Articles by: Ankit Patel
06/09/10 by Ankit Patel | creative thinking, lean business system, motivating employees | No Comments »
In a Lean Business System you will operate differently than a regular business system. Some of the key differences are:
-Creativity over capital
-Action over analysis (where it makes sense)
-Understand the entire system and not just the local problem
I want to share with you my story. Since starting my work as a consultant my schedule has been pretty hectic and let’s be honest I haven’t been exercising like I should. So this is what is valuable to me:
-Weight Maintenance
-Work Productivity
If I were to go to the gym to work out I would spend a great deal of time just in transit, stretching, warming-up, cooling down, and showering after. That would kill my productivity. If I work all the time then I gain weight. How would I solve the problem? In a traditional business system here is what would probably happen:
-I should buy gym equipment and keep lots of it around the house costing $$$
This way I can work out and still get some work done because now I’ve cut my travel time. I may keep my weight under control but the productivity could be better.
Here is my Lean Business System solution:
I walk on a treadmill all day while I’m on the computer. This way I get lots of exercise while I’m working. You might say it’s distracting but according to neurologist John Media in his book brain rules the brain actually performs better when it’s moving. I’m making myself smarter by walking and working at the same time.You might be thinking “but Ankit the treadmill and table together must have cost you a few hundred dollars.” The treadmill,table, WD-40, and some screws is all I needed to make the project work cost me under $79. The treadmill I got off of craislist.com for $50 and the table I made myself for about $24. So yes it can be done.
I thought about the problem AND the solution creatively
I decided to just try it and from concept to implementation too me about 2 weeks. I will make changes as needed but so far so good. I’m actually writing this blog will on the treadmill.
I took a look at the entire endocrine system to see what type of exercise was most effective for fat burning; it’s walking. Walking also while working helps the brain process information better so it’s a win win.
Imagine if you had an entire workforce that was even more nibble and quick thinking. Imagine how many of today’s issues would no longer exist because your team has already taken care of it. If that sound interesting you might want to consider a Lean Business System.
For more information on call 615.852.LEAN[5326] and don’t forget to visit www.TheLeanWayConsulting.com; and Follow on Twitter and Facebook.
06/08/10 by Ankit Patel | motivating employees | No Comments »
This is the most popular request I get in some form or fashion. There is a sentiment of “I need better employees” and I always ask have you ever had the right employees? The answer is almost always “Ted and Jell are a great and if I had 100 Teds and Jills I’d be unstoppable.”
So how do you get your army of Teds and Jills? You can have the majority of your workforce be Teds and Jills and the answer is simple. If you were in their position how would you want to be treated? Would you want to be given commands or would you want someone to engage you, educate you, and ask for your opinion on a matter once you have the right experience? Employees aren’t motivated by just monetary factors and in fact in most cases it is easier to motivate employees without money. Here are some basics on where you can start:
-Train your employees on how to problem solve correctly (yes there is a right and wrong way)
-Set expectations that once trained they will be required to solve their own problems
-Give them the tools, time, and resources to fix any problems that arise
-Don’t say no to very many of their ideas at first because if you do the motivation will go away quickly
-If you do say no give explanations why.
This is a great way to give people control of their work environment. Having control over your work gives people a sense of well control that puts them at ease.
This is just one way to motivate employees without money and there are many more but I’d be interested in how you motivate your employees without money. Please post comments and thoughts in the comments section.
For more information on call 615.852.LEAN[5326] and don’t forget to visit www.TheLeanWayConsulting.com; and Follow on Twitter and Facebook.
06/04/10 by Ankit Patel | emotional intelligence, EQ, factoid | No Comments »
In an analysis of 181 competence models, 67 percent (2 out of 3) of the abilities thought to distinguish the best performers were emotional competencies. Compared to IQ and expertise, emotional competencies mattered twice as much. This held true across all categories of jobs, and in all kinds of organizations in what sets stars apart from the average worker
Source: Goleman: Working With Emotional Intelligence, 1998
Do you find that Emotional Competencies are more important than other competencies in the work place?
