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Monday, November 29, 2010

Guest Post: Creation vs Management

Today I am pleased to share a guest post from my friend David Piacitelli.  David is the president of Top Line Systems, a company that focuses on the next generation sales organization for manufacturing companies.  He is a fellow AME member and supports the Northeast Region Board to share best practicesWith David's sales background he brings a unique perspective of the voice of the customer to our region.  You can see this from his post.

To create is difficult. To manage is difficult.

To do both together can be downright impossible. The bottom line is, a company needs both to grow. As with my other diatribes, I know that this topic can apply to a range of activities at work and in life, but as usual, I will focus on its application in the sales world.

O.k., we all know the formal definition of "creation" and of "management", so I won't spend valuable copy space on that; instead, I want draw your attention to how each plays a role in growth of sales and growth of business.

Regardless of the size of your business, the need for both creation and management is there. As a business owner, manager or employee, we initially focus our time on creation. As the job or business grows, more time shifts toward management of the stuff that has been created and we inevitably feel the tug between the two. Which is more important? If we don't create the deals, then we will have nothing to manage and if we don't manage the deals that we have created, we will always be creating and never managing.

This is a very straightforward concept, I know, but consider how this simple choice can impacts an organization's effectiveness? How do you manage the creation process in your business?

Here is my premise - selling is about creation, not about management. This could get really convoluted, so I am going to pose a scenario that illustrates the point that I am trying to make:

Every company (regardless of size) can point to a required growth metric. It could be dollars, it could be numbers of parts, or it could be numbers of customers.

Most companies dispatch their sales effort in a direction aimed at delivering against the growth metric.

Many companies find that they produce a result, just not the one that they aimed to produce.

There are a million different excuses that answer the "why", but only one practical explanation - too much focus on managing, not enough focus on creation. Here's what I mean - if a sales process allows time for creation, but uses the same resources to manage what has been created, guess what happens? Yes, the creation process stops, the created opportunities get managed (see the bottleneck possibilities?), the predictable, repeatable statistics of selling take over and you end up with an accurate close percentage on too small a number of opportunities.

It is only until you factor in time that the true impact of the conflict becomes apparent. I realize that this statement is vague, so let me throw out a statistic that you can use to measure against - the AVERAGE sales cycle for ANY business is 12-18 months from opportunity creation to realized revenue (if you work on complex, long-term projects, you know that the numbers are higher).

Always remember, the sale is the result, not the process.



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Friday, November 26, 2010

Lean Quote: Thank You

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.


"Remember to say thank you." — Barbara Gray

Thank you may be among the first words our parents teach us, but as we get older we seem to forget how to say them. Many managers usually recognize the major achievements--they celebrate the completion of a successful project, they honor an employee of the month. But how often do managers recognize the little steps their employees complete along the way?

Research has shown that recognition and appreciation is the top driver of employee engagement. 
Perhaps it seems elementary, but if you want employees who are fully engaged, you need to ensure they are recognized when they do great work and that they know you appreciate their contributions to the organization.
 
Employees need to be thanked…a lot. So says “guru of thank you” Bob Nelson, author of the bestselling 1001 Ways to Reward Employees—and he should know. Bob said, “The number one reason people leave their jobs today is that they don’t feel recognized for the job they’re doing.” We have all heard the adage “you get what you reward.” So if what you want is more outstanding work from an employee, say thank you the very next time that employee performs an iota of outstanding work.

The best recognition is thoughtful, happens daily, and has a personal touch. Even better, it's usually free.  Demonstrate appreciation!  Write a note, take them to lunch, acknowledge the work in a staff meeting…whatever seems right.  Just remember to say thank you.

 
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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Friends

Thanksgiving is a time
For reviewing what we treasure,
The people we hold dear,
Who give us so much pleasure.

Without you as my friend,
Life would be a bore;
Having you in my life
Is what I’m thankful for.

By Joanna Fuchs

I wanted to take this time to thank all of you for reading, following, and supporting A Lean Journey Blog.  You make sharing my thoughts more rewarding than I would have imagined.


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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Lean Product Development Process

Last week I wrote about my experience at CONNSTEP's Manufacturing and Business Conference.  I had the opportunity to present on Lean Product Development at this year's conference.  I wanted to share my presentation with everyone.


