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  OCTOBER 2008  
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THE SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE OF 5S  by

 Tony Jacowski 		10/5/2008 at 21:01
Wastage could be loss of time, loss of interest, loss of materials required and so on. A good solution to this can be achieved from the practical approach that 5S provides.

Lean Six Sigma practitioners have faith in it as a culture that aims at continuous improvement of the working environment and the work conditions. The philosophy is applicable to any aspect of life. 5S refers to the five structured principles of seire, seiton, seison, seiketsu and shitsuke.

Translated, they mean sort, systematize, sweep (shine), standardize and self-discipline. All these terms are self-explanatory. Even if you take them in a daily simple scenario of tidying up your home, you will find that you are doing the same thing.

The first thing that is done is a sorting out of all items. They should be arranged systematically or categorized. Then the entire area needs to be cleaned.

The last step is to apply self discipline to maintain it.

Sort

The first S stands for Seiri, or Sort, where you sort out the contents of the work area. You look around and differentiate from needed, not needed and not frequently needed items. You need to find who is responsible for the item, and classify them by frequency of use.

In this phase, the red tagging of items is important. Unnecessary items should be either sent for disposal if no further use is found. If they are items that are required only sporadically, they can be put into a place marked for storage.

All items with no value ought to be ...
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ALL MANAGERS ARE CUSTOMERS TOO  by

 Andrew Rondeau 		10/5/2008 at 21:00
Whatever business you are in, you will find that there is one key cause of your success.

How your customers experience your business and service.

Many departments and companies have processes in place for assessing their services to their customers.

However very often the measures in place don’t reflect what the customer perceives to be important. They don’t reflect the true benefit and often processes which suit the business, are not customer-friendly, however much they suit the internal needs.

What has the customer experienced?

In addition, the key for an excellent customer experience is in the relationship between person/department/company and their customer.

I had a new washing machine delivered recently. It arrived the day and time slot the company stated. Great!

If the company measures ’did they deliver when they stated they would’ they would have a 100% service.

The managers will be proud of themselves!!

However, what they didn’t measure was my satisfaction. The delivery driver was the most miserable person I had met in ages.

He obviously wasn’t passionate about his job.

He left muddy footprints on my carpet.

So was I happy? No!

They may have delivered on the right day/time but my overall experience was poor.

Will I be using the same company again? I doubt it.

Do the managers of the company know? No!

They think they are providing a fantastic service because they are only measuring their processes, which suit them internally.

One of the keys to creating an excellent customer relationship is the interface between the customer and their point of contact within the company.

One way to avoid this issue ...
  read more...


TOP 5 REASONS WHY MANAGERS FEAR TO DELEGATE  by

 Latha C 		10/5/2008 at 20:59
Managers fear to delegate tasks to subordinates due to the following reasons

Tasks will not be handled well enough as you would do

This is the major worry for all managers. It is up to the manager to find the right person from the team, support and coach that person to handle the tasks. Start by giving small tasks and test the person’s capability. Step by step start increasing the complexity of the tasks and also hand hold for sometime. Once the person has shaped up, you could start trusting the person with any tasks. Also do the follow up regularly at least in initial stages. Remember you are still accountable even if you have delegated the task to your team member. For example: I delegated the follow up of a small project of 2 months duration to one of my senior team members. The team member made an excellent plan and assigned tasks to other team members in consultation with me. Later just 1 week before the milestone I found that the progress was not good. I pitched in by introducing daily follow ups and brought the project back on track. I taught him how to be strict with deadlines and how to achieve the same. He learnt this by just observing how I managed to get the project back on track.

The sub-ordinate handling the task better than himself/herself

You should rest assured that you cannot have every competency and for sure your sub-ordinate must be having better competency than you in ...
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BE THE BEST BOSS YOU CAN BE  by

 Cash Miller 		10/5/2008 at 20:58
Being the person in charge can often be very exhilarating for someone experiencing such a feeling for the first time. Whether you are in charge of a project with a team of company employees that are reporting to you or a single employee that you might be responsible for. Either way we all get a rush from the power suddenly handed to us. But those feelings come while working for someone else. Now imagine the rush you will get when you are the ultimate authority over everyone employed by your company! It can be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. All the important decisions are yours to make. The fates of your employees are up to you. The future of your company is in your hands. Everything relies on you!

Okay now are we over the rush? Has reality set in yet? I hope so because while it may sound like everything you have ever dreamed that you wanted. It’s not an easy thing to be the final authority on everything that happens to a business. It’s a lot of hard work. But you do get the chance to be the boss if that is what you really want. So what kind of boss will you be?

