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I like to use the word “interesting.” However, it’s gotten me into trouble from time to time. Like most things, I didn’t learn this on my own. A colleague had opened my eyes to the way it can be perceived by others (thank you!).

To some people, this word has a negative connotation. When I use this word, I typically mean that something has captured my attention. I’m curious to see where it goes or what more I can learn about it. I find it fascinating in some way. I’m not assuming or insinuating anything about where it will lead or what I will learn – other than the fact that I have an innocent curiosity about the subject.

I need to be careful when I use it and take responsibility for how it’s being heard. 

I recently had the opportunity to spend some time in Egypt. On our way to the Great Pyramid, our group of twelve had a lively conversation about the builders of the pyramids. There were a couple of theories in our group about this. Some of my fellow travelers believe slaves built the pyramids, as I think I may have learned in high school. Our tour guide Hatem, however, told us a different story. He told us people who worshipped the pharaohs and kings built the pyramids voluntarily as part of their worship and respect.

Needless to say, we didn’t wind up with an indisputable story on the pyramids being built by slaves or by devout followers. But I did learn something very interesting from Hatem about how the relationship between the worker and the customer correlates to the quality and outcome of the product.

There are multiple levels of relationships people have with other people. The different relationships they have can (and generally do) have an impact on the product being built.

Typically, if someone is asked to build something for a friend, they will certainly put good efforts into it and attempt to make sure the product is of good quality. If they are to build the same thing for someone they love, they will likely put more energy and effort into the work and end up with something of even higher quality or better outcome. Additionally, they may not be asked to build, but rather build it voluntarily out of love for the other person. If they build something for someone they worship, the amount of concern, care and dedication going into the product will be unmatched. The driving force within will be stronger because they are fulfilling some aspect of the purpose of life.

How do we get the same quality product in commercial work where the workers are often disconnected from the end user? I think it all ties into one of the fundamental pillars of lean: respect for people. When we use a lean approach to design we involve the end user. The relationship is started. But do we achieve the same results that are achieved when something is being built for a god? What about in construction? What kind of relationship do the workers have with the end users? Is there any sense of obligation to do their best? Or just to do “good enough?” What about the workers that are in support roles – accounting, IT, HR, etc? The workers that don’t actually touch the final product, but support the building of it? What kind relationship do they have with the end user?

Respect for people is a behavior. When practiced widely in an organization, this behavior creates a culture that respects people. When an organization consistently behaves with the highest respect for others (including the end user), it is not dissimilar to the respect the ancient Egyptians had for their gods, and will certainly be visible in the end product.

Every time I hear the word “reflections” used as an agenda topic, I can’t help but to start smiling. There are two reasons it makes me smile, and both are linked to the same story.

I had a problem. A small problem, but an annoying problem. It’s been something that’s bothered me for months. Actually, now that I think more about it, it’s bothered me for years.

When people give me a business card, I like to jot a note or two on the back. The note might be the date or event where I met them, an additional phone number, or a something we talked about. From time to time I run into trouble, since the backs of some cards are a dark color, rendering my blue or black ink pen useless.

Additionally, there are times when I give out one of my business cards along with a colleague’s email address, a book recommendation or some other note. I would like to jot these on the back of my business card, but alas, the back is dark too.

I have mostly kept this problem to myself, sharing without intention with a couple of other people. When shared, I received sympathy but little else, which meets my expectations. I figure the situation is just one of those “it is what it is” kind of things. Or so I thought!

One recent afternoon I shared this conundrum with my husband. This afternoon, mind you, was years after I first recognized I was bothered with the situation. He sensed I was frustrated, so he calmly listened to me grumble. When I was done, he politely (yes, politely!) suggested I just get myself a pen with white or silver ink. I literally smacked my forehead. How simple! How effective! How perfect! I could not believe that I had allowed something with such a trouble-free solution frustrate me for so long!

