My Fitness Milestones

2012 was the first year I had a REAL focus on improving my health, with eating better, portion control and regular exercise.  Well, 2012 is coming to a close and here's what I've accomplished this year.

- Over 600,000 Nike Fuel points earned

- Over 500 kilometers ran

- 25 pounds lost

- I can run 5 kilometers in under 23 minutes (much improved cardio)

- I'm in the best shape of my entire life.

Goals for 2013...

- Run another 500 kilometers

- Buy weights and build muscle mass (at least 5-10 pounds)

- Loose another 5 pounds of fat

Why do I put this out for people to read?  Not that I assume lots of people read this...  I do it for accountability to myself.  If I put it out there for people to potentially see if they happen to read my blog, it makes me want to keep going.  The difference between a dream and a goal is writing it down.

What are your fitness and health goals for 2013?  Can you stick with them all year?  I know you can.  If I can do it, anyone can do it.

What, How and Why.

I watched a TED Talk the other day by Simon Sinek titled, "How Great Leaders Inspire Action".  First off, if you've never watched a TED Talk and you've got a passion like I do for expanding your mind, then TED Talks are a great place to listen to Ideas Worth Spreading.

One of the topics in Simon's speech is the idea of What, How and Why, or more importantly, Why, How and What.  The more I've thought about this idea, I'm realizing that it's applicable to almost every area of my life.  Family, profession, health, education, religion, hobby, the list goes on.  With work; most of us focus on what we know, driving to learn more stuff.  Then we learn how to do the stuff we're learning, this is the how.  A lot of the time we stop there, with the What and the How a.k.a. knowledge and skills.  But a select few, the inspirational leaders as Simon puts it, get to the Why.  Why do you learn skills and knowledge? Why do you do what you do?  Why get out of bed and go to work everyday?  Why do you strive to achieve more?  Answering these questions for myself has been an enlightening experience.

Starting with Why, then How and ending with What will allow you to discover that it almost doesn't matter what the How and What are.  When you start with Why, you're starting with passion, drive, emotion and determination, and these things will take you anywhere you want to go.

Here's another way to think about it:
What = Knowledge, education, products, services, "stuff", features
How = Skills, abilities, systems, processes, company size, key performance indicators, tools, advantages
Why = Talent, paradigms, beliefs, character, passion, selfless, benefits

Don't start with What and How like everyone else, start with WHY and people will notice.  People will follow.  People will believe.  People will take up your cause.  People will be inspired.

START WITH WHY!!!

If you want to listen to the entire talk, here's the link.  I recommend it.  Enjoy!

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

Ideon Packaging, this is who we are in a few pictures.

4theKids... One of the reasons WHY we do what we do.

We adopted the street in front of our building/

Check out our building.

A good pat on the back for the entire Team.

Rule #7 - Play a Sport

Playing a sport can teach you many great skills for achieving success in both a sports career and a business career.  The key is to be open to these things and use them to your benefit so that you can grow from them.  When I was young I played a few sports that taught me these valuable fundamentals that would serve me in my business career.

You can always get better.  It doesn't matter if you're the best in the world at your sport, you can always get better.  If you want to be the best then this point should be one of your driving forces.  It's the people who think they're the best that usually become rapidly overtaken by someone else who has a better grip on this point.  Push yourself.  Get to the next level.  If you don't think there's another level then create one.  But no matter what, if success is your goal then you have to keep getting better no matter how good you think you are.

Play to win.  You're not always going to win, but you should always play to win.  This leads to many other topics like positive thinking and goal setting, but no matter what, play to win.  When one of those times comes that you don't win, be gracious.  The worst thing you could be a sore loser, this will brand you as a poor sport and people will not want to be associated with you.  Oh yeah, people don't like cocky either, it's a delicate balance.

Hard work is a must.  Think about it, in any professional sport it's only the top few that can actually make it to a level where they can make a decent living.  As an example, how many kids, teens and adults are playing hockey wanting to be in the NHL? Now, how many players are in the NHL?  There's only approximately 700 players in the NHL compared to the hundreds of thousands or more who play hockey and wish they could get to the NHL. The ones who make it know they have to work harder than everyone else.  In business or your industry, do you work harder than everyone else?  How high on the proverbial ladder do you want to climb?  To get to success you have to work harder than everyone else.

You're in charge of you.  You're the only person who's going to make you better.  There's nowhere else to look but in the mirror when you don't achieve what you set out for.  If you want it, then you have to go get it.  No one is going to come along, take you by the hand, and guide you to success.  Success comes from your own strength, discipline and hard work.

Teamwork.  As much as individual performance can earn you a high level of recognition, you're not going to be the best without the help of a team.  Moreover, a team that works as a cohesive unit, where everyone knows their role on the team and performs it to the best of their ability.  Even golfers have a team, think of how important their caddy is and how well they need to work together.  Being able to work in a team is vitally important in sports and business, I can't think of a single business where you work completely on your own, without colleagues, suppliers or customers.  Treat everyone like a teammate, helping each other to win.

Here's a thought to leave you with.  Professional athletes and people trying to become professional athletes practice many, many hours a week to get better.  Do you want to have a successful business career?  How much do you practice?  How much do you read to expand your mind?  How much do you train yourself to be a better leader?  How are you improving your communication and people skills?  Practice, practice, practice...  Your parents and coach told you this all the time when you were young, it's the same for business.

When Do You Workout?

When considering the best time of the day to workout a lot of people will say that first thing in the morning is the best.  Moreover, by working out first thing in the morning you will bring up your energy level at the start of the day so you will have more energy throughout the day.

I'm not going to say this is wrong, everyone needs to form their own opinion, but I've got a different view.

