Thursday, April 11, 2019

Beberapa ide Ice Breaking untuk kegiatan Pelatihan (Training)

Seringkali dalam kelompok sel, permainan / games diperlukan. Karena permainan merupakan salah satu cara untuk membuat orang-orang dalam kelompok sel menjadi tidak canggung satu sama lainnya. Makanya Permainan / Games dalam kelompok sel biasa disebut Ice Breaker (menghancurkan es yang keras :D). 



Saya sendiri memiliki komunitas yang selalu memberi waktu sekitar 15-30 menit untuk permainan pada saat acaranya. Yah, sebenarnya waktu yang diberikan adalah 15 menit tapi seringkali molor karena permainan yang terlalu seru. Haha :) 

Berikut adalah daftar-daftar permainan yang menarik untuk dimainkan pada kelompok sel. Silahkan di simak ya..


1. Tulis Cerita Berputar

Ini merupakan game yang saya gabungkan dari beberapa jenis game agar lebih seru dimainkan. Untuk bahan, siapkan 2 kertas dan 2 bolpoin. Setiap orang diminta untuk duduk melingkar. Taruh kertas dan bolpoin ke 2 orang yang saling berhadapan agar posisi kertas awalnya jauh.

Setiap orang yang mendapat kertas harus menulis sebuah kalimat terserah apapun kata-katanya dan nantinya ini diharapkan menjadi sebuah cerita. Setelah menulis, kertas tersebut diberikan kepada orang sebelahnya (putaran boleh searah / berlawanan arah jarum jam yang penting tidak berubah). Orang sebelahnya akan melanjutkan kalimat yang ditulis orang sebelumnya pada baris berikutnya. Oh ya, setiap peserta hanya boleh melihat kalimat terakhir yang ditulis orang sebelumnya. Untuk memudahkan, berikan instruksi agar setiap orang yang sudah selesai menulis satu baris jangan lupa menutup kalimat sebelumnya dengan cara melipat kertas baru menyerahkan kertas tersebut ke orang yang baru. 

Game akan berakhir ketika kertas sudah habis sehingga tidak bisa menulis cerita lagi di kertas tersebut atau ketika 2 kertas yang berputar tersebut bertemu di satu orang. Orang terakhir yang mendapat kertas bertugas untuk membacakan isi cerita dari kertas itu. Nah, biasanya yang bikin lucu pada waktu cerita ini dibacakan isinya kocak :) 


2. 3 Fakta Unik

Setiap pemain diminta untuk menuliskan 3 fakta unik tentang dirinya, terserah apapun itu. Tidak boleh diberitahu siapapun kecuali Moderator. Untuk pengumpulan sih kalo mau gampang pake kertas, kalo mau lebih hi-tech mungkin pake SMS aja ke Moderator. :p 

Nah tugas moderator adalah menyebutkan salah satu fakta unik dari kumpulan fakta tersebut dan pemain yang ditunjuk menebak fakta unik tersebut adalah milik siapa. Jika benar maka akan mendapat poin, pemenang diambil dari peserta yg memiliki poin terbanyak. 

Untuk memudahkan permainan, biasa sih saya gunakan bola-bolaan dari kertas. Bola awal-awal diberikan ke salah satu peserta sebagai penebak pertama. Peserta yang menebak akan melempar bola ke orang yang ditebak. Selanjutnya orang yang dilempari bola tersebut akan menjadi penebak (tidak peduli salah atau benar) dan seterusnya. 


3. Rumus Salah Benar (Credit by : Mega)

Ini game yang pernah dipimpin oleh teman saya. Permainan ini seru karena permainan ini membutuhkan konsentrasi yang tinggi. Kalau ada pemain yang susah buat konsentrasi, biasanya game ini malah jadi ice breaking lucu yang sanggup memecahkan suasana.

Cara permainan game ini dimulai dengan moderator yang memberikan rumus, rumusnya terserah yang penting terdiri dari SALAH atau BENAR. 

Contoh rumus: SALAH SALAH BENAR atau BENAR BENAR BENAR SALAH 

Tujuannya dari rumus ini apa sih?
Awalnya moderator akan menyebutkan rumus tersebut sebelum permainan dimulai. Sewaktu permainan dimulai, moderator akan memberikan instruksi MAJU, MUNDUR, KIRI atau KANAN. Nah peserta harus melakukan apa yang dikatakan moderator sesuai rumus dan instruksinya. 

Contohnya jika rumus BENAR BENAR SALAH BENAR
Pada saat moderator menginstruksikan MAJU, maka peserta harus MAJU
Instruksi kedua moderator MUNDUR, maka peserta harus MUNDUR
Instruksi ketiga moderator KIRI, maka peserta harus KANAN karena rumus ketiga adalah SALAH 
Dan seterusnya.. 

Agar lebih seru, peserta diminta untuk menyebutkan aksinya juga dengan berbicara. Jadi contohnya jika peserta MAJU, maka peserta harus berteriak MAJU sambil badannya juga maju. 


4. 3, 6, 9, Tepuk tangan!

Ini merupakan game yang membutuhkan konsentrasi yang tinggi. Cara permainannya mudah, setiap orang diminta untuk duduk melingkar. Salah satu orang mulai menghitung dari 1, 2, 3, ... dan dilanjutkan dengan orang sebelahnya sampai seterusnya. Untuk setiap kemunculan angka 3,6,9 diganti dengan tepuk tangan. 

