Benchmarking: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

When organizations want to improve their performance, they often benchmark. Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and/or best practices from other industries. The discussion of whether benchmarking is good or bad is an old one.

Benchmarking can be an effective means to learn new skills and to develop your organization. However, it should be a process of continual improvement. Once you have implemented changes, you should benchmark your business again to see the results. This will tell you what is working, and where you can still improve.

The process of benchmarking can benefit your organization:

An holistic approach: It is both qualitative and quantitative, ensuring more accuracy in developing a whole picture of your business.

Opens minds to new opportunities: While the results can make for uncomfortable reading, the process usually raises new challenges for businesses.

Leads directly to an action plan: Rather than simply highlight problem areas, it undertakes a strong review of turnover and profitability.

Improving productivity: Businesses following improvement action plans can expect gains in cost, cycle time, productivity, and quality.

Some feel that benchmarking can limit the true potential of an organization by focusing on how well their competitors are doing. Somewhere I heard the comment that "if you benchmark against your best competitors, your best product will look like your best competitor's crap.” Your competition won’t stand still and you shouldn’t either. Maybe there’s a case then for benchmarking organizations from other industries and not your competition.

The worst mistake is to simply adopt a best practice without first identifying the problem you are trying to solve. Tools and best practices must be applied in response to a specific, defined problem, not just because it seems like a good idea. Instead as we do in Lean you should learn about waste and value. Then analyze your processes to reduce waste and improve value to your customers. Learning from others can be very powerful, but you must learn to apply the right tools and ideas for your particular situation. The problems of your competition or that of other companies you benchmark may not necessarily be the same as yours.

Benchmarking is not a perfect process but done properly and consistently it can be the start of improving your business and creating a more optimal learning environment. Avoid using it as a means to judge your competition at the expense of creating customer value or solving someone else’s problems.

What are your views on the benefits or drawbacks of benchmarking?



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Lean Quote: You Can't Recycle Wasted Time

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.

"One thing you can't recycle is wasted time." — From Taiichi Ohno

If you search the internet you will undoubtedly find many tips on time management. So many of us do not know how to properly manage our time. If you ask a group of people to define “time management”, they will probably talk about getting it all done, crossing items off of a list, and being productive. However, the best time management tips do not involve cramming more and more into your day. The most valuable time management tips available will actually involve learning to focus your time on those activities that are meaningful to you.

To help you to increase your productivity each and every day, both on and off the job, here are three easy tips to help you to stop wasting time.

Plan Your Day
Set aside time at the end of each day for daily planning. A time for you to take control of your most important asset, the next twenty-four hours. Create a "to do" list with all the things you "have to" do and, more importantly, all the things you "want to" do. A “to do” list organizes your thinking and planning onto one form in the least amount of time with the maximum amount of efficiency.

Evaluate Time Wasters
Time wasters come from the people around you as well as from within yourself. Some time wasters are unavoidable, but can be reduced. Identify the most frequent sources of time wasters in your day. Whatever you discover to be a time waster you must take steps to deal with.

Find ways to do things faster.
Look for ways you can get more done within your day. Plan your trips and errands so you don’t backtrack and can combine as many tasks as possible into one trip. Use time management tools like a simple calendar, a day planner, a dry erase board, or even adding reminders on your computer or cell phone.

I hope that these tips will help you find ways to more productive and stop wasting your time.

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An Epic Lean Kitchen

My buddy Paul Akers at FastCap shares another great example of applying Lean thinking and techniques to make our life easier. This time he takes us into the kitchen at FastCap where the use of visual controls and standard work are examined.  I wonder if any of you will take any of these ideas and implement them in your home.



Does your kitchen at work look like this?  Why not?
Keep learning.


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Top 10 Rules of Time Management

Time management truly is critical to becoming productive, doing everything you want to, and achieving ultimate success.  

"Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time."  - Jim Rohn

Therefore it is imperative we learn to manage the finite amount of time we do have to make the most of it.  I have learned to use the following ten time management guidelines successfully to get things done:

1. Know how you currently spend your time. The simplest way to do this is to keep a log of what you do each day for a period time. While this may initially feel like a time waster, it is a necessary planning step. Just like you can't budget your money without knowing where you're currently spending it, you can't budget your time without knowing where it's going either. By keeping a log you'll become more aware of stress times and down times, and will be better equipped to plan your time.

2. Identify your "prime time." Your "prime time" is your most productive time.  For many people that time tends to be in the morning while others find it take a while to get going. By scheduling your most important tasks for the times you're at your best, you'll be able to get them done faster and more effectively.

3. Do tomorrow's planning tonight. Being prepared for the coming day will enable you to get more work done, and be more effective at what you do. As you wind down at the end of the day use this time to create a simple, prioritized to-do list, so you'll be better able to focus on what needs to be done the next day.