What did this help me do? Besides now being able to write on the backs of dark business cards? It helped me realize the value in sharing and discussing problems, no matter how small. The sooner I talk about them with others, the sooner I can smack myself in the forehead for not thinking of the solution on my own….and even better, the sooner the problem will be resolved!

This morning I learned that my brain has been keeping secrets from me. I know that might sound a little crazy, but it really has. And I think I’m starting to learn how to get it to talk! Let me start at the beginning.

Last weekend I went to Maine and I got to spend some time with my wonderful 5-year-old niece and my awesome 4-year-old nephew. Not only did I have a really great time with them, but I also learned a lot of lessons I could relate to my everyday life.

I was driving the car with both of the kids buckled in their car seats in the back. As we were driving along, we passed a big green tractor in a field, and my nephew asked a question about it. I forget what the specifics of the question, but remember it was a cut and dry, fact-based question. So I answered him. Then his sister said, “Stop teasing him, Aunt Becky! Or he’s gonna get real mad!”

Responding to her, I explained that I was answering his question, not teasing him. But she loudly disagreed with me. In her mind she had the correct definition for the word “teasing,” and she thought that my response to her brother’s question fit that definition. In my mind, I had a definition too (developed largely by my brothers when I was growing up). Responding to my nephew’s question wasn’t anywhere close to teasing him. But my niece was not interested in hearing anything about it or changing her perspective. Since I have also learned not to debate with 5-year-olds, I simply let her have the last word and changed the subject. No harm, no foul.

As I reflected on the conversation and thought about how tightly she held onto her perspective, I realized that there are times I do exactly what she did! Sometimes I am not interested in listening to someone else or changing my own perspective. I’ll get caught up in locking onto my own definitions or reasons for things. How silly it probably seems to others who know better!

One of my colleagues shared a Quick ‘n Easy Kaizen with us the other day. It was certainly quick, as well as easy – and very effective. It was a simple organization system for his emails. He found the tip on the internet some time ago, and put it in use for himself.

He set up 5 folders in his email: action, archive, hold, respond, waiting.

A few times a day, after reading his new emails he moves them into these folders. Whatever doesn’t fit in any of the folder descriptions below, he puts right in the trash.

Action folder – for emails that he must complete an action before responding or archiving
Archive folder – for emails that he wants to save but don’t require further action
Hold folder – for emails that he will need to reference at some point in the near future, such as links for meetings, etc.
Respond folder – for emails that he will respond to but don’t require any action other the response
Waiting – for emails that he has sent to others and is now waiting for a reply or other action

I guess some time ago I had come up with a similar system – quite possibly from another tip on the internet. But my system didn’t include the same folders as his. So I copied his folders and was able to eliminate several other folders I had (that contained 1 or 2 emails each). Now my email inbox is clean and refreshing – it doesn’t overwhelm me when I open it up. I can quickly find my actions, things I need to refer to, and responses I’m waiting for.

And then I started thinking…..How else could I use this idea? I have a 5-compartment desktop file sorter on my desk. I usually put things in there when I don’t really know where else to put them. I always have a lot of papers that don’t really have a home, so it gets a little bit….um….jumbled. What I decided to do was label my 5 compartments similar to the email folders. Not quite all the same labels, but close. Thanks to my colleague sharing his QnEK, my file sorter is now organized too!

In the world of blogging, it seems like there have been several posts about rewarding, incenting and motivating employees recently. In fact, just 2 blog posts ago I wrote about the very same thing as it relates to Quick ‘n Easy Kaizen.

On July 1, I ran across http://tinyurl.com/Creativity-sForbiddenFruit that addresses this as well. Matthew May refers to rewards as “Creativity’s forbidden fruit.” I think he hit the nail on the head with his post. He talks about making kaizen (continuous improvement) the daily work. I couldn’t agree more and especially when it comes to workers continually improving their own work.

