Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Thursday, July 7th, 2011
Blog Article by Ray Attiyah, Chief Innovation Officer, Definity Partners
A common complaint we hear from business owners is that their operation seems to be bogged down, not able to get to the next level. When we examine the root cause of the problem it often comes down to a lack of confidence.
Good business requires layers of review, but all too often we see companies that use checks and balances to cover up a lack of confidence in their workers. Rather than develop the goals, standards and training that enable front-line workers to excel at solving problems and make smart improvements, there are approval processes, meetings, reviews and layers of documentation. This high level of oversight keeps an organization from being nimble and it deflates employee engagement. Even small ideas that could improve the process or product become regarded as, “not worth the trouble.”
Here are some signs that a lack of confidence has crept into your organization and is holding back progress.
- Too many Meetings with too many people that drag on too long – Meetings are a fact of life, but unless meetings provide collaboration with a result that moves the issue forward with someone in charge, they become a crutch to keep any one person from taking responsibility.
- You find yourself un-delegating - As a leader you only have so much time in a day. You have a duty to your organization to delegate work and decisions. Delegating allows your management team to take on more responsibility and grow their skills but it also frees you to focus on the things that add the most value to your organization. My rule of thumb is that if someone can do the job 80% as well as you would, you need to delegate that job.
- You add a new position to provide more oversight - Much like un-delegating, creating another level of oversight for routine processes is a sign that you don’t have confidence in your people and processes. It’s a far better use of your resources to develop the standards, training and trust that encourages and rewards your front line and middle managers for making good decisions about daily business.
- You generate reports that never seem to be discussed - Reports are important when they are used to benchmark progress, identify problems and find opportunities. If you create reports as a security blanket to prove what you already know, the only thing they prove is that you lack confidence.
- You back off your goals or lower your standards – You have to have confidence in your organization to maintain or raise your standards. When workers sense you don’t have confidence in them they hold back and become disengaged. They lose interest in trying to do a better job or make a better product. It’s a downhill spiral that will lead to more errors, missed work time, high turnover and will in turn consume your time or the time of your managers.
In our next post, we will look at some of the strategies that allow you to find a new level of confidence in your organization.
Tags: Confidence, Continous Improvement, Empower Employees, Leadership, Leadership Development, Process, Run-Improve-Grow, Trust
Posted in Continuous Improvement Efforts, Cultural Evolution, Definity Solutions: Thought Leadership Articles, Developing People, Improvement Tools, Management Insights, Sustainable Improvement Tip, Transforming Your Business, Uncategorized | Make a Comment »
Friday, May 13th, 2011
By: Dave Mills, Managing Partner, Columbus
Good news all around in this recent article from Businessweek. The article confirms what my colleagues and I have been seeing since December. Manufacturing is back and it’s better than ever. By better, I mean companies have done major re-visioning during the downturn and emerged far more flexible, productive and competitive, even when compared to overseas options.
What I like most about this article is that the writer recognized something that is central to our philosophy at Definity Partners. The key to success in this “manufacturing renaissance” is employee engagement. Workers who actively contribute to making processes better, are making manufacturing better. They are coming up with ideas that raise the bar on productivity, improve quality and increase customer satisfaction. They are no longer merely showing up for the paycheck. They are taking pride in what they produce. They are more skilled, more dedicated and they get more done. At Definity Partners we call it a Run-Improve Grow Transformation. Front line workers are empowered to make their jobs run smoother, freeing managers to focus on improvements, freeing leaders to focus on growth.
I hope you enjoy the article. Those of you who have been through our Lean Simulation training will enjoy the reference to the teamwork task involving LEGO vehicles. If you would like to see a video that shows employee engagement at work, click here for a video about our client Bilstein. The Hamilton, Ohio plant’s Transformation Eagle project is a great example.