I work out at the end of the day.  After dinner, after playing with my kids and getting them into bed, after doing some writing, after doing some work or playing guitar, that's when I workout.  What?!?  Why on earth would you possibly want to workout at the end of the day when most people are thinking about shutting down and relaxing after a long day?  Maybe you're saying, "That's when all my favorite TV shows are on!"  You can make your own choice as to when you're going to workout.  Please, just make sure you're choosing to get some exercise and not making excuses, life is too short.  

This system of working out at the end of the day works for me because I've trained my body to not only perform throughout the day, but my body knows that come the end of the day it still needs to perform at an even higher level.  Thus, maintaining and increasing my energy during the day.  Rather than having your energy peak with a morning workout and then slowly declining over the rest of the day, I've trained my body and energy level to perform at a high level throughout the day and at the end of the day jump to an even higher level.  Somewhere between 8PM and 9PM I'm either starting 30-45 minutes of Insanity or going for a +5 kilometer run.  Believe me, it's hard in the beginning to get yourself psyched up to go for a run or workout in the late evening, but push through this.  Habits take 30 days to build.  Since starting this I've lost over 20 pounds combined with a balanced diet and portion control.

This system has worked for me, I'm not going to say it will work for you, but at minimum I hope to have conveyed that exercise is important and no matter when you can fit it you should do it.  DO NOT NEGLECT YOUR HEALTH or else you'll be looking back at some point in your life wishing you would have done more to maintain and improve your health.

It's your choice.  What do you choose?

What 4theKids Means to Ideon

Here's a video put together to help show what 4theKids means to all of us at Ideon Packaging.  Enjoy.

Rule #6 - Enjoy Life

Stop and smell the roses, we've all heard that many times but sometimes forget about it.  In the grand scheme of things we're not on this planet for very long, so making sure you enjoy every moment is vitally important.  Life is too short.  There can be many potential hurdles that can derail you from enjoying everyday of your life, so your goal needs to be not only enjoying the good times but to find the positivity in the hurdles.

Life isn't about the big moments, it's about the journey between them.  All too often people put to much emphasis on getting enjoyment from the big happy moments in their lives.  However, in order to achieve true enjoyment we need to understand that it's all about the journey and not the destination.  Find happiness everyday and don't hope it comes at the end of the week, month or year.

Be positive, it's the key to happiness.  If you're walking around grumpy, critical and/or pessimistic these  behaviours are a guaranteed way to ensure you won't enjoy life.  So why do this to yourself?  What are you getting out of being negative?  Does it make you feel better?  I'd bet dimes to donuts that you'd probably be happier getting some joy and fulfillment out of life.  Don't forget, this is all a choice.

I use Vision Boards to keep me focused on achieving things and moments that are going to bring me joy.  Stuff like travel, kids growing up and being successful, balance, cool cars, and the list goes on.  Another version of vision boards are bucket lists, which a lot of people have.  Whatever you're aiming for just make sure you write it down and/or put it to paper with a picture because the difference between a dream and a goal is writing it down and looking at it everyday.

Through all this, one thing to remember is to NOT enjoy life too much, striving too much for joy can lead you to lose sight on balance in your life.  You shouldn't aim to do anything in excess.  Focusing too much time on the pursuit of joy can lead to over-extending yourself.  This can negatively affect your financial well being and potentially drive you into debt or bankruptcy.   Beyond financial problems you could simply burn yourself out, which could lead to health problems.  Everything in moderation.

Make joy happen and get some enjoyment out of everyday, even if only in a small way.

Ideon 4theKids Radio Shout Out

Here's the radio shout-out Ideon got for donating toys to a local charity.  Great job Team Ideon!  Thanks to Mike and Tara on 103.5 QM/FM for the praise.

BC's Best Manufacturing Company to Work For Gives Back

Ideon Packaging has been named the 2012 BC's Best Manufacturing Company to work for by BC Business Magazine.

It started over 10 years ago; Rick and Dave sat down and had a conversation about boxes.  Over many cups of coffee the vision started to unfold. How do we differentiate ourselves?  Could a box company design, manufacture and deliver boxes in 5 days, consistently?  Could a WOW culture exist that all team members believe in?  Could a company prosper, while giving back to the community and being environmentally responsible?

Ideon’s growth over the past 10 years has been rapid.  From its humble beginnings on Annacis Island to a custom facility in Richmond, Ideon has grown to 85,000 sq. ft. spanning over 2 buildings.  And with our latest addition of an Industrial Digital Printing Press - the only one of its kind in Western Canada - Ideon's advancement continues.

All of Ideon’s amazing machinery is really nothing without Ideon’s most important asset: its People.  Ideon was founded on an open culture where people are allowed to make decisions in an effort to always WOW the customer.  Our growth hasn’t changed our values; we understand that all team members add value and are the core to our success.  Moreover, the focus on our people is the reason for Ideon being named BC’s Best Manufacturing company to work for.

Another reason for Ideon being named BC’s Best Manufacturing Company to work for is our entire team’s commitment to our 4theKids charity.  During the Holiday season is when our year-long employee bottle drive program pays it forward by taking all the money raised and purchase toys for less fortunate kids.  This year, Ideon, our employees and customers joined forces to donate approximately $4000 of toys to three local organizations; Richmond Christmas Fund, Canuck Place and BC Children’s Hospital.  We loaded up one of out trucks and delivered the toys today. 

For the full article on all of BC’s Best Companies check out the story on-line at http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca/2012/bestcompanies

For more on Ideon Packaging and 4theKids please visit our website at www.ideonpackaging.com

No Excuses!

