Can You Improve Your Employees’ Psychological Income?

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Can You Improve Your Employees’ Psychological Income?

Guest writer Floyd Jerkins continues his series on customer service with part 3: Can You Improve Your Employees’ Psychological Income?

One of the most profound human characteristics centers around our need to be appreciated. When we are in a relationship where we feel appreciated and valued, our self-esteem rises, and we are much more open to making changes and being part of a team. Leaders know this and work to create an environment for people to be recognized.

Employees need economic income and psychological income. To reach peak performance, both are needed to have balance in life while the business pursues high profits. When employees enjoy the economic portion, a question is how much more commitment could they make if they had the psychological income to match?

Managers Becoming Experts in Finding the Things That Go Wrong

More often than not, managers are on the job to find the things going wrong and fix them. Many become experts at this. One of the most serious challenges in motivating people is that over time if all they hear are the negatives, it breeds a less than average mindset or one that goes all out to protect themselves from ridicule. It’s hard to build a team of high-performing champions if all they hear is what they are doing wrong all the time.

The “emotional bank account” is a theory and a practical application. The theory suggests that the more deposits you make into someone’s emotional bank account, their self-esteem increases, trust builds and makes them more open to changes. You are overdrawn in the account if you don’t make purposeful deposits. The person then closes down and isn’t up for much of anything because they are always suspicious of your motives. The practical application is to be well invested in the emotional bank account with your teams through your leadership and communications style and the consideration you show.

Catching Team Members Doing Something Right

Many times, all a leader hears in a day are the negatives. Some staff will bombard you with every negative there is. As a leader, you are often the center of communications, and this can become draining if you don’t frame these issues correctly.

This is one of the biggest keys to making happy employees. As a leader, we often forget to praise someone when they do a great job. Our heads are into other business-related issues. I don’t bet but only on sure things. And I’ll bet your business has all kinds of positive service points of contacts every day. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t last long in the business. Do you see them? Can you make it a daily practice to praise your staff when they perform the correct customer service behaviors you want to see?

A client of mine owns a few McDonalds. They installed the “thank you” process. Each employee was to say thank you when another employee did something for them, or they witnessed a fellow employee performing an uncommon act of service. All the managers started the process weeks before they rolled it out with all the staff. My friend said it was amazing how quickly this caught on and the improvement it made to the attitudes of the staff. It became contagious.

An example from another client. If an employee goes over and beyond to help a customer or assist a teammate, they will get a “good job card” with their name on it at their monthly manager’s meeting. These cards can come from managers, other employees or from customers telling management. They then would get to put their cards into a box. The manager would draw a card out of the box with a name on it. That person would then win a gift of $100 in value. A few of their people didn’t care about getting a card until they saw the same people winning. Then they joined in by trying to go over and beyond at customer service or helping another teammate to win. It became contagious.

Strategy to Make Emotional Deposits: The Magic of Dimes

Business owners go to great lengths and expense to recruit and hire the right people. I’ve always wanted people who worked for me to come to work and enjoy what they are doing.

As I mentioned in this article’s opening lines, we all have basic human tendencies. As a leader, we can nurture people through our leadership style and grow the talent we need to continue to achieve the goals and mission of the company.

Try putting ten dimes in one pocket and moving them to the other pocket one at a time with each positive message you give to someone throughout the day. The idea is to try and break old habits, and I am sure that is what many of us have. How many dimes do you have at the end of the day? Track this for a couple of weeks; you’ll be surprised. If you do well, you will also notice a change in the people around you. It is magical.

You can’t be fake about this, nor be insincere. Remember, in the absence of leadership; people will follow the strangest things. With leadership, ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

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Gaining Business Success Through Your Employees

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Gaining Business Success Through Your Employees

Learning Without Scars is pleased to introduce our new guest writer, Arlen Swenson. He makes his blogging debut with LWS in “Gaining Business Success Through Your Employees.” Arlen is a seasoned, dynamic, competitive, influencer, motivator Sales and Marketing Executive.  Track record of success recruiting, building, motivating, and managing highly effective teams, developing and implementing product marketing strategies to capture market share.

Success includes being Vice President of North American Governmental Sales & Marketing for John Deere Construction Equipment with annual sales of $255,000,000 while increasing sales 17% annually and reducing selling costs by more than 15% and improved gross profit margins by more than $38,000,000.00.

Gaining Business Success Through Your Employees

Many equipment dealerships struggle meeting or exceeding their business goals due to unforeseen or unknown barriers within their organization. Sometimes top management will make adjustments based on their experience or knowledge only to see negative or lackluster results even though employees are doing as directed.

But the answer to improving business performance is available if management is willing to ask from the right sources and that starts with their employees – all of them – all departments – all branch locations. This will require an open door by management to receive employee input in a constructive manner without threat of consequences for providing input.

