Entries Tagged 'Leadership' ↓

Interested in long term improvement? Want to know sure fire way to improve over time? Sceptic? Want some evidence?

Kaizen is what Japanese apply when they want to improve and become more productive.

by lenaibojcdruz

Kaizen (??, Japanese for "improvement") is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life.

5 strategies

There are only few simple principles for Kaizen implementation. They are referred as 5S’s. This is how Masaaki Imai outlines it in his book Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense, Low-Cost Approach to Management:

1. Sort – Separate everything unnecessary and get rid of it. Put a red tag on unnecessary items (for example, unused machines), then remove them.
2. Straighten – Put key items in order so they can be found readily. Straighten logically, so items can be located with a minimum of wasted effort.
3. Scrub – Tools and workplaces should be clean. Dirt and foreign particles can cause machinery to malfunction.
4. Systematize – Make a schedule for cleaning and for checking that all is in order. This ensures that housekeeping is maintained constantly.
5. Standardize – Make the preceding steps part of a regular process.

Does it work?

Yeah! Does it really work? Let’s see.

• Toyota. This company is kind of success, right? Here is what they do:

The Toyota Production System is known for kaizen, where all line personnel are expected to stop their moving production line in case of any abnormality and, along with their supervisor, suggest an improvement to resolve the abnormality which may initiate a kaizen.

• Myself. I think I am success. I am no millionaire. I am regular corporate worker. Then why I count myself for successful one? I like John Wooden’s definition for success and that is why I feel I am successful:

"Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable"  - John Wooden.

What Kaizen does have to do with me and my success? Let’s see:

1. Sort – Separate everything unnecessary and get rid of it. I practice Covey’s Important/Urgent quadrant to get rid of noise.
2. Straighten – Put key items in order so they can be found readily. I am a big fan of pipeline processing.
3. Scrub – Tools and workplaces should be clean. I am on tools diet. I just love utilizing familiar tools for different tasks, here are few examples:
   1. Effective Time Management With Vista Sidebar
   2. On Writing - John Lennon, Gerald M. Weinberg, Me, You, And Outlook 2007
   3. Security .Net Code Inspection Using Outlook 2007
4. Systematize – Make a schedule for cleaning and for checking that all is in order. I am a big fan of checklists. Here is the whole blueprint.
5. Standardize – Make the preceding steps part of a regular process. How about the whole lifecycle?

It seems I’ve been doing Kaizen all that time unconsciously. That is fine. I am only happy it worked great for me, only now I am even more confident in continuing doing it – continuous improvement, Kaizen.

Self Test

1. Do you separate important from noise? What’s your technique?
2. Are you processing your work in ordered manner? How do you order your work items?
3. Are you over-tooled, over-engineered? Do you have the tools to make your job done? Do you have more tools? Do you really need them?
4. Do you check yourself periodically? Daily, weekly, monthly, annually?
5. Do you have lifecycle plan of your work? Do you have lifecycle plan of your life? No? Then how do you know you are on track?

“If you can’t beat them join them”, right?

Wrong.

It is completely wrong, unless you are joining them to beat them. Beat them either harder or smarter. Better both.

by TOMOYOSHI

You are not a quitter. But sometimes you get to the point where you want to give up on your dream. You feed yourself with ton of excuses why you can’t do it. You want to quit and move on.

Do not quit, you can beat them. You can beat them all.

Struggle is the meaning

When I was reading Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich I stumbled on a very motivational quote:

If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems. And that’s a big mistake. – Frank Wilczek, 2004 Nobel Prize winner in physics.

It really made an impact on me and every time I feel down, this one helps me to get up and move forward toward what I believe, The Dream.

It takes time to win

I am a big fan of “Fail Fast” approach. In a nutshell it means that investing in something must gain fast results. If the investment does not gain any results, if it fails – stop doing it, change the approach. It helps avoiding Pyrrhic Victory. However, never give up on the bigger goal, The Dream.

It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer. -Albert Einstein

Struggle is your source of energy

In the The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal the authors identify 4 Dimensions Of Personal Power: Physical, Emotional, Mental, Spiritual. Their approach is based on tens of years of research and applied practice – they actually Practice This ;). Their take is that our Physical, Emotional, Mental, and Spiritual muscles must be periodically stretched in order to refill our personal power reservoirs. Keep fighting to be stronger.

What’s not killing me only makes me stronger - Friedrich Nietzsche

Beating smarter

How do I become a smarter fighter?

Try applying ancient proven patterns & practices of martial arts – take, for example, Judo – my favorite sport :

The word "judo" …  may mean "gentleness", "softness", "suppleness", and even "easy", depending on its context

The soft method is characterized by the indirect application of force to defeat an opponent. More specifically, it is the principle of using one’s opponent’s strength against him and adapting well to changing circumstances

Here is another great source of techniques to beating them smarter – The Thirty Six Strategies:

Whereas other Chinese military texts such as Sun Tzu The Art of War focus on military organization, leadership, and battlefield tactics, the Thirty Six Strategies are more suitably applied in the fields of politics, diplomacy, and espionage.

Take, fore example, this one:

19. Remove the firewood under the cooking pot.
When faced with an enemy too powerful to engage directly you must first weaken him by undermining his foundation and attacking his source of power.

The foundation

My take is that the foundation to becoming a smarter fighter is Emotional Intelligence.

Emotion Is Your Enemy – coach John Wooden.