Don't give up, persist.
Don't try, do.
Don't complain, influence.
Don't keep doing the same, kaizen.
Don't settle, succeed.

4theKids at the Holidays

Through Ideon's 4theKids charity we are able to raise money that is used to buy Christmas presents for less fortunate kids and families.  Here's a picture of the growing pile of toys in our reception area.

Money is raised through donations and our year-round employee bottle drive.  For the bottle drive, employees are encouraged to bring in all their returnable containers (pop cans, water bottles, etc.) and all the deposit money is collected and donated to our 4theKids charity.

If you want to learn more about Ideon Packaging's 4theKids charity please go to www.ideonpackaging.com and check it out.

Your Career & Planting Seeds

Remember back when you were a kid, in elementary school, when you had to grow a plant for the first time?  Maybe it wasn't a plant for you, maybe it was a tree, but whatever it was you had to grow it.  Some of the things that planting a seed teaches us...

- For something to grow you have to care for, feed and nurture it.
- It takes time and you can't rush it.
- Small things have the potential to become big beautiful things.
- Some plants require more attention than others, some are more fragile than others.

So how come we forget these teachings when it comes to our careers?  Your career or profession is one of the most important foundations of your life; family, religion, charity, are some of the other foundations you should be focusing on.  Yet, I remember as I neared graduation from post secondary school I was told that I should expect to change jobs ten times in my career.  Why?

Here are some of the ways your career is like the seed...

It takes work.  If you don't work at it, the plant dies.  Not sure if this needs much explanation.  If you want success in your career then it's going to take a lot of hard work.

Constant replanting may give you a nice new pot but the plant may not survive.  In other words, constantly jumping ship to find a new job may allow you run away from a not-so-perfect situation, but you don't learn how to work through problems.  Replanting may not be completely a bad thing, especially if bigger and better opportunities present themselves to you.  Don't move sideways, always be moving up towards success.

No matter how much you want the plant to grow faster it comes in it's own time.  A successful career will come if you want it and work for it.  I can't tell you when or how or what, but there will be moments when you have to make decisions to go.  Go.  Just remember, be ready for that moment when it comes.  That moment could be tomorrow, next year or ten years from now and it won't come any faster no matter how hard you try.  Get really good at making yourself ready for the opportunity.

There might be other seeds growing in your shadows, give them some light.  Friends, subordinates, peers and coworkers are growing their own careers as best they can, you should be supportive and positive in their quest success.  Whatever you want, give it away.

Inside a tiny seed there is the potential for a mighty oak.  You have the potential to be whatever you want and don't forget it.  Be successful in your career or lament in the lack of success, your choice.

Rule #5 Surround yourself with good friends and family

There is not much more important in life than to surround yourself with supportive, caring and positive friends and family.  They are going to be there for you, pick you up when you're down and encourage you to be great.

You're going somewhere, probably moving up in life, you want people around you who are on a similar track.  Are they?  People who are on the same path as you, or who are already at a level you are striving to get to, will inspire you to push for more.  Life is too short.

Negative opinions of others can be a big derailer to your forward progress.  Naturally, people feel more at ease offering criticism when they know the other person and have an emotional bank account built up.  Quite often these people are what you call friends.  Moreover, your friends more than likely are the ones who have that emotional bank account built up.  If you have a friend who is always being a downer and offering up their latest dose of cynicism, pessimism or blatant negativity then maybe it's time you take a good look at why you spend time with this person.  Is that really a friend?

Have you ever quit a friend?  I have.  More than once.  Both times they were two of my best friends at the time, but I had to make a decision for me.  You can't control your family and friend's choices, attitudes and reactions but what you can control is your attitude and choices.  if the people close to you have destructive behavior then you need to make the choice to move forward and not continue to be held back.  Don't get me wrong, quitting a friend isn't easy, but it may be what's best for you.

Be strong, surround yourself with strength, get stronger.

Get Deep With Your Customers

Relationships, relationships, relationships...

In today's business to business world, customer loyalty needs to be fostered and built upon everyday.  Your customers have too many options (locally and abroad) in any industry to fill their needs, and you can't afford to lose one customer due to a missing or dwindling relationship.  Here are a list of questions to ask your customers that will help you get to a deeper more meaningful level and to better understand them.

1) If you were to walk out into your warehouse right now and found out that you're out of (your product, i.e. widgets), how would that affect you?  Has this happened?

2) What is your sales strategy?  How do you hold your sales team accountable?  Do you advertise?

3) How many other (your industry, i.e. packaging) suppliers have you dealt with?  What have your experiences been like?

4) How do your customers react to late orders?

5) How would you rank the following things in terms of importance to you?  To your company?  Quality, price, lead time and customer service...

6) How would you describe a GREAT supplier?  Do you have any?

7) What would you do if you lost your top two customers?  What do you do to keep them loyal?

8) Your biggest customer calls right now and needs an order today... How do you respond?  What lead time do you normally offer?  Why not faster?

Simple Steps to Drive Change

This was inspired by a post on my LinkedIn profile, which was a much more abbreviated version.  Here I can expand a little more.

