PDCA – Dr Deming’s Gift To The World

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Image Credit:  Madhuri Gupta

William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an American engineer, statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and management consultant.

Dr Deming’s philosophy below (thanks Wikipedia) will give you an insight into his profound wisdom and deep understanding of systems and operations and how they work efficiently, effectively and optimally.

‘Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organisations can increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs (by reducing waste, rework, staff attrition and litigation while increasing customer loyalty). The key is to practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not as bits and pieces.”

The above sentence sums up why all businesses would benefit from Lean and how Lean requires to be implemented through a series of systems that support the work and not as a stand alone philosophy.

See ‘Wikipedia’ for more information on Dr Deming and his great work.

The Plan, Do, Check, Act Cycle, or PDCA cycle, is a technique designed to facilitate continuous improvement in the workplace. It is also referred to as the Deming Cycle, as it was popularized under the instruction of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Deming was introduced to the concept by Walter Shewart, a statistical quality control expert. PDCA has also been referred to as PDSA (Plan, Do Study, Act), PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Adjust) and numerous variations in between.

Whichever version you decide to you the principles are the same.

Dr Deming’s PDCA cycle has completely changed how I work and how I live. Everything I do in relation to projects & work (personal and professional) now goes through this cycle or some variation of it. Let me give you an insight into how it works and the benefits it brings.

PLAN

(Develop a detailed plan )

This is the first step in the Deming cycle, and it is here you determine exactly what the opportunity for change is.  In this first step, it is important to determine what problem you are solving, what is the goal, what will the measurements of success be and how will you implement this change.

It is here that you determine exactly what you need to achieve success and how you will know you are successful. The only way to know if something has improved is by measuring it and so it is critical to determine what metrics will give you this information and how you will collect these metrics.

When you are happy you have a detailed plan, know what metrics you will monitor (and how you will gather and monitor these), it’s time to move into the ‘Do’ phase.

The above sounds very simple but it’s not uncommon for people, departments and organisations to plough ahead with change without a detailed well thought out plan.

Spending most of your time in the Plan phase will set you up for success on the next stages of the PDCA cycle.

DO

(Implement the changes according to the plan)

Here it is time for action and time to use the plan developed above to put that action in place. The plan will serve as an excellent guide and reminder of exactly what it is you want to achieve. The metrics you will gather during the ‘Do’ phase will ensure you are continuously moving in the right direction towards success.

If you are leading a team, department or an organisation through change it should be very clear at all stages in the ‘Do’ phase where you are with the change and what the next steps are.

CHECK

(Reflect on and evaluate results)

This phase reduces rework and provides clarity.

 This step is sometimes referred to as the study phase. Here we are reviewing and analysing the results of the improvements implemented in the Do phase.

In this phase you ‘Check’ if your initial goal from the ‘Plan’ phase has been reached and ‘Check’ if the metrics gathered support this goal achievement.

Did you reach your goal?

Do the metrics support this?

Are you happy that this initiative has been a success?

ACT

(What are the next steps?)

This step is our last in the where we ask 2 questions and act accordingly on the answers.

Did we reach our goal?

If the answer is Yes, we standardise, document and roll out the new process, training those who need to be trained. This is the new Standard Work on which we continuously improve.

If the answer is No, we may need to alter our methods of implementation, develop a new plan, or test our improvements on a larger scale.

As this is a cycle, the PDCA process never really ends.

It repeats itself providing the path to continuous improvement.

Do you use the PDCA cycle?

Could the PDCA cycle help you transform how you live and work?

Want to read more about change?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Extreme Ownership

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To say I adore this book is a huge understatement. It is, by far, the best, most profound, most exciting, most down to earth book i have ever read on leadership. Here’s my book review on just some of the reasons why I love it so much.

Jocko starts this incredible book by explaining that this is not an individual’s glorified war story but it is indeed ‘all about the team’. The focus on teamwork is evident from the beginning of this book, throughout every chapter right up to the last word. Jocko explains as ‘Seals they operate as a team of high calibre, multi-talented individuals who have been through perhaps the toughest military training and the most rigorous screening process anywhere. In the Seal program, it is all about the team, the sum is far greater than the parts’.  Jocko goes on to say ‘we call ourselves team guys’.