4. Continually ask yourself "Why am I doing what I'm doing right now?" If you cannot answer this question, you are not being as productive as you could be. Make sure that you are doing something for a specific reason, and simply not wasting your valuable time spinning your wheels.

5. Handle each piece of paper or e-mail once. When you have completed a task, either file it away or pass it on to someone else. When doing tasks and making decisions, make the decision and then stick to it. Do not put off making a decision, and don't make vague, wishy-washy decisions. Being more decisive will free you up to move on to other tasks, making you more productive.

6. Plan your work, then work your plan. It is important that you always follow through with what you intend to do, otherwise you are making your plan irrelevant and negating the value of the planning time.

7. Delete whenever possible. It is important that you frequently revisit your plan and task list. Always cross off the tasks and projects you have completed, and eliminate or delegate those that are no longer important.

8. Delegate wisely. When you delegate a task to another person, make sure the person you are delegating it to has clear instructions on how to complete the task, has enough resources for the task, and has the authority to make any decisions that might affect the outcome of the task.

9. Identify your high-payoff items. Make sure that you concentrate on the right tasks, which will generate results for you and your company.  Stephen Covey suggests first addressing tasks that are both Important and Urgent.  Effective time management is not about being busy, but about getting results.

10. Work from a prioritized action list. You need to determine what your work priorities are, both short term and long term. I suggest using a standard method like the Formula for Success  to prioritize your action list for the greatest success.

What time management techniques have you found effective to increase your productivity?  Share them below in the comment section for others to learn more.

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Time is Golden: 7 Rules of Time Management

by ~Walkington

Time is one of the most important commodities that we have. But we are often bombarded with more tasks than we can keep up with.  This can result in our most important things being shifted to second place just out of necessity.  In order to counter act this you must fully understand time. 

While doing some research online I came across these golden rules of time management.

1. Time is fleeting. Think about it...the moment you started reading this is gone, never to be regained. It seems we get so caught up in petty circumstances that we forget what we set out to do, and before you know it, the day is gone!

2. Time is valuable. You always have time to make money; but you can never have enough money to make time!

3. Time is unforgiving. The amazing thing about your time; even through no fault of your own, even "wasted" time will never stand still.

4. Time is money. You must be constantly asking yourself, "Am I doing the most productive thing I can be doing right now?" Watch out for those "wasted" moments we were talking about earlier.

5. Time is always changing. We all must constantly renew our minds, and let the past be just that...the past! It can't help you now, aside from the learning experience, don't dwell on it.

6. Time is the ultimate judge. We have all heard "time will tell!" Well, there is some truth to that, as the future has a way of finding any flaw in the plan. Pre-planning will save massive amounts of your precious commodity called time.

7. Time is in your control. We can all be more in control of our day and how we spend it. Today should have been planned out yesterday, and tomorrow should be thought about today.

Time can't be saved.  It can only be spent! We spend it at the exact rate of one minute per minute. We can’t spend more or less no matter how hard we try. We can’t spend more than 5 minutes in five minutes with a friend, and we can’t spend less than 5 minutes in five minutes being angry in traffic. Our rate of spending is fixed. All we can control is where we choose to invest…

In the next post I will cover some techniques to improve your effectiveness of time management.


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Lean Quote: Respecting Each Other

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.

"Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it." — Bill Bradley

Most of us already know the importance of respecting each other. Yet it’s also true that we all, at some time or another, may have been less than respectful to people with whom we work. Most often, these expressions are not intentional. Even so, it’s important that we all be able to recognize these kinds of situations so that we can take steps to avoid them whenever possible and to respond to them in an appropriate manner when they occur.

You can promote RESPECT in your workplace by following this acronym:
   
Recognize the inherent worth of all with whom you work.
Eliminate derogatory words and phrases from your vocabulary.
Speak with people – not at them – or about them.
Practice empathy. Walk awhile in others’ shoes.
Earn the respect of colleagues and co-workers through your behaviors.
Consider your impact on others before speaking and acting.
Treat everyone with dignity and courtesy.

We are all unique individuals, with our own gifts, skills, concerns, and perspectives. This uniqueness is part of what makes us who we are as a person, although, in the workplace it can also be what set us apart from our co-workers. So the question becomes how we can find common ground given all our unique gifts, skills, concerns, and perspectives. At the core, respect has to do with establishing and maintaining effective working relationships.


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Pascal Dennis is his Own Words on The Remedy

In yesterday's post I reviewed Pascal Dennis' Shingo Prize winning book The Remedy. I thought that it would be appropriate to hear directly from Pascal about his thoughts on The Remedy. In this video Pascal explains the premise of The Remedy, what big company disease is, the remedy to big company disease, and why to focus outside the factory.  I hope you enjoy. 





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