Category Archives: Thoughts On Change

The Priority Matrix

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Image Credit: Madhuri Gupta

Eisenhower’s Priority Matrix is named after it’s founder Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. Before becoming President, Eisenhower served as a general in the United States Army and as the Allied Forces Supreme Commander during World War II.

During this time Eisenhower had to make tough decisions about what tasks he should focus on each day. This led him to invent the world-famous Eisenhower Matrix, which today helps us prioritise by urgency and importance.

More recently this matrix has become popularly known as ‘Covey’s Time Management Matrix’, named after Steven Covey who introduced us to the matrix in his wildly successful bestselling book ‘The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People’ which was first published in 1989.

Whether you call it ‘Eisenhower’s Matrix’ or ‘Covey’s Time Management Matrix’ – the ‘Priority Matrix’ is a highly effective and powerful tool for utilising your time wisely and focusing on what really matters in business & life.

It is widely known that focusing on our priorities can help us reach our goals while also ensuring we don’t become overwhelmed, stressed & burned out along the way.

Many studies have been carried out on the detrimental effects of stress & burnout on the human body and going by these studies stress should be avoided at all costs.

If we add all of our tasks into the Priority Matrix, it looks something like the below which is cluttered and can be overwhelming. Knowing where to focus our energy and time will help us declutter our tasks, feel less overwhelmed and focus on our top priorities.

Here is how the ‘Priority Matrix’ works.

The matrix is divided into 4 quadrants determined by varying degrees of urgency and importance.

Only one of these quadrants will move us closer to our goals.

Only one quadrant will PRIORITISE OUR PROGRESS. 

1. Important and Urgent 

These are tasks that require immediate attention, they must be done asap. 

These can be deadlines, crises, problems that need immediate solutions, emergencies, last minute tasks.

Only tasks that require your immediate attention should go into this quadrant.

Care is required to ensure you do not spend all of time in this quadrant as this quadrant is basically FIRE FIGHTING. 

You will be VERY BUSY in this quadrant but you will be making LITTLE TO NO PROGRESS towards your goals!

This quadrant does not prioritise YOUR progress towards YOUR goals. 

2. Important and Not Urgent 

These are long term tasks that contribute to your business & personal strategy.

These tasks move you closer to YOUR GOALS.  

They are not urgent tasks but must be planned and scheduled to run the business or live the life you want for yourself. 

These are strategy planning, strategy review, goal setting, continuous Improvement, problem solving, learning and personal development.

This is the most important quadrant and you should be spending AS MUCH TIME AS POSSIBLE here.

THE MORE TIME YOU SPEND HERE, the more PRODUCTIVE, SUCCESSFUL & HAPPY you will be.

This quadrant prioritises YOUR progress towards YOUR goals. 

3. Not Important and Urgent

These are tasks that deliver VERY LITTLE VALUE in terms of your goals. 

These are interruptions, problems that do not belong to you, non-relevant phone calls/meetings/e-mails.

The best thing to do with these tasks is to either delegate or decline them. 

They may need to get done, but don’t necessarily need to get done by you. 

In this case delegate asap.

If you can’t delegate, it’s also ok to decline and say no to these time wasting activities.

It’s best to spend as LITTLE TIME AS POSSIBLE here.

This quadrant does not prioritise YOUR progress towards YOUR goals. 

4. Not Important and Not Urgent

These are tasks that deliver NO VALUE AT ALL in terms of your goals but can be enjoyable and used for entertainment and relaxation purposes.

These are watching tv, scrolling social media, video games, surfing the net, needless phone calls/meetings/e-mails.

Watching tv, scrolling social media, video games and surfing the net can be very enjoyable and they are wonderful ways to relax but they are entertainment – unless you work for Netflix etc!  

It’s a matter of balancing these enjoyable, entertaining activities with time spent in quadrant 2!

This quadrant does not prioritise YOUR progress towards YOUR goals. 

