Speaking at the Northeast Lean Conference

If you are looking for a conference this fall in the northeast consider the Northeast Lean Conference. Join us this September when together, we will learn from organizations and thought leaders how to avoid the traps that inhibit collaboration.

While most organizations who aspire to enterprise excellence are thwarted at every turn by constraints, there are leaders who use teamwork to exponentially amplify the continuous improvements of every individual in the organization: Through what we call "the collaboration effect", one perspective is replaced by many, and good ideas develop further into incredible ideas.

I'll be speaking with a colleague of mine about collaboration as key enabler of innovation. Here is the abstract:

The past 24 months have felt like a series of massive disruptions, one after the other, yet some companies have emerged stronger because they were able to use the disruption as an opportunity to innovate. While technology has been a key enabler of this innovation, organizational change will have long-lasting impact on which companies will maintain competitive advantage.

One key to innovation in the face of disruption is the use of cross-functional collaborative teams. These teams drive innovation through visual project management (VPM) by increasing the ability of the organization to understand the status and risk to address challenges more rapidly and efficiently.

VPM projects are traditionally housed in a physical project “war-room” (also known as an “Obeya room”). COVID-19, and the global footprint of staff necessitate a virtual solution for our Obeya rooms. iObeya is a unique solution that virtualizes project rooms enables visual collaboration anywhere in real-time from any device and immerses users in a natural working experience by reproducing physical interactions perfectly.

In this session, we will share Mirion’s approach to bringing proven lean manufacturing concepts from the factory to our new product development process by enabling cross-functional collaboration.   

​It’s hard to argue with the ideal of everyone working together to achieve a common purpose, but true collaboration is a catalyst seen in very few organizations; we call it the Collaboration Effect.  Respect for people and human development cannot be truly realized without it; and business results, too, will be limited. 

5 Incredible Advantages of Empathy In The Workplace

“Empathy is one of our greatest tools of business that is most underused”

-        Daniel Lubetzky

Remember when we were kids, our elders always asked us to be empathic towards each other? But now these days, as we grow up, that feeling of affection or the need to practice empathy is vanishing from our inner selves, especially when we talk about showing empathy in modern workplaces.

You might also agree with the fact that people have left those times behind when they used to understand others' point of view and then react. The busier people are getting in the contemporary workplace, the less they are focusing on keeping the traits alive that make them human and empathy is one of them.

However, before we dive into the blog emphasizing the benefits of empathy in the workplace, it is essential to understand what exactly empathy means. To define, empathy is the ability to understand others’ feelings and emotions by getting into their shoes before reacting to certain situations.

To continue, businesses are not realizing that these human traits such as empathy and affection are crucial in the workplace. The practices of these traits not only make us better humans but also have incredible benefits that contribute to the growth of the business as well.

You don’t have to believe us now but by the end of this blog, we are sure that you would have no choice but to start working and being empathetic towards your employees in the workplace if you are not already not doing so.

Having said that, this blog will effectively highlight the 5 advantages for employers in enhancing empathy in the workplace. So, let us dive right into the blog and find out the hidden benefits of empathy.

5 Notable Benefits of Empathy in The Workplace

1. Increases Sense of Belongingness

A sense of belongingness has actually been one of the basic needs of humans since forever. We, humans, are social animals and have always craved that social interaction and acceptance from our different social circles. This is exactly what a sense of belongingness means. When someone has a high sense of belongingness in a place, it means they feel that their presence is valued and appreciated by people around them.  Especially when talking about workplaces, a sense of belongingness among your employees is more important than anything else because it has lots of benefits for you.

For example, we all know the performance of employees is crucial for the growth of the business. That being the case, the BetterUp study concluded that a sense of belongingness among employees increases their job performance by 56%.

To elaborate, if you are an employer, think of this in this way, why would employees give their best for a workplace they don’t feel belonged? That makes sense, right? Now, this feeling of being valued and appreciated will enter the picture only when you will understand the point of view of others. In short, when you will empathize with your employees.

When empathy enters the scene and you will effectively appreciate and value the opinion of your employees, you will experience a substantial difference in their behavior. When they feel that their presence and opinion matter, it will assist in making them more active and productive.

This will lead to enhancing their morale and confidence in working in the workplace.  This boosted morale and enhanced motivation will lead to boosting their productivity in the environment which will ultimately result in enhanced growth of the organization.