This can be accomplished by conducting an open employee meeting with representatives from all departments and branch locations at each meeting conducted. The basic rules of the meeting include hearing input and recording on a flip chart that input from each meeting participant. The other rule is when an individual is providing their input they cannot be interrupted or challenged by the other meeting participants. The meeting chair or person entering the comments can ask clarification questions to make sure they are recording the input correctly.

This part of the process will take some time to accomplish and when each flip chart is filled, and line separated for each person’s comments each filled flip chart is then pasted on the meeting room wall. At the end of the process, you will have several flip charts pasted on the wall. It now time to gain group consensus on what are the top four items recorded on the flip charts that should be addressed immediately and solutions obtained. The remaining items will be addressed and resolved in descending order later, and all reported back to the employees.

To obtain group consensus each meeting participant is given four different colored pasty dots to place on the flip charts entries they believe are the first importance (red dot), second (green dot), third (yellow dot), and fourth (blue dot). Placing of the dots is done in quiet and no talking among the meeting participants. Management will than assign the four dotted items to two meeting participants for each colored dot to work with management on the best solutions for solving the business issue successfully. Progress on completing the top four issues is communicated back through the organization with frequent updates and announcement of completions. The other issues in descending order will be resolved with frequent updates and announcement of completions.

This open exchange of solving problems will become habit and add to the success of the business.

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A Leadership Rule: What You Do is So Loud I Can’t Hear What You’re Saying

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A Leadership Rule: What You Do is So Loud I Can’t Hear What You’re Saying

Guest writer Floyd Jerkins takes a top-down approach to customer service in his blog post this week, “A Leadership Rule: What You Do Is So Loud I Can’t Hear What You’re Saying.”

How Effective Are Your Leaders?

You want employees to feel good to be working as part of a team that is working together – and everyone is improving. Many managers would be surprised to learn how little their employees believe management is walking the talk.

You can quickly scan the internet and find thousands of articles on leadership. Hundreds of thousands of terabytes of data on the subject are available. Why then are we still seeing fundamental leadership issues?

Leaders have to be the change they want to see.

Whether Bruce Lee or Gandi said it first, it’s a powerful metaphor for leaders. Yeah, I know, it sounds like a cliche statement, but a modeled behavior makes this a reality. You can’t fake it with lots of words or bravado. You have to walk the talk.

I helped a group establish a renewed mission and vision for their company. First, we had to talk through how they created their first set of statements, how they outlined the behaviors they expected staff to have, and then how they communicated this to their entire organization.

Previously, they discussed their competition many times but tended to over-analyze how they compare to the other companies. They were trying to be just like the other companies their customers touch instead of understanding how they made the customers feel and replicating the same feelings from their organization. Once everyone recognized this, it started a whole new discussion. You just can’t put words on paper and expect everyone to automatically adopt them into day-to-day behaviors.

Every time a customer comes in contact with your company, you have the opportunity to create value by managing these touch points. These “touch points” of interactions form the impressions of your business. Every front-line employee has to walk the talk because hundreds and even thousands of these touch points happen daily. Nearly all of them are manageable by leaders and create coachable moments.

Specific customer service behaviors should be in your mission statement and your employee’s job descriptions. When you include these into training sessions, you begin integrating them into the hearts and minds of your employees. When it is trained in employees and in their job descriptions, they remember it and work towards it. These ideals aren’t just going to happen by chance; they must be planned for.

There is a lesson on the importance of having things detailed, organized, fast service, doing what we tell the customer, etc. If we take care of our customers, they will take care of us. That is such a simple statement, but it has far-reaching consequences in the business.

Remove Pass the Buck Bill

Nothing upsets a customer more than having an employee tell them to see someone else in the business that created the problem. Putting a customer on hold only to wait and wait for the next person in line to start the conversation all over again doesn’t make those enduring experiences customers expect today. I call those employees, Pass the Buck Bill. 

Passing on the responsibility to another employee or department is a common occurrence, yet; it drives customers away and makes your company just like all the other average ones out there.

Can These Touch Points Be Managed? 

Yes, They Can!

Each employee is a manager of customer relations. Even the janitor, because they come in contact with a customer, so they create an impression of good or bad service. Everyone needs to focus on the customer’s needs even if they don’t deal with or come in contact with the customer. Even a ticked-off customer is everyone’s responsibility. The more you can include your employees in this leadership role, they are more likely will become committed to doing an excellent job.

Every Customer is Heard Through Many Ears

As a leader, you’ll sometimes get “employee ears” telling you all kinds of negative rhetoric about one department or the other. Someone in one department hears a customer say something about another department, etc. It is difficult to listen to these negative comments and not do something, but at the same time, you have to become aware that there are three sides to every story.