Here are some simple steps to finding, driving and leading change:

1) Get out from behind your desk, cubicle, office or where ever your comfort zone exists.
2) Go to the gemba.  The gemba is a Japanese word for where the value is created.  The gemba could be any area, any system or any process, whether your in a product or service business, whether you're in the public or private sector.  The gemba is a production line, point of sale, order entry, patient admitting, A/R, or anywhere else a process exists.  By the way, everything is a process!
3) Watch the process happen.  Don't rush this, spend a few hours watching if you can.  Don't focus on individuals, watch the entire process.  Use this observation time to look for waste, all 8 forms of it.
4) Gather the stakeholders.  The stakeholders are anyone involved in the process, and you can't afford to miss anyone.
5) Ask "why?" where issues and problems exist?  Do this without blame or finger pointing.  Keep asking why until you get to the root of the problem.
6) Generate solutions to address the root cause of the problem(s).  If you don't drill down to the root of the problem and implement solutions for the root of the problem then the problem will persist.  For example, if a customer is invoiced incorrectly and you simply credit and re-bill then all you've done is fix the problem.  You've done nothing to prevent the invoicing error from happening again.  Why did the invoice error happen in the first place?  Start digging!
7) Implement the solutions with a HUGE emphasis on training.
8) Share the results with your organization.
9) Repeat.

The Important Things In Life

Only a matter of days ago I became a dad for the second time.  As I sit at the hospital with my wife, this life changing experience has a profound effect on helping me to truly understand what is important in life.  Having someone who is 100% dependent on my wife and I opens my eyes and gives me perspective on where my priorities should be.

Family and friends. My wife and two daughters mean the world to me, I would do anything for them, no exceptions. While not everyone was able to make it to the hospital for a visit, which is understandable, we had many calls and emails congratulating us on the new addition to our family. Surrounding ourselves with loving and caring family and friends is so important and gives us an amazing feeling of support.

Health. Like our first daughter, our second daughter was born with good health. For this we are thankful and blessed. Many parents have children who are born with disability or illness, which can put a huge stress on a family. I commend any family who stays strong and unified under these circumstances. Don't take yours or your children's health for granted, do everything you can to stay healthy, active and in shape so that you can raise your children with the same vision.

Profession. Having a career or profession that allows us to support out family and my wife to stay at home on maternity leave is a true blessing. There are too many people out there who don't have this luxury and are unable to enjoy some of the things that so many others take for granted.  If you have a job, be thankful, even if you don't love your job at least you have one. Thank you to everyone at Ideon Packaging and the Sutton Place Hotel.

Don't let the unimportant things distract you from what's important.  Hug and kiss your kids, tell your parents you love them, thank your friends for being there for you and honour all the important things in your life.

Rule #4 - Exercise

Exercise comes in many forms.  I'm not going to tell you what type of exercise is best because there is no best in my mind, as long as you're doing something then you're winning.  Whatever form of exercise you choose to do, the only thing that I stress is that if you want to start seeing results, you need to push yourself a little harder/farther each time to play, practice or participate in your form(s) of exercise.  For me, I like to run, go for walks with my family and do Insanity; Insanity is a high intensity workout routine developed by professional trainer Shaun T.

Before you can think about getting results from exercise you need to make sure that you're eating right.  Before I go any farther with the diet piece, you need to know that I'm NOT a certified dietician or a professional in any way with relation to dieting.  I just have a few gems that have worked well for me that I want to pass along.
- Don't eat within a few hours of going to bed, your body won't have time to digest and process the food.
- Eat anything you want, IN MODERATION.
- Don't take the second, or third, helping
- Eat a big breakfast, medium size lunch and a small dinner
- Make fruits and veggies your snacks
- Don't eat until you're full, eat until you've had enough.  If you always eat until you're full then you're training your stomach to get a little bigger each time you're full.
- Eat out for dinner, but don't make it a habit, once a week is plenty.  There's a reason restaurant food tastes so good, it can be full of butter, salt and other things that aren't great for you in large portions.  If your profession/travel demands you eat out a lot, make smart choices, otherwise make your meals at home.
- Make your own lunch as much as possible too, and if you can't, again, make smart choices.

Get into a routine and have discipline to stick with it.  Especially in the beginning, regular exercise can be hard; your muscles will hurt, your routine will change and you won't see instant results.  KEEP GOING!  Be strong a keep pushing yourself, it takes 20-30 days to create a new habit.  A lot of people don't know where to begin when it comes to an exercise routine, there are many great trained professionals out there who can help you, find one of these people.  That being said, if you're going to make exercise a routine then it has to be something you enjoy doing.  It's a mindset, if you view exercise as work and a pain then you're not going to be as motivated to work out as if you viewed the exercise as fun and purposeful.

Out with the bad, in with the exercise.  Look at your spare time, this is when we should be exercising.  What are you doing in your spare time?  Watching TV?  Going to the bar?  Playing video games?  I'm not telling to stop those things, but they're not going to help you get into better shape and overall health.   Find a way to add 30-60 minutes of exercise into your every day.  My personal choice was to cut out TV watching and use that time for me; now I read, play guitar, exercise, write and a number of other things that are better for my personal health.  The average Canadian watches 3-4 hours of TV a day, think of what you could accomplish if you reclaimed that 3-4 hours!

You may be asking, what makes this guy qualified to talk about exercising, health and weight loss?  Lots of people get educations and become professionals in this stuff, but I think there's a lot to be said for experiencing the value and importance of exercise first hand.  When I graduated from high school I was one of the biggest guys in my graduating class, easily 60-70 pounds overweight.  I took a job shortly after grad that helped me lose the 60-70 pounds, the job involved a lot of running around and heavy lifting 6 days a week.  As good as the weight loss was, at the time I didn't make make exercise a routine so I slowly added some pounds back on (at least it wasn't the 60-70 pounds).  The next time I lost weight was when I moved in with my now wife; we lived close to a gym so I started a routine, which allowed me to lose the weight I had regained in the previous years.   Through all this I was playing Ultimate, running semi-regularly and living a fairly active lifestyle.  I didn't realize it at the time but my eating habits were the root of me not keeping the weight off, mostly revolving around portion control, which I have since fixed.  Then work, life and family (we had our first daughter) started to pick up and the weight started coming back, again.  Now, about to have our second daughter, I've realized that my health is not going to get better through osmosis and that I needed to make the choice to make exercise part of my everyday.  About 8 months ago I developed a routine for myself that involves running and Insanity, it's something that I've worked into my everyday exercise.  I'm now in the best shape I've been in my entire life, and it's getting better.  The best part...  Now that I've been doing it for a few months - eating healthy and exercising - it doesn't feel like a burden, in fact, I look forward to the exercise.

