Selling Your Opponents

Have you ever been in a situation where you truly believed your idea or position was the best way to go but faced people who had strong opposing views? Here's a thought that might help:

Getting others to buy-in to your ideas or to come around to your point-of-view doesn't mean that you have to diminish or downplay your strong beliefs to reach a watered down compromise (although there are times when a compromise may be the best choice). But if you need to stick to your position and convince those holding opposing views that your way is truly best, you must therefore work on broadening the appeal of your position so as to make it more attractive to others. You must start by making a special effort to convince others, an effort that starts with not alienating and proceeds to persuading.


About me: Dan Pelley teaches ways to effectively implement changes as part of his "Proactive Leadership" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. 146 companies in Connecticut (CT), Rhode Island (RI), Massachusetts (MA) and New York have one or more person(s) who earned this certificate.

Copyright © 2011 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Still not much time for blogging. But saw an article in The Wall Street Journal last Monday (January 25, 2010) that you may find interesting. It deals with the subject of "where process improvement projects go wrong." My professional career has involved a lifetime of special projects and this article confirms my long standing beliefs, not only about continuous improvement efforts, but about any type of change in an organization.

Click here to get the link.

p.s. readers: I've recently subscribed to WSJ and have found it be a very interesting newspaper for me.

Like Father Like Son

You'll enjoy this post better if you read yesterday's post "You Never Know Until You Try" first.

As a teenager dad flew an airplane. As a teenager I raced a stock car. In one of my first races, the car popped out of gear in turn three. Let me tell you that situation gets your attention real fast.

The track where I normally raced was very high-banked. You normally had the gas pedal to the floor on the straightaways, held it as long as you could, then slipped your foot off the gas pedal (back off) and cut the steering wheel hard as you entered the turn. Halfway through the turn and completely off the throttle, you did a tap on the brakes (spot brake) and then slammed the gas pedal to the floor to come off the turn.

That works very well assuming of course that the car is in gear. If not, the engine races to red line RPMs (and its hard to hear that above the noise as none of our race cars had mufflers), and the drivers behind you are already banging into you and pushing you. While the shift lever looked like it was in normal position, I gave it a quick slap, it moved slightly and I was back in gear. Soon I was driving that turn with back off, spot break, slap the gearshift, mash the gas. Not a particularly good way to go, but we did qualify for the feature (final) race.

Most short tracks (ours was 1/4 mile) do not have pit stops, so there is no pit area visible to the spectators. Unlike what you see on television at the larger tracks where the pits are parallel to the pit road, our pits were located behind the track and parking was perpendicular to pit road. As you came in to the pit you could nose in or back in. Normally I would back into our pit. This time, excited from being bumped around and having to slam the shift lever every lap, I nosed into the pit and advised the crew.

With little time until the feature race, the crew decided to wire the gearshift tightly in position to see if that might hold it in gear. What did we have to lose? We only ran in second gear anyway and if it didn't work I could always slap it back into gear as I did in the heat race. So wire it up they did, with no time, effort, or amount of wire spared. Rube Goldberg would have been proud.

Imagine our chagrin when they called the race cars for the feature race and thirty three cars fired up and headed out to the track. I climbed in, fastened the belts, fired the engine and went to shift into reverse so I could back out of my pit (remember I had nosed in). There was the shift lever solidly wired into second gear. While some crew members searched frantically for wire cutters, others simply pushed the car back out of the pit stall. And interestingly enough, the car stayed in gear through the entire feature race.

When it comes to problem solving "Ya never know until ya try."

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, particularly those at the first-line supervisor level. Topics include handling difficult employees, leadership, counseling, coaching, problem solving, lean thinking, motivation and time management. We welcome your comments on this post.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

You Never Know Until You Try

I love creativity. Innovations. New ideas. And I love hearing about things people try to do to solve problems, things that range from the deceptively simple to the Rube Goldberg contraptions. Some that work. Some that don't. Here's one that seemed logically simple, but in practice didn't work out.

In 1929 my dad was the youngest person in New Jersey to earn a private pilot's license. He was just 16 years old. He wore a leather flying suit, snoopy hat and goggles as many of the planes were open cockpit. The mechanicals were fairly primitive and the instrumentation was minimal at best.

One difficulty in flying these primitive aircraft was to know the orientation of the plane to the ground, especially when landing. Was the nose up or down and by how much (Pitch)? Were the wings level or was one lower than the other (Roll)? Gyroscopes for aircraft were available, but not in widespread use. Someone at the airport decided that two carpenter's levels could be used as a simple and inexpensive substitute.

