Leaders Understand the True GOAL

Have you ever said, or done, something pretty stupid and felt pretty bad about it later?  Did it embarrass you knowing that you will soon be eating “humble pie”?  The answer is: probably yes.  Nevertheless, this has recently happened to me and now I must swallow the bitter pill.  As I have written in other posts I am currently getting my MBA.  One of the classes this semester is Operations Strategy and one of the books we are required to read is “The Goal” by Eli Goldratt.  Before the semester began I emailed our Director of the MBA program basically telling her the book is old and asking why we couldn’t review some new information that is out there.  You see I have read “The Goal” three different times since it came out in 1985.  Last weekend I read it for the fourth time and I am glad to say it again has changed my life.

In 1987 I was working at IBM and I remember that a new book had come out titled The Goal and our management team wanted us all to read it.  They told us that if we were to read this book it would change our lives and everything we ever thought about process improvement.  We had all heard this before and I felt at the time that this would just be another book of the month.  Every time some quality guru wrote a book it seemed we were implementing a new process improvement program.  We had dabbled in TQM and Quality Circles and we were even going through a certification process to get ISO 9001.  The last thing I wanted to do was read a book on process improvement, but I went ahead and read it.  Actually I found it very hard to put the book down at the time and finished it over a weekend.  I remember that when I finished the book I had this feeling that my life had somehow been changed and now as I look back I truly believe it was.  The Goal is written in the form of a novel and the story follows the daily life of a plant manager named Alex Rogo.  In the story Alex is experiencing many of the same issues we all face in our various roles.  His company was late on orders, struggling with profitability, and he was even having issues at home with his wife.  The book basically touched many of the points I think we can all relate to.

You might be asking yourself if I have read the book three different times why haven’t I been putting its message to use in my business.  Why wouldn’t a book that has changed so many businesses be a staple in every leader’s book collection?  I think the answer is that every time a new program comes out we drop what we are doing and try the next best thing.  We think wow this is new and improved and it must be better than what we are currently doing.  I think we have been wrong for many years.

There are many businesses out there today that are struggling with issues that have plagued every business since the beginning of time.  Authors have made a fortune selling books, Speakers have been giving speeches, and consultants have been providing consulting services to businesses and honestly not very much has changed.  The answers to the issues that we are facing can be acquired with common sense.  I think companies need to approach process improvement much like we teach our children how to ride a bike.  Think back to your childhood when you first learned to ride your bike.  Did your parents go out and buy you a bike like Lance Armstrong rides for your first one?  Did they get you gloves, a $200 helmet, $100 cycling shoes, a bike computer?  The answer is: probably no.  They probably got you the cheapest one they could find.  It might have even been a used bike that some other kid had outgrown.  Why am I asking all of this?  What has this got to do with manufacturing?  I think you will find the answer in what follows.

Most processes today are complex and difficult to understand, and technology has given us many innovative ways to produce products.  Technology is a wonderful thing as long as everything runs smoothly, but honestly how long can we expect that to happen?  In “The Goal” Jonah helped Alex Rogo understand that the true goal of any business should be to make money now and in the future.  Jonah explained that in order to make money businesses need to increase throughput while at the same time reducing inventory and operational expenses.  Furthermore, Jonah explained that every business had at least one constraint (bottleneck) hampering throughput and it was the job of the leader to optimize that constraint. 

Now let’s look at the case of your first bicycle again and apply it to the scenario Jonah was describing.  Let’s take for example there is a struggling machine shop.  This machine shop is having trouble shipping anything on time.  Orders to its customers are late and many of the parts produced are defective.  Management has seen overtime, scrap, rework, inventory and many other costs increase for some time.  Everyone agrees that this process must be improved and something has to be done now, but not sure how to proceed.  As we mentioned earlier there are so many options out there today to help manufacturing.  Management of this struggling machine shop could go out and buy the latest and greatest manufacturing information software.  They could buy state of the art inspection equipment.  They could implement elaborate process improvement techniques like Lean, Toyota Production, 6 sigma, and Quick Response Manufacturing.  Isn’t this starting to sound a lot like buying your kid $12,000 worth of junk just to learn to ride a bike?  Keep all of this in mind and think about this.  What would happen if instead of doing all of the elaborate stuff mentioned we just did the following?