We need to make exercise happen today, don't put it off.  If you've got a long way to go with your health and fitness level then you need to keep remembering that it will take some time before you see significant results. Persist and stick with it because you will LOVE the results.

You can do it!

Assumptions and Inferences

As Leaders, and everyone else for that matter, it is vitally important to eliminate assumptions and inferences from your interactions and day-to-day roles.   What are assumptions and inferences?  An Assumption is a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof.  An Inference is a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning.  We all know the danger of an assumption and how they can easily lead to negative rumors, but what is the importance of an inference?

Simply stated, another word for an inference is an educated guess.  If I call a team meeting and slam the door behind me as I enter the room, the people in the meeting might infer that I am mad about something.  This conclusion has been reached by taking in the evidence that I called a group meeting then slammed the door after I entered.  No matter how good a guess this is, based on the evidence available, it is still just a guess.  In fact, the only true way to determine if someone is mad is to ask them.  Go back to the definition of an inference...  A conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning; nowhere in this definition does it say based on fact.  Moreover, the inference or conclusion that a person comes up with is often based on their own paradigms and perceptions, which can mean that if two people have the same evidence in front of them they can both have difference conclusions.  

How do we combat the damaging acts of assuming and inferring?  The two best ways are to seek first to understand, then to be understood and also by getting to the root cause.

The following are excerpts, focusing on seeking first to understand, then to be understood are taken from 7 Habits of Highly of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey...

“Although it is risky and hard, seek first to understand, or diagnose before you prescribe, is a correct principle manifest in many areas of life.  It’s the mark of all true professionals.  It’s critical for the optometrist, it’s critical for the physician.  You wouldn't have any confidence in a doctor’s prescription unless you had confidence in the diagnosis.”

“Empathic listening takes time, but it doesn't take anywhere near as much time as it takes to back up and correct misunderstandings when you’re already miles down the road, to redo, to live with unexpressed and unsolved problems, to deal with the results of not giving people psychological air.

A discerning empathic listener can read what’s happening down deep fast, and can show such acceptance, such understanding, that other people feel safe to open up layer after layer until they get to that soft inner core where the problem really lies.

People want to be understood.  And whatever investment of time it takes to do that will bring much greater returns of time as you work from an accurate understanding of the problems and issues and work from the high emotional bank account that results when a person feels deeply understood.”

Diagnosis and getting to the root of the problem can be applied to more than just a process problem using the Lean tools.  Root cause analysis can be applied to any situation where a misunderstanding, rumor or confrontation has occurred.  Whether the misunderstanding is yours, someone else’s or both parties, a true leader (without a title) will strive to get to why the situation exists in the first place. 

The simplest tool for finding the root is to ask why and do this five times.  However, when you ask why of a person this has the tendency to generate defensiveness in the other person.  Think about it, the last time someone asked you why you did something your first reaction is usually to defend why you did what you did, right or wrong, to some degree.  Find a way to ask why with a softer approach; remember that the tone of your voice and body language play a huge role in how the other person will react to your question(s) and probing.  

When you’re getting to the root of the problem in a process you don’t have to worry about offending the process or hurting its feelings.  However, when getting to the root of a problem between two people you as the leader MUST consider the other person’s side of the story.  Avoid defending your side, using accusatory statements, blame, and judgement, doing these things will only make the situation worse.  Rather, be one hundred percent open to the other side’s concerns and beliefs and push yourself to see the other side of the situation.  As hard as this can be sometimes, this is what a true leader will do.

How Important is the First Impression?

I have people call on me all the time.  Some people do a good job of making a positive impression (through a little research), or conveying they can add value or some are the benefactor of good timing when they first call or drop in.  In each case, the first impression created when I meet someone gives me a huge indication as to what the future may hold.  This goes for interviews as well; In my opinion, being late without a phone call ends the interview before it even starts.

I very recently had set up an appointment with someone who was one of the benefactors of a well timed cold call, for a service that I had recently developed a need for.  The day of the meeting came and this person was late, without a call, she was 20 minutes late.  This was my first impression of her and the company she represented; moreover, it gave a potential glimpse into what service level I would be receiving down the road.  When she eventually showed up I told her the impression she had created and politely told her that I wasn't going to meet with her.  How would you handle that?  With so many options for every product or service out there, we can't afford to destroy our chances from the get go, the first impression is extremely important

Being late for an appointment, lunch or anything will happen to all of us eventually, but the defining factor is how we deal with being late.  Do you call the other party to let them know you're running behind?  Or do you show up late and hope everything is okay and the other person you're meeting is forgiving?  It's your choice to make.

A helpful tip used by some very good sales people I know; when you set up an appointment, try telling the person you'll be there between two times.  For example, "I'll be there between 9AM and 9:30AM."  This will give you a bit of flexibility in your arrival time.

Rule #3 Give Away Trust, You'll Get it Back

You will never be successful in life without trust.  You can not have true friendship without trust.  You can not be a great leader unless the people you're leading trust you.  You can not be a good parent if your kids don't trust you.  You can not be a great athlete if your team and or coach do not trust you.  You need trust, especially if you want to be successful.