Contohnya jika ada 4 pemain (A, B, C, D) 

A : Satu
B : Dua
C : *tepuk tangan*
D : Empat
A : Lima, dst.. 

Yang kalah adalah orang yang menyalahi aturan, contohnya pada waktu angka 3 malah menyebutkan angka 3 bukannya tepuk tangan. Atau contoh lain jika urutannya adalah angka 12 malah tepuk tangan.
Agar game lebih seru, tambahkan peraturan jika muncul angka 3,6,9 sebanyak 2x, maka tepuk tangannya juga 2 kali. (Contoh: 33,63,69) 

5. Belanja (Credit by : Buyung)

Ini game yang dimainkan di pemasa (komunitas sel) saya. Game ini akan melatih daya ingat kita dan teman-teman kita yang bermain, terlebih juga konsentrasi kita dilatih disini. Sekali tidak konsentrasi, bisa-bisa langsung kalah dalam permainan ini. Haha ^^

Cara bermainnya sangat mudah, orang pertama akan memulai dengan huruf A, dilanjutkan dengan B, C, dst.. Kalimat awal adalah "Saya pergi ke pasar membeli .. ", orang pertama mengucapkan benda yang berawalan huruf A, contoh: Ayam. Selanjutnya orang kedua melanjutkannya "Saya pergi ke pasar membeli Ayam [Benda berawalan huruf B]", orang ketiga melanjutkannya dengan berkata "Saya pergi ke pasar membeli Ayam [Benda berawalan huruf B] [Benda berawalan huruf C]" dan seterusnya sampai ada orang yang salah dalam mengingat benda-benda yang dibeli. Nah orang-orang yang salah itulah yang kalah dalam permainan ini.

Untuk perkembangan permainannya bisa menyesuaikan sendiri dengan jumlah orang dan durasi waktu terutama untuk menentukan siapa yang menang. Waktu saya bermain permainan ini kondisinya sedang diburu waktu, sehingga orang yang kalah sekali dalam permainan ini langsung gugur dan kita mendapatkan pemenang dari orang yang terakhir bertahan.


6. Lakukan Kebalik (Credit by : Billy)

Ini game simple banget, cocok untuk orang yang lagi kepepet / pusing untuk mikirin persiapan game. Tapi waktu dicoba ternyata game ini cukup menarik loh permainannya dan bikin ketawa, apalagi kalo ada orang yang susah konsen pasti bikin ketawa banget :)

Inti dari permainan ini adalah melakukan kebalikan dari apa yang diucapkan oleh Moderator. Sebelum permainan dimulai, ada baiknya dibuat perjanjian dulu tentang peraturan-peraturan kebalikannya. Misal berdiri kebalikannya duduk, jongkok kebalikannya lompat, hadap kiri kebalikannya hadap kanan, dan seterusnya sekreatif anda. Pada saat permainan, Moderator mengucapkan salah satu kata, dan pemain harus melakukan kebalikan yang dikatakan dari moderator tersebut. Supaya seru, moderator ikut melakukan juga apa yang dia ucapkan. Coba buat pancingan supaya peserta tertipu, misal ketika Moderator berkata "Duduk!", maka Moderator "Duduk" juga. Nah coba di tengah permainan Moderator katakan "Duduk!" sambil Moderatornya "Berdiri", bisa ketipu tuh pemainnya. :D 

Cara permainannya bisa di variasi seenaknya kok, waktu saya memainkan game ini dibentuk kelompok-kelompok. Nah jika salah satu dari anggota kelompok salah, maka salah semua. Nanti kelompok yang salah sebanyak 3 kali dikeluarkan dari permainan. Pemenangnya tentu saja kelompok yang tersisa.


7. Pergi ke Luar Negeri (Credit by : Jefry)

Ini game seru banget terutama kalau dimainkan dengan banyak orang. Permainannya juga mudah dan membuat setiap peserta turut terlibat aktif dalam permainan ini.

Sebelum memulai permainan, setiap pemain diminta untuk menyebutkan nama negara yang akan menjadi identitas masing-masing mereka (nama negara tidak boleh kembar). Yang perlu dipersiapkan adalah alas duduk atau apapun yang dapat menandakan tempat. Siapkan alas tersebut sesuai dengan total orang yang bermain dikurangi 1 sehingga ada 1 pemain yang belum mendapat tempat. Biasanya untuk awal ada baiknya pemimpin permainan yang belum mendapat tempat untuk memudahkan penjelasan permainan. 

Permainan dimulai dengan orang yang belum mendapat tempat sebagai pencerita mulai menceritakan kisah perjalanannya. Kisahnya bisa sekreatif mungkin dan diceritakan sambil berkeliling. Ketika nama negara salah satu pemain disebutkan, maka pemain dengan negara tersebut akan keluar dari tempatnya dan membentuk barisan di belakang pencerita, begitu seterusnya. Ketika kata kunci disebutkan - kalau dulu saya bermain kata kuncinya adalah "Pemasa" yang menunjukkan nama komunitas sel saya - maka semua yang ada dalam barisan tersebut segera berlari mencari tempat untuk diduduki. Pemain yang tidak mendapat tempat akan menjadi pencerita berikutnya, begitu seterusnya.


8. Lanjut Cerita (Credit by : Kevin)

Ice breaking lucu ini hampir sama dengan permainan nomor 5 (Belanja) hanya saja ini versi lebih sederhana. Tidak dibutuhkan konsentrasi yang kuat karena memang game ini buat seru dan lucu-lucuan.