We’ve all had bosses we’ve hated at one time or another. And some people have also managed to have a supervisor or two that they liked. Of course no one is ever going to be the perfect boss but what would you prefer. Do you ...
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SO, YOU’D LIKE TO BECOME A GOOD MANAGER?  by

 Bob Selden 		3/19/2008 at 16:13
Becoming a good manager takes time and patience. It’s great when we get some initial training, but that doesn’t always happen. To start, check your current status as a manager - how effective are you now? There are many self checklists available on the web. You should also consider having a 360 degree review completed. Once again, there are many good ones on the market.

Once you have an accurate picture of your strengths and weaknesses, start by focusing on your strengths - what are you really good at? What do others say that you do well? Consciously focus on maintaining these. Put a note in your personal diary to ensue that you review one of your areas of strength at least once a week. As Peter Drucker once said "Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong. More often people know what they are not good at - and even then more people are wrong than right. And yet, a person can perform only from strength. One cannot build performance on weaknesses, let alone on something one cannot do at all."

Now for your weaknesses - how do you manage these? Many of these are things that you will not easily change. Often managers spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to change things about themselves that they are unlikely to be able to change. But, there are some short cuts. My advice is to look at how you might best manage (not ...
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HOW TO BETTER MONITOR WORK FLOOR PERFORMANCE  by

 Warren Wolfe 		3/19/2008 at 16:13
The origins of current day manufacturing can be traced back to Eli Whitney around the year of 1800 when he perfected the concept of interchangeable parts. Since then, the advancement of different technologies has stimulated more efficient manufacturing processes.

With today’s global markets and off-shore manufacturing, companies have to be even more diligent in tracking product costs - especially the labor involved in those costs. This presents special challenges to all manufacturers. Determining costs of raw materials, infrastructure, machinery and overhead can be accomplished more easily than calculating, in real-time, the labor costs involved and knowing what stage a customer’s order is at any given time.

The Challenges of Tracking Shop Floor Labor

Many companies have invested heavily in ERP and other manufacturing systems, but the data that drives these systems is still collected manually on paper. Once the paper timesheets are collected, they need to be manually keyed into other systems.

Because of this manual process, labor reporting by job is neither efficient nor accurate. Accurate and efficient shop floor labor tracking is essential to determining the actual costs to produce a product.

Delayed Cost Reporting

When employees write the time they spend working on specific jobs on paper, the labor used to produce product is not known until typically the following day.

These delays often occur due to:

" Collection of the timesheets/time tickets from the employees
" Transporting the timesheets/time tickets to accounting
" Someone in accounting manually keying the data into other systems (this usually performed the following day after the time was recorded by the ...
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RETAINING KEY STAFF IN DIFFICULT TIMES  by

 Lisa Pasbjerg 		3/19/2008 at 16:12
Did you see the recent article in the Los Angeles Times, later picked up widely in papers all over the country, describing a first-of-its-kind study surveying 500 workers about how they viewed their employers and whether they were likely to stay in their jobs? The startling conclusion was that more than ¾ of those polled in December said that the overall condition of their offices greatly affected how they viewed their employers, and, most importantly, whether or not they were likely to stay in their jobs. In fact, this was a more important factor in employee attitude and expected retention than such things as salaries, expense accounts, and other employee benefits and "perks". One in three workers reported that they had accepted or quit a job because of the basic working conditions, and nearly 30% actually expressed fears that their current work environment was unhealthy or unsafe enough to cause them illness or harm.

According to this survey, employee loyalty is won or lost based on such things as cleanliness of bathrooms, sticky goo on the carpet, and reasonable indoor temperature control. This is not entirely surprising. When you think about it, most corporate managers searching for new office space are looking primarily at factors such a rent, and whether the layout and location will work for their companies, not employee comfort and facility cleanliness and maintenance.

Amy Lyons, co-founder of the Great Place to Work Institute, a San Francisco consulting firm commented, "People don’t quit just because the bathrooms are dirty, ...
  read more...


THE COMPETITION - WHEN THEY CHEAT  by

 Lance Winslow 		3/19/2008 at 16:09
The MBA student in the back row thrust his hand into the air when I asked does anyone have any questions. I had just finished up Part II of a three part speech, the subject was regional marketing for a franchise company. He asked; "What do you do, when your competition cheats?" And then he quickly rephrased the question; "Did your competition ever cheat, and what did you do when they cheated?" Indeed, I have competed against honest competitors in sports and those who took enhancing steroids. I have competed in business, against reputable businesses and businesses that did more illegal things than the things they did legally. In politics I have competed fairly and witnessed an unbelievable amount of unethical behavior. But, in the end, I figure if they have to cheat to keep up or beat me, that too is a mile marker, because if you can beat the cheaters, then boy have you proved something. It must be very demoralizing for them? To that I say...too bad! Play to win!

