Over the years, I’ve discovered that what makes LEAN so illusive isn’t that it’s a complex idea, but that it’s a simple idea that happens to be hard to implement.

LEAN – the name commonly used to describe the Toyota Production System -  is the systematic removal of waste from any system on a constant and never ending basis.   When I first started to study the Toyota philosophy, I struggled to see where I could find the kind of improvements that would generate the kinds of results I had read about.  That’s where I went wrong.  LEAN is about creating a rhythm where everyone in the organization is trained to see the small things.  Small things, when observed alone, seem insignificant – but when compounded over time and across many people — small things add up fast.

Here’s a a perfect “real world” example:

In my last company, we operated call centers where we conducted primary research studies for organizations.  On any given shift, an agent would work on an average of 3 different projects.  Because of how the software was originally developed, in order to change to another project, an agent would need to alert a floor supervisor to be “moved” to the next program.   This required the agent to get up and walk to the end of the floor to alert the supervisor.   For 12 years this was “standard procedure.”  No one ever stopped to think about what the cumulative “cost” of having the agent get up and request a change actually was.

When we started our LEAN journey, we began to look for small things that were simple to correct.  We started to measure everything we could.  Eventually someone decided to measure the average time it took an agent to “change” projects.   It was an average of 1.2 minutes.  Not all that significant, right?  But when seen in the context of the entire organization and over the entire year, the numbers began to add up very fast.

Average # of Agents per Day – 250

Average # of Study Changes – 3

Number of Working Days per Year – 350

Average Time per Study Change – 1.2 min

Average Cost per Agent ($11.20 loaded) – $0.1867/min

Total Cost to Change Studies each Year = 250 X 3 X 350 X 1.2 X $0.1867 = $58,810.50

The solution was simple.  We made cardboard “signals” that agents would raise when ready to change studies.  These “signals” alerted the floor supervisor, who then changed them over on the system.   In 24 hours, we were able to reduce the average change over time from 1.2 minutes to just .23 minutes.   That simple solution resulted in a net savings of $47,538 a year.  It only cost us a few dollars in card stock and a 15 minute training for every employee.

LEAN is not about BIG improvements.  LEAN is about seeing the business in a different way and constantly making small changes that overtime create significant savings for the business.   Now more than ever, we all should be thinking LEAN.

In a recent Nielsen study, “member communities” like Linked in are now used more (67%) than email (65%).  The social network landscape is changing quickly.

In my former survey research business, we were fighting the fact that American households were cutting off their phones in droves.  At last count, 17% of households have no land-line telephone.  Technology is re-shaping our world right in front of our eyes.

How is your organization using new tools to better connect your employees, and customers to increase collaboration — and ultimately performance?  I’ve heard a number of entrepreneurs complain that applications like Facebook are a time sink and have limited access by employees from their network.

I would propose that social networks and other cutting edge applications are merely tools that, if used in the right way, can help your organization better compete by providing your people with better access to information.

Social Networks – using applications within your company can help increase visibility among your staff around critical functions such as product expertise, specialized knowledge or special interests.  Using these applications increases collaboration and communication — particularly if your organization has locations across multiple geographic areas.  In addition, if you have virtual staff - this is the perfect application to keep everyone connected.

Wiki- using wikis is a great way to share standards and knowledge across the organization.  By building wiki platforms around problem identification and problem solving, you will increase your organization’s ability to adapt to the ever changing business environment.

Podcast – when you place training programs online, you insure that when a staffer is trained on a procedure or standard that everyone gets the same information, delivered in the same manner.  This results in more consistency.

Organizations can either resist the changes that are happening around us or embrace the new technology and find the best way to use it for every one’s benefit.  Please share your examples of how you’ve used web 2.0 technology in your business successfully.

What does your employee feedback program look like?  Do you have one of these boxes in your office?  How do you gauge the mood of the employees in your organization?  Do you know what’s getting in the way of your people’s performance?  How do you know?   Let’s start over – why should you care? 

First, I’ll start with why some  employee feedback programs don’t work:

• Feedback systems are black boxes.  Ideas and suggestions either never get seen or fall on deaf ears.    If you aren’t willing to take action, then DON’T ASK FOR SUGGESTIONS.
• Feedback isn’t timely.  If the system is designed to gather information, but it’s not noticed or acted on immediately, then the problem either already did its damage or has grown into a bigger problem. 
• Suggestions are poorly defined.  Too often, employee feedback systems are only used to vent personal issues about peers, managers and customers and don’t identify the core operation or process that is broken.  
• Lack of accountability.  Most systems don’t provide any feedback loops to ensure corrective measures are identified, implemented and standardized.
• Feedback is ad hoc, not systematic.  If you don’t make it a priority everyday, or every week – then feedback systems won’t stick long-term.

If you’re still unsure as to the benefit of good feedback systems – then perhaps you can read a bit more about world-class organizations that implement feedback systems that produce results (Thanks, Verne!).  

