The Six Elements of Success

How do you define success? For some business leaders, success is defined by monetary rewards, while others say success is having a positive impact on others.

The mundane definition of success is of course a company that provides "value" to its customers, owners, shareholders, society and employees. This encompasses the entire business cycle from generating profits, using capital efficiently to delivering superior customer service.

Sure, success in business and in life means different things to different people. Whether or not you are successful depends on how you define success, and on the tradeoffs you are willing to not just accept but embrace as you pursue that definition of success. We can have a lot but we can't have everything.

Success is every organization’s goal. But what is the key to success?

1. Clear Shared Vision

In today’s rapidly changing world, it’s not just enough to have a purpose for existing.

Identifying and communicating a clear vision is one of the most important functions a business leader can perform. Leaders have to focus the organization’s resources on the greatest opportunities. Not only does a clear, shared vision help define the values of your company and its employees, but it also helps guide the behavior of all employees.

2. Bias for Action

It is basic human psychology that people do not change the way they do things unless there is a pressure for change. If you do nothing, nothing changes. Things at rest have a tendency to remain at rest. High performance cultures are impatient to get things done. They are doers, not talkers, keeping an eye on where the value is to ensure their actions will enhance the business. Failure cannot be unduly punished. Unless people feel free to make mistakes, they will not feel free to take bold actions.

3. Engaged Staff

Without people being engaged in continuous improvement and wanting to participate you will simply encounter resistance. People today want some direction and structure, but they also want freedom and encouragement to develop their skills and knowledge. Effectively managing people requires balancing constraining forces (providing direction, structure, organization, some rules) with liberating forces (encourage personal growth, development and creativity).

4. Capability

The ability to be able to successfully deliver products and services to the customer base of a business is tied up with the maturity of its capabilities. These capabilities—the collective skills, abilities, and expertise of an organization—are the outcome of investments in staffing, training, compensation, communication, and other human resources areas. They represent the ways that people and resources are brought together to accomplish work. They form the identity and personality of the organization by defining what it is good at doing and, in the end, what it is.

5. Efficiency

Business operations should also see efficiency as a primary goal. The efficiency focus began with practices such as lean management and systems management used primarily in manufacturing circles, but the concepts soon found their way into other industries. How the business arranges its production chain physically, how many steps of the production process it can do at the same time and what the downtime of its equipment or process is are all vital factors in increasing efficiency. The goal is to produce as many goods in as short a time as possible.

6. Quality Control

While the steps of the operational process are important, the organization must also assess its work at the end of the process. Quality control examines the final product and looks for defects and ways it can be improved. Most businesses will only accept a certain level of defects or problems -- some prefer not to accept any at all. This improves product flow and solves minor problems that could become major issues later on.

Success in business is not by chance. Success does not find you. There is no shortcut. It takes hard work and a long time. And success would not exist without failure. Failure is not final. If you want to succeed where others fail, you have to step fight over the failure and keep walking. Success is a journey not a destination. Follow these keys to success and you will be on your way to success.

Lean Quote: Change It or Change Your Attitude

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.

"If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude." — - Maya Angelou

We are often not in control of the issues we face at work or home. Problems just present themselves. And chances are the issues you're facing aren't so cut and dry. The solution to the problem might just be your attitude. 

You can find at least two ways to look at virtually everything. A pessimist looks for difficulty in the opportunity, whereas an optimist looks for opportunity in the difficulty. Unfortunately, many people look only at the problem and not at the opportunity that lies within the problem.

Having the right attitude can make the difference between success and failure. A positive attitude can motivate other people to change their negative thinking and come over to your side. Everything is possible with right attitude behind you to push you forward. And since you do have a choice, most of the time you'll be better off if you choose to react in a positive rather than a negative way.

Here are 3 critical ways your attitude as a leader impacts your team, for better or for worse:
1. Your Attitudes Determines Their Attitude.
As a leader, your mood is contagious. Over time, your attitude will set the tone for your entire team and organization.

Be a goof and you will have an organization filled with goofs (and all the good people will leave).
Be stern and you will have a stern organization.
Be angry…
Be critical…
Be negative…
Be unpredictable…
Be encouraging…
Be hopeful…
Be fair…
Be generous…

The fact that you don’t want your attitude to impact the organization is irrelevant. It simply does.

2. You Determine the Level of Passion and Enthusiasm in Your Organization.
If you think the organization you lead lacks passion and enthusiasm, take a hard look in the mirror.

3. Your Attitude Determines What Is And Isn’t Possible.
As a result, if you’re a leader, please realize:

If you believe it is possible, it is. And if you don’t, it’s not.

That’s right. You’re the vision bottleneck. You’re the broker and the killer of dreams.

If you are consistently the negative voice around the table, you will stifle the imagination of your team for what’s possible. Conversely, when you dare to dream, dare to imagine, and dare to hope, and persevere, then the impossible becomes the possible.

The attitude of the leader has a huge impact on the culture, environment, and mood of the department or organization. The leader’s attitude tends to spread and affect others dramatically. A good leader has the attitude of serving his employees at all times, often at the expense of his own morale or personal needs. A good leader truly cares about the morale of the team, pushes and motivates his team with respect, a relentlessly positive attitude and with a genuine heart.