That’s it, the Priority Matrix is a pretty simple tool yet incredibly effective and powerful.

  • What quadrant do you spend most of your time in?
  • Where would you like to spend more time?
  • Where would you like to spend less time?

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If so download my free ebook  ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below and you are all signed up! 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

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The 9Rs to Eliminate Overwhelm

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Image Credit: Madhuri Gupta

The English Oxford dictionary describes overwhelm as the following

  1. Give too much of something to; inundate – ‘they were overwhelmed by farewell messages’
  2. Have a strong emotional effect on – ‘I was overwhelmed with guilt’
  3.  Be too strong for; overpower – ‘the Stilton doesn’t overwhelm the flavour of the trout’

Overwhelm to me is more of a feeling, a feeling of having taken on too much, of having too much to do, of not having space or time to organise, focus, and move forward.

My head feels fuzzy, murky, unclear and even the thoughts of facing another item on my ‘to do list’ makes me feel tired.

This is a familiar feeling to me and happens every now and again, not often enough to be a huge issue but often enough that I like to put a system in place to deal with it.

I am very mindful to watch out for and recognise overwhelm as it arrives and deal with it before it affects my physical, mental & emotional health.

These days when I start to feel overwhelmed, I take immediate action to stop it!.

Here are the 9R’s I use to manage and move forward from overwhelm of which should be priority in our lives at all times and not just when we start to feel overwhelmed or stressed, 

1. Rest

Overwhelm and stress (if it has gone that far) is a signal to your mind and body that you need to slow down. One way of slowing down is to get more rest – rest more during your day, take regular breaks from work and keep these breaks device free. If you are taking breaks but using your phone to scroll social media/listen to podcasts/listen to or read books your mind isn’t really getting a break.

Your mind needs a total break from devices to switch off and recharge.

Not only is rest important, it’s quality rest with no electronic devices!!

Another way to slow down is to get more quality hours sleep. Research has shown that we don’t function optimally without sufficient sleep.

Sufficient sleep is a different number for everyone – I have always needed 8 hours sleep to function and I fully feel the effects when I don’t get those 8 hours. By adding ‘adequate sleep’ as a priority to your ‘to do list’ your physical, mental and emotional health will benefit.

2. Relax

How many hours in your day do you spend relaxing, really relaxing –  away from social media and all electronics?

It’s so important to relax, – to stop going, to stop moving, to stop thinking and just breathe!

Whatever you do for relaxation, whether it’s reading, listening to music/podcasts, watching tv, meditating or just being –  it is so important to schedule this into each and every day.

This will not only keep your mind and body healthy, it will also keep you sane! I’m a big fan of relaxing as I know how it supports me to get more done but I don’t relax as much as I would like to or need to. It’s something I definitely need to find more time for and not only when I feel overwhelmed.

3. Reconnect

Reconnecting with yourself and whoever/whatever you may have lost contact with that gives you joy will help you slow down and focus on the priorities in life and not just what makes it to the ‘to do list’.

This reconnection can be with people such as family, friends, colleagues, team mates or it can be with whatever or whomever you have a spiritual or religious connection with –  God, Buddha, Allah, Source, Universe – whatever works for you.

For me, my connection with my boyfriend Mike, my family and my friends is essential for my happiness and well being. There is no easier way to enjoy yourself, slow down and take your mind off your ‘to do list’ than spending quality time (minus electronics!) with the people you love.

My connection to myself and my spiritual growth is the cornerstone on which everything else is built and is absolutely essential for my happiness and well being.

4. Replenish

Replenish your Mind, Body and Soul with what it needs – good food, regular exercise, time in nature, creative hobbies, sports, silence, crowds, prayer – whatever works for you.

Fill your surroundings with good thoughts and kind deeds, this will not only benefit you but those whom you spend time with.

Above all make sure the person you are kindest to is yourself.