Whatever you want give it away.  I first heard this from Ian Percy, who gives a talk titled The 11 Commandments for an Enthusiastic Team, for which the 9th commandment is "whatever you want, give it to others.  Since hearing this idea I've applied it as much as possible and most importantly with respect to trust.  Giving away trust has done wonders for me and I would highly recommend giving it a try.  Our world is getting more and more cynical everyday, where people almost instinctively do not trust others.  I say buck the trend a start with trust.  If someone hasn't given you any reason not to trust them, why not give away some trust?

The caveat to trust, I don't want anyone to be taken for anything, so you need to couple the trust with common sense and not become a victim of fraud, especially when it comes to investing or finances.  If it seems fishy then it just might be, ask a lot of questions and understand.

Rule #2: Don't Expect Anything, Earn It!

Gimme gimme and then I will perform.  I hear this all to often, especially in the work force.  People who believe that the way to climb the proverbial ladder is to demand more money or title, and only after they get the raise/promotion their performance will increase.  This is fundamentally backwards and can build big resentment between you and your boss/coach.  Think about it in terms of athletes, would it make sense for them to say, "give me the Gold Medal and then I will perform like a gold medal athlete."  Of course not, that's ridiculous!  Athletes need discipline and hard work to improve themselves every day to work towards their goal.  So why should anyone in any other profession or schooling think otherwise?  Golfers, for example, have to work on their game everyday and play in tournament after tournament for years before they might have a chance to win a tournament and receive a Million dollar prize payout.

Work hard and take on more, without expectation, and the reward will come.  There is so much pessimism in the world today that we can sometimes receive ridicule from friends or peers questioning why we're working so hard.  Don't let these negative people bring you down, besides, they're probably the ones not getting ahead and they have no idea why.  Persevere and keep going, knowing the reward will come.  You MUST to go beyond the bare minimum and perform at your maximum.  At work, proactively turn yourself into a resource for your peers and network so that you become the go-to person in one area or on as many topics as you can.  Don't let not knowing be a barrier, teach yourself a new skill or take a course.

Not all managers, bosses and companies are good at rewarding their people for higher performance, a sad but true fact.  It is possible you won't get rewarded for doing more, but before you make a change it is a very good idea to look at the situation from your boss' point of view.  Are you actually doing more or are you doing what your position requires but have maybe had a miscommunication of expectations.  Sit down with your boss, clarify your work expectations and get on the same page, which if done well using a win/win mindset could lead to your boss understanding exactly what you're taking on and possibly a raise and/or promotion.  Just remember, if you are in a situation where you're not going to be rewarded for taking on more that you have a choice.  A choice to stay or leave.

"If you build it, they will come."  This is a great line from the movie Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner and speaks well to this topic.  Think of this line when it comes to anything you want to achieve success in; your career, a sport, a hobby or something off your bucket list.  let's break down this line... Think of "build" as "work hard at", if you're going to build something substantial then it will take at lot of work.  Then think of "it" as "success", in whatever you want to be successful in.  Lastly, think of "they" again as success.  So this famous line can be translated to "if you work hard at success, success will come."

Yet again, all this comes down to your choice.  Go make it happen!

Regret or Discipline

Today I was listening to a talk by speaker Dean Lindsay, where he asks the audience what is more painful, discipline or regret?  This got me thinking...  This question is more than which one is more painful, it's about the choices we make for our success, goals and life in general.  I'm a huge believer in choice and that we all have a choice in everything we do.

Regret is much easier to deal with because you can put it off and not force yourself to deal with it everyday.  Regret can be tucked away, hidden and forgotten about.  However, at some point, which could be a day, week, year or lifetime away, regret will eventually get so big and unavoidable that it rears its ugly head.  Discipline on the other hand is hard work and needs to be focused on everyday.  If we're going to have discipline in achieving a goal and being successful in whatever we choose to be successful in then we have to work at it everyday, without fail.  Discipline is not easy, but neither is regret.

So, beyond which is more painful, regret or discipline, the bigger question is are we willing to deal with our own future today and everyday or are we willing to deal with the lack of success down the road?  If our choice is the latter then we have to be prepared to look in the mirror when regret makes an appearance and accept the fact the we, at some point, chose regret over discipline.

How great would we and the world in general be if we all made the choice of discipline?

Ideon Packaging Grows Again

Today was an exciting day at Ideon Packaging as we received our brand new HP Scitex FB7600 Industrial Digital Printing Press.  The press started its journey from Israel and across the Atlantic to the US where it was offloaded and shipped via truck to Ideon.  The weather was more than cooperative for the unloading of the FB7600 off the truck and into our building.

We've knocked down walls to make room for the press, which will sit in an area that used to be taken up by three separate rooms.  With only three of these machines already in Canada, Ideon will have the only one West of Ontario.  The packaging graphics opportunities are endless when we combine the capabilities of the HP FB7600 with our new ESKO XP production cutting table, which arrived yesterday.

Above is a picture of what the press looks like assembled.

What If

With so many opportunities to be getting so much more out of life and to be a positive influence on the world, I asked myself, what if...

What if we all did the right thing, instead of the wrong thing in the hopes that we get away with it?
What if we all had a positive attitude rather than a pessimistic or negative one?
What if we all ate a balanced diet and exercised?
What if we all kept our promises?
What if we all respected each other's religion, heritage and beliefs?
What if we listened twice as much as we talked?
What if we all gave to the less fortunate?
What if we all told the truth?
What if we all tried a little harder?
What if we all knew that each of the above is a choice to be made everyday...