[tweetthis]’There can be no Leadership where there is no team’ Jocko Willink [/tweetthis]

We are given a glimpse into the fine characters of these great Leaders Jocko Willink and Leif Babin as Leif explains they wrote the book to capture and pass on the Leadership lessons they had learned on the battlefield and through their work with civilian business’s so that such crucial lessons may not be forgotten or need to be relearned or rewritten. Jocko and Leif wrote this book for Leaders everywhere so they may use the principles they share to lead and win.

Even with all of their accomplishments, experience and knowledge, Jocko and Leif remain extremely humble which is hugely admirable. This humility is evident as they explain they ‘continue to learn and grow as Leaders every day and that they pass on these Leadership lessons not from a pedestal or a position of superiority but from a humble place where the scars of their failings still show’.

Similar to Lean, the single most important factor on the battlefield or in business is Leadership.

Throughout the book, Jocko and Leif tell stories from the battlefield and the civilian world of business where they have supported businesses to get back on track and solve their problems using the following Extreme Ownership principles that they teach.

  1. All responsibility for success or failure lies with the Leader
  2. The Leader must own everything in his/her world – there is no-one else to blame
  3. The Leader must acknowledge mistakes and admit failures and take ownership of them
  4. Leaders take responsibility not only for their own job but for everything that impacts their mission
  5. Leaders do not blame subordinates
  6. It is all on the Leaders
  7. Taking ownership when things go wrong requires extraordinary humility and courage, doing just that is an absolute necessity to learning and growing as a Leader and improving a team’s performance
  8. Extreme Ownership requires Leaders to look at the problems of an organisation through the objective lens of reality without emotional attachments to agendas or plans
  9. A Leader must set aside egos and accept responsibility for failures and consistently work to build a better and more effective team
  10. The Leader does not take credit for his/her team’s success’s but bestows this honour on team leaders and team members
  11. When a Leader sets this example and expects this from others, the mindset develops into the culture at every level – efficiency and effectiveness increase exponentially and a high-performance winning team is the result
  12. There are no bad teams only bad Leaders
  13. Leadership is the single greatest factor in any team’s performance
  14. The Leaders attitude sets the tone for the entire team
  15. The Leader either drives performance or doesn’t

Every chapter of this book is filled with nuggets of wisdom in relation to everything that is integral to Extreme Ownership. Jocko and Leif back up their advice with stories from the battlefield highlighting both when the benefits of having and the devastating effects of not having Extreme Ownership can have on a team.

As I read through every chapter of this book I realised that all the principles, advice and lessons learned shared by Jocko and Leif can be utilised to great effect in every area of business and life. Here are a few of my favourite Extreme Ownership principles,

  • Decentralised Command – the ability to delegate to others while still having full understanding of the overall high-level picture and the details required to deliver your Mission
  • Simplicity – the chapter on Simplicity is my favourite chapter as I am a minimalist and if this is a word a ‘simplist’! I like keeping things straight forward and simple. This chapter explains the necessity of keeping everything as simple as possible as over complicating the simple on the battlefield can cost lives. Over complicating the simple in civilian business may not have the same devastating effects but the costs can still be very high.
  •  Prioritise and Execute – How do you prioritise; how do you determine what is the most important next step? Do you prioritise or is everything a priority? The concept that anything more than one priority is not a priority rings true in this chapter. How can you move forward in the right direction if everything is a priority?
  • Standardised Planning Process – How do you plan your life? How do you plan your business? How do you plan for your Mission? Do you have a Standardised Planning Process? How do you ensure everyone understands the plan and their part in it? It is critical that the troops on the ground understand what the plan is and how it is going to be executed. If front line troops don’t understand the plan, questions must be asked until everyone is crystal clear. Everyone must know the Mission, understand the Mission and know what part they play in the Mission.
  • Situational Awareness – leading up and down the chain of command, aligning Leaders at all levels of the organisation. Not only supporting and leading those in your care but also supporting and leading those who lead you.
  • Discipline equals Freedom – Standard Operating Procedures and the discipline to be more flexible, adaptable and efficient. With this discipline, changes and improvements become easier. This Standardisation is similar to the Lean philosophy of Standard Work.

