Innovative Thinker?

Hi All,

Are you an innovative thinker?  Do you know what innovative thinking is?  Is it important to be able to be innovative?  

What are traits that innovative thinkers have?  Here is a list of traits innovative thinkers have, do you have these also?

1.  Innovators have their ego in check.  They are open to others ideas and don't think their own ideas are always the best ideas.  Because of their openness to others ideas, they have lots of ideas to choose from.

2.  Confident, not arrogant.  They believe in what they are doing. They are not afraid to fail.  Failing just means they have found another way that doesn't work.  They see failures as temporary and don't take them personally.

3.  They are continually curious.  Open to new information, on the lookout for new ideas, read a lot, ask lots of questions, and take every opportunity available to them to gain knowledge.

4.  They are good listeners.  They pay attention to others and then come up with a response, not like most who are busy thinking about their response while the other person is speaking.  Good listeners listen to not only the words spoken, but the emotion behind them, tone used with them, and body language expressed.  

5.  They don't let their emotions affect their innovation efforts.  They don't get too down with failure and don't get too high with success.  

6.  They can take direction, and you must be able to take direction to give direction.  They can be assertive without being aggressive.  They can express their emotions in a way that isn't confrontational.

7.  They empathize with co-workers and customers.  They allow others to be comfortable around them.  You may not remember what someone said to you, but you will remember how they made you feel.

Have a great Thursday.

Chris

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Happy Thursday Everyone,

Why?  Why?  Why?  Why?  Why?  Isn't that what a curious little kid asks?  If they keep asking why, they usually get to the real answer.  What happens when you ask why 5 times?  Will you get to the root cause of the problem relatively quickly?  When we go straight to the "How" without clarity about our "Why" we can make solving the problem much more complicated.

Here is my 5 why challenge from this morning......

Once we are clear about our "Why", the "How" will magically show up.  (I'm going to Wal-Mart tonight for a new alarm clock)

Keep thinking and asking questions,

Chris

Waste Observation

Waste Observation and PDCA thinking cycle (Plan. Do. Check. Adjust.)

Submitted by Pam Volner.

Hello Gang,

Last week it was my pleasure to be nominated as the official photographer for the production office's weekly team building games.  This particular week's game was a cotton ball drop.  Each person applied Vaseline to the end of their nose, then proceeded to a bowl containing cotton balls where they dove face first trying to collect as many cotton balls as possible on the sticky Vaseline.  The next step was to run to the opposite end of the room and deposit the cotton balls into a different bowl.  Object of the game, team with the most cotton balls deposited in the bowl in 2 minutes wins.

As I watched each team take their turn, I began noticing the different thinking processes each team displayed.  The First team started out with one person taking their turn and then the next person would go when that person was done and so on.  There was a pause between each team member (waiting waste).  While the first team was performing their task, you could tell the second team was already thinking of what they could do to speed up the process to pick up more cotton balls.  The first team planned and executed, but lacked the benefit gained by subsequent teams who had the advantage of observation.  They could see the waste in the current team's process and could adjust their plan to eliminate that waste.  By the time the 3rd team was up it was like a BLUUUR!  Through observation and the power of PDCA thinking, they figured out how to improve efficiency which helped them win the game.

Not only was I entertained, but inspired seeing these principles executed in a quick real life example.  Imagine what we can see and improve if we all perform some Ohno Circles in all areas of Paramount.  

Your partner in observing and improving,

Pam

Celebrating Success

6/25/15

CELEBRATING SUCCESS

There are MANY great things going on at Paramount including examples both big and small of waste elimination, process improvements, and increased efficiency.  The problem is, not many people know about it.  Whether that's a result of our humble personalities, our busy schedules, or we just feel like these improvements are supposed to be part of our jobs, the effect is the same, our achievements and innovation happen with little knowledge or fanfare. 

Why celebrate?  Let me throw some science at you to explain.