Rule #1 You Always Have a Choice

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.  It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.  Every morning a lion wakes up.  It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle, when the sun comes up you’d better be running.

Choice, probably the most important thing in my life that I’ve learned to understand.  Choice is something that we all have.  You can choose to tell the truth, exercise, work hard, own your mistakes, learn, achieve success, and be whatever you want.  Sometimes, the tough part with making a choice is the choice itself; General Norman Schwarzkopf (ret) said it best, "the truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it."  We all know that to maintain good health we need to have a well balanced diet and to get regular exercise, but too many of us don’t make that choice.  We all know that to get ahead and be successful at anything that you have to put in a lot of time, hard work and practice, but again, so many of us choose mediocrity.  Imagine what could be achieved if everyone made a positive choice to make the world a better place…  I will never tell anyone what the right or wrong choice is for them, as long as we all accept the decisions we make without regret.  If you can do that, we’re all successful.  The choices we make define who we are.

A Great Quote from Howard Schultz

Here's a quote from Onward, the second book about Starbucks by Howard Schultz.  A good read if you get a chance.

Grow with discipline.  Balance intuition with rigour.  Innovate around the core.  Don't embrace the status quo. Find new ways to see.  Never expect a silver bullet.  Get your hands dirty.  Listen with empathy and over-communicate with transparency.  Tell your story, refusing to let others define you.  Use authentic experiences to inspire.  Stick to your values, they are your foundation.  Hold people accountable but give them the tools to succeed.  Make the tough choices; it's how you execute that counts.  Be decisive in times of crisis.  Be nimble.  Find truth in trials and lessons in mistakes.  Be responsible for what you see, hear and do.  Believe.

My Ten Rules

1. You always have a choice
2. Don't expect anything, earn it
3. Give away trust, you'll get it back
4. Exercise
5. Surround yourself with good friends and family
6. Enjoy life
7. Play a sport
8. Be honest with yourself, and others
9. Read
10. Be a leader, not a victim

Stay tuned for my thoughts on each rule.

Lean Egg Yolk Separation

Have you ever done some baking or cooking and needed to separate the egg yolk from the egg white?  Well, I haven't, but this video (click on the link below) came my way and I thought it could be helpful to everyone out there who has this challenge.  The video is not in English but you'll get the idea.  Even if you don't have to, give it a try.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Uz2Vnp5ZW4c
What do you think?

Another Funny E-mail Auto-Responder

Here's the next instalment in my battle to lighten up e-mail auto-responders.


I will be away from _________ through to _________, back in the office on _________. During this time I will be checking my e&v-mail but may not be able to get back to you right away. Why? Because while away I will be golfing, and responding to messages on the golf course will get me off my game and probably lead to worm burners, chunks and slices. Although, these things will happen anyway...


In case of an absolute emergency that requires my immediate attention, please call our office at 604-524-0524 where our amazing team members can help you, or will know how to contact me. Bribe them. Tell them they look beautiful. Examples of "absolute emergency" include: You are the Queen, you are Andy Kaufman, you urgently want to give me a million dollars, you are Wile E Coyote and have finally caught the Road Runner but you need my help with what to do next.


Smile, and make it a GREAT day!
Mike

Happiness

"Happiness is a journey, not a destination; happiness is to be found along the way not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it's too late. The time for happiness is today not tomorrow." ~ Quoted by Paul H Dunn

"Being happy is a choice that we should all make everyday." - Me

Great Quote

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.  For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.  For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.  For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.  For poise, walk with the knowledge that you'll never walk alone.

-- Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) British Actress

Training Simulation: New Process & S.O.P.

Here's a quick simulation you can do to help teach the value of patience when introducing a new process, that also helps teach the importance of a standard operation procedure (SOP).

You can do this on your own or with a group, it will be effective in both scenarios.  All you need is a pen and a blank piece of paper (Letter size is ideal but doesn't really matter).

1. On a blank piece of paper, laid out landscape, divide the sheet into three columns. If doing this in a group, give everyone their own sheet.

2. In the first column, give everyone 30 seconds to write their first and last name as many times as they can down the column. They can't start until you say go.  
 - How many did they get?
 - Ask the group what they thought.  Was it easy?  Why?
 - Most likely they will say it's easy because they've been writing their name for years and that it's a familiar process.  Good.

3. In the second column, again 30 seconds, get them to write their name as many times as the can. However, right before you say go, tell them they have to remove every second letter from their name. 
 - How many this time?  Almost always it's less, unless someone has a short name.
 - Ask the group...  Why did you get less, I took away half the steps to right your name? You should have got twice as many!?! 
 - Reasons you'll get back: It's a new process/standard, the previous process I knew very well, the new one was harder, needed to think about it, etc...
 - As a leader, you can't expect people to get a new process right away; it takes time and training for people to understand new processes. Did I mention training, lots and lots of training.  And remember, people are trained when they're trained, don't put a time limit on training.  If people aren't getting a new process after they've been trained, it's not the people it's the training method that needs to be looked at.

4. In the last column, again 30 seconds, but this time write your name with every second letter missing at the top of the column.  They now have an SOP and have had training/practice in the previous round. 
 - Most of the time people get more than the first column. 
 - This is when you explain the value of an SOP and training/practice.
 - Also a good time to discuss the no-blame environment...  In a blame environment, people would be scolded for not getting better results with the new process.  In a no-blame environment, people are asked what the reason is for their performance, if more training is needed, and what can be done (like a visual SOP) to improve results.

Have fun with this!
Mike

Don't Hit The Panic Button!

Don’t Hit the Panic Button!