 

Hierarchy is Killing Your Business

Most organizations still have a hierarchical, command-and-control organizational structure, sometimes called “smoke stacks” or “silos.”  A hierarchical organization has more defined roles, procedures, and lines of communication. Typically, there is a chain of command which needs to be followed. The functional specialists in charge of each smoke stack tend to focus on optimizing their own functional area, often to the detriment of the organization as a whole. In addition, the hierarchy gives these managers a monopoly on the authority to act on matters related to their functional specialty.  The combined effect is both a desire to resist change and the authority to resist change, which often creates insurmountable roadblocks to Lean improvement projects.

A hierarchical organization can be compared to a totem pole. The least important employees, generally those who earn the least with little responsibility and little input into company decision making, are at the bottom of the pole. The top of the pole includes the owner of the business, CEO, or other major players in the decision making process of the company. In between the low men on the totem pole and the top men is everyone else in order from the least responsible to the most responsible. Each step upwards on the totem pole generally offers higher pay and more responsibility.

Too many levels of hierarchy have disadvantages:

1. Too Rigid. Organizations need to be able to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. Put simply, a hierarchy can’t handle speed well. Rules and procedures that inevitably accompany hierarchies almost never change fast even if they are now irrelevant, overly burdensome, and the like. Hierarchies can’t jump to the left or the right easily, and over time it’s easy to keep adding levels and rules, to keep making silo walls thicker.
2. Stifle Innovation. In a hierarchy, there’s a process for everything, and usually these processes are followed to the letter. Innovative organizations, however, are always questioning the status quo. They ask: “How can we do this better?” which often results in a sudden change in direction. Hierarchies simply aren’t built this way. If action is going to be taken, it has to be built into the plan a year ahead of time.
3. Poor Communication. People in hierarchical structures tend to want to approve communications as they pass up and down the hierarchy. This can cause delays and confusion. A manager may not get to an email for several days and may then offer an opinion or place a restriction that kills the communication altogether. The sheer amount of time a directive can take to reach employees from the head office can cause costly delays.
4. Slow Decision Making. Decision-making is usually slower in hierarchical structures because responsibility and authority are concentrated in a few people at the top. The hierarchical system places limits on the responsibility and authority of individual employees, which reduces an organization's ability to adapt to dynamic business conditions. Although a command-and-control hierarchical system might work well in a crisis, it is of limited help after the crisis is over.
5. Little Empowerment. In a rigid hierarchy, the people who deal directly with customer problems may have the least authority to solve them. The higher on the rung the manager is, the more distance she may have from the customer. The rules of a hierarchy require that higher-ups approve decisions, and this can mean that people in the field or at the front counter may not be able to move quickly to respond to customer needs.

The more layers and levels of management, team leaders division heads, etc., that you have in your company, the more challenging it becomes for information to travel throughout the organization, and the more people are likely to become territorial. By keeping the layers of information to minimal we can empower people to provide solutions and to be directly attached to all of our company goals.

Every employee should be empowered to act independently in the best interests of the company and our customers. Teams should be trusted to work together to find the best possible solutions to problems – and to put them straight into action.

Tell-Tale Signs Your Employer is Focused On Employee Development

It is hard to think of a more important and most neglected management aspect than employee development. Unfortunately, many organizations do not plan properly for the development of their people and teams. People development without proper planning in place normally results in internal and external conflict, which leads to confusion, low productivity, less motivation, and therefore loss in various ways. When the right plan for development is designed based on the employees’ needs, desires, and potential the expected positive outcome will be achieved.

How can you tell your employer is focused on employee development?

1. They invest in their employees' careers.  One of the things I value as a coach are organizations that value their employees.  Invest in training your executive team on down to entry-level employees with coaching programs, mentoring programs, training programs.  If every organization did this, it would create a completely different and more effective corporate environment.

2. They trust their people to get the job done.  Working isn't about punching a clock.  Rather, it's about getting high-quality results. Don’t micro-manage your employees otherwise they won’t learn. Autonomy comes from trust and responsibility.

3. They partner with their employees. Career development focuses on collaboration.  What does it really take to get and stay motivated at work?  Employees, managers and executives need to create the kind of work environment that inspires them to grow.

It is a proven that companies that invest in the continued training and proficiency of their employees enjoy improved performance, lower attrition rates and a greater overall return on their investment. Intellectual capital is now a critical factor for competitive advantage in today's global world. The organizations that recognize the benefits and value of providing continuing training opportunities to employees will be better able to compete in a rapidly changing world.

Providing employees with the tools and resources to do their jobs effectively can make a real difference in employee morale and productivity. The employees of Best Employers state that they have access to the tools, resources, and processes to perform at a much higher rate than employees from average companies. Is it possible to have engaged employees without enabling them? An engaged employee who is not enabled to perform is not likely to stay engaged or stay with the company for long.