2. Boosts Employer Brand of The Company

It is an undeniable fact that the success of your company depends on your reputation in the market. Besides, this good reputation matters not only for your customers but also for future employees. This is the reason why many big companies such as Google, Apple, and Tesla are investing so much in building a positive employer brand. Because these companies are dream brands for so many employees, indeed they are doing this employer branding thing right.

But now the question arises, how can a candidate know that you are not an empathetic employer? The answer is through word-of-mouth marketing from your current employees. Their review and opinions matter a lot in shaping the employer brand of your business. To elaborate, whenever your current or former employee writes reviews about your company, they write them for future employees.

In fact, as per the statistics by Glassdoor, 86% of job seekers check online reviews before applying for a job in the company. So, next time you deny being empathetic towards your employees, remember that your employees are only one click away from posting a bad review about you on the internet.

This implies that if you successfully build the reputation of being a company that keeps its employees’ emotions as a priority, it will contribute to building a positive employer brand. This positive employer brand will assist you in attracting some of the best talents that will assist in escalating the growth of your business to another level. That’s one of the ultimate SMART goals of your business, right?

3. Escalates Retention of Employees

With the contemporary workplaces becoming employee-centric, hiring employees was already tough but now retaining them has even become tougher.  So, you might hire the best talent, but if you are unable to retain them, all your efforts in hiring become futile. This is the reason why businesses are focusing on applying various strategies and tactics that will contribute to enhancing the retention rate of the company.

To continue, when it comes to employee retention the leadership theories of the employers matter a lot. One common trait in all of these leaders such as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Reed Hastings is that they are empathetic leaders. They understand and listen to the viewpoint of their employees and that’s why they are successful leaders in the contemporary world. Besides, who wants to work with a bad boss?

If we look at the latest review of almost 34 million employees, 3 of the top 5 reasons for resignations were related to lack of empathy. This is the reason if you wish to retain your dream team, you have to become a dream boss first. When you will emerge as an empathic leader in the organization, it will assist in keeping your audience engaged.

The reason is when you will understand the emotions of your employees, they will be able to connect with you better. This strong connection will assist in keeping them retained for a long time.  

4. Enhances Collaboration Among Teams

Did you know that as per statistics, 86% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures? And this is true in every possible sense like how are you going to build a successful company if you do not have an effective collaborative team?

As a leader, your responsibility does not end with being an empathetic leader, you need to create a culture where your employees also empathize with each other. Moreover, this should happen irrespective of what background they belong to. This culture where employees empathize with each other and will respect each other will bring a sense of positivity to the workplace.

When a culture will be positive and employees will be happy and satisfied, it will assist in encouraging them to get involved in the team. This will enhance employee engagement in the workplace.

Moreover, when employees will be engaged and involved in a workplace, it will result in high zeal and commitment in employees to work towards the growth of the company. This high commitment and engagement will ensure that the teams will trust each other and will collaborate effectively.

5. Ensures Better Customer Service

Stephen Covey once correctly quoted, "Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers." The rule here is very simple, if you will not listen to your employees, they will not listen to your customers and after all, they are the ones that are going to deal with your customers. This is where empathy will be the ultimate superpower that will assist you in taking your customer service to the next level of success.

To elaborate, if you will empathize with your employees well, it will ensure that they have a good boss. When employees are satisfied with their boss, it will contribute to their overall job satisfaction.

If employees are happy with their work, they will talk to your customer with a positive attitude and energy. Otherwise, if your employees feel that their employees don’t care about their employees' feelings, they would also do the same with the customers.

Besides, we all know how crucial it is to maintain a positive attitude while dealing with customers. This is the reason it is really crucial for you to empathize with your employees so that they empathize with your customers as well. This will contribute to their positive customer experience. If customers will have a positive experience with your business, it will contribute to enhancing the customer retention rate of your company.

To encapsulate,  workplaces are changing dynamically but one thing that can never change is that we are humans and we need to have an effective ability to empathize with each other. Moreover, the above-given benefits clearly state that bringing the essential practice of empathy into the picture will only deliver some of the effective benefits to your workplace. These benefits will also assist you in enhancing the growth of your business. 

About the Author: Jessica Robinson loves to write interesting and knowledgeable blogs regarding business management, education and life to satiate the curiosity of her lovely readers. Currently, she is serving as a content manager at the ‘Speaking Polymath’. Every piece of content that she writes demonstrates her immense love and passion for her profession.

Lean Quote: Great Leaders Should Practice Empathy Towards Their People

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.