Posted in Continuous Improvement Efforts, Cultural Evolution, Developing People, Transforming People, Uncategorized | Make a Comment »
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
Dayton Business Journal 4.28.11
We would like to extend our most sincere congratulations to our Springboro, Ohio client, PDI Communication Systems. PDI’s 2010 improvement effort was recognized in the most recent edition of the Dayton Business Journal for its continuing improvement results, including a 20% increase in revenue. The company also recovered enough floor space through lean and 5S initiatives that president Lou Vilardo was able to increase local production without a costly plant expansion.
Those of you who joined us on our PDI plant tour in March saw the results first hand. The workers are engaged in a culture of employee led continuous improvement. Not only has productivity and profit increased but so has worker satisfaction.
In the article, “PDI increases local manufacturing” reporter Joe Cogliano called attention to the role Definity Partners played in guiding the company’s lean initiative. Definity Partners project managers were in the plant on a daily basis working side by side with managers, supervisors and line workers teaching lean tools and modeling employee engagement and leadership practices. Click here to enjoy the article.
Tags: 5S, Dayton Business Journal, Definity Partners, employee led imrprovement, lean, PDI
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Thursday, April 28th, 2011
Blog Article by Ray Attiyah, Chief Innovation Officer
Earlier in the month I had the pleasure of speaking before the Precision Machined Products Association, (PMPA) at the organization’s annual technical conference. I was asked to give a roadmap for a successful new product launch. As I prepared my presentation I found that I could not separate the concept of a successful new product launch from the need for innovation. In today’s increasingly complex and competitive market, the best way to create and keep an advantage over your competitors is to be the company that is ahead of the curve on product innovation. When you innovate, you are no longer competing on price. You are providing a solution that has value to your customer and that allows you to keep control.
I invite you to click on this image to review the slide deck from my presentation. You will see that I firmly believe that customer intimacy is the path to great innovation, but I say that with an important caution. Don’t expect your customers to be able to tell you what they want. Customers often accept what is and don’t imagine what could be. That’s your job; watch the process that involves your product and imagine what could be. Delivering what could be is what innovation is all about.
Tags: business success, Innovation, PMPA, product launch, productivity
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Monday, March 21st, 2011
Blog Article Written By: Ray Attiyah, Chief Innovation Officer
When I talk to business leaders about Run, Improve, Grow® they often see the benefit for themselves of forming the discipline of getting out of the daily run and spending more time on work that produces growth. What they sometimes can’t see is what it would mean to their organization if their middle managers and supervisors spent less time fighting fires. “I don’t know what that looks like,” they tell me.
There seems to be an acceptance that good managers are good fire fighters. True to some degree, but wouldn’t it make more sense if what they did best was work with the operators to keep the fires from starting in the first place? What does that look like? Now I can show you.
At PDi Communication Systems in Springboro, Ohio, we recently had a chance to document, in video form, what employee led improvement looks like. I hope you will take a moment to see for yourself. Clicking on the thumbnail will open a new window where you will click to play. Enjoy, and please share with others.
PDi, Tuning in Success
Tags: Definity Partners, PDi Communications, Process Improvement, Run-Improve-Grow
Posted in Client Recognition, Continuous Improvement Efforts, Cultural Evolution, Developing People, Sustainable Improvement Tip, Transforming People, Transforming Your Business, Uncategorized | Make a Comment »
Monday, January 31st, 2011
Blog Article Written By: Ray Attiyah, Chief Innovation Officer
Obstacle #2: Personal Beliefs
Our personal beliefs have a profound, often subconscious, impact on our behaviors and attitudes. This outward manifestation of our internal biases can affect our communication at work without us even realizing it. Think about how your beliefs affect your attitudes at work. What drives that behavior? For front-line leaders and middle managers, these biases can take away from the effectiveness of the company’s operations and growth opportunities.
A good example of this comes from one of our good friends, Mark Hartings, the Plant Manager at PDi Communications in Springboro, Ohio. PDi is a growing company that produces adjustable television arms and consoles for a variety of industries including healthcare and fitness. Just six months ago, Hartings realized that despite his best intentions, he was a bottleneck for the company. The reason for this lay deep within his belief system.