We buy our struggling machine shop a used kid’s bike with training wheels.  We walk out on the floor and look where all of the parts are backed up.  We look at all of the backed up parts and try to see if they can be processed on another machine.  If we still have too many parts we look to see if the machine is running to its full capacity.  Does it shut down every shift for 30 minutes for lunch and another 30 minutes for breaks?  Can some of the parts be subcontracted?  Do we have parts released into the shop that are not due to any customers right now and just being processed for inventory?  These are the used kid’s bike kinds of things we could be doing right now in order to increase throughput, reduce inventory, and reduce operational expenses which by the way are the only metrics we should be tracking.

I do not want anyone to misunderstand me on this.  I think all of the new and innovative things and ideas that have come out are all awesome.  They have the potential to help many companies make the incremental improvements needed to remain a going concern today.  All I am trying to say is that before you learn to run you must learn to walk.  Before you ride in the Tour De France you need to make it down the sidewalk without falling over.  And finally before you can become a “world class” business you have to understand the basic, easy, less costly message of “The Goal”.

P.S. Sorry Dr. Brazier

The black and white dogs in each of us

"Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected a moment and replied, the one I feed the most." It's not really clear who first spoke this quote, but I think each of us struggle with feeding the right dog every day. As leaders our goal should be to always feed the white dog within us. This week I would like to discuss self esteem and how it affects our lives.

 

Bob Proctor wrote "You are the only problem you will ever have and you are the only solution." I know this is especially true in my life. When I look back on many of the problems I have faced I can clearly see that I, and the low self esteem I possessed, were the major causes. If you were to analyze the winning people you have known I am certain you would find that they have a healthy self esteem. On the other hand if you were to look at all of the low achievers you have been around you would notice that they are plagued with low self esteem. Luckily for all of us self esteem can be improved because it is in our hands. It is an inside out process that we can develop through daily self-improvement exercises.

 

Here are some of the ways we can improve our self-esteem:

 

• Dump early events in our lives, or careers, that cause us to have doubts in our abilities
  
• Think about productive things
  
• Promote respect for variation
  
• Form relationships that nourish
  
• Accept yourself from the inside out
  
• Seek out mentors
  
• Forgive people who have wronged you
  
• Be grateful for the good things in your life
  
• Get rid of self-degrading remarks
  
• Accept all compliments with a simple thank you
  
• Enjoy initiating new contacts and acquaintances
  
• Develop a feeling of your own self worth
  

 

How is that for short list? Do you think that any of these things would help you? I know they are all something I could work on. Someone told me a long time ago that "you can't be valuable to others until you value yourself." Good luck this week in everything you do. Please add some comments if you can think of anything else that should be on this list.

 

Have a great week!

 

Who are the real leaders in an organization?

Every organization has people who are by job description leaders, but actually do very little leading.  Their days are filled with meetings, appointments with other leaders, and a lot of other “stuff” that has nothing to do with leading.  Does this sound familiar with any place you have ever worked?  I had an assignment a few years back where I was a General Manager of a contract manufacturing facility with locations in Texas and California.  The CEO of this company decided that I would spend every other week at each location.  Even though I was being paid to be the leader of both organizations I was only at each location 26 weeks of the year and was not actually leading either for much of the time.

Even though I was absent from both of the organizations half of the time they still flourished.  They experienced remarkable growth and it was not because my leadership skills were so great.  The reality is that every organization has silent leaders.  That is to say there are leaders in every organization getting things done behind the scenes.  I know you have seen these people in your organizations, and you might even be the silent leader for your group.