Development planning doesn’t have to be elaborate or costly.  At its core it’s mostly a matter of good managers taking the person-to-person time to understand their employees… recognizing their skills and needs… and guiding them to fill in the gaps.   If it’s done well, the payoff can be substantial in terms of long-term loyalty.   If it’s not, the costs can be substantial in terms of long-term talent.

Lean Quote: Lean is a Growth Strategy

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.

"Many people think that Lean is about cutting heads, reducing the work force or cutting inventory. Lean is really a growth strategy. It is about gaining market share and being prepared to enter in or create new markets." — Ernie Smith, Lean Event Facilitator in the Lean Enterprise Forum at the University of Tennessee

First and foremost, Lean is about value — a bigger and more inclusive concept than mere cost. That is antithetical to genuine Lean process, the simplest definition of which is the continual pursuit, identification, and removal of waste in product and process. Waste is anything that does not contribute value — anything the customer will not willingly pay for. Traditional cost cutting occurs in silos, without regard to who is affected upstream and downstream. These impacts cannot just negate the initial cost reduction from the unilateral approach, but exceed them. Lean examines each process, internal and external, finding and removing the waste, and reducing cost while maintaining the health of all constituents.

Lean is really a systematic way to learn to see the inefficiencies in your processes and to solve these opportunities in such a way to grow the business profitably by adding value the customer will pay for. If you want to be a successful company you will learn to empower and engage the entire organization to focus improvement on value-added work from the customer’s perspective.

Lean is Not about Tools. Tools do not solve problem but rather people do. It is not about the tools it’s how they are applied. A large number of organizations have failed to produce the desired results from the direct and prescriptive application of Lean tools. The tools themselves have been proven to work in many situations. The difference must then be in how the tools were applied, their appropriateness, but not the tools themselves.

Lean manufacturing is not a head-count reduction system; instead Lean manufacturers understand employees on the shop floor know their work best. Lean manufacturers don’t want employees to work harder, or faster – they want employees to work more efficiently. Lean manufacturing focuses on improving employees, providing more value to the workforce, and, overall, establishing a dependable and stable workforce.

Company executives that treat Lean as mean and use the tools to shed people, the source of the company’s health, are either delusional or do not really care about how the company performs in the long term. A Lean implementation that results in layoffs should not be considered a successful Lean implementation.

For me Lean is a thinking methodology for running your business.  The of goal of which is to grow the business by adding value to the customer, being efficient by eliminating waste, and engaging all employees in this process.  Lean is about learning to seeing opportunities and continually improving them.  

Share Knowledge Across Your Company To Beat Your Competition

The value of knowledge sharing to an organization is well known, yet much of the knowledge within an organization remains unshared. Knowledge sharing is the process by which individuals exchange tacit and explicit knowledge in order to create new knowledge.

If you don’t share knowledge within your company, your customers will suffer. Many managers are unaware that the team that sits right next to theirs is doing some great work that that could help the business deliver a better service to customers, or open the door to a new market.

Host regular knowledge-sharing sessions – whether virtual or real; keep your knowledge management system updated and make it interactive. Or invite individuals from totally different parts of the business to team meetings and then reciprocate. Start with some of the managers. Proactive knowledge sharing is one of the key ways to remain one step ahead of your competitors – and senior people need to make the time to lead by example.

Even in a small company, silos emerge. A policy of more sharing will help everyone stay in touch with what others are doing, and create a collective expectation. Keeping everyone pointed in the same direction is hard; sharing more about what’s going on, how you’re doing things, reasoning behind decisions, etc. will help.

Actively managing knowledge can help companies increase their chances of success by facilitating decision-making, building learning environments by making learning routine, and stimulating cultural change and innovation.

Learning is the key to success—some would even say survival—in today’s organizations. Knowledge should be continuously enriched through both internal and external learning. For this to happen, it is necessary to support and energize organization, people, knowledge, and technology for learning. A learning organization values the role that learning can play in developing organizational effectiveness.

By engaging in the knowledge sharing process teams create a new unique knowledge resource that competitors cannot easily imitate. Knowledge sharing leads to superior team performance and is a source of competitive advantage for organizations. 

5S Comprehensive Education and Resource Center

My friend Tony Ferraro, at Creative Safety Supply, has put together a comprehensive 5S resource and education page. Tony has been a frequent contributor on A Lean Journey Blog on many 5S and Lean topics. Many know Creative Safety Supply has been a valued sponsor of this site. This 5S page was made possible with contributions from a number of Lean Bloggers and members of the Lean Six Sigma LinkedIn group.

This site covers a wide range of 5S topics:

• What Is 5S?
• 5S Methodology
• What Does 5S Stand For?
• Five S
• Seiri
• Origin of 5S
• What Is Lean?
• 5 S Lean
• Visual Management
• Visual Workplace
• Lean 5S, Why?
• Employee Involvement
• How to Get Started
• 5S System
• 5S Program
• 5S Training
• 5S Manufacturing
• Common Misconceptions
• Each Step of 5S Defined
• Understanding the Sixth S – Safety
• Tools for 5S

It is full of visuals and videos to make understanding and implementing 5S easier. The content is well thought out and presented in a simple way. You will find this page has everything you need to get started with 5S at your company. I have book marked this page and recommend you do the same.