‘The Dichotomy of Leadership’ is Jocko and Leif’s follow up book which is on my ‘to read next’ list. Jocko and Leif introduce us to these ‘Leadership Dichotomies’ in the last chapter,

  1. A Leader must lead but also be ready to follow – a true Leader is not intimidated by others who step up
  2. A Leader must be aggressive but not overbearing
  3. A Leader must be calm but not robotic – it is normal and necessary to show emotion
  4. A Leader must be confident but not cocky – confidence is contagious – a great attribute for a Leader and a team
  5. A Leader must be brave but not foolhardy
  6. Leaders must have a competitive spirit but also be gracious losers
  7. A Leader must be attentive to details but not be obsessed by them
  8. A Leader must be strong but likewise have endurance not only physically but also mentally
  9. Leaders must be humble but not passive, quiet but not silent
  10. A Leader must be close with subordinates but not too close – the best Leaders understand the motivations of their team members and know their people, their lives and their families. A Leader must never grow so close to subordinates that one member of the team becomes more important than another or more important than the Mission itself.
  11. A Leader must exercise Extreme Ownership, simultaneously that Leader must employ decentralised command by giving up control to subordinate Leaders
  12. Finally, a Leader has nothing to prove but everything to prove. By virtue of rank and position the team understands that the Leader is in charge. A good Leader does not gloat or revel in his or her position. To take charge of minute details just to demonstrate and reinforce to the team a Leader’s authority is the mark of poor, inexperienced Leadership lacking in confidence.

I have read many books on Leadership and this book is up there with the very best. Jocko and Leif’s immense courage is admirable, however it’s their simplistic, humble yet extremely knowledgeable approach to Leadership that makes them such inspirational Leaders and this book such an enjoyable read and invaluable resource. Their lessons, while learned on the battlefield, are relevant for each one of us no matter what role we play in life and business. I cannot recommend this book highly enough no matter who you are or what Leadership means to you.

After the leaving the SEAL teams, Jocko and Leif set up their own company called ‘Echelon Front’ where they support and teach businesses ‘Extreme Ownership’ Leadership principles.

I listened to ‘Extreme Ownership’ on audible which has the added bonus that it is narrated by the authors, Jocko and Leif.

Here’s hoping you love this book as much as I did,

Thanks for reading, check out my free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ by entering your e-mail address below,

Siobhain

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The ‘Not To Do List’

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Do you have a ‘Not To Do List’ ?

Lately, the Not To Do List has become my favourite time management tool!

My recent post on the time management tool ‘The Priority Matrix’ highlights that there are many tasks that could be moved from your ‘to do list’ to your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’.

As our lives get busier and busier – creating, updating and getting through our ‘to do lists’ can sometimes feel a little overwhelming. The ‘so much to do, so little time’ syndrome has become widespread as we move through the digital age trying to juggle all that is part of our day to day lives.

The constant and exhausting need to take everything on and get everything done will eventually lead to burnout.

So how do we deal with our ever increasing ‘to do lists’ and the constant and consistent requests for our precious time?

First, prioritise what is on your ‘to do list’ by using ‘The Priority Matrix’.

Then place everything that does not need to be done on your  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’.

If you update your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ every day you will feel you are getting through tasks by the simple movement of tasks from one list to another. 

Time is so precious and a ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ can make us think deeply about where we spend our precious time.

 To say my  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ has totally transformed how I get things done is an understatement.  For me, my ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ is just as important and gets as much attention as my ‘to do list’.

As a big fan of lists but also as someone who is susceptible to overwhelm, I use a  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ every single day. As I review my daily plan of what needs to get done I also review what doesn’t need to get done that day. 

I am always astounded at the amount of tasks that end up on my  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ freeing up precious time!

Even physically moving something from your ‘to do list’  to your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ will give you a sense of achievement! 