Implementing cross-departmental meetings to discuss customer service starts to create a deeper understanding of individual responsibility.

The idea of having different groups together within the business and discussing “how do we rate today on a scale of one to ten” starts the internal conversations about improving customer service. If one group says they are a seven at greeting customers with a smile, then ask why. This opens the discussion about how to get better tomorrow. Even if you start this out as once a week or once a month, it gives the employees their chance to have their say and make it more personal. This whole process intentionally gives them the power to try to improve.

It would be nice to have this just naturally happen between staff, but that’s not the reality. A leader has to set the tone for customer service. The leader has to walk the talk of leadership and be the change they want to see.

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Training Is a Waste of Time and Money!

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Training Is a Waste of Time and Money!

In this week’s issue of “Lifelong Learners,” guest writer Mick Vaught takes a strong approach to employee development with his blog post entitled “Training Is a Waste of Time and Money!”

That is, unless it is applied correctly within the scope of the company’s core values. I said this before and I’ll say it again…. training should be used as one of the last disciplines in developing a competitive organization. Herb Kellerher, founder of Southwest Airlines, built his success by hiring “Attitude” first, followed by putting the right people in the right position, and lastly, training the heck out of them.

Here’s an example of how most employers misuse training in their dealer organization. 

“A very successful dealer organization has seen a continuous decline in revenue over the past year. What’s the first thing upper management does? Bring in corporate sales product specialists to launch a “sales” (Selling Process) training event.” 

  • Opportunity number one: There is a huge disconnect between most manufacturers and their dealer organizations. When I was a product specialist with some of the top equipment manufactures in the U.S., all too often I would get a call from a frantic dealer sales manager requesting “Sales” training for his/her team. In reality, our understanding of “Sales” training and “Product” training did not align with each other. Yes, product knowledge was certainly vital and understanding the “Selling” process was equally important. However, I quickly realized the gap between an understanding of what the dealer wanted and what I delivered was not the same. As a corporate product specialist, I was not equipped with the knowledge nor expertise of the retail selling process. 
  • Opportunity number two: (and this is a big one) The root cause in the decline of revenue is typically misdiagnosed in the first place. Typically, the first area most dealers focus their attention towards is sales, when in reality the deficiency is caused by a communication/collaboration issue between both the dealer sales and product support teams. While sales are a critical component of the revenue stream, the backbone of just about any organization is their Service Department.  Sales can sell that first machine to a new client, but from that moment on, future sales will depend on how well the customer will receive superior service! Some of the most effective training I have done was when we coordinated an overlapping session with both sales and service, bridging that communication and collaboration gap.

That brings me to the next point that must be addressed. Training is a waste of time if top management does not offer buy in. Checking off an item on the “To-Do” list just doesn’t cut it. If management thinks behavioral change can be accomplished in a one- or two-day session, they are totally not in touch with reality. A comprehensive perpetual training plan (to include follow-up, measuring, accountability and targeting the various levels of learning) must be executed if that organization will be successful. 

Today more than ever, I see a tremendous deficiency in young people going out into our work force. Most problematic is their ability to communicate, collaborate, and the ability to solve real problems. One of the biggest reasons for this deficiency is our national public-school systems. Educators have morphed into paperwork administrators, dealing with a lack of student discipline, myopic support from administrators, and a lack of involvement with parent’s participation. This now leads us to take a totally new perspective on how we assimilate new hires. 

  • Opportunity number three: Initiate a new philosophy on how and when to apply effective training.  I think Jim Collins hit the mark with his book titled “Good to Great”. Mr. Collins examined a number of good companies over a period of time and compared them to those companies that became not only good, but great!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  And what he found out was (important stuff here) the great companies:
  • hired the right people (they fit the company culture) 
  • put them in the right position (set them up for success)
  • training the heck out of them. 

Notice, training was the last initiative in the process!

In conclusion, those organizations who hire the right people in the very beginning, place them in the right position and are willing to invest the time and capital in offering effective and continuing training platforms will ultimately achieve greatness!

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The Wonderful World of Disney – Customer Service on the Front Line

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The Wonderful World of Disney – Customer Service on the Front Line

Guest writer Floyd Jerkins tackles how customer service looks when it is done with exceptional skill in this week’s guest post “The Wonderful World of Disney – Customer Service on the Front Line.”

Disney has been in the news recently. Some would say for the wrong reasons. One thing that has been true for decades is they deliver outstanding customer service. Disney provides millions of people every year with an experience of a lifetime that keeps customers coming back generation after generation. You can’t fake that level of excellence and customer service.

A good friend of mine just returned from taking his family to Disneyland for the fourth time. Of course, I love to hear his stories about their family experience, but it also piqued my interest in “how are they doing”; with their customer service.