I was fortunate to have worked for a company that decided they wanted to harness the power of employee creativity. With some guidance and coaching, when they rolled out the Quick ‘n Easy Kaizen program they didn’t offer “incentives” for employees’ contributions. They gave us a few months to get used to coming up with, implementing and sharing our improvements while helping us through internal and external coaching. They told us by the following spring, they would be asking each employee to implement three or more improvements each month.

•    Did they tell us that we were “expected to contribute?” Yes.
•    Did they tell us if we didn’t do them we would be fired? No.
•    Did they tell us that we would get paid for these? No.
•    Did they put up with a lot of half-baked improvements? Yes.
•    Despite getting some (or many) half-baked improvements, did they get some excellent ideas they could implement company wide? You bet they did!
•    Did many of the employees develop both personally and professionally through creating and implementing improvements on a regular basis? Yes!!

In fact, on a weekly basis the corporate office would send out an email with a few QnEK from the week that would be easily transferable. Then monthly each division would submit those that were the most impactful and had the farthest reach.

We had almost 500 employees, and the majority of us were contributing to the improvement system. And you know what? The more small improvements you make on a daily basis, the easier it becomes for you to spot the opportunity for more. Like most things in life – the more you practice, the better you become!

I’ll admit it. I’m a complete coffee addict. I never really saw much harm in drinking 6-9 cups of coffee a day…or maybe I chose to be ignorant about any harm it may cause. Until recently when my doctor informed me that 2 cups a day was fine, but 4 or more definitely was not! Faced with this conversation, I could no longer choose to be ignorant on the issue, and I had to change my ways.

To avoid cutting back so significantly, I made all kinds of excuses to myself. What was I going to do? Nobody else in my house drinks coffee, just me. The thought of making half a pot of coffee just doesn’t seem right. And what about when I want to have one cup in the morning, and my second in the afternoon? With me, the last cup in the pot is always cold. And I certainly didn’t want to make a whole pot, only to pour half of it down the drain. The batch size is just too big. How wasteful!

Thankfully, the wonderful coffee maker companies of the world have been improving the coffee making experience for their customers. Over the past couple of years, the single-serving coffee makers have become quite mainstream. My family, knowing of my plight, kindly bought me one for Christmas. This machine is great – it takes about 60 seconds to brew a fresh cup of coffee.

Now I can brew just one single cup of coffee, as I need it. I have the option of using the pre-filled disposable containers, or I can fill my own little filter with enough ground beans to make just one cup. No coffee goes to waste, and my cup is always fresh and hot! With all of my excuses gone, I have no reason not to cut back to 2 cups each day. Now I can meet the doctor’s request, have my coffee just the way I like it, and not have any to waste!

Talk about a change for the better!

One of the keys of a good Quick ‘n Easy Kaizen (QnEK) program is that we want QnEK to become a habit within the organization. We want our employees to continuously be thinking and acting on ways to make things better. This is a critical step that we can take to reduce the waste of "Unused Employee Creativity." It’s also a great skill that will keep our people taking ownership in their jobs and keep them from becoming complacent.

So, should we pay people extra for these improvement ideas?

There is a lot of debate as to whether or not financial rewards or incentives should be used to “motivate” workers to do QnEK. I’m a firm believer that we don’t need to financially incent people to do QnEK for a few different reasons. I mean sure, it’s fun to give out a prize or two, and it’s always necessary to show appreciation. A sincere “Thank you, we’re going to share that improvement with other projects!” should more than suffice. But I’m talking about more significant incentives than those.

•    Should the fact that someone is making their own job safer, easier or more interesting be incentive enough to keep coming up with improvements?
•    This program helps people take ownership in their work. Does financially rewarding them extra to take the ownership contradict the whole idea of ownership?
•    What I’ve seen happen all too many times, in many different environments, is that when you start offering financial incentives to people for something that is supposed to be part of their job, the second you stop offering the rewards, they stop doing that part of the job! This is counterproductive to building a habit within the organization.

I would love to hear some additional thoughts on this – I know they are out there!