Cara mainnya mudah, setiap orang menyebutkan 1 kata dan dilanjutkan dengan 1 kata berikutnya dari pemain selanjutnya yang membentuk sebuah cerita. Contohnya, pemain A yang mengawali permainan menyebutkan kata "Robert," lalu dilanjutkan dengan pemain B berkata "bermain," pemain C berkata "gitar," dan seterusnya sampai cerita dirasa sudah mulai tidak nyambung untuk dilanjutkan. Karena ini game untuk lucu-lucuan (namanya juga ice breaker kan :P) jadi ga ada menang atau kalah di game ini. Tapi boleh juga sih kalo orang yang menyebutkan kata yang ga nyambung dalam cerita dianggap yang kalah. Silahkan disesuaikan sendiri dengan kondisi kelompok sel.

Game ini ternyata seru untuk dimainkan karena cara bercerita setiap anggota kelompok berbeda-beda, belum ada janjian juga cerita ini mau dibawa kemana, sehingga setiap kata yang disebutkan menimbulkan kelucuan tersendiri. Supaya lebih seru, Anda boleh memberikan topik sebelum cerita dimulai, misalnya nih waktu saya main ada topik tentang percintaan, persahabatan, horror, komedi atau topik lainnya seperti retret, psikologi, atau materi seru lainnya.


9. 2 Benar 1 Salah

Ini game lupa yang ajari siapa, tapi menarik loh buat dimainkan. Inti dari permainan ini adalah menemukan fakta yang salah dari 3 fakta yang ada.

Minta untuk setiap pemain menuliskan 2 fakta yang benar tentang dirinya dan 1 fakta yang salah tentang dirinya di selembar kertas secara acak. Jangan lupa kertas tersebut juga diberi nama supaya tidak keliru. Kumpulkan kertas tersebut kepada moderator dan moderator mengambil 1 kertas lalu menyebutkan 3 fakta yang ada di kertas itu untuk ditebak fakta mana yang salah. Minta setiap pemain untuk menebak satu fakta yang salah dari 3 fakta yang disebutkan itu. Berikan 1 poin kepada setiap pemain yang berhasil menebak fakta yang salah tersebut.

Permainan berakhir ketika semua kertas sudah diambil oleh moderator. Pemenangnya merupakan orang yang mendapat poin tertinggi setelah permainan berakhir. 


10. Temukan Barang

Sering banget sih mainin game ini dulu. Game-nya simpel dan menarik, jadi bolehlah untuk dimainkan di kelompok sel atau kelompok-kelompok lainnya asal rohani (soalnya mainnya mesti pakai Alkitab).

Buat janjian di awal, untuk angka yang disebutkan pertama menunjukkan Perjanjian Lama (angka 1) atau Perjanjian Baru (angka 2). Angka yang disebutkan kedua merupakan urutan bab. Angka yang disebutkan ketiga merupakan pasal Alkitab. Angka yang disebutkan keempat merupakan ayat Alkitab. Angka yang disebutkan kelima merupakan kata ke-..

Jadi misalnya, kalau moderator menyebutkan 2-3-19-23-12, maka berarti 2 itu Perjanjian Baru, Bab ketiga dari perjanjian baru adalah Lukas. Jadi barang yang dibawa adalah kata ke-12 dari Lukas 19:23. Lukas 19:23 berbunyi, "Jika demikian, mengapa uangku itu tidak kauberikan kepada orang yang menjalankan uang? Maka sekembaliku aku dapat mengambilnya serta dengan bunganya." Kata ke-12 dari Lukas adalah uang. Jadi, siapa paling cepat membawa uang kepada moderator (cuman membawa loh ya :p) adalah yang menang dan mendapatkan poin. 

Game ini bisa dibuat kelompok ataupun individu, menyesuaikan banyaknya orang yang bakal ikutan juga. Moderator sebaiknya sudah menyiapkan daftar satu set angka (5 angka) yang menunjukkan barang yang bisa didapatkan saat permainan.

Pemenang dari game ini merupakan orang/tim yang memperoleh poin paling banyak..

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Every company must be humanized


At the end of the day, Kaizen is mostly about taking action – if we take no action and deliver no results, it means that Kaizen has never happened. Categorization is an academic activity, and Kaizen was never meant to be an academic tool. It was meant to be something natural for human nature – says Collin McLoughlin, president of Enna Consulting, author of „True Kaizen”, interviewed by Przemysław Ozga.