Customer retention is more important than ever in all businesses as we find ourselves in an increasingly competitive world fighting for a piece of market share and the customers’ wallets.

Disney is an excellent model to consider because of the high loyalty level among its guests. They serve as a guideline for anyone who wants to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The Red Zone

Walt Disney said, “Just when everyone is saying how great you are is when you’re the most vulnerable.” At Disney, it’s known as the Red Zone. Every business that gets positive feedback from customers regularly can quickly become complacent. Something changes when you get all the right people in the right positions and things go smoothly. Many businesses feel like they are unstoppable. That’s the reality of running any business.

The problem is that in any short two-month period, you can have a lot of things go wrong that probably set you back six months or even a year of growth. It could be just a few little things, but it still causes plans to slow down or stall completely. This shows that being prepared all the time for the unexpected is the only way to stay ahead of the competition. Arrogance and complacency can cause a lack of attention to detail. Keeping your front-line people focused isn’t always easy, even in the best of times.

Who is Your Competition?

According to Disney’s philosophy, anyone that raises your customers’ expectations is a competitor. That is really true and something many think little about. If someone likes how they get treated buying a car or new home or getting their dry cleaning done, how can your team help the customer feel even better when dealing with your business?

The customer compares you with all other businesses they deal with. We are all competitors when it comes to customer satisfaction. Every front-line person must realize that every interaction they have with a customer forms an impression at that point of contact, or touch point as I call it. Not every other one, but everyone. The customer leaves that interaction with being, in the simplest terms, mad, glad, sad, or scared.

The customer doesn’t just look at the product when making a purchase. They rate the way they are treated on the phone, the invoice accuracy, the follow-up when they inquire with a question, the warranty claims procedures, and the list goes on and on.

Some internal customers look for and expect the same attention and focus as external customers. This is an important point to remember in any business. How often do we take a customer for granted and just think he will buy from us again? How often are you surprised that one of your front-line people suddenly quits?

Conduct the “How Are You Doing?” Test With Internal Customers

Disney isn’t unlike many other retail businesses; they make every effort to implement common sense practices. It’s always easy to say any business could adopt these practices, but that’s not true. As I’ve often said, common sense isn’t always common practice.

Leadership and cultural components impact the ability to implement these practices, and consistent communications are needed to sustain them. When it comes together, it’s like magic and full of possibilities. A major essential item is to take the time and effort to look at things from your customer’s perspective. Creating purposeful internal communications and setting the correct behavioral expectations doesn’t just happen by chance.

When in your weekly department meetings, ask the question, “How are we doing?” I know that is a pretty broad question but start the conversation about what people are hearing about your organization during their business transactions with customers. Also, ask what they overhear in a conversation between two customers or a group of customers. Begin asking for feedback from each team member; what in their opinion can we improve or what are we doing right? Create the entire list of items, then pick the top two or three that you could improve on and discuss how you can improve as a team. Give yourselves some timelines to see these issues resolved. Gather the successes and discuss the achievements at the same time. Never let the number of flaws outweigh your accomplishments.

Personal Development is the Key to Organizational Development

I contend that when you hire good people in a growing organization, you can generally find a role for them. Hiring front line people who want to learn is easily identifiable. Remember, personal development is the key to organizational development. If they don’t want to learn, how valuable is that person on the team?

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Why Job Vacancies Are Surging & Likely to Continue

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Why Job Vacancies Are Surging & Likely to Continue

Guest writer Ed Gordon continues to explore the aftermath of the great disruption with this week’s blog post “Why Job Vacancies Are Surging & Likely to Continue.”

As the labor market starts recovering from the severe disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there are some reasons for hope and many reasons for concern. The labor participation rate which continues to remain 1.1 percent lower than before the pandemic’s start, may rise somewhat as normal schooling enables more women to return to the workforce and the fear of contracting COVID subsides. On the other hand, reports are showing that students at all levels have lost a year or more of learning and community college enrollments have declined at a time when job skill requirements are growing.  

The biggest and most persistent negative factor is the shrinkage of the U.S. working age population in this decade. The baby boomers who caused a huge surge in the working age population are retiring in droves and this will continue until 2030. As the U.S. birthrate declined precipitously starting in the 1970s, a much smaller cohort is now entering the workforce. Also, since 2017 fewer immigrants have been admitted to the United States.  

Current Job Vacancies Soar 

The rebound from the pandemic and the shrinking labor pool has caused the unemployment rate to plummet and job vacancies to soar. An estimated 10.7 to 12.5 million jobs are now unfilled. The Bureau of Labor Statistics June JOLTS Report showed high rates of job vacancies in many major businesses sectors: information 7.9 percent, health care 9.1 percent, education 8.4 percent, professional/business services 8.3 percent.  