For me, the following are the basics required to replenish my Mind, Body and Soul –  quality time with Mike, family & friends, reading, writing, solitude, meditating, journaling and exercising.

5. Remove Clutter

Clutter can be physical, emotional or digital.

Physical clutter is stuff in our physical spaces that no longer serves us. Physical clutter also takes up space in our minds, a messy space is a messy mind. Start clearing physical clutter away and your mind will start to feel clearer. 

Emotional clutter is all sorts of negative energy, thoughts and  beliefs. These are not beneficial to our physical, mental & emotional well being and they do not serve us. Evaluating and replacing these negative energies with positive energies will remove what feels like physical weights from our shoulders. 

Digital clutter seems to build up almost without us knowing. Photos on our phones, digital downloads, scanned documents, space consuming e-mails. If you work online, the amount of digital clutter is almost never ending. Digital clutter can also be scrolling time, time spend mindlessly scrolling and clicking through links online – this creates digital clutter in our brains!!  

Removing all types of clutter will create the space to allow whatever you want in your life to manifest! 

6. Reading

Reading is an excellent way of tuning out of this busy world into other worlds of whatever interests you. 

Reading is for me one of the most relaxing things I can do. I love nothing more than sitting down with a great book, soaking up the wisdom and learning as I relax!

I also love listening to audiobooks while out and about, it’s a very efficient way of getting through books – most audiobooks are narrated by the author which is an added bonus!!

 7. Writing

I know writing starts with W but phonetically it starts with R!

I love writing just as much as I love reading and also find it very relaxing.

Writing helps me gather my thoughts and clear my mind. I love all sorts of writing, writing in my journal, writing blog posts and writing e-books. You can download my first e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ at the end of this blog post. 

I often say, if I could read and write for a living that would be my perfect job! 

I updated this blog post to include the next 2 Rs as my great friend Tony Mc suggested them, thanks Tony! 

8. Rush – no need to rush!

My friend Tony says ‘try not to rush, everyone is in a big rush today’. 

This is so true, I find the speed at which we live our lives has increased.

Add our connection to social media and the online world where everything is instant & immediate and this makes for lives lived at a dizzying speed. 

We all know that the busier we are the faster time seems to go, we also know that we can’t slow down time, the speed at which it passes is set. 

We may not be able to slow down time, but what we can do is slow ourselves down – stop rushing from one thing to another, stop racing to and from activities, stop taking on too much, stop filling our calendars with things to do, stop filling our minds with things to process! 

Being ‘crazy busy’ is not good for your Mind, Body or Soul. What is good for and what nurtures your Mind, Body and Soul is being more mindful, more intentional and more present, all can be achieved by slowing down.

Even reading the words mindful, intentional, present will slow down a bit.

9. Rewind & Reflect 

My friend Tony says ‘rewind and take a step back’ of which I also totally agree. 

If we continuously move forward without rewinding, taking a step back and reflecting on our experiences we are missing out on so much learning. We are our own greatest teachers yet we must invest the time to rewind, step back and reflect to bring our inner teachings into our lives. 

I am a huge fan of reflection.

The wisdom gained from reflecting on your own experiences can be found nowhere else and is well worth the time it takes. 

That’s it, the 9Rs to eliminate overwhelm.

I hope you are using some of these to eliminate overwhelm and avoid stress in your life.

What do you do to deal with overwhelm?

Do you use any of the 9Rs?

Can you suggest anything else to eliminate overwhelm?

Want to read more about Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain 

x x

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How To Free Up Your Time Using Online Outsourcing

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Image Credit: Madhuri Gupta

My blog post on the time management tool ‘The Priority Matrix’ explains that in order to use your time more effectively and make more progress towards your vision and goals you will need to delegate.

There are many reasons to delegate –  it will free up your time to do more of what you want in life and business, you will make more and faster progress towards your goals and among many other benefits you will get access to the skills and talents of those who you delegate to.