One level was placed on the floor of the cockpit lengthwise to show pitch, and one was placed crosswise to show roll. Great idea except it was dark on the floor of the cockpit and the level bubble was difficult to see. A flashlight solved the problem.

Dad said it was a great idea and worked well when cruising along. But not good at all for landing when needed most. On the first landing attempt using the levels, the pilot found he needed one hand on the control stick, one hand on the throttle and one hand on the flashlight. Oops! The quick thinking pilot put the flashlight in his mouth and when he tilted his head to see the levels the light would go that way as well.

Well everyone probably had a good laugh. But I don't believe the system got much use. Anyway, Dad said the gyroscope soon became widely available and solved the problem.

When it comes to solving problems, "ya never know until ya try."

About me: Dan Pelley teaches problem solving and continuous improvement techniques as part of his "Proactive Leadership" program. Click here to see the program learning objectives. You can learn more about all of Dan's program by clicking here to visit our website.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Hand It Back

Some companies have a great way of preventing quality errors from being passed on person to person as a job travels downstream. What they do is charge each operation with checking the quality of work incoming from preceding operations. Any defective work they catch can be returned to the previous operation for correction. But once they pass the work on to the next operation, they now are responsible for any defects or errors they didn't catch. If the next operation finds an error and sends it back to them correction, they are not allowed to pass it back upstream even though the defect was caused by a preceding operation.

For example: Operation A makes a mistake, doesn't catch it when it happened, and sends the work to Operation B. Operation B looks over the incoming work, doesn't catch the error, proceeds correctly with its operation and sends the work to Operation C. Operation C looks over the incoming work and catches the error made by operation A and passed on by Operation B. Operation C sends the work back to B, and now B (to its chagrin) must correct the error. Operation B is not allowed to send the error back to the originator, operation A.

The purpose? To ensure that people thoroughly check incoming work. In this case, you can bet that Operation B will be checking what it gets from Operation A very closely in the future. You can also bet that this model ensures that all downstream operations are very careful about what they accept from any upstream operation.

In case you were wondering, if Operation B doesn't have the know-how or equipment to fix Operation A's error in the example above, Operation A will fix the error. But the cost of the repair will then be charged to Operation B!

About Pelleyblog: We are striving to be a communication device for managers where many people can share their thoughts, ideas, opinions, perspectives and points-of-view. We focus on topics of interest to supervisors, group leaders, foremen, department managers, project managers, team leaders, assistant managers, associate managers, office managers, nurse managers, crew leaders, unit managers, and other first-line managers. But managers at all levels, and people interested in management topics are welcome and are encouraged to join us both as readers and participants.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

An Interesting Approach

As part of the homework requirements in our "Proactive Leadership" program, participants are encouraged to try the "Go Process" (click here to see post on that topic) and report back on what worked and what didn't as well as what they liked and didn't like about the disciplines of the "Go Process."

One person reported that he got the best results by tackling the bigger piles of backlogged work in ten minute increments each day. Filing was a good example of that. Previously filing would back up to the point where he would come in once a month on a Saturday to file papers and clean and organize his desk. Now he has set a goal of filing for just 10 minutes before he goes home each day. It's only a week and he is seeing the backlog diminishing.

Another project involved creating a database of key holders. He figured the total job would take two hours. He committed to 10 minutes of data entry a day. In just one week he was nearly half done.

Have you ever procrastinated on starting a big job simply because it was big. Well, you know the old saying; "The longest journey begins with a single step." Why not try doing just 10 minutes a day on those burdensome tasks that just seem to pile up. If you do, I'd like to know if it worked for you. You can click on the comment button for this post or, if you prefer, send me an e-mail by clicking here.

About Pelleyblog: Pelleyblog is designed to be a resource for supervisors and other first line managers. Currently most of our readers are from Rhode Island (RI), Central Massachusetts (MA) and Eastern Connecticut (CT). But everyone interested in management topics is welcome.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

A Tale of Two Companies

I had a tour of a manufacturing company with equipment organized in long rows consistent with the nature of much of its process. Soon I noted a plastic bucket on the floor at the end of each row. Most buckets held one or more tools while a few were empty. Being my usual nosey self, I asked the Plant Manager about them.

It seems this was an attempt to have a common tool set available for set-ups, adjustments to equipment and minor maintenance. Each bucket would have several screwdrivers, an adjustable wrench, pliers, a ratchet and common size sockets and so forth.