06/01/10 by Ankit Patel | motivating employees, Socratic method | No Comments »
The Socratic Method is when you use questions instead of statements to facilitate learning. It is a great way to manage. Taking orders is a great skill set for the military but in most business management situations the Socratic method is a great way to train and get tasks accomplished. Here is an example of an actual situation:
Situation:
A team member at a veterinary clinic makes a mistake by filling a patients file incorrectly making it difficult to find the file next time.
Traditional solution:
Reprimand the employee and give them a lecture on how they need to make sure they file correctly.
Result: Errors keep happing
Socratic Method:
Ask why the error happened and what are possible solutions.
Result: Errors eliminated with a new filing system that is friendlier to the filers. Because it was the emplopyees idea they made sure the system works as it’s supposed to. When it’s “your” idea you become invested; when it’s someone else’s idea then you may not care.
Here is another situation and I would like to know how you would solve it.
Situation:
An Accounting firm has several employees and one of their star employees has a consistent complaint from other employees of being immature. How would you approach him to change his behavior with his coworkers?
Please post thoughts in the comments section.
05/28/10 by Ankit Patel | lean culture, stress and productivity | No Comments »
For Every $1 U.S. companies get back from employees skipping vacations, they lose as much as $7 in costs related to worker burnout.
Source: Go Away, Just for the health of it by Dr. Mel Borins
For those of you working this weekend you may want to consider turning off the computer and phone and just enjoying some get away time. With your company don’t be shortsighted. The companies that I work with I try to get them to pass a vacation mandate where they have to take their vacation (the companies where I have projects are in states that do not require vacation rollover). This is just one of many things you can do to show respect for your employees and here is evidence that shows that it can actually help your bottom line.
Thoughts/Questions/Comments please posts to comments.
05/21/10 by Ankit Patel | emotional intelligence, EQ, factoid | No Comments »
In an analysis of 181 competence models, 67 percent (2 out of 3) of the abilities thought to distinguish the best performers were emotional competencies. Compared to IQ and expertise, emotional competencies mattered twice as much. This held true across all categories of jobs, and in all kinds of organizations in what sets stars apart from the average worker.
Source: Goleman: Working With Emotional Intelligence, 1998
If you have ever tried to implement Lean you know how high of an EQ your organization has. The higher the EQ the easier to implement Lean. Fortunately EQ for an individual and organization can be raised in a very systematic way.
For more information on how to raise your companies EQ call at 615.852.LEAN[5326] or email
ankit@theleanwayconsulting.com
05/20/10 by Ankit Patel | waste walk | No Comments »
If you were ever to ask me what is the 1 tool that helps me the most with a Lean journey I would tell them it’s a waste walk. I like it for several reasons.
1) There are lies, damn lies, and statistics and numbers – Numbers and statistics don’t always tell the complete story so don’t trust the numbers or the data. Go see for your self with a waste walk.
2) Find out root cause – When you go on a waste walk you can actually see problems occurring and find how to address them easier than just being in a cube. Go to where the work is being done to find the source of your problems.
4) It’s the culture dummy – By changing your habits you’ll change your mindset. Changing the way you think about problems and the way you manage problems is the #1 factor to making a lean transformation work.
It’s important to note that there is no one way to do a waste walk. It is situation dependent but here are some examples and situations where you can use it.
Safety – Having a reoccurring waste walk to look for safety concerns is highly recommended. What you want to do is look at all the safety concerns you might see during your walk. This is great for manufacturing area.
Quality – Similar to the safety waste walk we look for quality issues. Where in the process are we likely to introduce potential defects. At first this will seem overwhelming but as you and your team continue to resolve the root cause it will become more manageable.