Whether you are running a full-time business, a hustle on the side or building a brand there is always so much to do and one person cannot do everything.

I outsource as much as I can which frees up my time to write, research, create content and focus on what I need to focus on.

There are many websites offering outsourcing and judging by the expertise available you can outsource just about anything – Administration, Graphic Design, SEO, Web Development, Blog Editing, Podcast Editing etc, the list goes on and on.

My website of choice is Upwork.

Upwork is a user friendly, highly efficient website that makes the process of hiring and working with freelancers from all over the world so quick and simple.

To find suitable freelancers to work with through Upwork you will require the following

 

 

  • An e-mail account – this takes 5 minutes to set up on any of the free platforms

 

  • A method of payment – Upwork accepts Visa or Paypal – Paypal takes about 5 mins to set up

 

  • Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) – these are documents outlining the step by step tasks required that your freelancer can easily follow. The more detailed the SOP the more efficient the process will be – I use Google Docs to create SOPs as it is a dream to use and is easily sharable

 

  • An online sharing platform – this allows you to share your files/images/documents with your freelancer. My favourite online sharing platform is DropBox which takes 5 minutes to set up. I also use Google Drive which is very handy and is free with a gmail email account. 

 

All of the above are ABSOLUTELY FREE and are sufficient to get you on the road to hiring your first freelancer!!

When you have all of the above in place, you are ready to hire your first freelancer. Upwork’s hiring process is really simple and goes something like this

 

  • Create your job description on Upwork – the more specific you are when creating your job description, the more streamlined the hiring process will be

 

  • Post your job on Upwork – fabulous freelancers will then apply for it 

 

  • Review the applicants – for me this is the most challenging part of the process as there are so many talented people available through Upwork

 

  • Connect with/interview shortlisted applicants – as Upwork has access to globally based freelancers, chances are your preferred applicants won’t live near you and so you will need Zoom or another platform for face to face interviews. Most of the time there is no need to interview as the freelancer’s portfolio speaks for itself, such is the calibre of freelancers available on Upwork.

 

  • Hire your freelancer of choice – share the Standard Operating Procedure with goals, timelines and an agreed price for the job then sit back and relax. Your freelancer will notify you when the job is completed and Upwork will arrange payment. All that is left to do  is thank your freelancer for a job well done!!

Upwork is highly efficient – within 10 minutes of setting up my account I posted my first job, in 3 hours I had almost 20 job applicants and within that same day I hired my first freelancer. That was eight years ago and since then I have worked with the most talented, wonderful people from all over the world. 

Can fabulous freelancers help free up your precious time?

Can fabulous freelancers bring you and your business to a different level?

Could you make a side income by becoming a fabulous freelancer and sharing your gifts with the world?

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain 

x x

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5 Leadership Lessons from the King Of The Cats

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Kilkenny Senior Hurling team Manager Brian Cody was the speaker at the Limerick Chamber Leadership talk hosted by Dell, Limerick last Monday.  To say Brian is an inspirational speaker is a huge understatement!

I come from a hurling background and totally understand the passion that people feel towards the fast paced, skillful and exciting game that is hurling.

Brian Cody throughout his 20 years as manager with Kilkenny has taken this speed, skill and passion to another level, leading the Kilkenny Cats to  win 42 major honours. These include 11 All-Ireland Championships (including a record-equalling four-in-a-row between 2006 and 2009), 15 Leinster Championships in eighteen seasons, 9 National Leagues, including 5 league championship doubles and 7 Walsh Cups. (Thanks for the stats Wikipedia)

Brian Cody is an unassuming man but has immense presence, from the minute he took to the stage I was hanging on his every word.

