Lean Quote: Appreciation Can Make a Day, Just Remember to Thank You

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary."  — Margaret Cousins

If you want your employees to be happy and productive, you need to give them recognition for a job well done and let them know their work is appreciated and important. In a workplace committed to creating an attitude of gratitude and employee recognition on a daily basis.

Research has shown that recognition and appreciation is the top driver of employee engagement. Perhaps it seems elementary, but if you want employees who are fully engaged, you need to ensure they are recognized when they do great work and that they know you appreciate their contributions to the organization. Motivated employees do a better job of serving customers well. Happy customers buy more products and are committed to using your services. More customers buying more products and services increases your company's profitability and success.

Thank you may be among the first words, our parents teach us, but as we get older we seem to forget how to say them. Many managers usually recognize the major achievements--they celebrate the completion of a successful project; they honor an employee of the month. But how often do managers recognize the little steps their employees complete along the way?

Employees need to be thanked…a lot. So says “guru of thank you” Bob Nelson, author of the bestselling 1001 Ways to Reward Employees—and he should know. Bob said, “The number one reason people leave their jobs today is that they don’t feel recognized for the job they’re doing.” We have all heard the adage “you get what you reward.” So if what you want is more outstanding work from an employee, say thank you the very next time that employee performs an iota of outstanding work.

The best recognition is thoughtful, happens daily, and has a personal touch. Even better, it's usually free.  Demonstrate appreciation!  Write a note, take them to lunch, acknowledge the work in a staff meeting…whatever seems right.  Just remember to say thank you.

Lean Roundup #189 – February 2025

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of February 2025.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.  

 

Getting the Right Things Done in a Digital World – Pascal Dennis shares his learnings from Lean innovation and mindsets in Tech startups and what it means for progressive organizations around the world.

 

Where Should We Start With Lean? - Alen Ganic explains if you’re considering Lean for your organization, start by securing leadership buy-in and making sure everyone understands why it matters then Lean tools will help you solve real problems, sustain improvements, and drive meaningful change.

 

Why Is So Important for Managers to Listen! – Christoph Roser says listening to your operators and employees is an undervalued but very beneficial skill that will help you to improve your system.

 

All Unit Tests Passed – Christopher Chapman discusses an anti-pattern in software development that happens when automated tests are engineered to pass in spite of the product not working as the customer expects.

 

Assuming Your Team Doesn’t Care? Think Again. – Katie Anderson says it’s time to challenge your assumptions about your employees and examine how your limiting beliefs are leading to missed opportunities to build a more engaged and innovative team.

 

Building Operational Excellence Culture – Maggie Millard outlines the essential leadership behaviors for building and sustaining an operational excellence culture.

 

Whose Fault Is It Anyway? The Case for Learning Over Blaming – Mark Graban explains mistakes should lead us to reflection and positive change–it's about building trust, fostering innovation, and creating a workplace where people feel empowered to learn and grow.

 

How Internal Politics Kill Lean Transformations—And What to Do About It – Damon Baker talks about why organizations can’t get out of their own way—and what it takes to finally break free.

10 Ways to Boost Empowerment in the Workplace

An empowered workforce is something that is highly desirable in an improvement culture. Your employees are the backbone of your business. Empowering your employees will help ensure they remain engaged, and willing to perform to the best of their ability. Unfortunately, just because we want it, it doesn't make it so.

Empowering your employees involves providing them with a level of trust as well as permission to make certain decisions on their own, in order to fulfill their responsibilities within your organization and to further your company’s goals. Empowered employees are more confident in their role within the company as well as their longevity with your organization. This increases motivation and productivity – it can also help lower turnover. An employee who feels empowered in their role tends to be more satisfied in their position and more loyal to their employer.

Leaders of the organization must create the conditions for empowerment.  Here are 10 ways to boost empowerment in your workplace:

1. Be clear in your communication. When you express goals or explain projects, be sure the employees really understand what you are asking for. If the goals are unclear then the employees are not sure what they are being asked to do.

