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.

My Learnings From Golf

I recently played a round of golf with a group of friends, which turned into a round like all the others I've played as of late...  A good time with friends but a higher-than-it-needs-to-be stoke count.  You can learn a lot about yourself and others on the golf course, from people's knowledge/view of etiquette to how we deal with challenging situations and/or mistakes.  I remember when I was young I got my dad a hat for father's day that said "I hate golf, I hate golf, nice shot, I love golf."  At the time I had no idea the significance of what that hat said but for all the once/twice a month golfers out there, like myself, it couldn't ring more true.  


I don't know if there's another sport in the world that teaches patience, reflection, focus, hand eye coordination, strategy and the ability to move on (when things don't go well) better than golf.

Confidence - I find that when I stand over the ball with any club other than my driver I have a feeling of confidence that I can make the shot.  With my driver, I worry and wonder where the shot is going to go.  It's no surprise that I'm very inconsistent with my driver and the opposite with every other club.  Off the course this tells me that if you go into a situation with a positive mindset and confidence them you will have a better chance for success after mentally creating the success first.

Focus - When you have a friend chattering at you in the hopes that you won't win the hole, can you block that out?  When you're putting and the people on the next tee box are talking loudly, can you block that out? When you're faced with a pressure putt or drive can you overcome the pressure?  This is all about focus to me, and off the course your ability to focus through the distractions is a great skill to have.

Reflection - After I hit a bad shot I always try to think about what I did that lead to the bad shot.  In golf there are many small things in my swing that can lead to a bad shot, but trying to understand what went wrong helps me to attempt to correct it on my next shot.  On the flip side, when I have a good shot I use that to build my confidence.  Off the course, reflection drives learning and growth.  At the end of each day you should set aside some time to reflect on the day and ask yourself, what went well and what didn't go well?

Get over it - This is the toughest one for most people, definitely myself included.  Take that bad shot and simply move on, get it out of your head and don't let it ruin your next shot.  Off the course, it's hard to let go sometimes, but if you can master that skill then you will find yourself getting to success faster and more often.

Patience - You've got 4-5 hours to work on your game.  If one shot goes bad, there's going to be many more chances to make up for it.  Enjoy the time your spending with friends/family.

I love to golf and will do so as long as I can.  One day, by remembering to focus on the things above and much more practice I will be able to enjoy the game at a level that I'm not at today.  My goal is to be a scratch golfer.

The Ideon Difference

Since joining Ideon back in 2002, I have been witness to, and part of, many scenarios that put Ideon in a category of one, where I know that we are untouchable.  Where our Team Members go above and beyond to selflessly help our customers.  Over this past weekend another one of these outstanding customer service scenarios happened again.

Late on Friday night, one of our sales team members received a panicked call from his customer asking for a delivery of boxes the next day.  We don't normally make deliveries on the weekend and as a result did not have any drivers working that day.  However, I phoned one of our drivers and he offered to come in and make the delivery.  I should point out that he did not have to come in, we have a third party freight company who could have made the delivery for us, but our driver wanted to come in and help.

The production crew that was in that day were great!  They jumped all over getting the order ready for shipment, which is something that is not a part of their regular weekend duties.  Moreover, they stayed in touch with me throughout the day to let me know where everything was at so I could keep the Sales Team Member and customer informed.

Next I got in touch with our head Shipper to ask where the product was located, so the production crew who was in that day could pull the order for the driver), but without me asking he volunteered to come in to work and help the Production Team organize the shipment.

All of this was made easier by the fact the Ideon has embraced technology and I was able to access our production and shipping schedules remotely, enter an order from my iPhone and stay in touch with everyone mentioned above through text messaging.

In the end, the customer got their order well before they needed on Saturday and gave me yet another reason I'm proud to work with the Ideon Team.  I am WOWed!

Challenge Yourself

No matter what we do, how do we get better?  By challenging ourselves to go beyond our current levels and break into new uncharted territory.

Growth takes time.  Too many people expect results now, which is unrealistic no matter what you're looking to get better at.  If it's your career, fitness, knowledge, skills or anything else, you have to put the time into dedicated practice, practice and more practice.  If there's something that you really want, then your going to have to look at where you spend your time and stop doing the things that rob you of the precious time needed to practice.  I don't watch much TV, there are so many other better things you could be doing to grow yourself.  How much TV do you watch?  Are you at where you want to be in life?

Don't let fear or the negative impressions of others hold you back.  In fact, these two things are great indicators that you're going in the right direction.  Use them to drive you farther and faster to a better you.

You have all the motivation you need inside of you, it just needs to be let out.

 It all starts with a decision, a choice to get better.  Once you make the decision to get better you need to stick with it and focus on it.  You will be successful.

Challenge + Hard Work = Success