Here are some of the Leadership Lessons Brian shared with us,

  1. Cultivate an unbreakable spirit – Brian spoke about the spirit of teams and individuals many times. As he did he gave a downward air punch showing that not only must you have an unbreakable spirit but you must have passion behind this unbreakable spirit. Brian explained it is this unbreakable spirit that keeps you and your team going and keeps you and your team focused during the hard times whether in sport or business
  2. Be yourself and be confident in your own ability – Brian suggests to be a great leader you must be yourself and be happy with being yourself and who you are. As well as being yourself, you must have the utmost confidence in yourself and your ability and know that there are no limits for you or for anyone on your team – the sky is the limit! When your team know you have immense confidence in them, the sky really is the limit.
  3. Be a team player – Brian spoke fondly of all the Kilkenny players he has managed and coached to success. He suggested that everyone has something to contribute and everyone has the potential to be a leader. Treating everyone fairly and with respect instilled the essential teamwork that has led Kilkenny through so many successful years
  4. Have standards of excellence – Brian is not the sort of man that accepts mediocrity. He expects standards of excellence from all of his players and all of the staff that work with and support the players. He holds high standards for himself and ensures he is the the leader who leads by example.
  5. Be humble and remove the ego – Many times Brian quoted the following ‘Nobody knows everything but everyone knows something’. It is such a true saying. Ego driven leaders believe they know it all and that everyone else knows very little! Humble leaders like Brian Cody know they have a certain skill set that is of utmost importance but also that their team have the other skills that are of equal importance and are necessary for success. A good leader like Brian, utilises his team’s strengths and skills to instill teamwork and make the team as strong as it can be

During the Q&A session Brian was asked ‘When will you step down’?.

Looking around at a mostly Limerick audience he smiled and said ‘When Limerick win the All-Ireland’. So will this be the year Brian Cody steps down? Limerick Abu!!

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x x
My mates Marie and Brian

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Lean Transformation in a Barcelona A&E Department

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Lean healthcare is a subject that is becoming more and more commonplace and this is good news for each and every one of us.

Last year I attended the The Lean Enterprise Academy Summit. This Summit is always an amazing event – 3 days packed with presentations, learning sessions and masterclasses solely focused on Lean and the immense business and personal benefits a Lean culture brings.

My 2 favourite sessions were from industries both based in Barcelona. The first learning session introduced us to Augustin Tena Leon (Head of Sales, 365 Cafe) and Oriol Cuatrecasas (Founder and Lean Development  – Instituto Lean Management). My previous blog post ‘The Virtual Gemba Walk in Barcelona’ outlines the incredible work Cafe 365 have done on their Lean journey.

The second learning session was from Dr Miguel Sanchez, Head of the Accident and Emergency department at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona

From the beginning of his presentation Dr Miguel Sanchez showed immense passion for the Emergency Department he works in, the work he does, his team and the Lean journey they are on. His passion was obvious as he spoke about the improvements they had made and was equally evident when he spoke about where level 3 of the Emergency Department was before they started on their Lean journey and all of the problem they originally had.

This was very impressive as for Lean to be successful you need to be as interested in your problems as you are in your proposed solutions. Human nature sends us running at the speed of light to solutions before we even know what the real problem is and before we have taken time to investigate exactly why (root cause) the problem is occurring.

Oriol brought us through a simulation to show how chaotic the A&E department was before they started their Lean journey. We split into teams of 4 hospitals with the quest to see how many patients we could get through the hospital process. We were all given ‘imaginary’ jobs, titles, tolls, instructions and 8 minutes.

As the simulation progressed the process and the people started to fall apart and chaos set in! Patients continuously flowed into the hospital, the administrator got stressed and confused, the blood and urine analysts started shouting that they needed to get more patients in, the patient discharge person was frustrated as they weren’t very busy. The doctor who had to sign off on all the tests were stressed and frustrated at the level of repeated analysis required, seeing patients many times and the overall chaotic conditions under which they were working.  At the end of the 8 minutes everyone was stressed. Does this sound familiar? Is this how your workplace works?

What was the problem?