Production Manager: In True Kaizen you mention the so-called Lean context. Why is that context so important for managers?
Collin McLoughlin: Teaching and publications about Lean usually put a strong emphasis on tools, techniques, packages, programs or formats. Meanwhile, it would be better to take a step back and ask the following questions: What was the original context of these tools? Why were they created in the first place? What business and social challenges have led to the development of the Seven Wastes, the 5S and the other tools we are learn about today? I think that managers and other leaders should delve deeper, try to understand the philosophy, methodology and indeed the context of organizational challenges in which companies decide to use Lean tools.
For example, what is the meaning of the Seven Wastes in the context of customer service? For example, does it make sense to search for “transporting” or “overproduction” when the customer service department faces an excessively large number of customer queries? Yes, it does, if we look at the processes from the perspective of a person from that department and ask ourselves: how long does it take me to search for information? We may then notice that our customer service faces “motion”, one that is electronic rather than physical, associated with working in front of a computer. As a result, we can analyze the management of customer queries in our service department and eventually answer the following question: how to reduce the amount of work required to find information in the company’s computer system?
Obviously, if we were to treat the Seven Wastes literally, the category of “transporting” would not make sense to an employee who sits in front of a computer and takes phone calls. However, if we contextualize this situation, we will notice that the key waste here is “motion” required to operate computer programs. We can then take a closer look at these programs, visualize the employee’s workload and develop a method to reduce this motion, e.g. by splitting the work between several people. We should do all this so that in the end, from the customer’s point of view, the way from query to solution is as short as possible.
As workshop instructors and managers we must always ask ourselves: What is the problem? And then – how to explain the problem to the person who does the job and has a certain role in the organization? That should do the trick.
PM: You mentioned the Seven Wastes, a concept well-known to anyone who has ever dealt with Lean or Kaizen. In the contextualization you’ve just mentioned, can we replace one of the “standard” wastes with another one that better captures the specific situation in our company?
CM: Absolutely, it is not only possible, but also desirable. The essence of the meaning of Kaizen is to make today better than yesterday. So if you can simplify something, explain your employees in a more precise and meaningful way which activities are not valuable from the perspective of your customers – then by all means go ahead with such modifications. Among other things, my sensei Yamada taught how to simplify wastes so that the work could be done earlier and faster. One useful simplification is the concept of “stagnation”, or activities that are not part of the production process. Employees understand the term easily – they see that some bits of their work, some requests made to colleagues or questions asked to customers are stagnation, as they don’t lead anywhere. Using this concept, we can easily contextualize the Seven Wastes in a simpler way, analyzing work in only three phases: motion, transport and stagnation. They are of key importance for the work to move forward, and that’s exactly what we want. Why waste time categorizing worthless activities as part of the Seven or perhaps even Nine or Ten Wastes? Why not keep it simple? At the end of the day, Kaizen is mainly about action – if we take no action and deliver no results, it means that Kaizen has never happened. Categorization is an academic activity, and Kaizen was never meant to be an academic tool. It was meant to be something natural for human nature.
PM: In your book you say that the Western culture has an issue with visual communication.  Is it a matter of over-simplification? Or perhaps – on the contrary – a matter of excessive complexity of the Western world?
CM: I can only rely on my education here: I was educated in Canada, the United States and England, in such fields as business education, accounting, finance, statistics and engineering. So it’s hard for me to say what things I haven’t been given in this education – but let’s try to determine what visual management means in practice.
The two words we started with are simplicity and complexity. I would look at it from a different perspective – from the concept of advancement, which I would define as the minimum amount of resources needed to achieve the desired effect. In the case of visual communication it would involve answering the following question: Do all these boards, sound or light signals efficiently communicate the action that needs to be taken? Do they effectively inform factory or office staff that something needs to be corrected in their work? And that’s the context that is missing in the Western education system: people are not taught to assess on their own whether work goes well and when something needs to be improved.
So when we talk about visual communication, the basic questions are: Is it simple enough? Does it appeal to all the senses, creating an optimal environment for people to take action? Doesn’t it involve too many procedures – lists and forms that hinder action instead of making it easier? The role of visual communication is therefore to create a favorable working environment. What should it contain? Imagine, for example, a beautiful garden: when you enter it, you become surrounded with various visual impressions, smells, sounds, wind, and texture of earth beneath your feet – you immediately feel that you are in a specific environment, that what is outside is different. This is what visual management is all about – creating an experience in the work environment that appeals to different senses and makes people feel safer and helps them take the right action with the best possible outcome.
Unfortunately, this is something I did not see in my formal education. If this context – the context of visual management – were brought to schools and other educational institutions, I think it would empower those institutions greatly. In our company, we are certainly trying to fill this gap: by using visual management, we help build a work environment that really appeals to the senses.
PM: In your book you differentiate between efficiency and effectiveness.  Could you explain the difference? What is the meaning of those terms for managers?
CM: Generally, efficiency measures the performance of machines, not people. The measure of human work is productivity – the number of units produced per hour by one person. People are designed to be productive, while machines are designed to be efficient. The important difference is that over time a person can increase his or her productivity, whereas a machine cannot become more efficient: its design has certain limitations and at some point the next generation of that machine is simply introduced. The role of the machine is also to meet certain technical standards – that’s why we invest in it.
So machines are supposed to be efficient, while people are expected to be effective. They should observe the situation and its changes and then make the best possible decisions. So effectiveness is about doing the right things first. Then you can think about how to become more productive in taking individual actions.
This is especially important for managers. Management – even at the team leader’s level – is not about walking around the plant and repeating “productivity, productivity, productivity”. First and foremost, the following question must be asked: Do my employees and their team leaders get the right information to help them make effective decisions and prioritize tasks? Are they being supported by a well-organized working environment? Only then you can start worrying about their productivity and, in the case of machines, efficiency.
Unfortunately, in most companies these conditions are not met, because the main emphasis is on productivity. Then it turns out that these companies waste a lot of resources, time and energy to do something that should never be done, given the dynamically changing customers’ needs.
PM: You have often emphasized the importance of effective observation. How does it work with managers? How are they supposed to find the time for observing their workplace?