Process – This is usually the most common type of waste walk. During this walk you are looking for any kind of issue that can be a process waste.
Missed Opportunity – This is applicable more in the services industries where you walk a process and look for missed opportunities to add value to a customer.
The waste walk is a powerful ally in the fight against waste. Use it correctly and reap the rewards.
For more information on call 615.852.LEAN[5326] and don’t forget to visit www.TheLeanWayConsulting.com; and Follow on Twitter and Facebook.
05/17/10 by Ankit Patel | lean, lean culture, Nashville TN, Skyline Medical Center | No Comments »
I saw this sign a few days ago and it caught my attention. The sign tells you how long the ER wait time is at Skyline Medical Center in Nashville TN (click on the link to see their current wait times on their website). The basic idea is that every 4 hours the ER wait time is updated and their goal is to communicated to the public how “well” they are doing. They are shooting for a time less than 30 minutes but that time is measured from entry to greeting. By putting the times out to the public the Hospital hopes to increase visibility to the process and hopefully keep improving.
I applaud Skyline Medical Center in Nashville Tn for the effort but there are good, bad, and ugly qualities about the sign.
Good
-Visibility to Skyline Medical Center in Nashville TN
-Visibility on the door to greet time
-Effort is being made to improve the processes around customer care
Bad
-The focus is only on door to greet time. I have no idea how long it will take me to get through the entire process on average
-Since Skyline Medical Center is publicly being measured around the door to greet time that is what they will focus on improving. Risks are high that there will be workarounds just to bring the door to greet time down.
-I have no idea what they are going to be doing to get me treated faster or even if they will treat me faster. Wait time doesn’t include potential wait time to see a doctor or specialist.
Ugly
-They maybe fast but I really don’t know if they will fix my problem. Going to the ER I would care about 2 things: 1) speed 2) fixing my problem. The sign puts complete emphasis on speed but I haven’t seen anything about quality yet.
-The 4 hour window tells me nothing about current conditions. Decisions about which ER to go to are probably not going to be made while driving to the ER so a 4 hour window is appropriate as an information sign and not a decision making tool.
-I’ve driven by the sign twice and both times the wait time was at or above their goal time of 30 minutes (first time: 30 minutes second time: 45 minutes).
Will Skyline Medical Center continue to improve their operations past the door to greet time or will they do what many companies do if it doesn’t work and just give up? Or worse will they see slight improvement and not keep improving? I do not know their operations plan but it will be interesting to see where Skyline Medical Center and other medical centers, hospitals, and private practices in Nashville Tennessee will do in light of the billboard.
For more information on call 615.852.LEAN[5326] and don’t forget to visit www.TheLeanWayConsulting.com; and Follow on Twitter and Facebook.
Don’t forget about our Free Webinar May 17, 2010 at 7:00 pm Central Time on why Lean Transformations fail.
Resources:
WKRN News article
Related Articles:
(Not So) Lean Medical Practices
The Missing Link To Lean Six Sigma – Emotional Intelligence
Friday Factoid – Transformations Need Grassroots Input
05/14/10 by Ankit Patel | factoid, lean transformation, motivating employees | No Comments »
Employee engagement is a key success factor for organizational transformation. In a recent McKinsey survey, nearly 100% of respondents who characterized their companies’ change-management initiatives as extremely successful said employees could contribute ideas to shape the efforts. And nearly a quarter of the extremely successful transformations were planned by groups of 50 or more, compared with just 6% of unsuccessful transformations
source: Harvard Business Review
This point emphasizes how crucial people are to any transformation especially a Lean transformation. How “grassroots” is your Lean effort?
05/11/10 by Ankit Patel | Free Webinar | No Comments »
I’m hosting a free webinar on Monday 5/17 at 8:00pm Eastern Time (7:00 pm Central time). I’ll go over why culture is so hard to change and what can be done to help it along to make sure you’re Lean transformation goes smoother. Register below (max of 20 participants):
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