Open Minded?

Happy Thursday Everyone,

Do you have an open mind?  What does having an open mind mean to you?  Are you able to see things from the other person's shoes?  Do you believe someone else might have a good idea?  What if their idea is opposite of what you think?  What if their idea is going to prove what you have been telling everyone is wrong?

Should you have an open mind?  Think about the last time you took an idea to someone that shot your idea down right away without you even having time to explain it.  Did you take another great idea to them?  What about when you've seen proof of something and changed your mind?  That is OK, you can change your mind.

Opening your mind up gives multiple benefits.  The two main benefits is that you might find something better than your current belief and keeping an open mind helps others feel they can approach you with ideas...especially crazy, outside the box, ideas.  Remember, some of the people that work for you are extremely smart and might really have some awesome ideas.  Allow their creative thinking and ideas to be brought to you and keep you mind open to them.  You never know, their idea might help you to hit your goal.

Minds are like parachutes, they function better when they are open.  Open minded people embrace being wrong, are free of illusions, don't mind what people think of them and question everything, even themselves.  An open mind allows you to explore and create and grow.  Remember that progress would be impossible if we always did things the way we always have.

Enjoy your Thursday,

Chris

Thinking Lean

Happy Thursday and St. Pat's Day All, 

Do you think lean thoughts?  Are you understanding lean better?  Why should you think about lean?  Do you have lean habits?

Lean, as we all talk about at PAi, is very simply the elimination of waste.  And to eliminate something you have to be able to identify it....

• D - Defects
• O - Overproduction
• W - Waiting
• N - Non-utilized Talent
• T - Transportation
• I - Inventory
• M - Motion
• E - Extra processing

Any activity that consumes resources such as time, manpower, or money, but does not add to the value of the product, is considered waste.  So, do you think lean thoughts?  Do you think about things that are consuming time that doesn't add to the value of the product?  Do you think about things that consume manpower that doesn't add to the value of the product?  Or how about thinking about things that consume money that doesn't add to the value of the product?  My guess is that each and everyone one of you think lean thoughts.

Aren't we all on the same team?  Working towards a people empowered company driven to continually accelerate the speed at which we can exceed our customers' needs while focusing on..1) our team member's quality of life, 2) company profits, 3) an increasing and scalable business with a legacy for growth. If that's the case, you should be thinking about lean and creating lean habits.

My goal is to get you thinking.  Open your mind to new and crazy ideas.  Go out and educate yourself on lean thinking.  Read "2 Second Lean" by Paul Akers.  Read "The Toyota Way."  If you don't want to read, get the audio version and listen.  The more I learn about lean thinking, the more I realize I don't know about lean thinking.

Chris

Having Margin In Your Life

Happy Thursday All,

Everyone knows what margin is, correct?  It is the extra part of something that can be used if needed.  The margin on a piece of paper is around the edges.  It gives space to help things not seem so cluttered.  It gives us the room to be able to grow and expand.

Do you have margin in your life?  Work life, home life, budget, etc?  If you don't have margin, your stuff can quickly become cluttered.  Margin is breathing room.  It is time to work on the business and not in the business.  Margin in your budget gives you the ability to deal with the unexpected expense without so much stress.

As we push everyday to continuously improve, improving your quality of life is also very important.  You need to have margin to be able to keep growing. You need to have margin to help others around you keep growing.

Stop today and reflect on having margin in your work life.  Ask yourself the tough questions...Do I take time to work on the business and not just in the business?  Do I have the margin in time to really listen to what my team is asking of me?  Do I take the time to share the vision of my department so my whole team is pulling the same direction?  Do I take time to increase my knowledge as a leader?  If you have margin in your life, YES to these questions is a lot easier than the excuses many of us came up with.

Enjoy your Thursday,

Chris

Being A Better Teammate

Another Thursday, another thought provoking e-mail via the Thursday Think Tank.

How are you at being a teammate?  Are you a team player?  What does it take to be a better teammate?

I took this information from a sports oriented article which really is talking about a sports team.    The crazy part is all of us are part of a team at work and this can relate to each and every one of us.  If you are not working at getting better at each of these, well...maybe you should.  I know I am working hard at improving in each of these areas.  Some I need to work harder at than others.

10 Ways to be a better teammate....

1. Goodwill - Win as a team.  Lose as a team.  Don't blame or take it out on anyone.
2. Respect - Show respect to everyone around you.
3. Devotion - Devote yourself to the sport (job) for your teammates.
4. Support - Show your team that you are always willing to help.
5. Trust - Show your team that you are trustworthy and you do what you say you will do.
6. Encourage - When things get tough, encourage your teammates to keep working hard.
7. Problem solve - Work together to solve problems and mistakes.
8. Communication - Be effective when communicating.  Be honest with your teammates.
9. Learn to listen - Don't be in such a hurry to say your part.
10. Work together - There is no "I" in "TEAM"

"Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the me for the we." -- Phil Jackson

GO TEAM GO!!!

Have a great Thursday,

Chris