2. Eliminate barriers, restrictions and layers of protocol. The more steps, individuals, policies and departments employees have to work through to get results, the more frustrating and disempowering things actually are. Use cross-training, multi-department teams and projects, and trainings to help break down the boundaries and barriers that may exist between employees and departments.

3. Allow employees to suggest better ways of getting their jobs done. Ask for employee suggestions for other ways of getting the task or project accomplished. Listen and be willing to really hear the employees' comments. Employees hate to have no input and be told exactly how to perform their jobs, leaving no creativity.

4. Show you have trust in your employees. Allow them to make mistakes as a form of learning. Show that it is really OK to make mistakes. Trust that people have the right intentions and will make the right decisions, even if they are different than your own. Let them know you really support their decisions.

5. Encourage and reward improvement and innovation. Employees may be afraid to offer insight and new ways of doing things because the company culture doesn't support them. If you really want to empower employees, you'll need to create a company culture that encourages and rewards innovation. You may start by asking individuals to look for ways to improve efficiency, output, safety, etc. in the tasks they perform every day.

6. Listen. Listen. Listen. Do you do most of the talking? Be open to communication and ask your employees questions. They can demonstrate what they know and grow in the process.

7. Share leadership's vision. Help people feel they are a part of something bigger than themselves or their job by sharing your company's overall vision. Tell your employees the most important goals for your organization and let them know of the progress towards those goals

8. Allow employees to actively participate in team and company goals.  Look for every opportunity to include employees at every level of the organization, in being active participants. Employees can't be involved with one-way directives.

9. Be a coach. The best way to empower employees is not to manage them. Coach them to success. This is a process of developing their skills and providing them specific feedback to meet high standards. Employees want to be on the same team with their bosses. Be their coach and lead the team to success!

10. Communication. The key to empowerment is communication. Give every employee equal and direct access to information. Many companies have developed a trickle-down style of communication that alienates those employees who may not be "in the loop." The more informed employees are and the more communication is open, honest, direct and complete, the more likely employees are to feel empowered and connected to the daily operations and overall goals of their company.

Employee empowerment is at heart of any transformative journey—an essential element of today’s dynamic workplace culture. By entrusting employees with authority, resources, and responsibility, organizations unleash their full potential, inspiring them to take bold initiatives and make impactful decisions.

Empowerment takes time. Empowerment requires patience as we help develop and advance people’s skills. Empowerment means turning your stakeholders into shareholders by allowing them to take ownership and invest in the vision.

Lean Quote: What Gets Recognized Gets Done Again, and Even Better

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"What gets measured, gets done. And what gets recognized gets done again, and even better."  — Robert Crawford

Data, metric, measures, assessments, evaluations, scorecards, progress reports… Many of us have been faced with a whole host of measurement opportunities. Seems like some of the performance measurements are moving targets that we seldom hit. Some measurement processes come and go like fog. I shared the quote from Peter Drucker last week: “What gets measured gets managed.” Are we measuring what really matters?

We should be very careful about what gets measured. Albert Einstein reportedly had a sign on his office wall that stated: “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”

“Without a standard, there is no logical basis for making a decision or taking action,” according to Joseph Juran. As we consider what to measure, we must have a standard or a goal to attain. We must measure current performance as compared to that standard and take intelligent, consistent actions (standardized work) to eliminate problems. But what we measure must be important to both the business and those who directly and indirectly impact what is being measured. Keep in mind when something is measured but it isn’t important, it probably won’t get done.

Measure the wrong things and you will likely get the wrong behaviors. Improving performance, in most cases, means changing the behaviors of those who operate and maintain, those who budget and control, those who design and install our equipment and facilities. When we look at changing behaviors, we must always consider the people who must do things differently. Do they have the skills and ability to change? Do the rewards and recognition processes encourage and reinforce the desired behavior changes?

Robert Crawford’s quote “What gets measured, gets done. And what gets recognized gets done again, and even better.” speaks to sustainable gains in performance improvement through behavior change. We should remember that “measuring things” is not about the numbers but rather about guiding and monitoring improvement toward a measurable, observable goal. It is about understanding the cause and effects of problematic performance as well as successes and then leading human performance improvement in our organizations. It’s a known fact: Our equipment and facilities will deteriorate without proper, timely and intelligent, human intervention.