The National Federation of Independent Business reported an all-time high of small businesses that cannot find qualified applicants for skilled positions. A January 2022 Fortune/Deloitte survey reported that 71 percent of CEOs expected that labor and skills shortages will significantly disrupt their business strategies over the course of this year.  

U.S. defense contractors have major staffing shortages. Their aging pool of high-skill specialized employees – particularly engineers with security clearances – is rapidly shrinking as they reach retirement age. These are also tough times for military recruiters. As of late June, only 40 percent of the 57,000 new recruits that the U.S. Army wants by September 30 had been enlisted. The Navy, Marine Corps, and even the Air Force are also having trouble finding personnel that meet their fitness and educational requirements.  

To retain workers and recruit new ones, many employers are raising salaries or offering special hiring bonuses. So far in 2022 the average increase in base pay in the United States is 4.8 percent. As there currently is a shortage of one million registered nurses in the United States, hospitals are offering an up to $40,000 signing bonus to nurses who sign a two-year contract. Walgreens Boots Alliance is offering signing bonuses of up to $75,000 to pharmacists who agree to stay in their jobs for a specified period.  

The Society for Human Resource Management reports that projections for 2023 indicate that salaries will increase from 4 to 5 percent driven by continuing shortages of skilled workers.  

Can We Enlarge the Labor Pool? 

As we cited earlier, the labor participation rate remains below pre-pandemic levels. As of June 2022, there were about 100 million American of working age that are currently not employed or looking for work. We estimate that about 21 million are deterred from seeking employment because they lack the skill requirements for vacant jobs but could gain them if provided with entry-level training. Many of the 5.6 million Americans currently listed as unemployed also are in the same position. Yet only 20 to 25 percent of American businesses have training and education programs. This includes both entry-level job training and upgrading the skills or knowledge of current employees. For every dollar our chief foreign competition invests in worker training, U.S. business contributes just 20 cents!  

Can Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Fill the Gap? 

Many industry analysts are saying robots will largely solve current worker shortages. Businesses are investing billions in robotics and AI. A Material Handling Institute survey found that their members plan to increase robotics in warehouses by 50 percent over the next five years. However, as nations such as Singapore that have successfully automated industrial facilities illustrate, this approach relies heavily on having a high-skill labor pool and providing retraining to workers whose jobs now require programing, monitoring, or repairing automated equipment.  

While AI software can now generate text and field telephone inquiries, it can’t go beyond the set of data with which it is programmed. It can’t solve cause-and-effect problems or learn about the world like a child. Advancements in AI and robotics will require HI (human intelligence), i.e., more knowledge workers. 

How to Expand the Knowledge Pool

Raising salaries will not generate more qualified employees, it will only increase job churn and fuel inflation. The Fourth Industrial Revolution requires a higher proportion of workers to be high-skilled, and their skills and knowledge need to be continually updated to keep pace with rapid technological change. Surveys indicate that most American workers want to work for employers that provide workers with opportunities to upgrade their capabilities. 

Cooperative options for providing training and education need far more support. Small businesses particularly can profit from participating in regional associations in which businesses, educational institutions, and training providers work together in developing programs that develop and retrain workers with in-demand job and career skills. 

Edward Gordon is available to provide customized presentations on talent and the current and future U.S. and global labor market. Please visit our website www.imperialcorp.com for more information or contact us by email at imperialcorp@juno.com or by calling 312.664.5196.

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You Should Not Be Planning to Fail

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You Should Not Be Planning to Fail

In this week’s blog on education, curriculum designer and writer Caroline Slee-Poulos walks us through all of the reasons you should not be planning to fail.

There is an old adage that tells us “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” When it comes to phrases like this, I believe that sometimes we hear them so often they can become meaningless. In business, we always create plans and projections. We have processes in our departments, and systems that keep things running smoothly.

When it comes to employee development, we have spent many years without a solid plan. I think it is simple to say that this leaves us without a way forward – a path – for your staff and for the future of the business. Employee turnover is an expensive proposition for any business, and this can leave us reluctant when it comes to our training budgets.

When you invest in the future of your business, you should also have a plan for investing in the development of your employees. Just as a course is planned out with each segment, from content through assessments, your employees need to have a plan to map out their future with your business.

It’s time to make a shift towards the future: don’t you want to be planning for success at every single level?

As Ron would tell you, the time is now.

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Process Mapping Blog

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Process Mapping Blog

Guest writer Sara Hanks helps us with a key detail for continuous improvement in her “Process Mapping Blog” today.

Continuous improvement in an organization requires implementing projects. Projects also mean change, which is often met with resistance. In the early stages of a project, I recommend using process mapping to facilitate effective change management.