"Small victories build new androgen receptors in the areas of the brain responsible for reward and motivation. The increase in androgen receptors increases the influence of testosterone, which further increases confidence and eagerness to tackle future challenges. When you achieve a series of small victories, the boost in your confidence can last for months." - Dr. Travis Bradberry (Coauthor of Emotional Intelligence)

In normal person speak, "When you do good, you feel good and want to keep it up."  In addition, sharing our achievements will help fuel innovation or give an idea that may be a useful fit for another department.  So go ahead, tell us what you're doing that's making you a better department.  Encourage your employees to take pride in their achievements.  Let's brag a bit about our great team at Paramount Apparel.

Stay Great,

Cory

Soft Skills???

6/18/15

Happy Thursday All,

A little late today....but better late than never.

Are we helping our teams grow their soft skills?  Are you growing your soft skills?

What are soft skills you ask?  Well, to explain easier let's define hard skills.  Hard skills are the technical skills you need to do your job.  A plumber's hard skills would be the ability to hook up a toilet.  A screen printers hard skills would be the ability to set up the press and actually print a shirt.  Soft skill then has to do with a persons ability to communicate, their personal habits, leadership skills, personality traits and how relationships are handled.

Developing soft skills can be very empowering.  The more we can learn to communicate effectively, be confident, manage upwards, play politics, influence others, the more we will feel in control and inspired about our jobs and careers.

The working world is not always fair, we cannot change other's behavior or circumstances.  However, we can use our soft skills to control how we respond to adverse situations and take proactive action in our best interest. 

Hard work alone does not guarantee success.  Developing yours and your team's soft skills can be one of the most valuable investments we can make.  There is no other investment that creates a greater return.

How do we help our teams develop soft skills?  What kind of training are you giving?  What kind of training is available?  Good questions to ponder.

Have a great Thursday!

Chris

Empowering People

Happy Thursday All,

Toni has been doing an awesome job empowering her people (see picture of how Kris is empowered) in the warehouse, and even though it is tough, results can be seen.  Here is what Toni has to say about empowering people....

Empowering  people is tough.  Maybe because they want to do and think differently than you. When you look back to when you got started, can you count how many times you stumbled, and occasionally still do?  PAI has awesome resources, but with me being a bit of a "control freak" it makes it a struggle, yet I am determined to encourage, support and be available to help.

The warehouse crew has been brainstorming to begin the lean journey. Trying out ideas, implementing some, rejecting others and seem very positive about creating a place for everything and getting everything in it's place. We have a few areas we have started on, and all are welcome to come check out the progress. 

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."  George Bernard Shaw

Thanks,

Toni

The Greatest Customer Service Strategy

Happy Thursday Everyone,

What a great article!  This was shared with me by Steve Wands and we should all read this and really understand what it is saying. 

Here you go....

The Greatest Customer Service Strategy

Smiling is important. Eye contact matters. Patience is essential. Being warm and friendly is a must. And providing a positive emotional experience for your customers is a priority.

But these are not the greatest of customer service strategies. Ironically the greatest of all strategies has nothing to do with customers and everything to do with employees.

The Greatest Strategy is this: Great customer service beings with being employee focused first and customer focused second. If you treat your employees well, they will treat their customers well.

Too often businesses, hospitals, restaurants and organizations focus all their energy on the customer while ignoring the very employees that serve their customers. This may work in the short run but eventually employees become tired, burned out, negative and resentful.

Just the other day I was speaking at a hospital and was told that they were doing patient satisfaction surveys as a way to improve nurse performance. “What about nurse satisfaction surveys,” I asked. “No we’re not doing that,” they said. The problem was clear. Measuring patient satisfaction will not make nurses more energized, positive and attentive.

Patient satisfaction will go up when nurse satisfaction goes up.

I have found that organizations who deliver the best service also have the best culture where employees are valued, listened to and cared for and in turn these employees value, care for and serve their customers.

Best Buy, for example, started to measure the engagement of their employees and in the process saw service and profits improve. T-Mobile dramatically improved and transformed their customer service when they improved the culture in their call centers by listening to their employees. Southwest Airlines has built their success on the foundation of an employee-first culture.

Of course we need to train our employees to do all the things that make for a great customer experience.

There are great books on the essentials of creating a great customer experience.

But most of all remember if you model great service, your people will share it.

So, if you want your team to serve, serve them.

If you want your people to care, care about them.

If you want your team to love their work, love them.

If you want your employees to be their best, give them your best.

If you take care of your people they will take care of your customers.