In 2003 Ken Johnson wrote The Role of Leadership in Organizational Integrity and Five Models of Ethical Leadership for the Ethics and Policy Integration Centre.  In this article he discussed five different modes of ethical leadership and two of those modes, Inspiration and Facilitation, are essential to developing silent leaders in your organization.  Ken describes Inspiration as “setting the example so that other committed members will contribute their fullest capabilities to achieve organizational purposes.”  He describes Facilitation as “supporting other committed members, and guiding them where necessary, so they are able to contribute their capabilities as fully as possible.”

Are you doing everything you can as a leader to inspire and facilitate the people you lead?  I would like to hear of some of the things you are doing in this area, and if you feel you could use a little help doing this better I hope you take some time in the next few weeks to see where you can improve.  I know I have a lot of work to do in my journey to be a better leader.

Have a great week!

What is your definition of success?

How would you define success?  I think the modern definition of success leaves a lot to be desired.  Look in any dictionary and you will see a definition that goes something like this: to gain wealth or fame.  I am sure that if you asked 100 leaders their definition of success it would be very close to what you find in the dictionary, but the reality is that it is much more than just making more money and being famous.

Look at some of the so-called successful people in the news today.  Bernard Madoff had a lot of wealth and fame and is now in prison.  Look what is happening to the “Governator”, Arnold Schwarzenegger, after news of his affair with a maid.  Looking at the definition in our dictionaries these two guys would be described as successful, but are they really?

Early in American history our leaders believed that success was a gift from God and any successful people were living in God’s favor.  Ben Franklin wrote that “the pursuit of wealth was virtuous and would lead to success.”  General George Patton defined success as “how high you bounce when you hit bottom” and Coach John Wooden said that “Success is a peace of mind, a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing that you did your best.”

As leaders how will we know if we are successful?  Personally, I will know I am successful when I do the following:

·        Am a role model for my family and friends

·        Put others before myself

·        Talk to God every day

·        Become a servant

·        Become the best husband and father I can be

·        Love others as I love myself

·        Share my financial gifts with others

How’s that for a short list?  Needless to say I am a long way from being successful, but hey I have the rest of my life to work on it.

The real question is how will you know when you are successful?  Hopefully you will spend some time thinking about it.

Have a great week!

Human Capital

     It has been too long since my last post to this blog, but it has been a very busy time in my life.  It is amazing how life can take control of our lives if we let it.  The last time I posted something here I discussed a new book I had just read called the Great Workplace by Michael Burchell and Jennifer Robin.  When I really like a book I tend to read it more than once and I am now reading this one for the third time.

     When I think about all of the things going on in my life right now they all seem to point to me trying to become a better leader.  With this being said, it does not take long in reading the Great Workplace (pg. 7 just under the title Trust) to read what makes this book great.  Think about for a minute what the authors say “It is often said that employees tend to join organizations, but leave their managers”.  How true is this statement in your career?  How many times have you left an organization because you just couldn’t deal with the leadership?  When I think about the different positions I have held I left the majority of them because I just couldn’t get on board with my leaders.

     Hopefully if you are reading this blog you are trying to be the best leader you can be.  To me this means you are trying to live your life like a true servant leader.  There is a lot of good information out there about servant leadership, and I won’t expand on it here, but I think many people who view themselves as great leaders often miss the mark.  Many times people are great leaders in certain situations where everyone is watching them, but are totally different individuals when the eyes are off of them.  I think a true leader is a true leader all of the time in every situation.

     I agree with Burchell and Robin when they say “In the best companies, leaders at all levels have a strong commitment to creating strong ties between the employee and the organization.  Indeed, enhancing trust, pride, and camaraderie in the workplace is the central task of effective leadership in today’s organization.”  This my friends is really good stuff.  Too often in industry we get caught up in improving processes.  Organizations spend untold millions each year for the next big process improvement tool.   Don’t get me wrong here I too believe that processes should be improved, but there is nothing in a process you can improve without spending all of the time necessary to improve the employees also.  “World Class” organizations realize how important their Human Capital Management processes are to the life of the company and spend just as much time, maybe more, improving them.

     I challenge each leader who reads this to think about what they are doing personally to improve their human capital.  It will be different for each organization, but spending time fostering trust, pride, and camaraderie will unfold many great things for us.

