For us to achieve a “lean” culture, it has to become an everyday activity. For every person. We get stuck sometimes waiting for someone to start something lean. But the truth is, everyone has that capability. For one thing, you can always refer to the concept of 6S as it relates to the workspace you and your team occupy. Is it clean? Is it organized? Is there stuff in the way? Are there things that
At Leadercast, John Maxwell used mathematical terms to describe simple leadership. He says leaders “add value” every day. We are in “add value” businesses. We take lumber and cut it, split it, treat it, nail it, paint it, staple it, notch it, chamfer it into a product that people want to buy. We add further value by shipping it, delivering it on time. We make sure it isn’t contaminated. We will add tags to make
I pay attention to trends. When a word or idea pops up a couple of times, I take notice. Our IT Pro in North Carolina, Kenny Reavis, sent me this quote: “As a manager, you play a critical part in either perpetuating mediocrity or helping your team break free in pursuit of extraordinary.” – Art Petty, executive coach Mediocrity is a dirty word. If you are in a mediocre state, the chances are great that
Revisiting Plan, Do, Check and Act. Hector Peña works to support the advancement of lean efforts at PalletOne. He sent me a note thanking me for talking about PDCA and shared with me an observation. He likes the bias for action exhibited by our teams in the Plan and Do stages. He thinks we do a good job identifying issues and doing something different to address them. But, he observes that we can be better
PDCA – Do you know what that means? I attended a staff meeting in Shipshewana last week. They reviewed a lecture on PDCA. Here’s what it means: Plan, Do, Check, and Act. Planning starts with making a clear statement of a problem to be solved. The “P” could have stood for “Problem” but I like that planning is associated with this stage. Planning means that the team is on a conscious search for problems to
The enemy of greatness is good. So many times, when we work to solve a problem, we stay at it just as long as it takes to eliminate the complaint. Once a problem ceases to be a problem, we move on to something else. In The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner say that leaders “Challenge the Process.” If you think about it, challenging the process is a very “lean” thing to do. According to Kouzes
Are you responsible? Chris Avery, a leadership consultant, teaches how one can be responsible. According to Avery, responsibility isn’t a character trait. It is a learned mental process operating identically in everyone. You know responsibility when you see it. You can teach it, study it and practice it. If you are willing, you can choose to become more responsible. Avery says that responsibility is best achieved when individuals choose to pursue it as compared to
As you can tell by my notes this week, I value a great deal the coaching tips Folkman and Zenger provide to folks who are perceived by their team to be ineffective leaders. The key element to understand is that being the most effective leader you can be starts with the leader believing that there is a path to improvement and intending to behave in a way that is different than before. Communicate more. Be
Continuing on the ways Folkman and Zenger saw leaders become more effective: They became “change agents” and they solicited teammates’ ideas to facilitate this change. This strategy fits right in to our company strategy of becoming leaner. Leaders who strive to maintain the status quo can lose respect. They tend to be stuck in their ways, resist suggestions and discourage creativity. When leaders adopt the strategy of finding a better way, push that out to
From time to time, we will have someone visit one of our plants who hasn’t previously seen a pallet operation. After making the visit, without exception, they will say, “Until I visited your plant, I never thought much about pallets. Now I see them everywhere I go.” That’s the same kind of experience I hope you are having with “lean.” I hope that as you receive an education on “lean,” your awareness of “lean” methods
PalletOne Inc.
Company President, Howe Q. Wallace
Since 2005, he has been sharing his thoughts on the organization, leadership, and communication in an online daily note to teammates called Daily with HQ.
“Everything you want is on the other side of ‘hard’.” – CJ McCollum, NBA player McCollum is a story of overachievement. He was undersized. Played college basketball at a non-descript school. Was a long shot to be an NBA player but worked his way to being a first-round draft pick and was a solid star in his 10th year in the league. I heard him describe his approach to the game and his development on a podcast called
PalletOne leaders “happen to the world.” What does that mean? A PalletOne leader is confident. Each situation creates an opportunity for service and contribution. We are talented and put those talents to work. We see those around us as having talent. We seek to unlock it. We realize that we can be called upon to take the initiative to improve things at any moment. We act when the situation calls for it. We inspire through
“Weep, trust, pray, think, shift, hope, grow. Ways to handle suffering.” – Tim Keller Tim Keller was a preacher from New York City. He passed away in 2023. I followed him on Twitter because he tweeted profound thoughts like the one above. You don’t exit life without tough things happening to you. It’s a fact. None of us are exempt. In specific order, Keller gave us seven verbs to consider when challenged: Weep – It’s
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