A Lean Product Development Process comprises 3 basic elements: (1) driving waste out of the product development process, (2) improving the way projects are executed with stage-gate A3 management process, and (3) visualizing the product development process.


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Monday, November 22, 2010

Learning Lean Through Making Coffee Replayed

Earlier this month Jeff Hajek and I hosted a new learning experience where we combined a radio show format with a webinar.  In our first show we used the process of making coffee to explain various Lean concepts.  Every day examples like this that we can all relate to can make the learning more effective. 

Below are several video segments from our first show "Learning Lean Through Making Coffee".









If you would like to use this presentation to teach some lean lessons to your team you can find it below:

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Friday, November 19, 2010

Lean Quote: Team Recognition is about We's not I's

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 ratio of 'We's' to 'I's' is the best indicator of the development of a team." — Lewis D Eigen, Executive Vice President, University Research

Few issues in business today are as challenging and critical as knowing how best to recognize teams.  The task of recognizing teams differs in many respects from individual recognition, and this presents a dilemma.  In recognizing a team en masse, a manager runs the risk of alienating the team members who contributed most to the team's work, while reinforcing the slack behavior of team members who contributed little or nothing to the team's efforts. 

Because there are more factors to consider, planning team recognition can be a little more involved than planning individual recognition.  The key is simply to get started; don't make team recognition more complicated than it needs to be.  Here are 10 ways to praise and recognize teams:

1.  Have a manager pop in at a project team's first meeting to express appreciation for the members' involvement.
2.  Open the floor for team members to praise anyone at the beginning or end of a meeting.
3.  When a group member presents an idea or suggestion, encourage other team members to thank the person for his or her contributed.
4.  Create symbols of a team's work, such as T-shirts or coffee cups with a team or company motto or logo printed on them.
5.  Hold a "praise barrage," where team members write down and share things they like about another member of the team.
6.  Assign one member of the team the job of creating and presenting an award for another member of the team.
7.  Alternate the responsibility for team recognition among different team members each week or at each meeting.
8.  Host a refreshments gathering, a potluck, or a special breakfast or lunch to celebrate interim or final results.
9.  Ask an upper manager to attend a "bragging session" with the team, during which the group shares its achievements, and team members are thanked for their specific contributions.
10.  Write letters to every team member at the conclusion of a project thanking them for their contribution, and include a copy in their personnel file.

Team recognition works when it is immediate, sincere, specific, based on performance, and comes from employees' immediate manager or from other highly regarded people in the workplace.

"It's amazing what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit." - Sign in Boston College locker room

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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Lean Tips Edition #5

For my Facebook fans you have probably already seen this. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I started a new feature which 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.


Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #61 - Don't make 5S a Stand-alone Program if You Want to Flow
Doing 5S is liberationg.  We have all experienced that feeling after cleaning the basement or garage after  a year of accumulating stuff.  But 5S is just one tool that enables stability that enables flow.   Well organized and sparkling clean waste is still waste.  Getting bogged down in 5S can be an avoidance pattern - avoiding the hard work of thinking about how to create flow and solve the real root cause problems inhibiting flow.

Lean Tip #62 - The Paradox of Inventory - It may be preferable to substitute one form of waste for another
One idea that is difficult to grasp is that in Lean systems inventory may be useful (at least in the short term).  We all know that inventory is one of the eight forms of waste, and therefore should be eliminated.  In fact, untill processes are capable, the careful use of inventory may be advantageous.  One paradox of the eight wastes is that it may be preferable to substitute one form of waste for another.

Lean Tip #63 - Don't Seek Immediate Perfection
Perfection is futile.  To be sure, perfection is the goal but it can not be achieved in one single initiative.

The problem in the real world is that nothing is perfect. It sounds obvious, but it is not quite as obvious.  Shoot for better, 80% better.

The 80/20 rule states that 80% of the benefit comes from 20% of the work. 

The last 20% of benefit (the perfect) requires 4 times more work. Often people believe perfection (100% benefit) is only slightly more expensive/difficult than the good (80% benefit). That isn't true.