"Empathy is being concerned about the human being, not just their output."   —  Simon Sinek, Author and Motivational Speaker

Companies need to fill their organization with the right people, BUT what if it is not just about finding the right people? What if the problem is the company’s environment?

Simon Sinek suggests that companies should have an environment where employees can be at their natural best. Because companies are so quick to fire their struggling employees without knowing what they are going through.

“Why is it that if somebody has performance problems at work, why is it that the company’s instinct is to say… you’re out?”

“We do not practice empathy.”

Here is an example of a lack of empathy:

You walk into someone’s office, someone walks into your office and say: ‘Your numbers are down for the third quarter in a row, you have to pick up your numbers otherwise I cannot guarantee what the future would look like.’

How inspired do you think that person is to come to work the next day?

Now, here’s what empathy looks like:

You walk into someone’s office, someone walks into your office and say: ‘Your numbers are down for the third quarter in a row. Are you okay? I am worried about you. What’s going on?’

The point here is, we all have performance issues. Maybe someone’s kid is sick, maybe someone’s parent is dying — we do not know what is going on with their lives. And of course, it will affect their performance at work.

“Empathy is being concerned about the human being, not just their output.”

Great leaders should practice empathy towards their people (employees), Sinek suggested.

This simply means that leaders should create a good learning environment in which someone feels safe enough to raise their hand and say ‘I need help.’ It’s about helping people to be at their natural best.

Lean Roundup #158 – July, 2022

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of July 2022.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.  

2 Year Anniversary of “Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn” – Katie Anderson reflects on the 5 year journey leading up to her book’s publication and what she’s learned on it’s 2 year anniversary.

The Four Types of Measures and Why Each is Important – John Knotts discusses 4 types of measures to consider in a continuous improvement culture.

Why is Lean So Hard? – Organizational Elements – Pascal Dennis focuses on the personal qualities that makes Lean so hard to sustain.

The 6R Goals of Lean Manufacturing – Christopher Roser looks at the 6R (right product, right place, right time, in the right quantity and quality, and at the right cost) goals of Lean Manufacturing.

Understanding the Many Facets of ‘the A3’ – Patricia Panchak shares guide describing the multiple contexts in which A3 is used.

How to Start the A3 Problem-Solving Process – David Verble tells us how to get started solving problems with A3 problem-solving process.

10 lean leadership lessons from our authors – Roberto Priolo shares the best nuggets of wisdom from authors of Planet Lean.

What is the lean in lean? – Michael Balle and Daniel Jones discuss lesson of thinking which drives behavior and that the behavior of those at the top models the rest of the organization.

When Companies Don’t Learn From “The Beer Game,” Inventory Stock-Outs Turn to Pile-Ups – Mark Graban shares supply chain management lessons from MIT’s “ Beer Game” simulator and relation to current events.

Lean Transformation Steps for Operational Excellence – Morgan Wright describes the five critical steps for a successful Lean transformation.

Lean Manufacturing Principles and Foundational Concepts – Jeff Roussel describes the five central lean manufacturing principles for all to understand.

The Most Significant Benefits of Lean Manufacturing – Elise Miller shares 8 compelling benefits to embracing Lean manufacturing your organization should consider.

      

Lean Tips Edition #190 (#3061 - #3075)

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey.  Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Click this link for A Lean Journey's Facebook Page Notes Feed.

Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #3061 – Provide Professional Development Opportunities.

You need to know that 87 percent of millennials stated that development is important in a job. All of your employees -- in-house or virtual -- want opportunities to learn and refine skills. They’ll feel relevant and competitive professionally, and it gives your team a chance to embark on a shared experience when they attend workshops or classes together.

Even if your employees are taking individual classes or attending workshops on their own, provide a platform to share what they’ve learned with the rest of your team.

Lean Tip #3062 – Engage the Law of Reciprocity.

If you happily help people first, others automatically will feel a sense of obligation to return the favor. When you have an extra free minute or two ask your co-workers if they need help with anything, or engage in another act of kindness. Maybe your colleagues will reciprocate, and thus improve the way you work together.

Lean Tip #3063 – Celebrate and Reward Great Teamwork.

Unfortunately, most employees won’t go out of their way to work well with others, unless there’s something in it for them, Weisman says. If you’ve already explained to your co-worker how they can benefit from working with you better, and he or she still isn’t doing it, talk to your boss about implementing some type of rewards or recognition program.

Shane believes employers should acknowledge workers regularly for their team efforts and loyalty, both in private and to the entire team.