This was a lively discussion, and yet the same topic recently came up on a high-profile blog online when Christina rightfully notes; "If the competitors are not honest, the competition becomes a disgusting fight... "

Well, just like in sports, all human endeavors can become disgusting, when cheating is involved. Just because the competition cheats does not mean you have to, to play or even to win. In business corporate espionage is common, and competitors often use the government ...
  read more...


EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT  by

 Joe Cavell 		3/19/2008 at 16:08
Gaining a complete understanding of employee performance development is critical for any manager who wants to improve overall team performance. The most common mistake managers make is that they treat all employees as if they have the same skills and learning capacity. Managers that can change this paradigm will replace those who cannot and emerge as leaders within an organization.

There are four levels of development that encompass the learning process. Each level must be completed before the individual can move on to the next and it must be noted that everyone does not learn at the same pace, so a standard time line may not be obvious.

The four stages of learning are:

1. Unconscious Incompetence

2. Conscience Incompetence

3. Conscience Competence

4. Unconscious Competence

Let’s look at each stage individually and define them further.

Unconscious Incompetence - I don’t know that I don’t know anything.

In this stage’ the individual is fully aware that they do not have the required skills to perform the task at hand. They accept this fact and welcome training with open arms. Depending on the complexity of the roll, this phase can take a few minutes to a few weeks.

Conscience Incompetence - I know I don’t know anything.

In this phase the individual begins to understand and become aware of the job requirements and begins to learn the necessary functions of performance.

Conscience Competence - I learned how to perform and I am aware of using what I learned. The individual is ...
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MANAGEMENT - THE FIVE COMMON MISTAKES OF NEW MANAGERS  by

 Duncan Brodie 		3/19/2008 at 16:08
Most people want to progress in their work and moving into management is one of the most common ways of progressing. While some step into the new role and prosper, many struggle, become disillusioned, possibly stressed and their performance dips. They make what is best described as common mistakes but these can be avoided or addressed.

Mistake 1: Not getting clarity on your role

Yes most people get a job description and may even have a quick chat with their new boss. Few make the time to get clarity on their role, what the expectations are and what key results are to be achieved.

Solution: Make an appointment with your boss to get crystal clear clarity on what is expected and what is to be delivered so that you can set yourself up for success.

Mistake 2: Holding on to old tasks

This is a particular challenge if you have been promoted internally within the same organisation. There are certain tasks that you might have been very good at and some that you really enjoyed.

Solution: The question you need to answer is whether these are tasks on which your performance as a manager will be judged. If the answer is no, then pass it on to someone else.

Mistake 3: Trying to please everyone

You have to make decisions as a manager, some which will be popular with everyone, some which will be popular with some and unpopular with others and some which will be unpopular with everyone. Accept that when you take decisions, they will not ...
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OVERTURN THE TURNOVER PROBLEM  by

 Larry Galler 		1/19/2008 at 20:10
I spent a little time over the holidays catching up on that pile of business magazines and newspaper articles I have accumulated on the corner of my desk to read "one of these days." It was either throw out the whole pile or wade in, thumb through it, skim those that look interesting, and throw out the rest. So, instead of wasting my time watching football, I gathered some gumption, poured a cup of coffee, pulled a large waste basket next to my comfy chair and sat down.

Many of the articles I read focused on successful companies, or companies that fought through a difficult time and became successful. With very few exceptions, somewhere in each article the quality of the people employed by these companies was mentioned. Phrases like, "Our staff is our greatest asset" came up time and time again.

Reading between the lines, it’s obvious that the companies I was reading about focus on investing time and effort on the hiring process. They attract good people to start with and once hired, train them well, immerse them with a culture of quality in an environment that respects them, inspires them, and compensates them well. As an example, in one of the articles I read, an executive was quoted as saying, "Creating loyalty is often about making sure everyone’s connected with the mission of the business."

The benefits of overturning the turnover problem are stunning. These companies have a much higher rate of employee retention and a happier, more productive staff. ...
  read more...


2008 - WHAT TO EXPECT  by

 Walter H Groth 		1/19/2008 at 20:09
It’s that time of the year when many experts show up and provide an outlook on how the upcoming year (in this case 2008) is going to unfold. Interestingly enough, even though they all claim to base their findings "on the facts," the results differ from each other tremendously... Well, for 2008 we’ll know in a year. Looking at predictions that have been made and how those have differed from what really happened... maybe we should consider "predicting backwards" -- that way our hit ratio would considerably increase.