As Plant Manager, Hartings believed that everything had to go through him for it to be done correctly. In addition to the overseeing of plant production, he took on the company’s scheduling responsibilities. There were only so many things he could handle at once. This caused him tremendous stress and had a devastating effect on on-time delivery.
In mid-2010, we partnered with PDi and worked with Hartings to show him how to let his supervisors take responsibility for much of the work he kept for himself.. With fewer operational tasks, Hartings was able to spend more of his him implementing lean improvements he had be taught. By the end of the year, the front-line’s acceptance of responsibility and continuous display of accountability allowed Hartings to do something he hadn’t done in his thirty years at the company: he took every one of his vacation days. Under his new belief system, Hartings was no longer worried that the operations would be in disarray without him there.
At the beginning of the year, Hartings believed his people couldn’t handle the operations on their own. At the end of the year, Hartings had complete
confidence in his team and was making a more valuable contribution by focusing on the continuous improvement efforts of the company. It took some time to build that trust, but once he saw results such as an increase in on-time delivery from 30% to 84%, a lead time reduction from four weeks to four days and a productivity increase (as measured by televisions produced per hour) of 24%, he had the confidence to let the front-line leaders handle the operations. .
So why don’t you spend some time today analyzing what you are working on and how you are communicating? Ask yourself what biases and beliefs are present that could be holding your company back from achieving its full potential. It all starts with your personal beliefs. Do you believe you can do a better job? Do you believe that your company can improve in 2011 like the team at PDi Communications did in 2010?
Tags: Accountability, Bias, Continuous Improvement, Effective Communication, Lead Time Reduction, On-time delivery, Personal Beliefs, Proactive, Productivity Increase, Responsibility
Posted in Client Recognition, Definity Solutions: Thought Leadership Articles, Developing People, Management Insights, Transforming People, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Monday, January 10th, 2011
Part three of a three part series on Proactive Improvement
Blog Article Written By: Dave Mills, Managing Partner – Columbus
Did you have a chance to read the first two parts of our Remember the Forgotten Blog Series? If not, here is Remember the Forgotten I and Remember the Forgotten II.
So far, we talked about the forgotten elements of many businesses and the implications of their being forgotten. We focused on
relationships with suppliers and customers. Our good friend Jim Hosley at Exterior Portfolio by Crane gave another great example: “In my experience, one of the largest forgotten elements are the people who come to work every day and just do a good, dependable, quality job. As managers we tend to focus on either the ‘problem children’ or the most ‘visible’ or the ‘high performers.’”
It’s true that too often there is a focus on the extremes when what any manager would prefer is to have confidence in all of their employees. What if they did? We have a proven strategy to move toward that goal called Run-Improve-Grow™. It has allowed top-leaders to expect more and gain confidence and trust in their entire organization.
Imagine Run-Improve-Grow™ as a triangle with the run function at the wide base. Ideally, your operators and front line supervisors are managing the run while your managers in the middle of the triangle are focused on proactive improvements. Too often the middle managers get called in to solve routine run problems. When they are working in the run, they are not working on improvement that would make the business more productive and profitable. It then falls to senior management at the top of the triangle to make improvements, when their time would be put to better use focusing on growth initiatives and innovation. I think you can see what then happens to the company’s growth pursuits when middle managers get stuck in the run. What percentage of time do you spend Running the business, Improving it and Growing it? What would you want it to be? How would the company benefit if you made the switch?
Run-Improve-Grow™ starts by empowering the front-line with tools. With our clients, we have used lean initiatives such as 5S, six sigma and kaizen to streamline the front-line’s systems and processes. Additionally, daily huddle meetings between the front-line supervisors and the operators have focused on open and honest communication and have facilitated discussions of what went well and what needed improvement in the previous shift. The operators said that when they shared their ideas and saw them become implemented, it made them feel valued. The confidence in their ideas increased their accountability to the job.