Do you have a  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’? 

Could this help you free up time to focus on more important things in your life/business?

What would go on your  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’?

Want to read more about Positive Change?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain 

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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?

Do you want to join my weekly newsletter?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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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 

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Annual Review 2018

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It’s that time of year again, time to reflect on what the year has brought us and time to look forward and plan for the unknown future. Time to be grateful that we are still here to experience and enjoy life, time to carry out the Annual Review. In the Lean/Continuous Improvement world we carry out ‘Hansei’ which is Japanese (反射) for ‘Self-Reflection’. Hansei allows us to review goals (personal and professional) and reflect on how they went to see what worked so we can build on the successes and see what didn’t work so we can adjust and change direction.

I have been carrying out a ‘Hansei’ or Annual Review for many years now and find it hard to believe this is the 6th year I have published this review online. Time really does go very fast! See Annual Reviews from past years below,

Annual Review 2013  Annual Review 2014  Annual Review 2015  

Annual Review 2016  Annual Review 2017

2018 wasn’t a bad year but I did find it very challenging for many different reasons. In turn these challenges had a counterproductive impact on the goals I set in all areas of my life. I reached very few targets and 2018 was probably my least productive year in many years. In saying that I learned more lessons this year than many previous years and so it was more of a learning year than a productive year!  In his amazing book ‘The Power of Now’, Eckhart Tolle talks about cycles of low and high energy that we all go through. 2018 was for me definitely a year of low energy, which if I look on the bright side means 2019 will most certainly be a year of high energy!

In the Lean world when things don’t work out as planned (as they often don’t) we always evaluate why things didn’t work out, what lessons we can take and how we can do things better. I will keep this Lean philosophy very much in mind as i set goals for 2019.

But for now, here is my Annual Review for 2018 – as always Mike, my family and my friends are my reason for everything. and the source of much of my happiness. 

I continue to work for and enjoy my role with daa implementing Lean Strategy & Culture. As with my personal life, my professional life seemed to be about learning lots of lessons this year. The highlight of my year was traveling to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to train Riyadh Airport colleagues on the principles of Lean and Project Management. This was an incredible opportunity & trip thanks to my amazing friend Debbie Kearns. I loved every minute of my time in Riyadh and hold dear memories of the people I met, the food, the culture and the 42C heat!

In 2018 I became even more convinced of the power and necessity of Lean Culture in business. Respect for and development of people is truly the only way to grow and sustain  businesses to what they are capable of becoming. Lacking these people focused elements and treating people poorly will ensure your company is one that people cannot wait to leave and are in no hurry to join, leaving your company moral on a downward spiral with your profits following closely behind.

In terms of personal goals, 2018 was my second year using the principles and structures of Hoshin Kanri (Lean Strategy Deployment) to set, monitor, action and review personal goals and objectives. These systems and structure give me more visibility into progress of goals and in 2018 highlighted so many areas of my life that need focus, attention and/or change.

This blog is where I share thoughts, information and resources on Lean and Positive Change. One of my goals for 2018 was to write and publish a blog post a week (52 in total).  I didn’t reach this goal as I completely underestimated how much time it takes to create, edit and publish blog posts. I did manage to publish 24 blog posts which is the same number as last year and the most I have published in any year. Better luck next year!

I continued to work with the brilliant cartoonist Andy Kefford who creates the cartoons of ‘Pinky the Positive Pig’ who is the star of my 26 part blog post series ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’. You can view all of the published blog posts in this series here ‘The Complete A-Z Of Effective Change’. Andy, Pinky and I are currently working on a new writing project which will be launched early in 2019!

In terms of travel, Mike and I enjoyed weekends away around Ireland during the year and a fabulous week in Rome at the end of November. I dusted off my skiing skills and joined my mates Karin and Paula for a fun few days on the German slopes in February. In June my fabulous sister in law, Aoife turned 40 and we celebrated with a family holiday in Lanzarote. As mentioned above I travelled to Saudi Arabia with work and loved every minute of my trip. 