CM: In the case of a manager, the inability to find the time to observe the workplace is a contradiction in itself. First of all, enough time should be earmarked for this, as well as for monitoring the customers’ requirements. Ultimately, as managers, we have to make decisions affecting both the whole company and the responsibilities of individual employees. Therefore, if a manager says that he or she has no time to observe, collect facts, understand the direction in which the company is heading, it means that he or she does not understand his or her priorities. Perhaps he or she feels too much of an ordinary employee, focusing on productivity and task performance, while his or her true responsibility is for what other people should do and when. This may be due to the wrong messages given to these managers by senior executives.
PM: Product life cycles are getting shorter and shorter, and on the other hand, we are witnessing a process of mass customization, while customer relationship has never been more important. I think this is the right time to introduce monozukuri to our organizations. Could you explain the historical context of monozukuri and how it was implemented in Toyota Motor Company?
CM: The idea of monozukuri was conceived before the industrialization era. The term meant having the education and skills necessary to bring an idea to fruition – from the idea to the moment when others can admire the results of our work. In English we would call it craftsmanship. Nowadays, this concept could be combined with ideas on how to create an organization with as few managers as possible. Management is about control – it’s usually about accumulating resources and making decisions. Meanwhile, the idea of monozukuri is to self-manage one’s own resources and to place them in a context that is valuable for the customer, without asking someone for permission. With the advent of industrialization, labor became divided between machines and people, which in turn required control. That is why the concept of management is quite new, dating back only to the era of industrialization.
You’ve mentioned customization – of course we have to keep up with trends. However, it is about using technologies and information systems to strengthen the role of human employees so that they have greater opportunities for self-management, self-control, opportunities for voluntary effort in their work and for contact with the end customer. The less we manage, the faster we get the solutions and start generating the profits, even with an increasing volume and its growing diversity.
PM: Let’s now talk about trust, which is in such short supply in my country. What should we do to have more trust and what does trust mean to you?
CM: I don’t know the Polish culture well enough to speak specifically about it, but I know many cultures, from the Middle East, to different parts of Europe, to Canada, Japan over to the western Oceania, Australia, etc. The concept of trust seems to be common to all mankind. If we do not trust a person or a process, then we do not dedicate all our efforts, because we want to protect ourselves and our personal interest. This is quite natural.
This also translates well into the context of an organization. If we want to implement an improvement, we must first understand what it means for those who will have to do the work and live with the changes. Meanwhile, the typical scenario is that a manager comes around and says: “We need a 30% increase in profitability”. What does that mean to production line employees? It is unrelated to their work; they are in the business of assembly, and not in the business of finance. In order to build trust, we should ask ourselves: What does a 30% increase in profitability mean for this department, for this person, for this team leader, for this team? In this context, it may mean the need to produce thirteen units instead of ten.
So we have to go to these people and tell them: “Listen up guys, we have been asked to become more competitive – we need it to keep our customers happy. This requires a 30% increase in profitability. What we can do here, in this department, is to produce 30% more units.” And then we can contextualize it in the following way: “We need to find a way, say, in the next two weeks, to move up from ten units per hour to thirteen units per hour.”
And that’s the point: to contextualize the message, to explain what it is about and to be honest with people: “We have to make some effort, but it will keep our community together, allow us to earn money for our families, contribute to the good of our community, and to achieve a common goal by working together.” If we put it this way, people will say: I see – you do it for me! In this way, I will help myself, my family, my relatives and friends so that we can enjoy life and be productive members of society. This is how you build trust: with a dialogue like this, which shows how the business helps the community and breaks down barriers rather than constantly focuses on the business itself.
PM: Is it about reaching beyond the context of the work and the business, and focusing on the community?
CM: Yes. Every company must be humanized – it can’t be all about results and money. One of the meanings of Kaizen is ‘reward for good work’. For your efforts at work something must be given to you by your customer in return. In today’s society we use dollars, pesos, etc. In the end, however, it’s always about someone spending their money, giving their valuable property to you because they have seen the value in the product or service you offered.
We need to come back to a world where people’s effort that comes with their work is their contribution to society. The more effort they put in, the greater the gratitude of customers – this is something that gives the strength and energy to make tomorrow a better today. I think this is rooted in human nature – this need to be appreciated for your work. Unfortunately, nowadays these things are often separated. The role of Kaizen is to restore the joy of work. You can have a challenging working environment, but still feel the joy. You can see glimpses of this in sport. Take the Olympics – it involves huge challenges, but also gives incredible satisfaction and joy. In our workplaces we should follow the example of athletes. That is also what my cooperation with businesses is about: increasing employees’ self-esteem and enjoyment.
PM: Jack Ma, the CEO of Alibaba, said in of his lectures that in the future we will be unable to compete against artificial intelligence on the question of knowledge. The most important feature that can distinguish us from machines will be creativity, human imagination. How to make good use of the creativity of our employees and associates?
CM: Statistics say that by 2025, at least in Western Europe and North America, more than 50% of everything we learn during our lifetime will come from outside formal education – this extra knowledge will be gained through technology, audiovisual materials, and various training courses. And yes, obviously, we should help every employee make good use of the skills acquired throughout his or her professional life. However, we should do that not to take advantage of them, but to help them experience more fully the value of what they do.
PM: And how do you do that?
CM: Using technology, for instance. Let’s discuss the example of placing an order: in some industries we can already see how technology supports human creativity. Canon Corporation, manufacturer of photocopiers and cameras that once used production lines, now uses specially tailored workstations where one person picks up the order and handles it until the moment of purchase. In Japan, we also see this in the fresh food industry, where individual employees carry out specific parts of the order from the start to the delivery to the customer.
I think that these are good methods for activating creativity. Technological solutions allow us to provide the right information, materials and parts to the right person – and then he or she can accomplish the task on his or her own, instead of practicing “efficiency”, running around picking parts.
It is necessary to move away from the traditional division of labor, which has been imprinted on us by formal education. We must forget the schematic thinking that someone must be responsible for accounting, someone else for inventory control, someone must lift parts, assemble units, pack them, put them in boxes…. That everything has to be divided. Instead, let’s use technology to deliver all these items to one person – at the right time, in the right quantity and order.
