Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:
Lean Tip #3676 – Ensure Your Goals Are Aligning with Reality
The end of each year is prime time for self-reflection. Take stock of your goals for your business and ensure they align with where your business is heading. Filtering everything you do through the lens of what's important to you will ensure your company is always fulfilling its goals.
Lean Tip #3677 – Self-Reflection Only Works if You Are Honest About Why You Are Reflecting
Be specific about why you are reflecting in the first place. Self-reflection is a great tactic to use if you want to be honest with yourself about what has worked in the past year and what hasn't, but it can only truly work if you know what you're looking for. For me, lists help in a big way. I write down things I want to reflect on and I find that I get the most productive results.
Lean Tip #3678 – Think About Meaning and Lessons Learned from Reflection
Make a list of things you have done wrong and the things you did right. Also list down the important people you met, the different places you visited, challenges you faced and other such important things from the past year of your life. Now spend some time thinking about what these events meant to you and what you learned from them. I do this every year and it helps me gain a lot of clarity.
Lean Tip #3679 – When Reflecting Ask Others For Their Help and Opinions
Ask for brutally honest opinions. It is important that you review your process yourself, but many times we miss a lot of things, which is why I always ask my employees, friends or anyone with an objective opinion so I can understand different points of view. From this survey, I can see the landscape of a long period of time more broadly and thus make better decisions to improve in the future.
Lean Tip #3680 – Be Honest with Yourself to Find Areas for Improvement
If you want to get the most out of your reflection time, I suggest looking for patterns in your behavior. Be objective and honest. Look at what worked and what didn’t. Don’t beat yourself up on the negatives and don’t get too proud of the positives. I believe that identifying patterns is the best way to find areas for opportunity and improve on what you're doing right. Then set goals based on objective evaluations for the following year.
Lean Tip #3681 – Visualize Success to Achieve Your Goals
To achieve your goals, you need to know what success looks like. Visualization is a practice that helps you imagine the results you want to achieve as if you’ve already accomplished them. It involves using all your senses to train your brain to get familiar with the experience of reaching your goal.
One way you can do this is by creating a personal vision statement, which is a statement that describes your personal values and goals.
Visualizing success in this way can help motivate you to clarify exactly what it is that you’re after and continue progressing toward it. It can also help you build confidence that your goal is within reach.
Lean Tip #3682 – Outline Your Goal’s Action Plan
Because goals are often long-term and abstract by nature, it can be helpful to break them down into simpler steps that demonstrate ongoing progress. Continued effort toward little goals can feel easier because you consistently reach milestones and can celebrate small wins.
To make an action plan, try creating a “goal ladder.” This life-planning process involves writing your main goal at the top rung of the “ladder” and making each of your smaller goals “rungs” that lead to your main goal.
It can also be helpful to make a to-do list and actively check off each step you complete for a greater sense of accomplishment. Adding due dates for each individual step can also help you stay on track.
Lean Tip #3683 – Set a Timeline to Achieve Your Goals
Having a timeline for your goals helps you focus, plan, and track progress, all of which are necessary to achieve your desired outcomes. It’s critical that you keep your timeline realistic when setting goals for success.
Be sure you also consider factors like upcoming work projects that might require late hours, travel plans, or competing goals when setting a timeline. This will help you develop better deadlines that accurately reflect your current lifestyle and priorities.
Lean Tip #3684 – Identify Potential Obstacles to Achieve Your Goals
Being realistic in your goal setting also means accounting for challenges you may encounter. These obstacles could be due to a shortage of resources, unexpected life events, or the actions of others. Whatever the case, you’ll likely run into roadblocks.
Make a list of potential barriers that could arise in your journey, and consider ways you might mitigate them if they appear. Being aware of potential obstacles will make them less intimidating if they appear along your path to success.
Lean Tip #3685 – Find an Accountability Partner or Support System to Accomplish your Goals
Trying to accomplish a goal entirely by yourself can be lonely and overwhelming. It can be hard to stay motivated, especially if our goals span a longer period of time. When we get discouraged or feel like we’re not making progress, it can help to have a support system in place to keep us on track. Accountability helps you make consistent, steady progress and keeps you striving toward your goals.
Think about the people in your life who can encourage, motivate or hold you accountable. Recruit them to be part of your support system and lean on them when you’re in need of encouragement. Spending time with people who are supportive of our goals and are willing to help us overcome challenges can make all the difference.
Lean Tip #3686 – Keep Calm – Don't Panic or Jump to Conclusions! Start by Writing a Problem Statement
It’s important not to panic or rush into making quick decisions when faced with a significant problem. Take some time to think about the problem and the options that are available to you. Although it can be tempting to do so, it’s important not to jump to conclusions when faced with an unexpected problem. No matter how confident you might feel, ensure that you have hard facts and evidence to support your assumptions before taking any action. You might find it helpful to put your initial thoughts down on paper and/or chat through your thinking with a colleague.
One of the most straightforward but effective ways to start tackling a problem is to write a short statement about it, underlining key words. Make sure the language you use is clear and unambiguous and try to be as specific as possible (e.g. ‘our IT system is no longer suitable for the volume of work in our team’). Writing the problem down in this way can help you to pinpoint what the core issues really are.
Lean Tip #3687 – Consider Different Perspectives When Problem Solving
It’s good practice to consider the problem from a range of different perspectives, particularly those of the individuals who the problem affects. Depending on the situation, this could include team members, suppliers or customers. Considering the problem from these different angles can help you identify effective solutions that you may not otherwise have thought of.
It can often be helpful to explain the problem to your front-line manager and discuss the various solutions you’re considering. Equally, if you have a trusted colleague or friend who might be able to help you solve the problem (e.g. because of their background, experience or network) it can be useful to ask for their advice. When you do this, however, it’s important not to reveal any sensitive or confidential information to the other person.
Lean Tip #3688 – Problem Solving Solutions Often Need Creativity
Don’t be afraid to consider new or even unusual solutions to your problem. If you have evidence to suggest that making changes to working practices or technology will prove beneficial, you should put forward a case for this and, if necessary, present it to the relevant individuals (e.g. your line manager or the senior team). If there is a cost attached to your proposed change, you should provide the necessary evidence to highlight what the overall cost saving and/or other benefits would be if your solution were to be implemented.
Lean Tip #3689 – Be Aware of Problem Solving Bias
Our biases can distort the way in which we perceive reality. Biases that can typically prevent us from solving problems effectively are:
· Confirmation bias. This is the tendency to seek and choose solutions that fit with a preconceived idea of how the problem should be solved.
· Overconfidence bias. This is when an insufficient range of options is identified, or when the chosen solution is not measured against factual information, because of our confidence in our own judgment.
· The halo effect. This leads us to make assumptions about others based on a single trait we have witnessed (e.g. ‘she is always cheerful and friendly, so she can’t have caused this problem).
· The bandwagon effect. This compels us to take the same course of action that others have taken.
One of the most effective ways to avoid these biases is to be aware of them. However, if you feel as though your view of a problem or the solutions available is being distorted by one of these biases, it can be helpful to ask a colleague or friend to review the situation from their perspective.
Lean Tip #3690 – Problem Solving Requires Perseverance
Don’t be disheartened if you’re unable to solve the problem as quickly as you would like to. Taking your time to find the right solution, when you can, is always preferable to jumping to conclusions or rushing into making decisions. Remember to keep those who need to know (e.g. your team members or line manager) updated in terms of your progress, and to manage their expectations throughout the problem-solving process.
Once your
problem is finally solved, take some time to reflect on which aspects of your
approach worked, and what you would do differently next time. You may be able
to apply some new approaches the next time a problem arises.
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