I’m way behind with editing images from trips in 2018 and 2017. This is another area that needs more focus in 2019. A little later than planned I published ‘The Top 5 Things To Do In Dubai’ following my trip to Dubal with my Mom in 2017.

 I enjoyed working with my gorgeous family and friends on photo shoots this year and have a few already booked in for 2019. It is always a joy to work with those you love.

If you are new to my Travel Photography work you can view my  images here on my website ‘www.siodanphoto.com’ and read my Travel Photography blog posts on my blog ‘The Photographer’s Guide To Travel’.

Like most things in life, the more I learn about social media and online marketing the more I realise I don’t know. Social media changes each and every day and so there is always much to learn. 

As mentioned above I published 24 blog posts this year which helped moved my social media metrics in the right direction. I’m not a professional writer nor do I have any formal training as a writer. What i have learned over the past couple of years is that not only do you need to build skills to write content but you also need to find the time to think, write, edit, publish and market content. Finding the time to write, edit , publish and market is where I struggled last year and is a real focus area for me in 2019.

Throughout most of 2018 I continued to post daily inspirational quotes to various social media platforms which helped me learn more about posting, scheduling and outsourcing on social media. 

Social media and online tools are constantly changing and it is a job in itself to keep up with these changes. It’s as challenging as it is fascinating and I look forward to learning and sharing more in 2019. 

I take both my physical and mental health very seriously as I firmly believe the popular Irish saying ‘your health is your wealth’. Knowing what nurtures or challenges my physical & mental health allows me to make decisions to protect both.

I try to eat healthy and exercise regularly but I find I need to work much harder as the years go by. We all know that eating healthy and exercising is all we need to do to be fit and  healthy – if it were as simple as this I’d be size 8 with abs of steel! This has always been a work in progress area for me and will continue to be a focus for 2019.

To keep my mind/spirit active and healthy I read as much as I can. My goal was to read a new book every 2 weeks this year (26 in total) but I didn’t get near this goal reading just 13 new books. I did however read some books many times. Ironically my favourite book this year was ‘Black Box Thinking’ by Matthew Syed. This book highlights the inevitability of failure and subsequent learnings from failure on the path to success. Matthew’s writing is genius as he explores learning from failure that ultimately leads to success in the Aviation, Healthcare and Criminal Justice worlds. 

In 2018 even though I didn’t reach many of my personal goals in this area I am much more aware of what actions are required to reach these goals and the discipline needed to consistently take this action.

Every year my goals include understanding more about personal & business finance.  In this quest every year I re-read Tony Robbins book ‘Money Master the Game – 7 Simple Steps To Financial Freedom’.  Tony is a master when it comes to finance and in this book he not only shares his own wisdom but also leverages the wisdom of many of the world’s finest financial advisors to share their advice, insights and experience. Tony’s book is written in an easy to understand format for all levels of wealth which is why I like it so much.

This year I monitored income, spending and savings much more closely than I have done in previous years. Like many people I am not what you would call ‘good with money’ and I need to work much harder on this than I had previously anticipated.

 

It’s nice to give back. I have been supporting various charities for many years and year on year I try to give more to each charity whether this is monetary support or volunteering my time. This is something I will continue with and build on in 2019.

That’s it, 2018 in review. When I look back on 2018 I do so with gratitude. Gratitude for all the amazing people in my life and gratitude for the lessons 2018 has taught me no matter how hard some of these lessons were to learn. I look forward to ringing in the New Year and seeing what 2019 has in store!

Thank you to everyone who shares this journey with me, each and every one of you have a had a positive impact on my life. A special and heartfelt thank you to my boyfriend Mike, my family and my friends for everything – you are the reason for it all.

 Here’s to a super 2019 – may the New Year bring you health, happiness and prosperity.

Thanks for reading, with love,

Siobhain

x x x

 

Note: The system I use for my annual review is still a work in progress and evolves year on year as my own life evolves. When I first carried out my annual review I started with a template shared and used by Chris Guillebeau. If you are interested in starting your own annual review, here is Chris Guillebeau’s How To Conduct your own Annual Review. This is a great read and highlights how powerful planning and reviewing can be.