PM: In your book you emphasize the important role of the production team leader. Please explain why team leaders are so important for the organization and for its transformation towards Kaizen culture? Also, please briefly explain the Hoshin Model and how it is understood in Japanese companies.
CM: When I visited Japan in 1997, I was still doing my undergraduate studies in finance: I was reading management handbooks, learning about all these financial indicators, business cycles and so on. And then, visiting Japanese factories, I noticed that team leaders – employees just one level above production workers, supervising three to twelve people – speak openly about self-esteem, about motivation, about everyone’s right to be heard; they told me how many ideas proposed by their employees had been implemented… They talked about factors completely unrelated to finance, to the things I was learning from all these books on economics. What’s more, these were the things that in a Western European context are usually discussed by top-level managers! Meanwhile, Japanese team leaders talked about them to production workers. Observing the work at these plants, I realized that the financial performance of the company greatly depends on the level of staff motivation, including the production staff and on how strongly they feel a connection with the company’s core vision, how this vision translates into metrics available already at the team leader level. And it is the team leaders that play a key role in communicating the company’s strategy and vision to the employees, in contextualizing it for their needs. Front-line production workers, those managed by team leaders, cannot be ignored in this type of communication – after all, depending on the industry, they account for 55% to 85% of the entire factory staff! If you want to succeed, a lot depends on these employees. That is why it is so important for team leaders to become true leaders.
This is all the more important because staff turnover in many industries is currently high. There is a high risk of losing employees to other, more strongly developing organizations and industries. So it is worth investing time and energy in team leaders, because it is they who provide the organization with stability and bring practical reality to our business theories. There is often talk of building a grassroots culture to retain production workers, but from the Lean perspective, it makes no sense to invest only in production personnel, which is unstable due to turnover, migration or economic factors. It is much more sensible to focus on developing your team leaders.
PM: And what will management be like in the future? What skills and values of a manager will be irreplaceable?
CM: This question should be contextualized for the Polish reality. Is the education level in Poland high?
PM: Yes, but I was actually asking about the soft skills. In the 1990s, we had many companies that grew quickly, and then many of them either collapsed or stagnated. The owners didn’t understand that they had to change their mindset and start using soft skills in company management. It is a serious problem in Poland.
CM: And are the rules of team sports, such as soccer, commonly known in Poland?
PM: Yes, of course.
CM: So if I worked with Polish managers, I would ask them if they have ever practiced any team sport. Motivation from the coach is so important, the coach is a kind of mentor, has to work on the team’s attitude and not only on improving their skills.
Management is no different: in a company where among production engineers, mechanical engineers or accountants there are managers with ten or fifteen years of experience, does it ever make sense to preach, trying to solve the employees’ problems? Maybe it would be better if the younger staff took advantage of the coaching and mentoring of their senior colleagues, to better use their skills and learn, instead of just listening to instructions and being constantly controlled?
On the issue of control, I will give you an example. For instance, do you know the Kaizen Employee Suggestion System? The name has probably not been translated very correctly for modern handbooks. According to this translated version, employees had to pass on ideas to their managers, who had to evaluate them and check whether they could be implemented. Therefore, the manager controlled the implementation of the idea from start to finish.
Meanwhile, the original concept behind this tool was different – and it’s the foundation on which we should be building our work environments. Its original name was System of Implemented Kaizen Ideas. Employees would describe the ideas that they had already implemented, put sheets of paper in a box, and the manager would read about the changes that had been made, reward them and share their employees’ ideas with managers from other departments, so that they could pass them on to their employees. There was no longer an element of control here, as in the other approach.
If Poles do not have a natural focus on soft skills, Kaizen tools can help – each such tool is associated with some soft skills. Even the Kaizen Suggestion System teaches how to implement ideas, although not really how to ensure their implementation.
We should stop talking so much about management, because management is a sense of control. Meanwhile, if we have well-educated staff with access to the Internet and contact with different cultures, we do not need to control them in such a way – it is enough to let them do their job right. We cannot try to influence everything. Just like in a soccer game: can we influence the proper lighting of the pitch, the quality of the turf, the fairness of the referees, or whether the coach finds enough time to practice with the team before the game? We have to stop for a while and think whether we know how to invest and motivate, or perhaps we only control and set up limits.
PM: In your book you refer to managing “two levels down”. Could you please explain the concept?
CM: The point is that senior managers should not act exclusively on the basis of information from their direct reports. They should find some time to go where their reports’ people work and then make their own observations and interpretations. In this way, when they listen to interpretations of the managers directly reporting to them, they no longer have to control them. Instead, they understand them better and can offer their support whenever necessary. This method is also helpful in keeping track of what’s going on in the working environment.
Yet another idea from my book is that every employee should be part of a team, meaning the whole organization. For instance, it makes sense to set up multi-function teams that cooperate with one another and try to build a company-wide atmosphere that promotes healthy, fearless communication. Currently, companies are dominated by a top-down organizational culture which derives from a certain social reality. We need to break through it. The current culture is laden with fear, although accompanied by a great deal of respect. However, if you want decisions to be made faster, you need to eliminate that fear. I’d like to share with you a useful technique I use with the companies I work with: to eliminate the fear, I ask the managers to go to the shop floor with me to see the challenges faced there. And then I tell them what the target for today is. Subsequently we tell the people: today we have to produce 30% more units. That’s the decision, the priority. I also tell the managers: if we fail, I take full responsibility. It’s not your decision, it’s mine. This takes the burden of fear off people’s shoulders – a fear of trying something out, doing something new. Obviously, I tell them that they have to act reasonably, but whatever they do, is my managerial responsibility. This breaks the ice and inspires people to think truly creatively, act in a true team spirit and – to continue the sports comparison – win the game.
PM: One more question, which also summarizes the content of your book: what is the true meaning of Kaizen?
CM: I could talk about that for hours, but I guess that everyone has been given a kind of natural creativity – it’s encoded in our sense organs, in our hands and minds. However, in our professional life it often remains hidden. But if you want to understand Kaizen, you need to experience it, try it out, test the creative thinking in action. Kaizen is about collecting all your talents and skillfully using your creative energy, to make tomorrow a better day.
From the perspective of leaders and managers: if you can build an appropriate working environment, give people the resources they need and then collect their ideas and enable their implementation in a creative reality, then we’ve made a step towards understanding the true meaning of Kaizen.
Thank you.