Lean Tip #64 - The most important job of a leader is to develop people which includes future leaders
Everything about the

•Carefully selecting leaders
•Mentoring potential leaders by effective leaders
•Providing opportunities to challenge people to allow leaders to emerge
•Providing leaders the support and tools to be effective

Lean Tip #65 - Use the concept of heijunka in your problem solving to increase the likelihood of meeting desired results
Larger, long term countermeasures have a tendency of not being implemented.  Breaking these countermeasures into smaller increments is essentially the concept of heijunka.  Divide one month items into smaller daily increments or further segment to hourly increments.  In this way adjustments can be made throughout the day based on the frequency of checking the status.  Utilization of this leveling principle for problem solving greatly increases the likelihood of producing the desired results.

Lean Tip #66 - Expand on your library of printed literature to include standards
Standard work and visual factory elements together often form the language of an organization.  We often use a number of standard forms or templates.  Create a library of these standards with easy access to promote further standardization.  This may include forms, methods of labeling,  definition of floor markings,  and other visual identification methods.

Lean Tip #67 - Don't stop at the first workable solution
As humans we have a bias toward a particular solution usually that of our own.  We can make mistakes by jumping to solutions and thinking we solved the problem.  Failure to deeply explore alternatives can lead to a weak solution.  While it is important to consider as many solutions as possible it is not advantageous to pursue ideas without merit.

Lean Tip #68 - Clean to improve the performance of a machine not its appearance.
You clean to improve a machine's performance not its appearance.

Clean to Inspect
Inspect to Detect
Detect to Correct

A better looking piece of equipment is just a side benefit.

Lean Tip #69 - It is important to distinguish between actual uncertainty and self-created uncertainty with your supply chain.
There are three basic types of uncertainty which have a negative impact on any process with your supply chain.

Demand uncertainty - This type is related to the marketplace that is what the customer orders.

Conversion or Throughput uncertainty - This is any type of process uncertainty that hits throughput, such as producing defects, machine stoppages and breakdowns, and long changeovers.

Supply uncertainty - This type is related to the delivery of materials and components.

In addition to these basic types of uncertainty it is important to distinguish between actual uncertainty (i.e. caused by the end customer) and self-created uncertainty (i.e. created by poor coordination in the supply chain).


Lean Tip #70 - Spend no more than ten minutes planning your day for a 13 1/2 month calendar.
Planning each day will likely yield at least one hour more of productivity each day.  If you have one more productive hour each day, 365 days per year, you will have an additional 45 eight-hour days.  This is called the 13 1/2-month calendar.

Lean Tip #71 - Create opportunities to showcase your employees.
If you want to encourage employee to participate in improvements and empower them to make those improvements you need to recognize their effort and achievement.  Create an area in you facility to show off employees and their improvement activities.  You will be surprised by the buzz this creates.  Others will want to show off their improvements.

Lean Tip #72 - Whenever possible, provide opportunities for employees to work in self-managed or self-directed work teams.
Allow these teams freedom to determine the best course of action for meeting the agreed-upon goals and objectives.  Employees will see first hand the results of their decisions and feel the pride of group achievement.

Lean Tip #73 - Find ways to acknowledge employees and their performance.
Recognition...feedback...praise...thank you...appreciation - these are all ways you can acknowledge employees and their performance.  Research indicates that the number one thing employees want it recognition.  Recognition can take the form of verbal praise, a thoughtful note, positive feedback during a review, a public announcement (at a meeting, in a company newsletter, or on the department bulletin board) that shares the accomplishment with other employees, managers, and company executives.

Lean Tip #74 - Variability in a production system will attack you
Variability in a production system will be buffered by some combination of inventory, capacity, or time.  In other words if you do not attack variation in your system it will attack you in terms of more inventory, less capacity, and longer cycle times.

Lean Tip #75 - Flow in a cell should be counter-clockwise.
No matter the shape of the cell (U-shaped, L-shaped, or straight through) the flow around the cell should be counter-clockwise.   This will facilitate the ease fo movement with the right hand.  It is also the natural way - think of athletic tracks, car racing, and horse racing.  Even the planets (except Venus) move counter-clockwise.

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