People like to control their own destiny, but unfortunately, companies are not democracies. There is good news, though. Strong leaders recognize that employees are a great source of ideas. Many organizations have opportunities for frontline employees to participate in groups that help chart the course of the company.
SOPs are instructions that describe how to behave in a particular situation. SOP stands for standard operating procedure, or, alternatively, standing operating procedure though the latter term is falling out of use. Both are generally used interchangeably. An SOP should be documented. Informal SOPs exist but, more often than not, are ineffective. Standard operating procedures are commonly used to define business processes, but can be used for virtually anything requiring instructions. The primary benefit of Read more…
Part of developing trust between bosses and employees is doing what you say you will do. Employees tend to do this well. There is only one manager to follow up with in most cases, and there is also risk to a career if lack of follow-up is a pervasive problem. Managers, on the other hand, typically have many people they are committing actions to, both up and down the chain of command. They also have Read more…
The term order interaction point refers to the location in the fulfillment process where a specific item becomes attached to a specific customer. This doesn’t matter much when there is a standard set of products, but it does have relevance when products require customization. The order interaction point is, in effect, the crossroads of supply and demand. It is the intersection of the sales and the fulfillment processes. The term order interaction point is seldom Read more…
People often hear what they think should be said, not the words that are actually spoken. This comes from the tendency of people to think faster than they talk. A listener makes assumptions about what they expect because their minds race ahead. This can be especially problematic when you misinterpret what your boss said.
Note taking is a valuable skill. Most people can’t remember all the details they are deluged with every day. Having a method to record the important morsels of information without getting buried in all the noise can mean the difference between being effective at your job and being a black hole for information. In meetings, people are constantly taking notes. They jot down a slew of information, or type furiously on computers. So, what happens Read more…
When a company embarks on a Lean journey, there is a lot of learning that goes on. This includes managers. Some may have experience at creating a continuous improvement culture, but many do not. They may make some bad decisions that affect your job. How you approach him or her to talk about the problem you are facing goes a long way into determining whether your boss is on your side in solving the problem Read more…
Ownership creates responsibility. Whether it is a company, a process, or a desk, people tend to take more responsibility when they are dealing with something that is theirs. Pride of ownership is a term that is most commonly applied to homes, but it also applies to processes and work areas. When people feel attached to something, they tend to maintain it better. They put a bit more effort towards improving it, and they are less Read more…
A while back I read an article about the Florida Panthers. They are an NHL hockey team with the seventh largest arena in the league. In Florida, I am certain that hockey does not reign supreme. It is a state where most kids seldom see a dusting of snow growing up, let alone a frozen pond to skate on. As you can imagine, the team was having a hard time filling the stadium, and was Read more…
Barriers to entry are the variety of factors that keep new entrants from competing in a particular industry. It may be the strength of the brands of the incumbents. It may be the cost of developing competing technology. It may be access to raw materials or distribution channels. It may even be perceived loyalty of major customers. The equipment needed to manufacture the products may be prohibitively expensive. Whatever the reason, whether real or imagined, Read more…
In a well-run Lean organization, leaders are frequently present on the shop floor. They will be likely to engage with you and ask lots of questions about specific things that they see. They will also probably ask the open-ended “How are things going?” question. You can brush it off with a “Fine” or you can take the opportunity to put a senior leader to work on one of the problems you are facing.
A few years ago when my daughter was in preschool, her teacher sent home a stack of materials to use for classroom decorations. Naturally, I pretended to have a pressing deadline to prepare for, so the work fell to my wife. The task was to use the accompanying box of markers to draw rainbows on each page. My wife saw the task, and thought of the drudgery of repetitively drawing each excruciating line of the Read more…