Foster a Culture of Accountability in a Lean Organization

Lean leadership emphasizes a culture of accountability where individuals and teams are empowered to take ownership of their actions and outcomes. This fosters a continuous improvement mindset within the organization, driving efficiency and effectiveness.

Lean management is a leadership approach that supports continuous improvement through collaborative problem solving. Rather than leading from the top down, Lean managers strive to actively engage their teams in the improvement process in order to promote personal and organizational success.

The basic components of Lean management are:

• Standard work (SW). Tasks are broken into a series of steps that are followed by all team members. Standard work is continuously adjusted to decrease waste and add value until a state of perfection is reached.
• Visual controls. Team members have an opportunity to track their own performance in real time and adjust.
• Daily accountability process. The group comes together to review progress, refine processes and chart next steps.

Daily accountability throughout the organization, especially at the leadership levels, is the key to sustained transformation. Here are four reasons why accountability is so important to Lean management.

Accountability Builds Trust

Perhaps the most important result of accountability is trust, which is essential in any relationship.  Being accountable to something means that you’re willing to make commitments and be responsible for your own actions. This promotes trust between you and the people around you. When you allow yourself to be accountable to this trust, you’re effectively telling people that you’re going to admit it and make amends when the trust is broken.  In effect, you’re emphasizing how important and committed you are to the strategy.

Accountability Improves Performance

Accountability eliminates the time and effort you spend on distracting activities and other unproductive behavior. Research shows that some people have the tendency to engage in ineffective behavior. Without accountability, you may only catch these behaviors when mistakes and errors have already been made and your organization has already suffered the loss. By building a culture of accountability on the onset, you rid your organization of ineffective behavior, put the right people on the right jobs, and send the message that you’re serious about excellent work.

Accountability Promotes Ownership

When you make people accountable for their actions, you’re effectively teaching them to value their work.  Through positive feedback and corrective actions, they learn that their behavior and actions have an impact on the team. They’re not just floating members without clear roles to play – they’re important to your organization. When people know that they’re valued and important, they’re more driven to work hard. They learn to have a sense of ownership in what they do.

Accountability Inspires Confidence

When done right, accountability can increase your team members’ skills and confidence. Don’t mistake accountability for controlling behavior. The key is to provide the right support – give constructive feedback, improve on your members’ suggestions, give them freedom to decide, and challenge them to think of better solutions as a team.  When people know that you’re listening and concerned about their performance, they’re more likely to step up and do their best.

Given these reasons, it’s important that you build a culture of accountability from the start.  Remember that accountability is building a culture of trust and not fear.  Your goal is not to punish and look for errors and mistakes. Instead, you seek to open multiple feedback mechanisms, fill in gaps, improve on solutions, reward productive behavior, and remove unproductive ones. As a leader, you yourself should hold yourself to the highest level of accountability.

Leadership Lessons from President Donald Trump

Every year, Americans celebrate Presidents Day as a day of remembrance — a day to look back and learn from our nation’s leaders. In today’s competitive market, business leaders are looking for the edge that will put their organization and workforce ahead of the curve.

This Presidents Day, Monday, February 17th, I think it would make sense to look at the leadership qualities by one of the greatest political comebacks in history Donald Trump. Whether you love him or loathe him, there’s no denying that President Trump has valuable lessons to offer business leaders.

Prioritizing Downtime

Trump is famously fond of golf. If a man with such a demanding role on the world stage can carve out time for leisure, why can’t you?

Many small business owners believe they can’t afford to take time off, convinced that everything will fall apart in their absence. As a result, many haven’t had a real holiday in years.

But, if you’re a business owner, there’s a lesson here: prioritize time for yourself and your family. You’ll return refreshed, and your organization will benefit from it.