Thursday, April 4, 2019

Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma: Different Approaches to Process Improvement

Over the years, the terms Kaizen, Lean & Six Sigma have lost their individual identity. 

These words are being used interchangeably without knowing the true meaning or use of these words. Often I hear people asking which is the best tool? 



What is Kaizen? 

Kaizen is a Japanese word for “Change for the better” or it is also referred to as “Continuous Improvement”. So it is a journey and not a destination, it is a mindset as opposed to being a specific tool. It is a culture that needs change/improvement and be adopted by the organization. It uses personal creativity and ingenuity to identify problems and then develop and implement ideas to solve those problems. KAIZEN™ philosophy says that everything can be improved and everything can perform better or more efficiently. It helps to identify 3 MU’s – Muda (wastes), Mura (variation/ inconsistency) and Muri (strain/ burden on people & machines). 

KAIZEN™ is the practice of continuous improvement. KAIZEN™ was originally introduced to the West by Masaaki Imai in his book Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success in 1986. Today KAIZEN™ is recognized worldwide as an important pillar of an organization’s long-term competitive strategy. KAIZEN™ is continuous improvement that is based on certain guiding principles: 
  • Good processes bring good results 
  • Go see for yourself to grasp the current situation 
  • Speak with data, manage by facts 
  • Take action to contain and correct root causes of problems 
  • Work as a team 
  • KAIZEN™ is everybody’s business 
  • And much more! 
One of the most notable features of KAIZEN™ is that big results come from many small changes accumulated over time. However this has been misunderstood to mean that KAIZEN™ equals small changes. In fact, KAIZEN™ means everyone involved in making improvements. While the majority of changes may be small, the greatest impact may be kaizens that are led by senior management as transformational projects, or by cross-functional teams as KAIZEN™ events.

What is Lean? 

Lean is opposite to fat and it often focuses on removal of ‘wastes’ sometimes referred to as ‘muda’ in Japanese. Operations that fail to create value for the end customer are deemed “wasteful.” 

Although the basic Lean model was introduced more than 100 years ago, it has continued to evolve over time, from Henry Ford’s continuous assembly lines for the Ford Model T, to the concept of interchangeable parts used by Eli Whitney and Samuel Colt, to the Toyota Production System. These concepts, in addition to a multitude of others, have come together to formulate what we know today as Lean manufacturing. 

Lean works very well for improving business processes that have a continuous or regular flow. Lean is not as effective for processes that are only occasionally performed or for problems that have suddenly emerged. 

What is Six Sigma? 

It is a set of tools and strategies to limit defects and variability/ in consistency, also referred to as “Mura” in business processes. Its two project methodologies – DMAIC (define, measure, analyse, improve, control) and DMADV (define, measure, analyse, design, verify) are based on Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. The team leverages advanced statistical techniques such as pareto charts and root cause analysis to reach quantified value targets. 

The roots of Six Sigma as a measurement standard can be traced back to Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) who introduced the concept of the normal curve. Six Sigma as a measurement standard in product variation can be traced back to the 1920’s when Walter Shewhart showed that three sigma from the mean is the point where a process requires correction. Many measurement standards (Cpk, Zero Defects, etc.) later came on the scene but credit for coining the term “Six Sigma” goes to a Motorola engineer named Bill Smith. (Incidentally, “Six Sigma” is a federally registered trademark of Motorola). 

Six Sigma works very well with complex business systems that have known performance goals. Six Sigma is not as effective with processes that have changing requirements. Also, Six Sigma is a cultural change for management and employees since all process control decisions are data-driven rather than using intuition. Management no longer is providing direct process supervision, but is acting more as a coach, facilitator, and strategic decision maker. Operators are now responsible for making the day-to-day decisions required to achieve desired process performance. This culture change can take a long time. 

Conclusion 

KAIZEN™ looks to improve all aspects of a business through standardizing processes, increasing efficiency and eliminating waste by involving everyone while Six Sigma focuses more on improving the quality of the final product by finding and eliminating causes of defects, whether by variances (Sigma is a mathematical term that measures a process' deviation from perfection) in the business process or in manufacturing and Lean focus on elimination of ‘wastes’ in order to improve process speed and quality through reduction of process waste. 

