if that date doesn’t ring a bell, you must live under a rock. It’s Valentine’s day!

Whether you “believe” in Valentine’s Day or not, it’s the perfect occasion to show some appreciation to someone special and your employees would probably be delighted and surprised if you took the time to show them some love this Valentine’s day!

Here are 6 Ways you can Show your Employees some love this Valentine’s Day!

1. Verbal recognition – Share a little praise for a job well done.

2. A handwritten note of appreciation – This is powerful. I’ve seen employees keep a note from their boss for years. Some even display it on their desks.

3. Snack time – Surprise employees with a snack of some kind. It can be a chocolate bar, an ice cream sandwich, or anything special. Be sure to remember employees who might have food allergies.

4. Teambuilding – A game or teambuilding activity is always fun and memorable.

5. Take the team to lunch – An hour away from the office to enjoy a meal with your team can build better relationships and morale.

6. Free coffee – Nothing says “I love you” more than a Starbucks gift card. Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch, but people do love their Dunkin!

All of these tips require very little effort but have a large payoff. After all, people who feel appreciated are not only likely to put more effort into their work – they’re more likely to stay at their current job for a longer period of time! So this Valentine’s Day, go ahead and let your employees or coworkers know that you really do appreciate all of their hard work – and then reward them for it!

Does your company use Valentine’s Day as a time to show appreciation?

5 Ways to Accelerate Your Lean Roadmap

Many organizations have begun the journey to make their businesses lean. Some have reported early successes while others have struggled or fallen into the rut entitled "flavor of the month." As is usually the case with this kind of organization change, implementation precedes understanding. What follows are missteps, rework, confusion, organizational angst, and the aforementioned "flavor of the month" criticism.

As you continue your Lean Journey here are 5 ways to accelerate your roadmap:

Start With Lean Training for Everyone

The key to implementing any new idea or concept is training. It must be top down training so that everyone is on the same page. The more understanding of what lean manufacturing is all about, why you are implementing it and the expected benefits from it, the more likely you are to get buy-in.

It is very important that everyone in the company become committed to lean culture. In order to make the culture successful, managers and employees need to be aware of waste within the company and be prepared to attack and eliminate it. Making sure that the employees are empowered to do this, not just pushing the job off on someone else, is imperative in the proper function of lean culture.

Ensuring everyone is on the same page will help to avoid conflict. At the same time, it is important to ensure people have the space in which to think about what improvements they think need making.

Use Daily Management to Engage Employee in the Gemba

Lean organizations make use of Daily Management systems, a structured process to focus employee’s actions to continuously improve their day-to-day work. Daily Management empowers employees to identify potential process concerns, recommend potential solutions, and learn by implementing process changes. Daily Management, if done right, can be a critical tool in any organization’s toolbox to engage frontline staff in problem-solving and to deliver customer value.

Lean Daily Management includes three components: (1) alignment of goals and effort; (2) visual data management, daily huddles, and problem-solving; and (3) leader standard work.

Focus on Problem Solving

One of the most common mistakes that companies make when embarking on a Lean transformation is trying to do too much at once. These “boil-the-ocean” initiatives are long, costly and often end up stalling under the weight of their own ambition.

The PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act) is a simple and effective framework for lean problem-solving. It guides your employees through four steps: defining the problem and its scope, implementing a solution and testing its results, evaluating the outcome and identifying any gaps, and standardizing the solution and making further adjustments.

Empower Improvement with Kaizen

Kaizen events are a powerful improvement tool because people are empowered to come up with new ideas to help the business. Employees are isolated from their day-to-day responsibilities and allowed to concentrate all their creativity and time on problem-solving and improvement.

The purpose of kaizen is to involve everyone, everywhere, every day in making simple improvements. These small improvements add up overtime and result in an extraordinary and never-ending transformation of processes. Companies which use Kaizens have found they generate energy among those who work in the area being improved, and produce immediate gains in productivity and quality.

Seek Expert Help from Lean Sensei

A Lean coach or sensei provides the necessary guidance, support, and expertise to help organizations navigate their journey successfully. They guide teams in adapting to new ways of working and help them overcome any challenges encountered in the process based on their extensive experience and knowledge of Lean. They help organizations identify inefficiencies in their processes and implement effective solutions.

The challenge with lean is that, despite its attraction to many executives who want to cut costs and increase productivity, a lean process doesn’t happen overnight. There are plenty of obstacles to overcome.

Lean Quote: Willingness to Constantly Accept Critical Feedback

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.

"There has to be a willingness to constantly accept critical feedback and rapidly iterate to make things better."   —  Sam Yagan

Praise and constructive criticism help to develop and improve employee performance. At work, managers use critical feedback to improve the standard of work by creating an atmosphere that nurtures growth and support. If you're a manager or employer, learning how to give critical feedback effectively can help improve employees' overall productivity.

Tips for giving feedback:

Make time

• Regardless how busy you are, create a feedback calendar and take it seriously!
• If you become aware of a “positive” or “negative” action, acknowledge it immediately

Make it honest and meaningful

• Be prepared to provide specifics about both negative and positive feedback
• Think in terms of praise and constructive criticism – both contribute to growth

Use goal tracking

• If you don’t know how to get started, review how the individual has helped (or hindered) the achievement of organizational or team goals

Discuss and document the top 3 strengths and 3 growth opportunities

• For the strengths, try to leverage them and keep them sharp
• For the growth opportunities, determine what actions can be implemented immediately, which require assistance (ex. Training/mentoring), and have a plan for tracking progress

Commit to supporting continual learning

• Review what in house programs are available
• Ensure your budget adequately includes development opportunities
• Investigate external training that can address your focus areas

 

Feedback is critical for individual growth and for organizational success but it’s not always easy to give or to receive.

