Life and Business Lessons

12 Key Takeaways

#leadership #lean #operationalexcellence #leansixsigma #engagement #excellence

by Mark Preston

I have been fortunate enough to teach Lean Six Sigma Black Belt training for many years and at the end of each class I always like to make sure that they take away some important lessons to use in not only business, but in life. You will find 12 of these takeaways below.?

1. People are not afraid of Change; they are afraid of Uncertainty - Be clear in your communication with everyone and show them your vision of how change will help them in the future.
2. See Value in the Eyes of the Customer - Put yourself in the shoes of your internal and external customers and then look at Value from their perspective.
3. Be Proactive vs. Reactive - Are you putting out fires all day long or have you stopped long enough to eliminate the sources of the fires? Don’t play Whack-a-Mole, jumping from one problem to the next. Look at the big picture and drive the Moles out of the company.
4. People Learn differently. (Visual, Reading, Doing) - Make sure when you train or coach others that you do not blame them for not understanding what you are delivering. It is not what you deliver, but it's about what they receive.
5. Respect for People is the key to Great Teamwork - Treat people how you want to be treated. Leaders that point at their team have 3 fingers pointing back at themselves. First Finger – Did you give them the tools to do their job. Second Finger – Did you put them in the right environment to do their job? Third Finger – Did you Communicate clearly for them to do their job.
6. 5S your own Toolbox or Golf Bag - Can you find something in your computer files in 3 seconds or less? 5S your computer – use hotlinks, Dashboards, Looney Tunes Folders or whatever it takes to make it simple and easy. Just like a fire Extinguisher – When you need it, it had better be easy to retrieve.
7. Find Different ways to Engage and Teach people to see Waste - The first step is Learning to See. Think about using Rattlesnake Hunts, Value Stream Mapping, Quality Stream Mapping, or other techniques to see the big picture and the rocks under your feet.?
8. If it’s not written down, it’s not a process and you can’t improve it - If only one person knows how to do something, it is not an advantage to them but a risk to the company. Document the Process or Standard Work and then you can see and improve it.
9. Benchmark the Best and improve for more - If you start improving with something or some idea, it will take you further than starting with nothing. Don’t stop after you copy and paste, think infinitely vs. finitely. Your competition or the best we know today should never be a ceiling to your potential for improvement.
10. Create a Learning Culture with your team - Toyota is founded on developing a Learning Culture. Always coach and mentor others on your team to learn new things. Are you coaching them to benchmark others – AME, Supply Chain Now, ……, learn about new technologies – 3D printing, Augmented Reality, ……., learn more from classes available in colleges / Universities?
11. Preparation / Communication / Structure / Follow Up - Great improvement starts with Preparation. Spend as much time preparing as you do implement. Without effective Communication, great ideas seem to get lost in translation. Think Structure for repeated improvement and sustainment. One thing is always true – Things change! and follow up must be done for sustaining the gains that you worked so hard to improve.?
12. Create a Personal Board of Directors - The best board of Directors for companies is not made up of the same knowledge base. They leverage each other’s knowledge to conquer opportunities as they present themselves. Think about the people that have influenced you in your life and the knowledge that they have bestowed upon you at different times in your life. Those key people have different strengths that you should stay connected with. Think of them as your personal board of directors and have dinner with them occasionally for wisdom.

What are Key Takeaways that you have learned over the years that you would like to share in the comments?