What would an empowered front-line mean to your company? Imagine if instead of middle managers being pulled down into the
Run, operators and frontline leaders were empowered to make improvements themselves Run-Improve-Grow™ pushes time up. Middle managers have the time to focus on making proactive improvements. Top-leaders have the time to focus on innovation and growth.
Now take it to a personal level. Mark Hartings, plant manager at PDi Communications, has been with the company for 30 years. In all of his time with the company, he never used every one of his vacation days. After working with Run-Improve-Grow™ this past year, he was able to use them all for the first time. Even more significant was the feeling he had when he took time off: “I was never worried that when I came back, the operation would have fallen apart. I was able to take time off with confidence.”
Understanding how the Run-Improve-Grow™ system has helped the lives of our clients’ employees is very special to us at Definity Partners. In 2011, we would love to help you. How can Run-Improve-Grow™ help you this year – personally and professionally?
Tags: 5S, Confidence, Continuous Improvement, Daily Huddles, Exterior Portfolio by Crane, Growth, Innovation, Jim Hosley, Kaizen, Leadership, Lean Initiatives, Mark Hartings, Middle Managers, Open and Honest Communication, PDi Communications, Proactive Improvements, Remember the Forgotten, Run-Improve-Grow, Six Sigma
Posted in Client Recognition, Continuous Improvement Efforts, Cultural Evolution, Definity Solutions: Thought Leadership Articles, Developing People, Management Insights, Uncategorized | Make a Comment »
Thursday, December 30th, 2010
Part two of a three part series on Proactive Improvement
Blog Article Written By: Dave Mills, Managing Partner – Columbus
In our last conversation, we discussed how supplier relationships are a common “forgotten” element of many businesses. Did you have a chance to think about any other forgotten elements of your business? What were they?
It seems that even the President has been thinking about what he forgot in
2010 so he can focus on how to most effectively spend his time in 2011. According to senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, “the President’s ‘biggest regret’ was that because of economic turmoil – ‘he had to spend almost every waking hour in Washington working on solving that crisis.’”
For Obama, spending his time almost exclusively with politicians and advisors meant he was not connecting with the public, something that, over time, could diminish his chances of re-election. What are the implications of the forgotten elements of your business?
Let’s analyze customer relationships. As a good businessperson, you know the value of spending time with customers. But how deeply do you delve into those relationships? We have found that engaging deeply with customers is usually forgotten.
With superficial relationships, it’s what you miss that matters. Specifically, you miss an opportunity to gather market intelligence and consumer insights. Your customers have a valuable perspective. They can provide information about potential future demand that is important to keep in mind when budgeting, scheduling and purchasing. They can also help you identify product improvements and gaps in the marketplace.
Consider this story from our friend Ron Stibich, President of ITW Fibre Glass Evercoat. Stibich’s team has spent hundreds of hours with customers observing them using ITW products. By dissecting the customers’ behavior and processes, his team gained a better understanding of how the products were being used and what problems occurred in the process. This knowledge lead to new and improved products.
Many times, Stichich’s customers hadn’t been able to articulate that they needed anything new. They had accepted the products as they were. By remembering to engage deeply with customers, ITW found new opportunities to lead the industry.
Like the President, the emergency of the day can prevent you from spending time on other important business matters. Great leaders have to learn to juggle them all. How well do you handle all of the elements of your business?
In the last blog of our series, we will be going through our proven strategy that allows leaders to have confidence in their middle managers so they can step away from the daily Run to turn their attention to future focused matters that can lead to growth. Do you have the time to join us for that helpful conversation?