In one of my first IT projects, I was creating an inspection software for manufacturing quality. The project was significantly delayed, and the former project manager had left the company. To create something quickly, I deployed an off-the-shelf software. Completing the inspection plan turned out to be a giant pain and added significant cycle time. A year later, we ended up redesigning the entire inspection software after so many complaints from the users. It was not worth trading off an understanding the current state process for the speed of implementation. I should have known better, after many years of training and practicing lean at GE. 

When lean was a corporate initiative at GE, the business planned large transactional lean events to conduct process maps in a session that was sponsored by senior leadership. Attending these events was a privilege and a great way to network with senior leaders. These sessions, often led by a trained facilitator, were highly interactive with post it notes and giant sheets of paper. Over time, the initiatives shifted, and the leaders were no longer engaged at that level. However, I require my teams to conduct process maps 100% of the time.  

Process mapping is a necessary step towards implementing change as it helps to understand the current state. A process map is a detailed diagram that articulates each step of a process. While these can be created by interviewing people, they are best conducted in a conference room environment, with representation from each function involved in the process. With enough prework, the session can be completed in 4-8 hours, depending on the complexity of the process. 

Prework to the Process Mapping Session 

Create a RASCI chart. A RASCI chart identifies the process steps, as well as the roles or people who need to participate in each step. RASCI stands for: 

  • Responsible – the person who completes the step
  • Approver – the person who needs to approve the work conducted by the responsible person 
  • Supporter – roles that provide inputs to the process step
  • Consultant – an expert who provides expertise 
  • Informed – the people who need to know about a process step being completed 

It’s important to note that every step needs a responsible person or role, but the other categories are not required*.  At minimum, one person from each function that owns a step should participate in the session. 

The output of the prework is to schedule time with the team, as well as a report out session with the relevant leaders.

Conducting the Process Mapping Session

  1. Review the RASCI chart with the team. It is important to obtain consensus that the process steps are complete, as well as who is involved in them.
  2. For each step in the process, the team will identify the following details:
    1. Inputs to the process step, as well as who provides the inputs. Sometimes the inputs are not part of the process itself but are used to make a decision or to harmonize information. For example, a purchasing specialist may refer to quality data before choosing who to buy parts from.
    2. The details about what happens during the process step. If the process is a decision, what criteria is used to make the decision should be included. 
    3. The time it takes to complete the step, as well as how long people are waiting for information.
    4. The system of record for the process step – whether it is an email, an IT software system, or even paper records.
    5. The outputs of the process step
  3. Review the process map one final time and ensure that the times noted are reasonable.
  4. Evaluate the process for waste. Waste identification should be brainstormed silently first, then shared with the group. Waste in a process could include:
    1. Rework of a process step, or returning to an earlier step in the process
    2. Waiting for inputs
    3. Excess processing such as creating reports that are not used
    4. Manual efforts that could be automated

Once the waste is identified, the team will see themes of similar waste. These can be grouped into categories and should be quantified in terms of time or cost. 

At this point the team and the project manager has a thorough understanding of the process, as well as the opportunities to drive improvement through waste elimination that can be considered in the project plan. Some process mapping events use the team to design a future process collectively, but that’s a blog for another day. 

Report Out

When people are asked to take time out of their day to support process mapping, a report out is helpful to justify the time with their managers. In addition to the management team and the participants, any people who are approvers in the RASCI should review the outcome of the process mapping session. The report out can be summarized as a Value Stream Map, which is a high-level representation of the process and includes the cycle times. It is helpful to include the waste impact in the Value Stream Map as well. 

Conclusion

Process mapping helps project managers understand the current state thoroughly which helps prevent issues when implementing the project. The biggest benefit of conducting the process mapping session is that it engages the stakeholders and subject matter experts. Process mapping exposes frustrations about the current state, so the subject matter experts are more likely to understand why a project is happening. Additionally, it highlights what works about the current state, so the project manager can consider keeping these best practices. When the stakeholders are understood, they are more likely to accept or even embrace the change.

NOTE: Some sources say that the A means accountable, but I prefer approver because if a person is responsible for completing a step, by default the person is accountable.

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What Makes a Great Customer Experience?

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What Makes a Great Customer Experience?

Guest writer Alex Kraft asks a question that matters deeply when you are in customer service: What Makes a Great Customer Experience?

I recently had an awful customer experience with a large retailer.  I’ll spare the long-winded details because we’ve all been there. From the 30,000 ft. level, what’s incredible is how everything falls on the customer to make things right. All I did was purchase something and now I’m the one who has to exert a ton of effort to get the refund or a resolution? How is it my problem? The experience made me appreciate what makes a great customer experience and/or great customer service. I’ve started to pay more attention to this in everyday life.

For this blog post, I don’t want to necessarily discuss equipment related themes as Ron has other contributors who’ve spent 40+ years in heavy equipment service departments. I’d rather delve into what factors into a positive customer interaction. What makes customers want to come back to your business?