Chris’s updated annual review template can be found here – Annual Review Template, I used this initially then changed and modified it over the years.  Chris is a very inspirational guy which is why I follow him on social media and I travelled all the way to Oslo a few years ago to attend his celebration of visiting every country in the world.

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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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ANNUAL REVIEW 2017

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It’s that time of year again, time to look back reflecting on what last year brought us and time to look forward and plan for the unknown future. Time to be grateful that we are still here to experience and enjoy life, time to carry out the Annual Review.

In the Lean/Continuous Improvement world we carry out ‘Hansei’ which is Japanese (反射) for ‘Self-Reflection’. Hansei allows us to review goals (personal and professional) and reflect on how they went to see what worked so we can build on the successes and see what didn’t work so we can adjust and change direction.

I have been carrying out a ‘Hansei’ or Annual Review for many years now and find it hard to believe this is the 5th year I have published this review online. Time really does go very fast! See Annual Reviews from past years below,

Annual Review 2013  Annual Review 2014  Annual Review 2015  Annual Review 2016

As always Mike, my family and my friends are my reason for everything. By far the most exciting thing that happened to my family this year was my younger brother Declan and his beautiful wife Aoife welcomed my gorgeous niece Ayla Danaher to the world, a wonderful addition to our ever-growing family.

Here goes, in no particular order, my Annual Review for 2017.

2017 was a big year for me in the world of Lean. I continue to work for and enjoy my role with daa. This year saw us implement Hoshin Kanri (Lean Strategy Deployment) for the first time which brought new learnings every day in terms of our Lean journey.

For my personal goals it was also the first year I used the principles and structures of Hoshin Kanri to set and monitor goals and objectives. In terms of planning, organising and changing direction when required this brought the process of goal setting to a whole new level.

One of my goals was to share information and learnings from the world of Lean. I did this by designing, creating and launching my new website ‘‘The Art Of Positive Change’ in March. This took way longer than I had anticipated but it was worth the wait as I now have somewhere dedicated to sharing information on Lean, Simplicity and Positive Change and the immense benefits they bring to our businesses and personal lives.

Another goal was to write and publish a blog post a week (52 in total). I didn’t reach this, completely underestimating how much time it takes to create blog posts and edit them. I did manage to publish 24 blog posts which is more than I have published in any previous year. So while I didn’t reach my goal I’m definitely improving in this space.

Also in March I started working with the brilliant cartoonist Andy Kefford creating a new character called Pinky, aptly named by my 7 year old niece Miah. Pinky is the star of my 26 part blog post series ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’. You can view all of the published blog posts here.

The Complete A-Z of Effective Change

This year I was reminded how much I love Travel Photography and so I will be working more on this in 2018. If you are new to my work you can view my Travel Photography images here on my website ‘www.siodanphoto.com’ and read my Travel Photography blog posts on my blog ‘The Photographer’s Guide To Travel’.

In terms of travel near and far, Mike and I enjoyed weekends away in Edinburgh, Killarney and Kilkenny, my parents and I spent a few days in London and later in the year my Mom and I spent 10 days in the amazing city of Dubai. Earlier in the year I dusted off my skiing skills and joined one of my best mates Karin Hennessy for a few days skiing in fabulous Pila in the Italian Alps.

Following a trip to Abu Dhabi with Mike in 2016 I created and published my 8th Travel Photography book ‘The Photographer’s Guide To Abu Dhabi’ in September complimenting the blog post I wrote on this beautiful city ‘The Top 5 things To Do in Abu Dhabi’.

I worked with some of my family and friends on photo shoots this year which I enjoyed immensely. It’s always a joy to shoot images of family and friends,

My Travel Photography Fine Art prints and my Fine Art Catalogue are now displayed at my friend Michelle Quilty’s newly opened business, The Tea Cosy in Ardpatrick. This makes me very proud and gives me itchy feet to do more Travel Photography exhibitions – watch this space!

Social media continues to provide a steep learning curve for me that twists and turns at an exponential rate.