As mentioned above, everyone started diving straight into solution mode – ‘I know what’s wrong’  ‘I know how to fix it’  ‘Let’s do this , let’s do that!’!!! Keep in mind this is a room full of Lean practitioners who had just created immense Lean waste and gone against every lean principle we had ever learned.

Now we had felt the stress and frustration that by Dr Miguel Sanchez’s team experienced on a daily basis it was time to see the results of their Lean journey.

The results were absolutely amazing, thanks to Dr. Sanchez and his team, the A&E department was transformed and reduced the patient waiting time by 44%. That is a phenomenal reduction in patient waiting time. If you work in a  hospital, can you imagine what this would do for your department, your patients, your employees?

They achieved this by some simple changes such as

1. One Doctor and nurse team

2. One medical cart per team

3. One computer and workstation per team

4. Assigned beds per team

These changes enabled the Accident and Emergency department to implement Standard Work, Flow, Visual Management and eliminate the immense amount of Lean waste that they had identified at the beginning of their journey.

The changes increased the patient throughput, enhanced the patient experience and also increased the safety and job satisfaction for all of Dr Miguel’s team.

Another fine example of Lean and the huge benefits is brings.

Could Lean benefit your A&E department or your workplace?

Keeping it Simple,

Siobhain

x x x

 

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The Virtual Gemba Walk in Barcelona

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Photo Credit – Mink Mingle (Unsplash)

Last year I attended the UK Lean Enterprise Academy Summit. This Summit is always an amazing event – 3 days packed with presentations, learning sessions and masterclasses solely focused on Lean and the immense business and personal benefits a Lean culture brings.

My 2 favourite sessions were from industries both based in Barcelona.

The first learning session introduced us to Augustin Tena Leon (Head of Sales, 365 Cafe) and Oriol Cuatrecasas (Founder and Lean Development  – Instituto Lean Management).

Augustin and Oriol held our attention throughout the presentation with their high energy, obvious passion for Lean and pride in what they have achieved through their Lean journey with Cafe 365. Augustin and Oriol made it very clear that culture change was at the heart of their Lean transformation as they spoke about

‘The most important part of our company is our people’, ‘The joy never has to be lost’ and ‘Customer first’

Their presentation took us through their Lean journey starting with their factory where their delicious products are created through to their shops where their products are sold. They involved us all in a hilarious simulation of the bakery shops pre 2009. This simulation highlighted the chaos, waste, unhappy customers and unhappy employees that used to be part of the daily operations of Cafe 365.

In contrast to this chaos Augustin and Oriol invited us to see what their business is like now that they work in a Lean environment. I expected a presentation or maybe another simulation but no….in true genius style  Augustin and Oriol connected us to one of their shops in Barcelona via web link! And so a virtual Gemba Walk in Barcelona began!

Photo Credit – Leon Ephraim (Unsplash)

The staff of Cafe 365 in Barcelona were as excited to be part of this virtual Gemba Walk as we were, they welcomed us to their cafe and introduced us to their Standard Work, Kanban system, Audit system and their problem identification, escalation and resolution system. They showed us their storage area which was tiny but hugely sufficient and their refrigeration area  that was also tiny but hugely sufficient.

This was a most impressive Gemba Walk – to see the simple tools of Lean implemented into a bakery and cafe environment instilled in me more confidence that Lean can be used and taken advantage of in absolutely every area of business no matter what the industry is.

The tools and principles implemented were obviously making Cafe 365’s business more profitable and sustainable and set them up for growth of which they have enjoyed at an exponential rate. More than this and what really stood out for me was the positive culture we were lucky enough to be witnessing.

As we moved from one area to the next of this virtual Gemba Walk it was the employees who spoke to us, it was the employees who answered all of our questions and it was the employees to whom gratitude and recognition was given by Augustin and Oriol and each other. Everyone was so proud to  show us how they work for the company and for each other.