Two major components that we all appreciate as consumers are competence and a ‘give a damn’ factor. Competence is something that you can recognize very quickly and puts a customer at ease. I think of a restaurant. We’ve all had a server that within 60 seconds you know will be attentive, knows the menu, and has a great demeanor. It makes your entire experience better knowing that the person waiting on you is competent. It doesn’t have to be a five-star restaurant either, this can be your local chain or even a coffee shop. We’ve all had the opposite as well: where the server is overwhelmed, isn’t able to answer questions concerning the menu, blames the kitchen, and has a poor attitude. Many times, we wonder, ‘why is that person a server if they don’t like interacting with people?’

I’ve had ongoing shoulder pain for a few months. Upon returning from vacation, I decided that I had to do something, so I booked a massage. When I arrived, I told the therapist about my shoulder. Just by looking at me, the therapist says, “your hips are out of alignment, your right shoulder is higher than your left, and it looks like your right leg is a tad shorter than your left. All of these things contribute to your shoulder pain”.  Before the massage began, I knew that I came to the right place. Afterwards, I’ve made a couple adjustments to my daily routine, and voila! My shoulder feels a lot better. Apply that to your teams. You don’t necessarily need a customer survey to have an idea of how your people represent your company. Does your sales team exude competence when dealing with customers? When you speak with your sales team, do they speak in generalities or do they have a command of your products and their customers? Do your parts and service representatives embody competence when customers need help?

My personal favorite is the ‘give a damn’ factor.  I don’t know of any formal ‘give a damn’ training classes, but maybe Ron will add one to his curriculum. What I’ve seen happening at more companies than I can ever remember, are employees that are quick to tell you that they can’t help you. This manifests itself as ‘I’m sorry, that’s not my job’, or ‘sorry, I can’t help with that’, or “you’ll need to speak to ______”. While I was waiting at this large box retailer, the person in customer service answered the phone with ‘How may I direct your call?’ They couldn’t pass the customer off fast enough.  Yet every single company touts their “customer service”. What customers want is to feel like their issue is YOUR issue as a company. They want someone to take ownership of their problem and see it through to resolution.

You don’t have to be an expert to give a damn. Those employees that understand this concept personally see to it that the customer ends up with the appropriate person who can solve their problem. They don’t make the customer start all over from the beginning, try to find someone else, and retell their story. Companies that are great customer service companies make sure to drill these points home to everyone. This isn’t ‘going the extra mile’, it should be what’s expected on a daily basis.

We find reminders every day of great customer experiences. I encourage you when you’re at lunch, at the doctor, Whole Foods/Publix, wherever you visit, compare those visits with how you believe customers feel when dealing with your company. Like I mentioned above, we don’t need surveys to tell us certain things. If you’ve been at your company for a while and know your people, I’m sure you have a good idea. Trust your instincts, maybe it’s time for some refreshers.

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Safety First! But, Why?!

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Safety First! But, Why?!

Guest writer Bill Pyles tackles OSHA regulations in his guest blog entitled “Safety First! But, Why?!”

Summer is here and this time of year I’d put some notes together for the next team meeting to give a safety update; specifically, how to recognize heat stroke. I cannot say enough about OSHA’s excellent heat index ap. Go to your app store and download OSHA/NIOSH Heat Safety Tool. Do it today, now!!! 

Heat stroke is a killer that does not need to darken your doorway.  As I write this the outside temp in central Florida is 89oF. The heat index is 102oF and into the “danger zone”. Another day in sunny Florida! 

Here are some symptoms of heat stroke.

  • Confused, blurred speech
  • Loss of consciousness
  • Red, hot, dry skin or profuse sweating
  • Very high body temperature
  • Seizures 

 

If you suspect a person has heat stroke, call 911. 

  • Stay with the person until medical help arrives
  • Move the person to a shady, cooler area
  • Remove the person’s outer clothing
  • Cool quickly with cold water or ice bath if possible; wet the skin, please cold, wet towels on the skin, or soak clothing in cool water
  • Fan air around the person
  • Place cold, wet towels or ice on the person’s head, neck, armpits, and groin.

 

Through my 48-year career, the one constant is safety. Let your guard down for a moment and you may get an unpleasant safety reminder. The other constant throughout the last 48 years is the barrage of safety memo’s, fact & figures, testimonies, yellow lines on floors and more. What was missing is the “why”. Too many times a safety inspection will reveal some infractions such as garbage in front of the electrical panel, spray paint left out on work benches, spray containers on tech’s toolboxes not marked or labeled, bench grinder “out of adjustment” or no lid on the shop trash cans. The shop manager will get the safety write up, make the necessary corrections and life (pun intended) goes on. But has the shop manager or the people working in the shop learned from the experience? My guess is no; other than forming opinions that the safety guy’s job is to make everyone else miserable, slow down production and nit-pick. He needs to get a “real” job and leave us alone! 