Fight your enemy, become Emotionally Intelligent:

• Emotional Intelligence - Core Skills
• Emotional Intelligence - Higher Order Skills

Self test

• Do you have a Dream?
• Have you ever gave up on your Dream? How did you feel? Drained?
• Have you ever fulfilled your dream? How did you feel? Empowered, ready for another fight?
• Do you want to become a smarter fighter?
• Do you want to win you Dream?

Why becoming a leader? What does it take to become a leader? What’s leadership anyway? Is it attainable by anybody? Is there actionable guidance to become a leader?

I found the answers to almost all the questions in Gerald M. Weinberg book - Becoming a Technical Leader: An Organic Problem-Solving Approach.

My favorite is how he defines leadership.

by JessicaFairchild.com

Leadership is the process of creating an environment in which people become empowered. – Gerald M. Weinberg.

I found out that this definition can be easily applied not only to technical leadership but to any kind of leadership.

Family

Are you creating an environment in which your kids and your partner become empowered? 

• Is your home a place where your family members long to be? Or each one seeks a reason to sneak outside if it?
• Are your kids passionately share their experiences they had in kindergarten or in the school? Or when you ask “How was your day?” you hear just “Fine”?
• Is you partner shares her deepest feelings, thoughts on life and work. Do you discuss a deeper meaning and then make love? Or you have transactional conversations and actions that sometimes concluded by just sex?

Work

Are you creating an environment in which your colleagues, managers, reports become empowered?

• Do you like coming to your work? Why?
• Do you like your office? Why?
• Do you like your colleagues? Why?
• Do your colleagues like you? Why?
• Are you writing emotionally intelligent emails that build rapport?
• Did you receive “Thank you!” email privately lately?
• Did you send “Thank you!” email privately lately?
• Are you genuinely interested in listening to what you colleague has to say?
• What’s your “street creds”?
• What nickname your co-workers gave you?
• What significant change you drove lately? How many followed?
• Are you “go-to” person for any subject of your interest/expertise?

Blogging

Are you creating an environment in which your blogofriends (real and virtual) become empowered?

• Are you commenting on other underdog blogs?
• Do your comments encourage discussion or are they self centric and self promotional?
• Are you giving link love?
• How many comments you get?
• Do you get link love back?
• Do you have loyal readers? How do you know?
• Did you get recently emails from your blogofriends asking for advice or help?

Self

Are you creating an environment in which you become empowered?

• Do you carve time for your life projects?
• Do you give priorities to do what you passionate about?
• Can you quickly list your goals?
• Can you quickly list your latest achievements in life and work?

Footnote

Becoming a leader looks actionable and attainable to me. I think you can easily become a leader. It is all about developing skills of creating environment that empowers people.

Mr. Universe doesn’t have more muscles than I do, just better developed ones. – Gerald M. Weinberg.

Are you a manager? Looking for the ways to make your business better? Looking for the ways to grow? Want to improve both employees and customer satisfaction?

The best advice I’ve got from The Dream Manager book by Matthew Kelly – ask your employees “what’s their dream?”. Have you tried that?

by Cia de Foto

Ask your employees

What are you asking your employees? “Are you on track?” “Are you going to hit that goal?” ”How do you plan to cover that deficit?”, etc. These are all good questions. But there is more. Just ask “what’s your dream?”. As simple as that. “What’s your personal dream?”,  “What’s your career dream?”. What drives you every morning to get out of bed and come to work?

“You’ll be amazed at what they’ll tell us. Nobody knows the business like those who work in the trenches of it every day. Ask your employees. They know more than you think.” - Matthew Kelly, the author of The Dream Manager book.

I have managers too

Now let’s switch roles. How often you are asked by your managers that question “What’s your dream?”. I mean sincerely, with genuine desire to really know? I do not expect neither your nor my manager to be a shrink, but who would like to be just a tool to hit the goal. I would not. I’d rather like to be a passionate team member with shared goals, pardon, *dreams*.

The temptation is to convince yourself that your employees’ dreams are not relevant to your business. That is only true of your employees are not relevant to your business – and if that were true, why would your employ them?- Matthew Kelly, the author of The Dream Manager book.

What’s your dream?

I am selling the Most Valuable Product, the Experience. What are you selling (stop denying, we all sell something)? Does your customer get engaged easily? No? Neither mine. Then how do you engage with your customer?

You create a brand that is credible, compelling, and personally connected with the potential customer. 

by myuibe

This simple formula is expressed in William J. McEwen’s book Married to the Brand: Why Consumers Bond with Some Brands for Life. How do you check your brand for credibility, compelling, and connecting? This is what the author suggest:

Credibility

• [Brand] is a name I can always trust.
• [Brand] always delivers on what they promise.
• [Brand] is a highly respected brand name.
• I know what [Brand] stands for and what makes them different

Compelling

• [Brand] sets the standard for all other brands to follow
• There is no other [product/service category] quite like [Brand]
• I can’t imaging a world without [Brand]
• [Owners/Buyers/Shoppers/Customers] rave about how great [Brand] is.

Connecting

• [Brand] is the perfect [product/service category] for people like me.
• I can easily imaging myself as a [Brand] [owner/shopper/buyer/customer]

“Brand promises that are Credible, present a Compelling offer, and manage to personally Connect will attract first dates. But far more than that, they will generate a special type of first date – one that set the stage for a continuing brand relationship” - William J. McEwen, the author.

Self check

Are *you* Credible, Compelling, and Connecting brand? Check yourself. Replace [Brand] with [My dad/mom] or [My husband/wife]. Is it still Credible, Compelling, Connected? Are you world greatest for your customer?