Tags: Budgeting, Building Customer Relationship, CRM, Customer Loyalty, Customer Relationships, Growth, Innovation, ITW, Juggling Time, leadership skills, New Opportunities, proactive improvement, Product Development, Product Life Cycle, Purchasing, Scheduling, Target Market
Posted in Client Recognition, Continuous Improvement Efforts, Developing People, Improvement Tools, Management Insights, Transforming Your Business, Uncategorized | Make a Comment »
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
Blog Article Written By: Ray Attiyah, Chief Innovation Officer
Followers of this blog know I am passionate about innovation. It’s not just an idea. It’s a process that includes active implementation. All too often, the idea is great but implementation lacks substance and a terrific idea dies on the vine before it can bloom.
This is my list of five things that will help prevent your next innovative idea from perishing prematurely.
1. Have the determination to break through barriers.
The implementation of any idea always runs up against logjams. You have to push through them to reach your goal. Leaders must especially share the enthusiasm to push forward.
2. Change what speed means for your organization.
Speed kills. Eliminate the term “speed” and change it with “quick”. Speedy operations are usually riddled with mistakes because the goal is completion; quick operations are smart and focus on time and execution.
3. Sharing best practices from other industries.
While the specific problems of one industry may be structurally different than the issues another industry faces, the best problem solving practices are not. Innovative practices are not constrained by SIC codes.
4. Being a catalyst.
Starting the process of innovation is often the most important step. One crazy idea can spark another and lead to an integrated solution previously not thought possible.
5. Thinking positively.
The implementation journey is a long one; positive thoughts lead to positive energy; positive energy leads to positive action; positive action leads to progress; progress leads to innovation. Your brain created the idea to begin with – don’t let it be sabotaged by negativity.
If you are interested in a more detailed piece on innovation, please click on the link to read our thought leadership article: Innovation for Successful Businesses Expands Beyond the Products.
Tags: Barriers, Best Practices, Change, Determination, Execution, Implementation, Innovation, Innovative Idea, Process, Quickness, Speed, Time
Posted in Uncategorized | Make a Comment »
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
Blog Article Written By: Ray Attiyah, Chief Innovation Officer
Last Thursday, November 11, 2010, we were pleased to host an interesting and informative event with our partners the European American Chamber of Commerce, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and Employers Resource Association. The event, held in Hamilton, Ohio, at the headquarters of ThyssenKrupp Bilstein of America, displayed Bilstein’s teamwork based transformation. It’s a change that decreased costs, increased productivity and improved profitability by 10 percent over pre-recession levels.
Nearly sixty business leaders toured Bilstein’s pristine shop floor and heard six front-line leaders discuss the changes that empowered their operators to take on more responsibility to run the day to day operations. The trust between the operators and leaders ultimately freed the time of management to focus on growth opportunities.
At each of five stations was a huddle board, a medium through which best practices and continuous improvement ideas are discussed on a daily basis. The huddle boards are something tangible – a meeting point and organization station – that helped facilitate improvement related discussions and information dissemination. Yet it was the people and their dedication to solving the problems listed on the huddle board each shift that were the true power behind the company’s solutions.
For Definity’s clients, huddle boards are one of many tools and techniques used to manage toward a sustainable system of continuous improvement. For Bilstein of America, the behavioral changes Definity helped put in place sparked a 12.5% plant-wide OEE increase, 10% margin expansion, a 9.6%
increase in shocks produced per labor hour and – maybe the most indicative expression of the culture change – being voted as a Top Workplace in 2010 by the Cincinnati Enquirer and was a finalist in the Cincinnati Business Courier’s Best Places to Work 2010.
Please click to enjoy photos from the Bilstein of America EAGLE Soars Plant Tour.
Please click to read the entire Transformation EAGLE success story.
Please click to watch the Transformation EAGLE video.
Tags: Bilstein of America, Business Leaders, Continuous Improvement, Cost Cutting, Cultural Change, EACC, Employers Resource Association, ERA, European American Chamber of Commerce, Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, Huddle Board, Improved Profitability, Increased Productivity, Plant Tour, Sustainability, Transformation EAGLE
Posted in Continuous Improvement Efforts, Cultural Evolution, Developing People, Uncategorized | Make a Comment »
