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.

Have Fun With Your E-mail Auto-Reply

Recently I was on vacation and before leaving had to set up my e-mail auto-responder.  I've always struggled with the auto-responder because it seems like mine, and all the other ones I get, are too formal and lacking in the humour category.  Don't get me wrong, I think they're important for letting people know that you might not get back to them right away, but they need to be more fun.  So, rather than creating my same old boring auto-responder I set up the one below.

I will be on vacation from August ___ to the ___.  During my vacation, I will not be able to get to most of my incoming emails right away. Why? Because being on vacation, I'm likely to be frolicking on a beach, playing horse balls (seriously, Google it), or something, and reading emails is incompatible with frolicking. 

In case of an absolute emergency that requires my immediate attention, please call our office at ____________ 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 Prime Minister, you are Elvis, you urgently want to give me a billion dollars,  you discovered that I'm "The One" and you must find me before the Agents to give me that "blue pill, red pill" speech.

Smile, and make it a GREAT day!
Mike

If you can't think of something on your own, don't worry, that's what the internet is for.  Where do you think I found this one?  I just made a few changes so it worked better for me.

Have some fun, be different, life is too short.