He admitted that the condition of the buckets showed the system had fallen down. As we continued the tour and met several supervisors, the plant manager did not mention the condition of the buckets to anyone, nor did he give anyone an assignment to see to it that each bucket was restored to their full compliment of tools, and that people were reminded to put the tools back in the bucket when they were finished with them.

Seems like little commitment to the potential improvement was to be found here.

Contrast that effort with another company who took a far more committed approach to having tools available. The tool requirement for each machine was determined by the machine operators. A corresponding set of tools needed for that particular machine was then purchased. A peg board was put up at each machine and a spot on the pegboard was chosen for each tool. The associated tool was outlined on the board, a visual reference showing which tools were in use. If it turned out that a tool was missing, a label on the pegboard indicated exactly which tool it was.

Now that was a commitment. And it was expensive. A set of tools for every machine? What did that cost? About $30,000. 00!

Why not just have a set of tools for every few machines? The company rejected that approach saying "if two machines are being set up at the same time with shared tools, those set up times are going to increase and set-up costs are going to go up."

The company also calculated the savings resulting from the $30,000.00 investment. Turns out the calculated savings associated with have a set of tools at each machine was over $130,000 a year!

I haven't talked with anyone from this company in quite a while. But I do know that last time I talked with them the peg boards had been in use for over two years and were still working well.

About Pelleyblog: We focus on topics of interest to supervisors, group leaders, foremen, department managers, project managers, team leaders, assistant managers, associate managers, office managers, nurse managers, crew leaders, unit managers, and other first-line managers. But managers at all levels, and people interested in management topics are welcome and are encouraged to join us.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The "GO Process"

Did you ever do a thorough cleaning and organizing of a spare room? Your garage? Or attic? Only to look back several months later to see the mess, clutter and disorganization creep back in.
At work, have you ever done a 5-S project, Kaizen Event or just an intensive effort to clean-up and organize your workplace, only to see the sparkling results diminish back to dirt, clutter and piles of junk?

The reason for the fallback is that human beings are creatures of habit. And our habit is to pay attention to what needs to be done now, and to worry about the niceties of keeping things clean and organized when we can.

Some people don't even bother to attempt major cleaning efforts simply because the task is so huge. It's going to take hours, if not days, to get things in shape. They compare that time requirement with all they have to do and conclude that the major effort will have to wait until a solid block of time is available.

The "GO Process" is designed to support major clean-up efforts. It's a simple set of disciplines to keep us from falling back into old habits and ending up back in the mess. It can also be used to tackle a major clean-up effort by doing just a few things every day to make some progress while maintaining discipline to keep the gain. Using the "GO Process" you can steadily move forward over time until things are ship shape. Then the "GO Process" helps you keep things that way.

There are three steps to the "GO Process." Each requires a commitment and discipline. But they don't require hours and hours of effort.

Step 1. Put it Back. When you are done with tools, materials, equipment and supplies for one job, take a few minutes to put things back where they belong now so you aren't tripping over them when you do the next job. The time it takes you to put things back will usually be paid back immediately by the time savings of not having to work around them.

Step 2. Clean it Up. When a job is complete, the "GO Process" says we should try to clean the work area before starting the next job. But it recognizes that an immediate clean-up is not always realistic when clean-up takes more than a few seconds and we have lots of work to do. The "GO" step of clean up is to try to clean the work area when a job is done. But the discipline of the "GO Process" is to commit to cleaning up once a day, at a time of your choice.

Step 3. Sort it Out. Get rid of things you don't need. These things build up over time. We barely notice them at first. But after a while we begin to find these unnecessary things getting in our way and slowing us down. Ideally we would get rid of things as soon as we deem them to be unnecessary. The "GO Process" of course recommends you do this if you can. But the discipline of the "Go Process" is to commit to an hour or two once a month to go through and eliminate whatever escaped our attention as we went about our busy day.

So there you have the three "GO Process" disciplines:

1. Put It Back Now.
2. Clean It Up Daily.
3. Sort It Out Monthly.

By reducing the time commitment for keeping things clean and organized to a manageable level, the "GO Process" disciplines can help maintain the gains of major housekeeping efforts. Applying these disciplines can also help you chip away, day after day, towards a major housekeeping result without taking hours and days all at once.