Since everybody else is predicting, I thought I’d add my two cents to that confusion and what better time than right now.

How are predictions usually determined? Well, we take demographic and economic data from the past and extrapolate a trend based off of that. However, what is the biggest uncertainty within that? Well, it’s "US" (I mean us... not the U.S.): people, the most unpredictable species on Planet Earth. We just don’t behave as we are supposed to. Playing by the rules... that’s for others... I play by my own rules. "Well, I just care about myself." Does that sound familiar?

What did Albert Einstein say back then? "A problem cannot be solved on the same level of consciousness where it was created." And one more: "The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again expecting different results." Well, these two quotes pretty much sum up what’s going on in our countries, in our economies, and in the world.

Now, here ...
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MANAGEMENT TIP - WHY PEOPLE BUY THINGS  by

 Daryl Cowie 		1/19/2008 at 20:08
For any business to be successful, the people inside the business must understand why people would want their products or services.

I travelled to Brisbane Australia several years ago, arriving at midnight on a bus from Sydney. I was alone, had no place to stay, and very little money. I needed a place to live out the next 6 to 8 hours. I was looking to meet my basic needs. With no real knowledge of the city, I started looking for a bridge to sleep under. As it turned out I met a cab driver walking down the road who took me to a nearby hostel where I got to sleep on the couch for the night. If he had tried to sell me a trip to the Grand Hyatt, I would have had to decline. I was not looking for comfort; I was looking for basic shelter. He had backpacked in his youth, and understood where I was coming from. He correctly assessed my situation, and offered me a solution that worked for me. The cab driver understood not only what I was looking for, but why I was looking for it. I needed shelter, but I only wanted to meet my basic needs, nothing more. If I ever met him again, I would thank him and buy two of whatever he was selling.

We can break the reasons why people buy things down into 6 categories: basic needs, convenience (saves time or effort), peace of mind, image or ego, fun, ...
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EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION - 5 STEPS TO APPLY WHEN MISTAKES OCCUR  by

 Howard Shore 		1/19/2008 at 20:07
The better a man is, the more mistakes he will make, for the more new things he will try. I would never promote to a top-level job a man who was not making mistakes ... otherwise he is sure to be mediocre. Peter Drucker, leadership expert

What do you do when you make a mistake? How do you feel?
How do you react when others mess up? How do you make them feel?
Do you find a way to gain benefit from mistakes and prevent them from taking you and/or your organization off track?

As an executive coach, I find many business owners, CEOs, and other leaders that continue to recycle employees who failed to make perfect decisions and act properly every time. On the surface you might be thinking, how big was the mistake? Many of these executives also use the cliché, "We pay them the big bucks NOT to make mistakes." When you read my upcoming article, "Passing the Buck - Taking Responsibility for Mistakes," you will see why blame is typically being placed on the wrong people.

Worse yet, the leaders who don’t tolerate errors typically hold people to standards higher than those that they themselves achieve and attainable by less than 1% of the population, if that much. These are the very same leaders who cannot understand why their employees are not motivated, the same leaders who typically offer better-than-average compensation to keep people, yet still find it difficult to retain or attract top talent.

In a well-run organization, you should expect ...
  read more...




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Blogs

The Successful Practice of 5S

 All Managers Are Customers Too

 Top 5 Reasons Why Managers Fear to Delegate

 Be the Best Boss You Can Be

 So, You’d Like To Become A Good Manager?

 How to Better Monitor Work Floor Performance

 Retaining Key Staff In Difficult Times

 The Competition - When They Cheat

 Employee Performance Development

 Management - The Five Common Mistakes of New Managers

 Overturn the Turnover Problem

 2008 - What to Expect

 Management Tip - Why People Buy Things

 Employee Motivation - 5 Steps to Apply When Mistakes Occur

 What is CRM?

 Management Tip - The Customers Buying Process

 7 Steps That Help Managers Hire The Best

 Business Fact Not Business Fiction

 Pricing Your Business

 To See Your Future, Evaluate Your Industry

 Knowledge Intensive Collaboration Online

 Common Barriers to Your Business Success

 How to Effectively Lead Your Company

 The Experience Factor

 Workplace Diversity - What It Really Means

 Corporate Event Planner’s Biggest Mistake

 12 Rules of Delegation

 15 Ways to Motivate Your Employees

 Employees Who Make Money

 The Business Life Cycle

   

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