Let’s look at some common safety infractions and discuss the “why.” 

Please note that some of the items noted may have different or more safety regulations than noted below.

  1. Full oxygen bottles are required to be stored with the bottle caps on and the bottle secured in a standing position.
    1. Why? A full oxygen bottle is charged with approximately 2,200 psi of oxygen. If the bottle should fall over and break off the off-on valve, the bottle becomes a rocket which will be capable of going thru cinder block walls, smashing anything in its way. Google “Oxygen Tank Rocket” and it should make you a believer!
  2. Electrical panels require a clear zone 36 inches to either side and 36 inches to the front of the panel. No clutter or nothing leaning against the electrical panel.
    1. Why? I was working in a contractor’s shop, pulling the steering clutches out of a Cat 977L. The contractor had installed electric overhead hoists in his shop. I had the Cat setting on stands with the tracks and roller frames removed (also doing the undercarriage at the time) and the bucket was raised and supported by a safety bar on the lift cylinder. The stands were at the four corners of the machine. As I was trying to feather one of the clutches out of the case, I noticed it was hung up on the steering clutch flanges and the back of the machine came off the stands. I quickly let go of the hoist button, but the machine kept going up. The up button was stuck! I had no idea where the electrical panel was that supplied the power to the hoist.  One of the customer’s techs working with me quickly ran over to the electrical panel, opened the door, and switched off the breaker just before the Cat was about to fall off the stands. You can only imagine the alternate outcome if there had been something blocking access the electrical panel. Fortunately, the only casualty this time was some soiled underwear!
  3. All secondary containers must be properly labeled. 
    1. Why? We have all seen techs work benched or toolbox will have spray containers on their work bench or toolbox. These secondary (secondary means the spray bottle was filed from another container) spray containers could have glass cleaner for cleaning cabs, solvent for rusted hardware, or plain water and soap mixture for tight seals. If tech sprayed a flammable near a heat source, there could be an explosion and or fire. If a tech was accidentally sprayed in the face, not knowing what the liquid was in the container could delay the proper remediation. 
  4. All flammables must be stored in a flammable safety cabinet.
    1. Why? Most shops also do welding (get those welding shields up) and cutting which create a fair amount of sparks. Most paint cans, PB Blaster cans are very thin metal and most oil containers in one gallon or less containers are plastic. Welding and or grinding sparks can ignite one of the containers mentioned above. And if it’s a pressurized can, you’ll have another bottle rocket to deal with.
  5. Bench grinder is out of adjustment.
    1. Why? I’m not sure why, maybe because this is a tool everyone uses but no one is responsible for. The shop bench grinder is almost always out of adjustment, but everyone keeps on using it. The correct gap of the tool rest should be 1/8 inch from the tool rest to the grinding wheel. Any larger gap and you’ll run the risk of pulling a finger or a tool in between the tool rest and the grinding wheel. 
    2. At one OSHA inspection, I was asked for the proper steps to change a grinding wheel.  Piece of cake I thought then proceeded to go thru the simple process of changing a grinding wheel. I thought I nailed it, but the OSHA person just stood there and looked at me, informing me I’d missed one of the most important steps. The “Ring Test”. What??
    3. Before mounting a grinding wheel, inspect it visually for any cracks or chips. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which regulates worker safety in commercial and educational facilities, recommends testing the integrity of a grinding wheel by performing a ring test prior to mounting. 
    4. Support the wheel in a horizontal position on your fingertips and tap the wheel using the plastic handle of a screwdriver about 1″ from the edge in each of the wheel’s four quadrants. The sound of an undamaged wheel will give a clear ringing tone. If cracked, there will be a dead sound, and the wheel should not be used. Make sure the wheel is dry and clean before applying this test. After you test one side, turn the wheel over and repeat on the other side.

 

On a side note, I’ve seen the results of a grinding wheel exploding. It can cause serious operator injury. Usually, the wheel explodes due to being cracked or becoming unbalanced. There is no warning. 

I’ve visited hundreds of shops during my career and usually the shop knew I was coming to visit. It did truly bother me that at times, the shop would shut down a day before my visit or a high-level OEM visit, to get the shop presentable. This was an indication to me that safety was more show then go. I’d spend more time with the shop manager to help him understand safety is what ensures we all go home at the end of the shift in just as good of shape as when we came to work. I’d take the shop manager and the techs around the shop for a quick look-see safety inspection. When I’d find a safety violation, I’d point it out, explain what the hazard could be and why a safety rule was in place to prevent the hazard. I wanted them to know the “why.” Equipment, shop tooling, facilities have no concern for your safety. You are responsible for your safety and the safety of those working round you. 

Your family is depending on you!

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