If you'd like to learn more about the "GO Process," click this link to send me an e-mail and ask for more info. There's no cost or obligation.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches the "GO Process" as part of his "Proactive Leadership" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. Other topics include an overview of other continuous improvement techniques and methodologies including "Lean Thinking" and "Six Sigma;" Problem Solving; Practical techniques for calculating the cost of a problem and the payback of the solution; how to sell your ideas to your boss and others; and what it takes to be a successful change agent. Click here to learn more about this program.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Ideas of Others According to Spag

Yesterday's post considered that often times the people who work for us have good ideas; ideas that can be useful to us if we'll take the time to listen to them, explore them, and think about how we can use them. Today's post provides another example of that concept.

There was once a legendary retailer from Shrewsbury, MA who people knew by his nickname, "Spag." His wonderful retail store served thousands of customers daily; people both from near and far. One time, as a charitable event, he taught a course in retailing at a local college. I took that course just to hear the fascinating stories of his successful business philosophies. Today I share one of those stories with you.

Spag's general store carried all types of merchandise, and Spag told us he would try selling almost anything at least once. He said he often got suggestions and new ideas from his employees, figuring that if they liked a product well enough to buy it then others might buy it as well.

He illustrated that idea by telling us of an employee who suggested he carry motorized home ice cream makers. In this case, Spag wasn't convinced. "C'mon," he said to the employee, "who's going to buy that?"

"I would," responded the employee.

Still not convinced, but knowing that his own ideas on what will sell weren't always right, Spag ordered a trailer load (he bought much of his stock in trailer loads) of the ice cream makers. He said "I figured it would take at least a week to sell the trailer load."

At this point, Spag stopped speaking and looked solemnly at us. Then his face broke into a huge grin. "They were gone in four hours," he said.

He then went on to say that no one person can come up with all the good ideas. And yesterday's post reminds us that no one manager can think up all the improvements or solve all the problems. You may want to read that post if you haven't already.

About me: Dan Pelley's career experiences range from the shipping room to the boardroom and the college classroom. He has worked in companies as diverse as metal stamping, foundries, pharmaceuticals, computers and electronic components, hospitals, nursing homes, motor carriers, distribution, retailers, social services, government, quasi-government agencies, a major art museum and an airline. He shares his experiences through programs and seminars for companies in New England and through this blog.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Ideas of Others

I have a friend who is a jewelry designer. Her job is to study fashion trends and design product to meet those trends. She has many years experience as a designer, yet she knows that each design is a guess, and most initial designs will be abandoned as the market chooses the right guesses.

She also told me that she doesn't try to make all the guesses herself. Experience has taught that her employees have guesses too. And many of their guesses were designs that she initially believed wouldn't sell. But it turns out that the scorecard for her employees is similar to her own. Most employee design ideas (like her own design ideas) will be abandoned, but others will find market acceptance.

Any designer knows what she is talking about. It can take literally hundreds of ideas to yield just a handful of winners. The more ideas initiated and explored, the more winners to be had. Good designers listen to other people's ideas and suggestions, and incorporate them whenever they can. Just as we should do as managers. Often times, the people who work for us have good ideas; ideas that can be useful to us if we'll take the time to listen to them, explore them, and think about how we can use them.

Think about it this way: In a group of people such as department or work group, no one person in that group is smarter than all of the people in that group put together; because each person in the group has their own individual skills, talents, experiences, perspectives and points-of-view."

About me: Dan Pelley teaches a number of problem solving and continuous improvement techniques in his Proactive Leadership program. The program is offered on an open enrollment basis in Lincoln, RI and Danielson. CT. Click here to visit our website to learn more about this and other programs.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Give Creativity a Boost

Some people are always coming up with new things to do and new ways to do them. Their inquisitiveness is refreshing and their ability to see things in a different light can be astounding. Do they have a natural tendency to be creative? Perhaps so. Do they cultivate that creativity by seeking innovation? Probably so. Just as I am fairly sure that people who are naturally creative are quite receptive to expanding their knowledge base, so all of us can expand our creative efforts by seeking creative resources.

I don't view myself as a creative person, but I am quite innovative because I seek resources that can help. I'm fascinated by new ideas implemented by others. What they did and how they did it. The nature of the results. And my fascination is not limited by industry or area of interest. If it's something new I want to know about it. Whether I myself can use the idea doesn't matter. I add the new idea to my knowledge base. Perhaps I'll meet someone who could use the idea. Or maybe something will pop-up and I can use it. Who knows?