The most important fact however is that one is not better than the other - you need, can benefit from the use of, and should be using all. The bottom line is don’t waste lots of time and money trying to put ways of thinking and improving in place as these concepts/ tools are designed to save time and money. The ultimate goal will be Operational Excellence for Business Excellence and the spirit should be to improve, to change the paradigms, to change the culture, to change the current set of habits, etc. 

Source: Kaizen Institute

Heavy Workload at Work? These Tips Will Help You Deal With the Workload


Not only can a heavy workload be tiring, it often drives you to work for longer hours than you would really like. This means that you spend the time that you would prefer to use for the things that you enjoy doing or gives life value working to you. Have a heavy workload at work? See 10 tips to help you deal with the workload.

Written by Catherine Adenle

Now, let’s look at this scenario: You are half way through a project with a looming deadline, then, you have to drop it and take on another task with a rocket urgent priority. Meanwhile, another priority task is nearly finalized, then an e-mail hits your inbox from another senior manager for you to ‘take care’ of something for him. And then you look up, your boss is standing in front of your desk, he asks for the status of another task. Before you could speak, your phone goes off; you have to deal with a query that is lurking in your inbox. Now, work is piling up as usual, there are several un-ending deadlines, expectations, attention…does this scenario sound familiar?
Well, there is no doubt that your boss expects you to complete your tasks, in other words, he wants you to basically do your job. You also have to think of your objectives for the year, your appraisal rating which indicates a raise if you meet and exceed expectations, meaning you’ve got to do something over and above your job.
Not only can a heavy workload be tiring, it often drives you to work for longer hours than you would really like. This means that you spend the time that you would prefer to use for the things that you enjoy doing or gives life value working to you. It also means that you are working when you should really be resting. Worse than this, a very heavy habitual workload leaves you little time to deal with emergencies that come up unexpectedly. This adds to the feeling of being out of control which could be stressful.
How can you deal with your heavy workload and also be innovative and take the initiative to do some value adding projects? While there is no snappy magic to reduce your workload, the simple steps and tips below are some of the best ways to manage a heavy workload. They might not all be suitable for every situation, but if applied properly, they may help to alleviate some of the stress created by your heavy workload.
1. Understand your organization’s and team’s strategy and cultureYou have to first remember that your role exists for a reason and this will ultimately be determined by the strategy of the team that you belong you to. This strategy is often expressed in a vision and in the mission statement. In some way, you should help the organization achieve its vision. If you are thinking this is not the case, you need to ask yourself how secure your role is. Make sure you understand and perform the tasks that are strategy driven well. The tasks that add value to the team, the company or the organization are the tasks that you always should strive to complete first.

2. Sit Back, Breathe and Relax. Yes, it is a simple tip, sit back in a relaxed position, drop your shoulders slowly and inhale through your nose, counting to five in your head. Let the air out from your mouth, counting to eight in your head as it leaves your lungs. Repeat several times. Try and don’t be overwhelmed by the number of tasks or deadlines at hand. After all, you can’t do all of them at the same time, so why worry about all of them at once

3. Think. Compile a list of your tasks with allocated deadlines. Look and decide which ones you can complete independently and which are the ones you need help with? Separate the tasks based of timelines, stakeholders needs, ease of completion, dependencies and estimated time to complete.

4. Reflect. We all have different ways of working, and different styles and times when we are most productive. Think about when you tend to work best and use this time to do the most important or challenging tasks and then, complete the easier tasks when you find it more difficult to concentrate.

5. People and Resources. You must check that you have the staff support, resources, and the training that you need to do an excellent job of your allocated tasks. If you do not, network, ask questions, speak to relevant people and start working on obtaining them.

6. Prioritize. Once you have listed your tasks, set priorities based on the information you already have. According to priority, have a pipeline of your projects completed one by one, within the deadlines and other constraints. Re-order with your feasible but viable timelines.

7. Communication. If you feel that you are struggling to stay on top of your work, it may help to share your concerns with your manager or supervisor. Politely ask him for a work in progress meeting to communicate your workload and assure him that you are capable of handling all the projects but he has to look at shifting some of the deadlines for you and also clarify on your list what is absolutely important to focus on first. Avoid using the word, ‘can’t’ during the meeting, but you can say, ‘I can get the work done but I need to be given more time on few of the projects as I have documented,’ or ask him, ‘Would you mind if I do these projects in this order and to these timelines? This way, I can do a very good job and exceed your expectations’. If he agrees, be sure to exceed his expectations by your deliverables.

8. Focus. Think of breaking your day into sessions, of maybe two or three hours. Take regular walk breaks after each session. First thing in the morning, when you get to the office, begin your day with a plan and assign tasks to each session. As you know, there will be urgent things that come up all the time, so be prepared to re-prioritize on the drop of a hat.

9. Execute. Set up a mental box around yourself during each session. Nothing else should interfere, unless of course, there are emergencies. Concentrate and work like a person on mission. Everything else can wait.

10. It is okay to say no, sometimes. Agreed, it can be difficult in some situations, but saying “no” is sometimes the only way to manage a heavy workload. However, be mindful not to say no to important tasks and not say no all the time, but saying no when you genuinely feel and think you cannot do something is better than saying yes and not getting the job done well.

Successful workload management is therefore vitally important for your job satisfaction. Unfortunately, some managers aren’t always willing to see this. If you have a heavy workload at work, these 10 tips will help you to deal with the workload.