STOP!

2/8/14…”I’m just tired of hearing all this negativity,” says one of our managers. Can’t say I blame her but as I told her, I don’t know what to do with what she is conveying to us. Apparently, a vocal few are voicing displeasure regarding coming in for a two hour meeting every other month.  Not sure this is the real reason or not. As I stated in previous blogs, complaining seems a normal part of human nature.

 

As I sat and listened, I wanted to throw my hands up. After almost four years into high performance teams, I felt like some of our leadership wants to stop. At my core I know this is not the right answer. So I addressed the group. Over the last four years, 359 problems were solved as improvements with an 85% sustainment rate.

 

So I wonder aloud to the group. What if we stop? As of today, no more meetings, no more employees working on improvements. What will happen? I ask everyone to think about this. Every day in manufacturing, employees will encounter problems. Most problems are disguised as frustrations and may even fester for years. If we stop, the only avenue for employees to resolve these frustrations is through their supervisors. But when a supervisor has 20 or more people reporting to them, they may desire to help solve problems but due to the sheer quantity accumulating on a daily basis, they are unable. There is only so much time in a day. They also have those above them asking them to solve problems.

 

I challenge the group with this thought. If we stop, yes complaining will cease…regarding coming in for meetings. Instead a new complaining will arise. The complaints will instead center on, “leadership is not solving our problems”.

 

I also am afraid we will hear another type of complaint return. Before high performance teams began four years ago, I used to consistently hear complaints regarding how one shift left another in bad condition and vice versa. After teaming started, these complaints nearly evaporated. So if we stop, I am afraid shift to shift bickering will once again start.

 

Unfortunately complaining is part of human nature. Why? I believe at its core is a spiritual longing, of which most people do not realize. In a TOIL environment, people look to leadership to solve this longing within, but even the best leaders with the best intentions, will find it difficult to fill a void never meant to be filled while on this earth.

Building Up…the Body of Management

12/16/13…I continue to find the Bible full of TOIL truths if I keep my mind open. Today in a discussion with a colleague, numerous thoughts finally came together regarding the SILO effect in management. In today’s manufacturing environment, as I am sure in other sector environments, there are leadership job functions with specific job titles. In ours, there is a Supply Chain Manager, a Continuous Improvement/Quality Manager, an Office Manager, a Human Resources Manager, a Compliance Manager, an Employee Performance Specialist, a Technical Manager and a Production Manager. Within each of these job functions, there are job duties. The problem is every duty each of these manager’s performs is not a strength and yet these duties are a requirement of the job. As an example every manager probably has some administrative duties, some training duties, some oversight duties, some strategic duties, etc. Each manager is in their role because they show an aptitude for certain functions within the role. Unfortunately this is short sighted. Not every manager is a good administrative person. Not every manager is a good trainer. Not every manager is a good strategist and on and on.

 

In tying back to a post I did on Strengthsfinder, I am aware I am made in the image of God and in His wisdom, he has built certain strengths into my DNA. The journey in my maturity is embracing my strengths, and not dwelling on my weaknesses. Using the 80/20 rule, I can spend 20% of my effort on strengths and accomplish 80% or I can futilely spend 80% of my effort on my weaknesses and accomplish only 20%. And this is where I think we are missing the boat in our thinking of management. Most management functions in SILO’s. There has to be another way. I think to a Bible passage where Paul conveys each of us has a gift and when all of use our gifts, it builds up the body of Christ. Indeed, something beautiful happens.

 

I once involved myself in a community group through Grace Fellowship church. I experienced first-hand what Paul conveyed to us. Karen’s gift of hospitality, Jen’s gift of friendship, Jeff and Denise’s gift of wisdom, David and Pam’s gift of discernment, and others in our group all came together and built up the body of Christ. This group individually were special, but when they all came together, something beautiful occurred. We served others at a whole different level because each of us optimized our gifts.

 

So why can this not be applied in management. For example, I wonder if a Plant Manager could bring in a group of eight leaders with nothing more than a job title of Leader. That is it. Leader. Maybe add some marketing and call the position a Performance Leader. The Plant Manager hires aptitudes, not job functions. Strategic objectives are developed. Then the Plant Manager lets go, sits back, and patiently sees what happens. Indeed, I wonder if each person gravitates towards their strengths. Let’s use administration as an example. Now instead of everyone focusing on administrative duties within their SILO, the person whose strength is administration focuses their effort in helping everyone else. Same thing for training, planning, leading Six Sigma projects, etc. Using the example of Christ as the body, everyone uses their strengths and builds up the body of a Leader.

 

So I wonder. If we really dig into God’s Word, and keep our minds open, I wonder if paradigm shifts can occur within the TOIL.

Laundry and Expectations

12/20/13…What happens when desires become expectations? The answer. Not much fun. I find some parallels between the Toil and Marriage. Let me explain. Recently I listened to a sermon by Tom Oyler, pastor of Grace Fellowship Church. The message centered on this idea of desires and expectations. Desires before a marriage are ok. Desires in a marriage are ok. However, Tom cautions desires in a marriage should be kept as desires and not moved into an expectation box. Once desires become expectations, there is no acknowledgement of appreciation from the other party. He also cautions against delight becoming duty and covenant becoming a contract. For now though, I would like to comment more about desires versus expectations.

There can be many desires one brings into a marriage. Here is one I thought of. I do not expect my wife to make dinner for me but she does a lot. And I consciously make a point of saying thank you on numerous occasions. I really do appreciate how she expresses her love for me in this act of cooking dinner. But honestly, I am a big boy and I can take care of myself regarding finding something to eat. So although I have a desire for a prepared meal after a long day’s work, I do not expect it. On the other hand, laundry is a different matter. I was single for almost 8 years. If I do some quick math, I probably washed, dried and hung clothes over 500 times during this time period. So I know how to do laundry. When I married Melody, she began washing my clothes on a regular basis. At some point around year two though, I realized my desire of having clean clothes became an expectation. I acknowledge at this point in our marriage, if the laundry has not been done, I actually am a little miffed about it. Tom Oyler would point out my desire for clean clothes suddenly became an expectation. Why? For one, I never thank my wife for clean clothes. After all, why would I express gratitude for an expectation? There are no kind words for the countless hours she spends cleaning my dirty socks, and I try to rationalize my lack of gratitude by saying I work all day while she stays home. This is a sure sign of an expectation. And if I am not careful, my expectations put on her will soon cause her delight in doing my laundry to become a duty. This is what Tom warns me of. When desire on my part becomes expectations, then soon Melody will feel doing my laundry is a duty more than a delight. Once the other party begins feeling like the delight is really a duty, the relationship is in trouble.

Now I think of this in a work mode. In particular between leadership and employees. I wish this category did not exist but it does, and no matter how one tries to break this down, the categories still and will always exist. When the leadership of a company or a plant does something for the employees, the newness of it generally energizes people. But repeat this a number of times and watch what happens. Expectations creep in. Once employees expect something, there is no longer appreciation or gratitude. Now leadership begins feeling like the activity is more of a duty and they become worn down. Pretty soon the activity has no meaning to anyone. The reverse also happens with employees who desire to please leadership.

So this is the question. How as leadership do we move expectations by employees back to the desire box, so we can continue feeling delight in serving them and doing what we can to make their work life joyful?

I end with this. Last week, I carried all the laundry down and started two loads of laundry. First time in two years.