Now the good news.  This doesn’t have to be rocket science – here are  a few tips to get you started:

• Make it a habit.
• Keep it anonymous.
• Make it about what, not about who.
• Good systems ask for feedback on corrective measures that will work; good systems are not just looking for complaints.
• Don’t shoot the messenger – if you aren’t ready to hear the brutal facts, then go to another website.
• Make sure the issues are visible so EVERYONE can weigh-in on what issues need addressing first.
• Never, ever stop!  It’s continuous improvement.
• Offer rewards when improvements save the company time, energy and money.  It only works if everyone has a stake in the outcome.
• When you listen – don’t defend but keep an open ear and mind to what your people have to say.

Today more than ever we all need to work together to identify and solve the issues that are holding our performance back.   Employees and owners can no longer look to the other for the answers - we need to work together to make our organizations and ourselves stronger, better and more effective.

Hill wrote this in 1937 – Think and Grow Rich.   As much as we may want to believe that we’ve made progress as a society I can’t help but think we really haven’t.  We seem to be struggling with the same problems, and if we really believe that using the same solutions will result in different outcomes, we’re just kidding ourselves.  Maybe it’s time to use a different approach.  Maybe it’s time to use a different model. 

Teamwork is when someone must subordinate personal aspirations and the leader wins.

Teamwork is a joint action by 2 or more persons or a group, in which each subordinates his or her individual interests and opinions to the unity and efficiency of the group.  This does not mean that the individual is no longer important; however, it does mean that effective and efficient teamwork goes beyond individual accomplishments.  The most effective teamwork is produced when all the individuals involved harmonize their contributions and work towards a common goal.  In order for teamwork to succeed, one must be a team-player.  A team-player is one who subordinates personal aspirations and works in a coordinated effort with other members of a group, or a team, to strive for a common goal.   Businesses and other organizations often go to the effort of coordinating team building events in an attempt to get people to work as a team rather than as individuals.

Collaboration – there are no leaders.  Everyone wins.

Collaboration is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together toward an intersection of common goals — e.g., sharing knowledge, learning, and building consensus is an intellectual endeavor that is creative in nature.  Collaboration does not require leadership, and can sometimes bring better results through decentralization and egalitarism. 

This is an image of a structure that was used to create a philanthropic organization based on the idea of collaboration.  Project Red Dot (www.projectreddot.org) was established in 2008 as a way for individuals to work towards a common goal – in this case, to help people in Ghana, Africa connect to the world.  It has produced incredible results while using a minimal amount of resources because the model is based on collaboration.

I’ve recently reconnected with Doug Mendel and I’m attempting to set up a similar structure to help his orgainzation (www.dougmendel.com).  By combining the right combination of talented, motivated and resourceful people, a tremendous amount of progress can be made while using little or no resources.  In the case of Project Red Dot, they’ve been able to re-deploy laptops that would have ended up in a landfill.  In Doug Mendel’s case, he moved a fire truck from Colorado to Cambodia.  Both used the same model.  Both yielded amazing results.

My question is – how can YOU use this model to reach your goals and aspirations?

Inspiration is something that’s difficult to describe, yet we all know what it feels like.  This is because inspiration comes from the part of the mind that words have a difficult time describing.  A good analogy is this: how would you describe the color red to someone who’s been blind their entire life?  

What’s so special to me about inspiration is the effect it has on people and their actions.  It’s inspiration that drives people to imagine unthinkable ideas, and it’s inspiration that keeps them moving toward their vision.  It’s the same feeling that drove Thomas Edison to endure thousands of failures before he found the one filament that worked for his incandescent light bulb.

I belive it’s this same source of human energy that motivates entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams.  It’s the same source of energy that motivates employees and customers to follow a leader – even through the face of adversity.  Last Thursday, I was able to look around the room as Simon spoke.  I saw something very special.  There were over 100 people – most of them highly charged, busy entrepreneurs, and each of them were on the edge of their seat for two hours.  It takes something very special to do that.  It takes someone who lives a purposeful life and is not satisfied until he has inspired every human being on the planet.  I wonder how much energy Simon created last Thursday?  It would be interesting to know.  I know he inspired me – thank you, Simon. Thank you very much.

a) what I’m uniquely gifted at

b) what I’m passionate about

c) what my definite purpose is

This formula comes from a book I recently read - Finding the Sweet Spot by Dave Pollard.  I recommend the book to anyone who finds themselves struggling with their job or who feels uninspired with their work.  This is the perfect step-by-step guide for discovering responsible, sustainable, joyful work.

For the millions of Americans who find themselves unexpectedly unemployed, you are now in a unique position - you are now able to make choices about what you do next, and about what you put your time and energy towards.  I understand that it’s easy to think of this as something awful, but you can also just as easily consider your recent misfortune as an opportunity to make changes in your life that will lead you to satisfaction and happiness.   If anything else, think about what it is you would do if you could do anything.  Think about what your gifts are, what you’re passionate about, and what your purpose is in this world.

This is the location of the “sweet spot.”