Tips for Running Effective Daily Management Meeting

Lean organizations make use of Daily Management systems, a structured process to focus employee’s actions to continuously improve their day-to-day work. Daily Management empowers employees to identify potential process concerns, recommend potential solutions, and learn by implementing process changes. Daily Management, if done right, can be a critical tool in any organization’s toolbox to engage frontline staff in problem-solving and to deliver customer value.

Here are my tips for running an effective daily management meeting.

Segregate Meetings With Management Levels (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3)

It is important to segregate meetings with management levels (tier 1, tier 2, tier 3) because it allows for more focused and efficient communication within each level. Each level of management has different responsibilities, expertise, and decision-making authority, and holding separate meetings allows each level to discuss issues and make decisions that are most relevant to their respective roles.

Tier 1 meetings typically involve front-line supervisors and focus on day-to-day operations and problem-solving. Tier 2 meetings involve middle managers and focus on longer-term planning and strategy. Tier 3 meetings involve senior executives and focus on high-level strategic planning and decision-making.

Meet In Person Near the Gemba

These meetings should be conducted on the shopfloor in a safe area where communication is easily heard. While there are many digital solutions these days I prefer the manual versions.

Set a Time Limit

Time is of the essence in a factory, and employees often have limited time to spend in meetings. Therefore, it’s essential to keep these meetings short and focused. Aim for a maximum of 15 to 30 minutes and prioritize the most critical issues that need to be discussed.

Start with Positive News

Starting the meeting on a positive note can set the tone for the rest of the meeting. Begin by sharing any good news, such as meeting production targets, or recognizing team members for their hard work.

Safety is Next Concern

Safety is a top priority in any factory, and daily huddles provide an opportunity to discuss any safety concerns or near-misses that have occurred. Discussing safety measures can help prevent future incidents and ensure the safety of all employees.

Don’t Solve Problems in Real Time

An effective daily huddle makes it so someone can acknowledge that they can help a fellow team member without turning it into a troubleshooting session.

Capture Action Items

When action items are assigned, they should be owned by the person responsible for them. This should include specific tasks that need to be completed before the next meeting or when it will be completed.

5 Continuous Improvement Ideas to Try Out

Maybe you don’t have buy-in from Executive leadership for a Lean transformation or maybe you do. You know your organization can fall behind the competition if you aren’t actively looking for ways to streamline and improve processes. One way you can combat this is by implementing continuous improvement or Kaizen. If you’re looking for ways to create a better organization, I’ve listed some continuous improvement ideas to try out.

1. Training & Development

If there’s one thing you should have for continuous improvement, it’s training and development. Training programs are one of the improvement tools that can give your employees more opportunities for development, growth, and engagement. It also provides an avenue to train them with the skills and knowledge your organization needs its workforce to have. For example, you can train them about process improvement training or business approaches like the Six Sigma and Lean to secure customer satisfaction and cost reduction. You can also take advantage of this program to teach them the best business practices to better execute current strategies and find ways to improve on them.

2. Daily Huddles

Daily huddles take place at the value stream level and last for about 10 to 15 minutes. Huddles are led by the leader and are attended by all members of the value stream. Huddles take place directly in front of the visual board so that the metrics that are displayed on the board can be discussed and updated as needed.

The purpose of daily huddle is to make everyone collaborate at a common platform, take charge and ownership of each and every aspect, for example, improving production, productivity, material availability, etc., and most important is the increasing communication.

3. Standard Work

Standard work is a written description of how a process should be done. It guides consistent execution. At its best, it documents a current “best practice” and ensures that it is implemented throughout a company. At a minimum, it provides a baseline from which a better approach can be developed.

The definition of standard work is “the most effective combination of manpower, materials and machinery”. Standard work is the method, and thereby you have the four Ms of manufacturing (manpower, material, machinery, methods). Standard Work is only “the most effective” until the standard is improved.

4. Value Stream Mapping

Value stream mapping is a tremendously valuable tool for improving a process. Well suited for a broad range of industries and processes. A value stream map (VSM) illustrates the flow of materials and information as a product or service moves through a process.

Value-stream mapping is a useful tool for grasping the current situation and for planning improvements. A current state value-stream map depicts the current situation as is. A future state value-stream map depicts what the value stream should look like after planned improvements have been implemented.

Kaizen is a Lean manufacturing tool that improves quality, productivity, safety, and workplace culture. Kaizen focuses on applying small, daily changes that result in major improvements over time. Although improvements under Kaizen are small and incremental, the process brings about dramatic results over time.

5. Hold a Kaizen

Beyond the obvious benefit of improving processes, holding a Kaizen event can foster problem-solving, collaboration, and communication skills and allow employees to demonstrate leadership. 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. Finally, holding a Kaizen event is one way to reinforce a robust culture of continuous improvement within your organization, after all, the best way to sustain the principles that you want to guide your company is to put them into practice.

You can try one of these or all of these. You’ll see benefits from these continuous improvement ideas and perhaps even spark a Lean transformation with your success.