In addition to always being open to hearing about new ideas, I also cultivate more formal resources such as trade associations; books, articles and other published materials; and on-line resources such as websites and blogs. You should too. If you want to enhance your creative efforts, you need to identify resources that can give you helpful information regarding emerging trends on three fronts. (1) Trends regarding products and services offered by your industry; products and services being developed for your industry; and products and services in other industries that can be adapted to yours. (2) Trends regarding best practices in your area of work, skill, expertise, vocation, discipline, craft, trade or profession. (3) Trends emerging in world of science and technology that can be adopted and/or adapted to your needs now or possibly in the future.

Be inquisitive. Develop information resources, especially regarding new ideas and emerging trends. Expanding your knowledge base may stimulate your own creative ideas and innovations. Look at it this way. You may not be the inventor, but you'll get almost as much credit for finding, adopting, adapting and/or implementing a useful idea as you would get if you had invented it yourself.

About me: Dan Pelley illustrates advances in science and technology and their implication for managers as part of his "Proactive Leadership" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. 137 companies in Connecticut (CT), Rhode Island (RI), Connecticut (CT). Massachusetts (MA) and New York (NY) have one or more people who earned this certificate.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

On Being Creative

Here's an article written by a participant in our "Certificate in Supervisory Management" programs. The article is reprinted with permission, but the author has asked to remain anonymous. Here, then is some food for thought.

"One factor that helps make a significant contribution to my job is my creativity. This manifests itself in a number of ways, for example:

"Having experience in numerous different industries has allowed me to leverage that experience in this industry. For example, from a past experience in a different industry I am familiar with a certain solution used in spray painting to test the surface tension of the surface to be painted, with surface tension also indicating the cleanliness of that surface. This methodology is totally alien to our industry. I am currently evaluating this method for quantifying the cleanliness of stamped parts where surface oils and oxidation (while a standard part of the metal stamping process) are considered defects by the customer. The main issue is associated with being able to quantify cleanliness - "how clean is clean?" The use of this new (to our process) solution is a potential quantitative method.

"One of the biggest barriers to problem solving is people 'afraid to ask the stupid questions'. I am an 'out-of-the-box thinker' (or creative thinker), and as such sometimes test the theory that there are no 'stupid questions'. This becomes a benefit to me and the company because I like to challenge convention, the way that we've always done things, by drawing on my past experiences. This also helps to get the other team members to think out of the box - when they see a manager, say what may appear to be (and sometimes are) outlandish suggestions, they tend to take the risk and say what they're thinking.

"I also tend to challenge 'Standard Practices'; particularly in my areas of responsibility. As with the problem solving, being creative when dealing with everyday issues can have a positive effect on my colleagues - it tends to rub off on to them in the development of inspection practices and inspection fixturing.

"All of the above benefit my personal and departmental performance because (when they work out), we have a better method and/or process in place; a more robust method/process leads to less issues; less issues lead to less nonconforming product. Less quality issues equate to better performance."

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, both new managers seeking to learn new skills and more experienced managers seeking to update their skills. We also encourage everyone to participate in the blog by commenting on any post, or by submitting your own article for posting. If you would like to know more about submitting articles or topics for consideration, click here to send me an e-mail.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

A Tweeting Intern

Millennials are the workforce of the future and I've been blogging this week on the new ways millennials communicate. Texting, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc. My focus was on issues that may arise when employees use these mechanisms and how to deal with them. In short, companies need to be aware of these issues, decide what is appropriate and what is not in their workplace, and then develop policies, procedures and guidelines for these issues. Just as companies have done in the past to address issues faced by other generations of employees.

In addition to being the workforce of the future, millennials will also be the customers of the future. And companies need to be thinking now of how to communicate with those customers. People selling products that appeal to the younger generation are already into this. But companies selling to "middle aged consumers" need to get started as the millenials are coming. Of course if you are selling on a business to business basis instead of directly to consumers, you need to be aware that more and more millennials are occupying roles where they make buying decisions for businesses, and even more of them will be occupying those roles in the future. How will we communicate with them? What will be the appropriate media? What will be the best targeted message?

I recently read of a company hiring an intern for the summer to create a presence for the company on Twitter. The company didn't know a lot about Twitter, but the intern did. So they've put their heads together - the seasoned veterans of the company and its present ways of doing business with the new millennial with no preconceived notions and many fresh ideas on how to communicate with her peer group.