Lean Tip #3064 – Build Cohesion.

Create a means of communicating that allows for easy workflow, establishes a distinct set of priorities and makes all colleagues feel included. Keeping everyone on the same playbook enables team members to focus and flourish. Jeff Bezos famously established a “two-pizza rule” for the size of teams at Amazon: The number of people on a team was not allowed to exceed what two pizzas could feed. This limit kept the teams at a manageable size, fostering productivity and accountability.

Lean Tip #3065 – Create a Strong Sense of Commitment.

In order to create a strong sense of group commitment in your team, you need to spend some time together to build a relationship. It is much easier to gain a strong sense of group commitment when individual accountabilities and responsibilities are clearly defined for each member of the group. When your team understands the scope of their colleagues’ work, they are able to support each other and hold one another accountable. This is going to create an overall deeper commitment to the group’s decisions and actions.

Lean Tip #3066 – Challenge Your Biases

It’s natural to gravitate toward people who are similar to you, but you’ll learn more when you begin conversations with coworkers outside your inner circle. Talking with colleagues you don’t normally interact with can help you learn different perspectives since you’ll be communicating with people who don’t necessarily share your same problem-solving approaches.

Lean Tip #3067 – Approach Problems From a Different Perspective

Imagine the problem or situation from your team member’s perspective. Ask what experiences have led to a particular conclusion. Even if you don’t reach the same conclusion they did, you’ll have a better understanding of their thought process, which can inform future discussions. Empathy comes with a deeper understanding of what has happened.

Lean Tip #3068 – Practice Empathy, Recognize Feelings.

It is common knowledge that work can stress people out. Some people handle stress better than others. Keep in mind how you speak and react to other people, and take into consideration their workload, and their lives outside of work. Try to always communicate with empathy by expressing respect and kindness, and you will probably get what you need faster. After all, every organization’s best asset is their people.

Lean Tip #3069 – Create a Culture of Teamwork

Empathy at work means understanding that not one person can do their job, without the help of other supporting roles at work. You can come up with a product, sure, but without a marketing team to sell it, or engineering and design teams to create it, you’re not going to get anywhere.

Companies are made up of people. We all depend on each other. We all learn and grow from our experiences, brainstorms, and meetings with our coworkers. Teamwork is the foundation of every great company. And empathetic teamwork—being able to step back and adopt or appreciate someone else’s perspective—well that’s game-changing.

Lean Tip #3070 – Build Empathy In the Workplace By Getting Out of Your Normal Environment

Sometimes as leaders, we get stuck in our day to day. But the only way we can really gain awareness of what’s happening outside of our space is to get out there and see it.

Spend time visiting other teams and leaders in your workplace. If your organization has remote locations that you hardly visit, see if you can get out there and see what challenges they are facing.

Often spending time outside of your normal environment can open your eyes and help you see what others see.

Lean Tip #3071 – Encourage Proactive Communication

A lot of errors can be prevented by proactive communication. If an employee foresees an error or inefficiency in the process, coworkers should realize the impact and act on it quickly. Nurture a work culture that encourages team members to identify and solve problems. Announce incentives to employees for increasing the efficiency of the process.

Proactive communication does not mean restlessly seeking problems and solving them. It is acting on a problem immediately after you identify one.

Lean Tip #3072 – Monitor the Process at Regular Intervals

Assign a process owner if there isn’t one. The process owner is responsible for supervising and maintaining good function of the process. Usually, the process owner is the department head or someone who has clearance to access all data within the process.

Choose regular time intervals after which the process owner analyzes the process. The process should have completed enough cycles to give you enough data on how it has performed. See if all the steps are working at their best efficiency. Identify patterns of errors in the process and find out ways to eliminate them.

Lean Tip #3073 – Start by Mapping Your Process

You have got to visualize your process before you can start making changes to it. Process maps help you visually represent process workflows to understand, interpret, and improve them.

The visual of your processes gives you a clear understanding of your process workflow and its elements such as tasks, accountable employees, systems, tools used, swim lanes, and dependencies. It gets everything out of your head and puts it on paper for you to understand every single detail about your process workflow.

This makes it easy for you to pinpoint problem areas that are affecting the performance of your business process. You know exactly where the problem is, and you can now start taking action to kickstart your process improvement.

Lean Tip #3074 – Ask the Right Questions About Your Process

Sure as a business leader, you have a pretty fair picture of how your processes function. But the people that will know most about your business processes are the ones who are a part of your processes - your employees.