I have been using social media for online marketing for many years, however 2017 was the first year I created a social media strategy as part of Hoshin Kanri (Lean Strategy Deployment). This allowed me to focus on clear goals and objectives and ensured I tracked the correct metrics and used these metrics to change direction when required.

Just like the world of Lean and Continuous Improvement, the only way to definitively know if you are improving is to have ‘fact based’ metrics. I currently track 13 metrics across 9 social media platforms. Each one of these metrics increased in 2017 which means I’m moving in the right direction!!! In saying that, growth is slow –  slow but steady!

Tracking and evaluating metrics may sound like a lot of work but just like metrics in business, when you get used to setting, tracking and using valuable information from the metrics, they can become quiet addictive and it really is the only way to measure improvement accurately!

If you’re not using metrics to measure performance in your business maybe 2018 is the year that you start, they really are a game changer!

Throughout most of 2017 I continued to post daily inspirational quotes to various social media platforms which helped me learn more about posting, scheduling and outsourcing on social media.

Like most things in life, the more I learn about social media and online marketing the more I realise I don’t know. Social media changes each and every day and so there is always much to learn.

In terms of health I welcomed 2017 with open arms as 2016 saw my Dad go through his second heart surgery. As I wrote in my annual review last year – there is no greater pain than watching someone you love and adore battling an illness. My Dad’s surgery and subsequent recovery has made me intensely aware of and grateful for every breath I take and every day my family and I spend illness free.

I take both my physical and mental health very seriously as I firmly believe the popular Irish saying ‘your health is your wealth’.

Knowing what nurtures my mental health and knowing what challenges it allows me to make decisions to protect it.

To keep my mind and spirit active and healthy I read as much as I can (see my Top 10 Books of 2017 here), meditate (not as much as I would like) and journal (again not as much as I would like).

I try to eat healthy but do have a rubber arm that can be twisted quiet easily when it comes to biscuits and savoury treats. Exercise has always been part of my life but I find I need to work much harder as the years go by. With this comes an immense respect for what the human body can achieve when we put the work in! This has always been a work in progress area for me and will continue to be a focus for 2018. 

Every year my goals include understanding more about personal finance.  In this quest, I re-read Tony Robbins book ‘Money Master the Game – 7 Simple Steps To Financial Freedom’. Tony is a master when it comes to finance and in this book he not only shares his own wisdom but also leverages the wisdom of many of the world’s finest financial advisors to share their advice, insights and experience. Tony’s book is written in an easy to understand format for all levels of wealth which is why I liked it so much.

I have always known this but 2016 made me more acutely aware that no matter how much you earn or how much is in your bank account it doesn’t make you happy, make you a good person or heal you when you are ill and I continued to be very aware of th throughout 2017.

Just like my social media stats I monitored income, spending and savings much more than I have done in any previous years. Like many people I am not what you would call ‘good with money’ and I need to work much harder on this than I had previously anticipated.

It’s nice to give back. I have been supporting various charities for many years and year on year I try to give more to each charity whether this is monetary support or volunteering my time. I continued to support these charities in 2017 and also found new charities to support. This is something I will continue with and build on in 2018.

That’s it, 2017 was like most years, full of ups and downs, twists and turns.

Thank you to everyone who shares this journey with me, each and every one of you have a made a positive impact on my life. A special and heartfelt thank you to my boyfriend Mike, my family and my friends for making each year better than the last, you are the reason for it all.

May 2018 bring you health, happiness and prosperity,

With love,

Siobhain

x x x

Note: The system I use for my annual review is still a work in progress and evolves year on year as my own life evolves. When I first carried out my annual review I started with a template shared and used by Chris Guillebeau. If you are interested in starting your own annual review, here is Chris Guillebeau’s How To Conduct your own Annual Review. This is a great read and highlights how powerful planning and reviewing can be.

Chris’s updated annual review template can be found here – Annual Review Template, I used this initially then changed and modified it over the years.  Chris is a very inspirational guy which is why I follow him on social media and I travelled all the way to Oslo a few years ago to attend his celebration of visiting every country in the world.

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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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