What a great way to go. I've always been a supporter of internships. The intern gains solid experience while earning a paycheck while the company gets fresh perspectives and fresh ideas at a very reasonable cost. Perhaps this is something you should be doing. Exploring Twitter and Facebook and MySpace and texting and what-have-you. And what better way to find out what the younger generation thinks than by having a young person as an intern.

Yes, the summer is half over. But internships are not limited to the summer either. And the seasons are very short in the world of emerging technologies. Wait too long to get into these new ways of communicating and you may find they've already become "old school thinking."

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, particularly those at the first-line supervisor level. Occasionally we include topics of general interest, topics about Dan Pelley's background and experiences, and a rare occasional rant. We welcome your comments on this or any other post.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Biggest Cop Out

What's the single biggest barrier to solving problems, making improvements, finding better ways and moving forward? Four words: "It can't be done." People who use this phrase are doomed to failure. If they believe something can't be done they certainly have no reason to try hard to do it.

Too many employees have also learned to use "it can't be done" to avoid difficult problem solving and continuous improvement assignments. This avoidance is fostered by bosses who accept that excuse out-of-hand with no supporting justification. And this creates the biggest cop out. They avoid the effort and miss out on the potential reward. Because it will be done. Some day. By somebody. A somebody who realizes that each passing day brings new experiences, new technologies, new ideas that move people down the road into a future where the problems of yesterday become the opportunities of today and the improvements of the future.

Commercial space travel is within reach. The flying car is here. Nanotechnology is creating materials that were inconceivable thirty years ago. The inventors, innovators, creators, problem solvers, enhancers and improvers know this. They stay alert for new things to help move things forward. The nay-sayers and negative thinkers cop out.

Our post today can be summed up in two examples. Nay-sayers think like Charles Duell, head of the U.S. Patent Office who declared "Everything that can be invented has been invented." He made his declaration in 1899!

Inventors, innovators, creators, problem solvers, enhancers and improvers think along these lines when it comes to something that most believe can't be done, such as time travel: "Don't believe anyone who tells you that humans will never have efficient technology for backward and forward time travel." (source: NOVA online)

About me: For 25 years, Dan Pelley has presented supervisory management development programs in Rhode Island (RI), Massachusetts (MA) and Connecticut (CT). He is the 2004 recipient of the Richard Fontaine Award for Teaching Excellence awarded by Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson, CT.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Why Not Let Them?

Sometimes employees come to us with an idea for solving a problem or making an improvement to the department. They ask us what we think of the idea, hoping of course that we think it's great and will use it. With credit to them of course.

But many managers find that accepting the suggestion out-of-hand is difficult to do. Sometimes the idea triggers a different approach to the situation in the mind of the manager who then tells the employee to do it that way. Worse, some managers even present their idea to the employee "as a better way of handling the situation." Some managers partially accept the employee's idea with revisions and modifications made by the manager without a meaningful discussion with the employee. Other managers flatly reject the employee's idea without due consideration and a solid rationale for dismissing the idea.

Often the end result of all three approaches is an employee who is discouraged, disgusted and has little enthusiasm or interest in this situation now, and similar situations in the future. Yet what did the manager really have to lose by letting the employee try the idea? If we stop to think about it, many ideas can be implemented with very little downside risk. But many managers do not stop to think about it. Instead they decide what to do and then tell the employee to get on with it.

If the employee's idea has merit, you determine that the risk of failure is small, and the cost of complete failure is not substantial (a little wasted time, a little wasted money), then why not let the employee simple try their idea so they can learn from the experience?

If the employee's idea has merit but you think that modifications will improve it, then why not suggest those modifications for consideration by the employee? Let them choose whether or not to incorporate the suggestions. If they do, great! If they don't, it's quite possible that the experience of implementing their unmodified ideas may show them that the suggestions were indeed worthwhile. At that point the employee may well include them, or at least may be receptive to your making those suggestions again, as well as other suggestions in the future.

If you see a somewhat more significant risk of failure and/or a somewhat more substantial cost associated with the failure, then see if you can negotiate changes to the idea to minimize those risks and consequences. If not, then you may want to let the employee go forward with the unmodified idea under strict limitations that will stop implementation if the actual experience shows the risks were real and before the costs and consequences become unacceptable. Why do that? Because sometimes people have to be allowed to learn from the "school of hard knocks." And the boss who creates a controlled environment that lets the employee learn from those experiences often finds that employees tend to be more receptive to the boss's critiques, suggestions and warnings in the future.