Your next step in improving your processes is to ask your employees questions about the process. Verify the process maps you created with your employees and make sure you have the details right. Ask them whether you have missed out on any details of the process that should be a part of your process map.

The perspective of your employees is critical to your process improvement strategy - it gives you a peek into the unknown.

Lean Tip #3075 – Redesign Your Process Workflow to Fix Gaps

Based on what you observed from your analysis, start listing down the changes that will ultimately improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your process. These changes are to fix the gaps in your process and improve the performance of your operations.

Work closely with your process teams and experienced leadership teams to identify the best possible solutions to your process challenge. Brainstorm on creative and effective ideas without ruling out suggestions that may seem minor or uncomfortable, but can prove to be impactful.

Once you have a list of ideas, suggestions, and changes to your process, understand their direct and indirect impact on your process outcomes. Spend time prioritizing them based on the business impact.

Lean Quote: Characteristics of Transformational Leadership

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.

"Transformational leadership’s potential to address issues that are relevant in the modern, changing, and uncertain work environment is the main reason for its positive influence."   —  Beng-Chong Lim & Robert E. Ployhart, 2004

Introduced over thirty years ago, transformational leadership is defined as a “meaningful and creative exchange between leaders and their followers resulting in vision-driven change”. Transformational leaders achieve (reforming) goals by getting followers to put aside self-interest to achieve team and organizational goals and optimal performance. It is a radically influencing mindset that if implemented successfully, can yield tremendous results.  Management theories deduce that there are inherently four traits that are synonymous with all transformational leaders, those being:

Characteristics of Transformational Leadership

1. Putting other’s needs before your own

It means that you must be a selfless person. Transformational leaders value the cause they stand for as higher than their personal agendas. They gave up their personal ambition, comfort and luxury in order that the dream they envisioned may come to pass.

Such conviction from these leaders often inspire a huge following and thereby creating power for an idea and a movement. As such, many of the visions of these leaders live on long after their deaths.

2. Challenging the status quo

A transformational leader does not accept the status quo. The leader looks at the current realities and ask what can be better.

They are not satisfied with what they have at the moment. While others will see a status quo and complain about how the status quo is not perfect, a transformational leader courageously challenges it even in the face of opposition.

Many ask, “Why?”; but a transformational leader asks, “Why not?”

3. Inspiring your team

A transformational leader inspires the team with the beauty of the vision. He sees a better future and he articulates this future to the team.

The people who join the transformational leader often do so voluntarily; they are inspired by his vision too and also want to see that vision becoming reality.

4. Being a role model

Being a transformational leader means that you have to have impeccable character standards. While people do follow a vision, people do look at the person that is leading the vision. 

If the leader has a hint of hypocrisy or lack of integrity, the leader will lose his credibility and cause a lot of people to walk away. This is because most people join the leader voluntarily, and they will leave if they stop trusting the leader.

The leader needs to be a role model especially in their integrity and their responsibility. The leader must be true to himself and to others and must be ready to be accountable for all actions.

Whether for good or for worse, transformational leaders have truly changed the face of the world with their work.

Three Most Important Questions in a Continuous Improvement Culture

A few weeks back John Knott’s wrote a post about 3 magical metrics within a continuous improvement culture. He said the three things that you need to measure are: 1) How much work you are doing, 2) How long it takes to do it every time, and 3) How well you do it every time. Similarly, this made me think of the three magical questions a leader should ask in a continuous improvement culture.

The ability of leaders to ask the right questions is critical to the success of a lean culture. The type of questions will determine the quality of process improvements. If leaders do not know what to look for, teams would get the message that they can get away with whatever is possible.

All management should learn to ask these three simple questions:

       1) What is the process?

       2) How can you tell it is working?

       3) What are you doing to improve it (if it is working)?

Nothing sustains itself, certainly not Lean manufacturing or management. So, establish and stick to a routine including regular visits to the Gemba, check the status of visual controls, follow-up on daily accountability assignments, and ask the three simple questions everywhere. Lean management is, as much as anything, a way of thinking.

Guide by asking questions, not by telling grown up people what to do. People generally know the right answers if they have the opportunity to produce them.

When an employee brings you a problem to solve, ask, "what do you think you should do to solve this problem?" Or, ask, "what action steps do you recommend?" Employees can demonstrate what they know and grow in the process.

If you don't ask the right questions, you won't get the right answers. A question asked in the right way often points to its own answer.