     Have a great week!

A Great Place to Work

It has been quite some time since my last post tot his blog and it has been bothering me.  Life has been very busy over the last month and I am finally beginning to feel like I am catching up.  I hope to not let the time between posts go so long in the future.

This weekend I read "The Great Workplace - How to Build It, How to Keep It and Why it Matters" by Michael Burchell and Jennifer Robin.

I found it to be a great book that spoke of the various factors that make for a great workplace.  The organization described in this book reminded me a lot of my early days at IBM.  Some of the chapters I found interesting dealt with the following:

Credibility – “I Believe in my Leader”.  In order to have a great workplace I feel it is essential that the leader is someone you can trust.

Respect – “I am a valued member of this organization” People want to feel respected at work.  They need to feel they are a valued part of the group.

Fairness – “Everyone plays by the same rules” People like consistency.  They want to know that the rules apply to everyone equally.

Pride – “I contribute to something really meaningful” I need to feel pride for my work at both my company and in my personal life.

Comradeship – “The people here are great!” People want to work with great people.  I believe they are the happiest when they work with folks that are great.

This book does a great job in explaining how all of the factors above can be put into action in any organization.  Every organization has those individuals within their walls that this stuff will not work on, but most of the ideas expressed will help any company move towards being a great workplace..  Some people just think much differently that the rest and nothing will ever work on them..

I must say thought that none of the things listed in this book will help if they are not put into action.  Inaction is probably the failure of most good plans.  As leaders what have you done to make your organization the Great Workplace?  Have you done your part?  I plan to do everything in my power to make mine the greatest workplace of all time.

Have a great week!

Who are our customers?

Who are the customers we serve?  What can we do to give our customers a better experience?  What are our customer’s requirements?  Think about these questions a minute.

Now that you have thought about those questions for a while who do you think your customers are?  If you are like a lot of people you might not know who your real customers are.  I think many of us serve ourselves and never really care about our true customers.  I think we get too busy in our jobs, and personal lives, to take the time to determine who our real customers are.  I am convinced that a large part of becoming a leader is finding out who your customers are and determining their requirements.

Here is a real-world example that I have recently dealt with that will hopefully help us all understand our true customers:

I am currently enrolled in an MBA program and have had to apply for a student loan in order to pay for my classes.  The loan application process was very easy and I was pleasantly surprised.  The government has done a very good job at determining who their customers are and has made the whole process fairly effortless.  Everything is completed online and it happens very quickly.  Once students are approved for their loans the money becomes available and when classes start the institution takes it out to pay for tuition and gives the rest of the money to students for living expenses and books.  Can you pick out all of the supplier/customer relationships in this scenario?  The government clearly has at least two customers which are the students and the organizations of higher learning.  I think it easy to see that the school’s accounting personnel have two customers also.  They have the students who are anxiously awaiting their money so they can buy books and they have the school which needs the tuition to pay its bills.  It is very important for the leaders in this example to know who their customers are and if they are satisfied.  It is also very important for leaders to know which customer to satisfy first if you are experiencing periods of limited resources.

Please consider what the school is actually doing.  The money is sitting out in a reserve somewhere waiting for the classes to start.  Once the first day of class comes the school goes into that reserve and pulls out enough money to cover the student’s tuition.  At some point in time (2-5 weeks) the school gets around to distributing what is owed to the students.  Can anyone besides me see a problem here?  Can you see where the school might have lost track of who the most important customer is?  Other indicators that the school does not know their real customer lies in the customer service activities.  The accounting personnel, if they even answer the phone, answer your questions in a condescending tone.  You get a different answer depending on who you talk to.  They have really lost touch with who their customers are.

I think as leaders we must be very aware of who our customers are and constantly strive to meet their needs.  When we find a customer that is not satisfied with our performance we have to put any resources we can on making them happy because after all they are the reason we exist.  As we develop the leader that is inside each of us my hope is we do it with the customer in mind.

May God Bless You!