If the risks are significant and/or the consequences are substantial, you will have to say no to the idea. But don't reject it out of hand. Take the time to educate the employee on the specific reasons why the idea can't be used as presented and, if possible, what the employee might do to restructure and resubmit the idea so it can be accepted. And, of course, whether you accept the idea or not; whether the idea works perfectly or not; whether the idea even works at all, always congratulate the employee for trying to improve the situation.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches problem solving and continuous improvement techniques as part of his "Proactive Leadership" program. Click here to see the program learning objectives. You can learn more about all of Dan's program by clicking here to visit our website.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Importance of Payback

Ever have the disappointment of coming up with a great idea to solve a problem or make an improvement only to have your boss shoot you down because"it costs too much" or "we can't afford it." If you know how to do a payback analysis you'll have a pretty good understanding, even before you go to your boss, of the financial feasibility of your idea.

Payback is a financial tool that tells you how long it will take before the saving resulting from your improvement will pay back the cost of your improvement. The calculation is fairly straightforward once you gather detailed facts on just how much your improvement will cost along with a reasonable estimate of the monthly savings generated by the improvement.

Example: Suppose you have an improvement that reasonable people agree will save the company $250.00 per month. The cost of the improvement is $2,000.00. To calculate payback you simply divide the monthly savings ($250) into the cost of the improvement ($2000). The result of that division (in this case 8) is your payback period. In 8 months you will have saved enough money to pay back the $2,000.00 you invested.

Payback is very important when you are trying to get money to make an improvement because of a financial rule-of-thumb. Most financial managers will tell you that a payback of one year or less is a "no-brainer." That is, if the company has the funds available, a less than one year payback situation is a very good investment to make. If the payback is greater than one year, but is two years or less, it is still a fairly good investment to make. Beyond two years doesn't mean you won't get the money, but it does mean you'll probably need some pretty strong non-financial reasons why the improvement should be funded.

One last thought for today. The actual details that sum up to the two components of payback (cost of improvement and monthly savings) can be complex sometimes. My advice? If you are not familiar with the detailed mechanics of payback ask someone who is. Usually your company will have a financial person (controller, accountant, chief financial officer) who can show you what details you should include and how to perform the actual calculations. If you're lucky, the financial person may even check your work for you to make sure it's accurate.

About Pelleyblog. This blog is concerned with management topics. It is hosted by Dan Pelley, a management practitioner who offers a Certificate in Supervisory Management. The blog includes responses to questions and issues (posed by participants in Dan's seminars and classes, in their homework assignments, and by you via e-mail.); practical, hands-on, real-world advice (since Dan is still a practitioner); thoughts on how not to train (sharing some of the really stupid things that some companies do, and then they wonder why their “training” programs do not work); now and then a thought for the day (on any issue that strikes our fancy at the time); and occasionally a rant (although Dan's wife says he does far too many of them).

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Hole in the Bird House

16 month old Mason was visiting one day and, like all little boys, was busy investigating and getting into everything. In the kitchen he found a small metal whisk that suited his fancy and carried it along with him. Shortly thereafter he came upon a bird house sitting on a stool in a corner of the kitchen. His grandmother "GiGi" (the name our grandchildren call my wife) loves unique bird houses and has them located both outside for the birds to use and inside as part of interior decoration.

Mason stood there staring intently at the hole in the bird house. It seemed larger than the whisk. Next thing you know he tests the concept. Ah ha! It fits. So.....before we can say "stop," in it goes with a slight metallic plop. Mason pondered that for a little while and probably decided it wasn't coming back out. So off he went to investigate the next item to catch his eye.

We had a good laugh and tried to shake out the whisk, without success. But the amount of noise coming from the shaken bird house caused us to suspect Mason's cousins Nicky and Alex had been investigating the hole in the bird house too. Mason's dad solved the problem with a flexible claw used to retrieve small parts. Out came the whisk, a child's block, and other assorted items.

Isn't it interesting how small children continuously explore their environments, getting into everything, investigating how things work, trying things out, testing assumptions and continuously filling their growing minds with new information. And they do it with little fear. Even when they incur the occasional scrape or cut, they soon stop crying -- and immediately start exploring again.

Sadly, as people grow older, we begin to fear new things. We resist new ideas. We avoid emerging technologies. We stay away from the difficulty of learning new things. And when we do approach something new, we tend to do it slowly and with an abundance of caution. Accordingly, for large numbers of people, the older we get the more obsolete we become.