Written by Mike Nunn - August 15, 2012

In a manufacturing environment, or any environment for that matter, there are many different scenarios where there is the potential for an “elevated” situation that will require your immediate attention.  In business this could be anything from a computer/server crashing, a machine going down or raw material not getting delivered on time.  Too often we take the first piece of information we get as the “real” situation and then hit the panic button.  Phrases like “OMG, what are we going to do?”, “We’re doomed!” and “We’re going to be down for many weeks!” fill the air.  But I can assure you that, at these times, panic is the last thing you should be doing.  So, what to do?  STOP!  Before you hit the panic button take a deep breath and approach the situation with a calm and level headed mindset.  When you panic this will only create more panic, which is a lose/lose for everyone.  Remember, panic is a choice that you don’t need to make.

With work, panic should NOT involve actual panic, that’s the tough part.  Instead, panic at work should be replaced with an understanding of the entire situation, determination of a solution(s) and informing the stakeholders.  It’s very important that when sharing information with stakeholders that you don’t share guesses or assumptions.  Moreover, understanding the entire situation is key due to the fact that if the situation is truly that elevated, then someone will more than likely have some questions for you if you don’t have all the answers.  As you work through the situation always remember to ask yourself, what can I affect about this situation?  If there is anything you can do then act on it; if not, don’t let it weigh you down.  For example, if there’s a power outage, can you affect that?  Of course not, but you can build a plan for when the power comes back on.

Once the ball is rolling with a diagnosis or remedy to the situation then following up with all the stakeholders becomes integral; both the stakeholders involved in the fix and the ones needing to know when it’s fixed.  When you have a new piece of information that’s important to the stakeholders then pass it along in a timely manner; moreover, if it’s been a while since a previous update it’s a good idea to let people know you have no new information and that it’s still being worked on. Keep in mind that not everyone needs to know every detail of the solution/repair, identify who the key stakeholders are that need to know important details and who just need to know that it’s fixed.

In order to ensure everything is happening on time it is vital to have someone, one person, take a lead role in dealing with the situation; someone who will orchestrate the tasks and getting them completed in a timely manner.  The biggest trap this leader should avoid is the assumption trap, when you assume that something is being looked after when it isn’t, because this could end up wasting valuable time.  For example, if someone internally has told you they’ve contacted an outside supplier and are waiting to hear back, it’s a good idea for the leader to call the outside supplier too, in order to ensure they are indeed on track.  Whenever there is an elevated situation there is no such thing as too much communication with the key stakeholders.  And remember, key stakeholders could be the Maintenance Team, outside suppliers, Sales Team, owners, customers, they could be anyone.

When you think of panic, think of the PANIC acronym below, it will help you and all the other stakeholders get through the situation with a level head. 

P – Pause and take a deep breath, a lot of panic is caused when people jump without knowing all the information.  You have a choice as to how you’re going to react to the situation and as stated earlier the cooler heads will always prevail.  And let’s face it, most of the time it’s never really as bad as we first perceive it to be.  Allow for some time to digest all the information between when that first person gives you “the situation” and when/how you react.

A – Ask questions that will allow you to fully understand the situation.  Never take the first answer when you get involved as the rule or “real” situation.  Take the time to get as much information as you can about the situation and what it’s going to take to remedy it.  Push people (or do it yourself) to source other/outside options.  Can it be done faster, cheaper, safer, etc...  This is also where you want to make sure you have all the key stakeholders present, because in an urgent situation you’re probably not going to be able to solve the problem on your own.  There’s a list of questions below that will get you started with understanding the situation.

N – Navigate Solutions to where you can make a decision, quickly, as to what steps you’re going to take to remedy the situation.  You MUST stay on top of everyone involved, ask for updates, call suppliers to see where they’re at, do it regularly and never assume it’s being looked after.  When it comes to the solutions themselves, in some cases, band-aid solutions are completely acceptable for getting up and running until a full repair can be done, especially if there is big time difference between the full and partial repair.   Decisions should be based on what is best the company, team members (safety), and customers.

I – Inform the Stakeholders as to what the current state is and how long it will take to put some solutions in place.  Keep in mind that some people need to know all the details of the repair/fix, others need to know that major details (cost, ETA, etc.) and some people just need to know when it’s fixed.  Know the stakeholders and what their involvement level is so some people don’t feel like they’re getting spammed with information.  There’s a reason the steps are in this order, when informing stakeholders its best that you’ve fully understood the situation and determined the best solution(s) before informing others.  If you haven’t done this first, chances are someone is just going to ask you those questions anyway.

C – Calm.  Enough said.

Now that you’ve got an idea for the steps to deal with an elevated situation, here are some questions you can ask (choose the appropriate questions for the situation) when trying to diagnose and understand the current state.

What happened immediately prior that may have contributed to the situation?  Ask everyone.
Did anyone see it happen?  Just ask for the facts, you don’t want them to guess or assume.
Have we tried powering down, then back up again?
What does work? Find some positive in the mix.
What have we already tried to fix it?  What else can we try? Ensure all the internal stakeholders are involved with answering these two questions.
Is the machine completely down or can it still function in limited or manual capacity?
Do we have the resources/parts in the building to fix it?
How long will it take to get a replacement part in?  Have we talked to ALL potential suppliers? 
How much will the replacement part cost?  Is the price different from various suppliers?  Why?
What can we handle/repair internally?  Do we need to get an outside supplier involved?
Does the part need to be sent/shipped out? Who? What? Where? How? When?
Am I making sure people are on top of this?
Have we looked at every possible option?  What are we not thinking of?
Who can I call that might have dealt with, or fixed, something like this before?  Does anyone here know of anyone?

Hopefully this helps in getting through those challenging and urgent situations.