Effective Delegation

A key element of effective leadership involves delegation of responsibilities to followers. This serves to free up the leader to work on important projects, but it also helps develop the followers’ own leadership capacity. A truly good leader develops followers by giving them increased responsibilities and supporting their efforts. This is a cornerstone of transformational leadership.

Many business leaders struggle with delegation due to various factors, including fear of losing control, a desire for perfection, lack of trust in their team, and a fear of losing significance or influence. This fear of failure can lead leaders to try to control every aspect of a business, which can be overwhelming and lead to burnout.

Management By Exception

President Trump uses more of the “sink or swim” type of leadership, what is referred to as “management-by-exception.” This type of leader allows followers to take on responsibilities, but only intervenes to correct poor performance. In fact, Trump seems to allow subordinates a lot of leeway, but if they step out of line, or disagree with him, “You’re fired!”

Throughout his time in office, Trump became known for his willingness to swiftly fire underperforming staff. His administration saw a higher turnover rate than any in recent history.

Most business owners, by contrast, are slow to let go of employees who aren’t a good fit, particularly in times of low unemployment. The mindset of “a warm body is better than nobody” often prevails.

Trump, however, understands that if an employee’s values or behavior don’t align with the organization, it’s best to part ways. While your values may differ from Trump’s, there’s merit in his approach: firing someone from a role that isn’t working can be mutually beneficial.

If you have employees who aren’t meeting expectations despite your best efforts to support them, helping them transition to a new career path might be the kindest and smartest move.

Playing to Win

Complacency is a common pitfall in small businesses. Leaders often get bogged down in day-to-day operations, too exhausted to focus on long-term goals.

Trump, by contrast, has always played to win. While his tactics and ‘win-at-all-costs’ attitude may be contentious, his focus on success is undeniable.

The lesson here is not about emulating his methods but rather his mindset. Business owners who clearly define their goals and commit to achieving them are more likely to succeed. Unfortunately, many have only vague ideas of what success looks like and lack a concrete plan to measure it.

There are plenty of debates surrounding Trump’s leadership, and most people have formed strong opinions about him.

However, as leaders, it’s crucial to remain open to ideas from various perspectives – even those we may disagree with – and apply the lessons that make sense for our own organizations.

Lean Quote: This Valentine’s Day Make Someone Smile or Laugh

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"This Valentine’s Day either make someone smile or laugh… or both. It will do you and them both some good."  — James Farmer

The words "work" and "fun" shouldn't be antithetical. But for so many people, they are.

Here are 5 of my favorite ways to make work fun so your employees stay happy and motivated…

Laugh.

Work doesn't have to be all business, all the time. Of course, you need to maintain your professionalism — but that doesn't mean you can't crack a smile (or a joke). When you smile and laugh, others around you will do the same (it's contagious!) and your office will be an all-around happier place to be.

Compliment someone every day.

When a coworker tells you they liked the idea you pitched in the morning meeting, or the new painting you put up in your office, it makes you feel good. So, you should do the same to others. You'll actually feel just as good giving the compliment as you do receiving it.

Share community service experiences.

Think back to the most powerful memories you have. They’re powerful because they are emotional—whether inspiring and uplifting or challenging with some struggle or trauma. Giving money to charities is cool, but donating time is far more emotional.

Embrace celebration and appreciation.

Sometimes we forget just to say thank you to our co-workers and the people that helped us be successful. Every day saying thank you and remembering small details about people’s lives is not only important but shows a token of kindness that goes a long way!

Inspire creativity.

Even if your company isn’t a creative one…or if your role is the opposite of creative, you can be creative at work. Just remember “creativity” doesn’t have to be literal, meaning you don’t have to make a piece of art. Creativity can come in many forms and will inspire others to be creative in their day-to-day, and will in many cases bring a smile to someone’s face—that might be you, it may be your co-workers. Either way, expressing yourself in a medium that means something to you can be inspiring for others.

All work and no play makes us crabby and dull! Where there is laughter, joy and fun, high-performance teams thrive. There are countless ways to have fun and even attach empowering meaning to it at the same time. The above ideas will get you started!