Photo Credit – Kari Shea (Unsplash)

Cafe 365 is a supreme example of what a Lean culture is. Lean tools and principles can be learned from any of the many amazing books available on Lean, however it is the deep respect that is shown for each and every employee that will bring the real sustainable and transformational change that is required for a business to fully embed and enjoy a Lean culture.

When asked if there was any employee currently in the shop that was also there pre 2009 (pre Lean implementation) and what the transformation had meant to them,  one lady stepped forward from the back of the crowd of employees and with a beaming smile and said

‘Before things were difficult and hard, now they are enjoyable and simple’ .

These words were softly spoken, however the message was profoundly loud.

Augustin and Oriol left us with this statement

 ‘Lean brought us one of the most extraordinary and radicle changes we have witnessed in a  business’

This learning session with Augustin, Oriol and Cafe 365 left me with confidence that the career path I have chosen is completely the right one for me and that Lean is even more powerful than I had previously envisioned.

Could Lean transform your business?

Keeping it Simple,

Siobhain

x x x

 

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Meeting Art and Understanding Lean

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Oprah calls it an ‘Aha’ moment – the moment when something falls into place, when the penny drops, when a lightbulb goes off in your brain and you understand something with an immense clarity that you previously didn’t have.

I experienced this ‘Aha’ moment over 6 years ago when Art Byrne delivered his keynote speech at the 2013 Lean Enterprise Academy Summit. As well as a great guy, Art is a powerhouse of Lean knowledge having lived Lean with it’s highs and lows for many decades. I have read Art’s wonderful book ‘The Lean Turnaround’ many times and knew I was in for something special as Art took to the stage.

My ‘Aha’ moment came in as short a time as 4 minutes into Art’s talk. I had always known that Lean enabled a better, more efficient, more inclusive way of working however after listening to and understanding Art’s simple explanation of Lean, the power of this methodology was finally clear to me. Key elements from these short 4 minutes of Art’s talk that helped me understand the power of Lean are as follows

  • Lean is not a bunch of tools
  • Lean is not a collection of projects or belts (Art in his fabulous honesty makes it clear that in running a business you are not running a karate class!!!)
  • Lean is ‘the biggest strategic business weapon you can ever have’  – a business being ‘a collection of people and processes trying to deliver value to a set of customers and always the best team wins’.
  • Lean is a growth strategy not a cost cutting strategy.

Art continued by explaining the key elements required to be successful at Lean which are having Lean and Operational Excellence are your core strategy, that Lean is led from the top and that people are transformed. Without these elements, Art explains very honestly,  failure will be the outcome!

As Art spoke about transforming people, he explained that people are the only asset you have that appreciates and you want them to keep appreciating, that you also need to respect your people because the best improvement ideas come from the people doing the work. To do this you need to create a learning environment where people are learning every day and are excited to come to work. This then becomes your culture, the way things are done around here – this is Lean.

Art summed up all of the above by simply saying –  Lean is a people thing!

[tweetthis]’Lean is a people thing’ Art Byrne[/tweetthis]

I met Art at one of the break out sessions. He was gracious, humble and generous with his time. I spoke with him around challenges I was having in implementing Lean in my role as I  did not have the influence of a CEO for Lean to ‘come from the top’. He smiled and gave me some of the best advice I have ever received. He said ‘be the CEO in your area’, excellent advice for anyone trying to make things better when it’s not coming from the top!

Art signed my copy of his book ‘The Lean Turnaround’ by using a popular phrase synonymous with Guinness – it was Art’s way of saying how much he loved Ireland and how much he respects Kaizen. And yes, I totally agree with him, Kaizen is good for you!!!!

I left the 2103 Lean Enterprise Academy Summit energetic, enthused and looking forward to the next steps on my Lean journey.

Over 6 years later my Lean journey continues to experience highs and lows, I’m happy to say more highs than lows these days and always, always learning lessons which is at the core of what Lean is about – continuous learning!

Thanks for reading,

Keeping it Simple,

Siobhain

x x x

 

 

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