A Lean Journey 
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 greatest waste … is failure to use the abilities of people…to learn about their frustrations and about the contributions that they are eager to make.” — W. Edwards Deming
The waste of skills,
talent, creativity or your people is an addition to the seven wastes of lean
manufacturing (Muda), it is the failure to make good use of your employees; all
of them. Your employees are your most valuable resources when it comes to
ensuring that the business runs smoothly and continuously improves.
talent, creativity or your people is an addition to the seven wastes of lean
manufacturing (Muda), it is the failure to make good use of your employees; all
of them. Your employees are your most valuable resources when it comes to
ensuring that the business runs smoothly and continuously improves.
When companies
fail to recognize or utilize people’s talents, skills or special knowledge, not
only are they missing the benefit of these resources, the underutilized are
likely to become dissatisfied and may begin to perform poorly, or leave. This
waste of talent happens when management is not responsive, does not assign
tasks appropriately or does not train properly.
fail to recognize or utilize people’s talents, skills or special knowledge, not
only are they missing the benefit of these resources, the underutilized are
likely to become dissatisfied and may begin to perform poorly, or leave. This
waste of talent happens when management is not responsive, does not assign
tasks appropriately or does not train properly.
Without the
involvement and loyalty of all of your employees your company will fail to
compete as effectively as it could do with their help. In today’s global
marketplace we need every advantage that we can get to maintain and improve our
businesses.
involvement and loyalty of all of your employees your company will fail to
compete as effectively as it could do with their help. In today’s global
marketplace we need every advantage that we can get to maintain and improve our
businesses.
Examples of
wastes of Talent
wastes of Talent
Problem solving
conducted only by experts, ignoring the input from other employees.
conducted only by experts, ignoring the input from other employees.
Improvement
ideas that are forced upon different sections of the company rather than
invented within them.
ideas that are forced upon different sections of the company rather than
invented within them.
A workforce
that feels that there is no point in making suggestions for improvement.
that feels that there is no point in making suggestions for improvement.
The main cost
of the waste of talent within your organization is in time wasted to make
improvements and meet changing customer requirements. You will be far slower at
making improvements and solving problems if you rely only on your “experts” to
come up with the ideas, whilst your engineers, supervisors and managers may be
highly skilled they are small in number compared to your other employees.
of the waste of talent within your organization is in time wasted to make
improvements and meet changing customer requirements. You will be far slower at
making improvements and solving problems if you rely only on your “experts” to
come up with the ideas, whilst your engineers, supervisors and managers may be
highly skilled they are small in number compared to your other employees.
This failure to
make improvements at a good pace will eventually mean that your competitors
will move ahead of you and will lead the way within your industry whilst you
lag far behind. They will win the business from you as they are able to offer
enhanced service and lower costs.
make improvements at a good pace will eventually mean that your competitors
will move ahead of you and will lead the way within your industry whilst you
lag far behind. They will win the business from you as they are able to offer
enhanced service and lower costs.
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