I try not to let that happen to me. But it's a struggle. And the older I get the more I must focus on learning new things. Luckily, I still very much do. And so should you. If you want to be a leader. And continue to be valuable in your work. And enjoy the benefits of new and better ways in all aspects of your life. Keep that innate curiosity of the child alive in you. And, if you've lost it, try to get it back.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches a number of productivity improvement techniques in his Proactive Leadership program. The program is offered on an open enrollment basis in Lincoln, RI and Danielson. CT. Click here to visit our website to learn more about this and other programs.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

What Mr. Edison Knew

Our posts on 4/11/09 and 4/13/09 led to this post. You may want to read those posts first.

Mr. Edison looked at failure in the right light. He treated every failure as a discovery. He found something that wouldn't work. In a sense, he was thankful for each discovery of what wouldn't work. Because I think he knew a basic principle of discovery that is quite similar to a basic principle of selling.

Basic selling skills include the idea of thanking every customer who turns you down. Why so? Because if you sell a product that on average only 1 out of every 100 people will buy, you need on average 99 turn downs before you'll get to a sale. And each "no" is one less person you have to ask before you get to "yes."

I think Mr. Edison knew that if only 1 in 100 ideas will work, each failure is one more "no" to be scratched off the list, and one step closer to the "yes" that brings success.

About me: For 25 years, Dan Pelley has presented supervisory management development programs in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. He is the 2004 recipient of the Richard Fontaine Award for Teaching Excellence awarded by Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson, CT.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Mr. Edison's Light Bulb

You may want to read a related post: "Get motivated by failure" on 4/11/09 first.

Thomas Edison was a great inventor. He didn't invent the light bulb. He perfected it.

The first light bulb was invented by Humpry Davy in 1809. Herman Sprengel invented a vacuum pump that allowed a good vacuum to be created inside a light bulb. Sir Joseph William Swan invented the first practical light bulb in 1878 (13.5 hour life).

So what did Edison do? He made significant improvements to the bulb filaments, extending the 13.5 hours of Swan. First to 40 hours, then 100, and later to 1500 hours.

To do that, Edison and his team experimented with literally thousands of different filament materials including no fewer 6,000 vegetable growths. And he looked at test failures in just the right way. When challenged on results he said: "Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward...." (emphasis mine).

"The electric light has caused me the greatest amount of study and has required the most elaborate experiments.... Although I was never myself discouraged or hopeless of its success, I can not say the same for my associates.... Through all of the years of experimenting with it, I never once made an associated discovery. It was deductive... The results I achieved were the consequence of invention - pure and simple. I would construct and work along various lines until I found them untenable. When one theory was discarded, I developed another at once. I realized very early that this was the only possible way for me to work out all the problems." (emphasis mine).

As one of the great inventors of his time, Thomas Edison had many more valuable quotes for us. You can see them by Clicking here to visit thomasedison.com

About Pelleyblog: We focus on topics of interest to supervisors, group leaders, foremen, department managers, project managers, team leaders, assistant managers, associate managers, office managers, nurse managers, crew leaders, unit managers, and other first-line managers. But managers at all levels, and people interested in management topics are welcome and are encouraged to join us.

Get Motivated by Failure

In a recent seminar on being an agent of change, I was asked "How do you stay motivated to implement change when you have repeated failures?"

The answer comes from your approach to making changes, and what constitutes a failure.

First, the fact that you have entered the implementation stage and actually tried your idea puts you far above the vast number of managers who speculate, and suppose, and dream of what can be; but fail to take a chance, fail to try things out. You've avoided that failure.

Second, great inventors, innovators and problem solvers know that from each failed test comes information that brings us closer to successful implementation. If you learn nothing else from your failed test, you now know of something that won't work. Gaining that knowledge doesn't seem so much like a failure.

Third, in diagnosing a failed test, you may discover the information that leads to a stunning breakthrough, or at least moves you closer to the final answer. Gaining that knowledge certainly isn't a failure.

Ultimately, every business problem we face will be solved sooner or later. Solved by companies with people who think, ponder, postulate, try, fail, learn and try again. And companies that solve business problems tend to be leaders in their industries.

So, if you look at implementation test failures in the correct way, they are only failures when viewed in the light of a final answer. When viewed as a valuable stepping stone, failed tests are not failures at all.


About me: Dan Pelley is an educator specializing in management training and development programs for supervisors and other first-line managers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The issue recited above came from a participant in one of his "Thriving on Change" seminars.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.