Continual Improvement is one of the hallmarks of the Toyota Way because the mindset and efforts never go away, continual is forever. In my quest to offer the broadest range of solutions to today’s economic requirement that we do even more with the same or fewer resources I am regularly attending education courses and reading material that help me help my clients. The Toyota Way by Jeff Liker offers extensive insight into the practices that propelled Toyota to be one of the best made and most frequently purchased automobiles. These practices are also ensuring that the company continues to be healthy while the American counterparts are getting economic aid and facing bankruptcy.

The Toyota Way is my 3rd or 4th read on Lean – the Toyota systems of production also called TPS (Toyota Production System). This books offers the great measure of Lean Basics generally called the 5 Ss and 7 Wastes. It also covers the mindsets and culture in eye-opening detail. One of the most long-last thoughts that I learned is that Toyota does not think of shareholder return as its #1 mission. It’s #1 mission is to create a company that employs the right people for very long (and often their whole career) and is thereby profitable for generations.

This is a must read & re-read for those interested in continual improvement and/or lean. The thoughts are provoking, the timetable  implement drawn out, and some ‘take now’ action surface for Lean in the Office as well as Lean in the Factory.  Oh, and the results are also continual – continually great!

Studies of the brain show that laughter releases endorphins. In turn endorphins elevate your mood. And finally an elevated mood increases your effectiveness on many levels. For example, you look forward to working with other people because you have an optimistic mindset. You looking forward to working with them impacts their attitude toward working with you and the partnership, team, and even customer/provider relationship goes better. Cooperation is easier when this mindset pervades. Coming to agreements through a shared vision and compromise is easier and more effective when one’s mood is positive.

So, make yourself laugh every day to improve your effectiveness.

Find the humor in situations such as grocery shopping – loft the loaf of bread to your shopping ass’t (whether your kids or sister)… everyone will get a lift. Find humor on the internet as in this 34 second video from YouTube: 

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(Tip: limit yourself to just 1 or 2 YouTube Video- laughter is addictive and soon you won’t be working with anyone if all you’re doing is watching videos!)

Make faces in the mirror with your kids. You’ll build your relationship there, too!

Comment with what you do to laugh so we can all have better and more effective days!

What words represent keeping things fresh while progressing toward a worthwhile goal? You might  embrace all or some of these. They’re  important because the words we use influence who we are and what we accomplish. Here are some of my top-of-mind words… please add a comment that includes one or some that work for you.

• Retool

  - using what you have to come up with something different
  Example: rather than every group in a company having its own supply cabinet, centralizing supplies for more effective ordering, storage, retrieval, and tracking

• Reinvent

  - start over to create great things. Great things are those that make life better.
  Example: After Jeff ended up in a wheel chair as the result of the accident, he became one of the most inspirational physical therapists in the practice

• Reuse

  - when you’re done with something see how you can repeat your success
  Example: You’ve created a prized presentation. Take it to another organization, profit or not-for-profit that could benefit from that work

• Repurpose

  - same thing, different application
  Example: a bookshelf relocated from against the wall to divide a room

• Review

  - literally view something again. You will see different things when you’re in a different place and/or your perspective is from a different point
  Example: read a book or take a training class again.

• Recycle

  - you’re done with it… pass it on!
  Example: pluck 10 books from your shelf and donate them to the company library, a school library, or your public library

Re-words are particularly relevant in this strapped economy because they use resources that exist. One doesn’t need to go out and develop or acquire much more. He looks at what he has, might have help reassessing what resources, experience, and talents he has, and starts down a new path. What words help you?

A tidy workspace just feels good to some of us. It certainly projects a part of your professional image. Some of us just don’t care… this post isn’t for you. That is unless you have a tangle of wires behind your A/V and home theater equipment. Then someone more than you might care.

What can you do about that abundance of cables? Hide them! I just learned that the things that hide cables are called raceways, wire looms, and wrap-around braid. A great site for this is Cable Ties & More.com. These hiders of cables are smart looking, practical and inexpensive. Fortunately most of these can be do-it-yourself so costly technical or handyman assistance can be avoided.

A really inexpensive and clever option is demonstrated by the Jerry Bruno on YouTube. I would enhance his suggestion by first looping cables, securing with hook & loop (Velcro), then hanging the bundles on the hooks.

For another option, check out this perennial favorite Productivity Cafe solutions for Cable Organization:

Cure Cable Spagetti

Who would have thought that leaving a voicemail would impact your reputation?! This morning Kim @ Bike Virginia commented that my message was the easiest for her deal with because I left my name and number twice at the end of the message. Kim takes care of the customer experience and handles loads of calls every day. That my message elicited a comment prompts me to get back online and share the experience with you.

When you are asking someone to help you, make it as easy as possible for them and you’re more likely to be at the front of the line. Duh! I know. And, I’ve seen people that seem to want to be right more than they want to have their problem solved. They’re demanding, sometime rude, and sometime just missing a couple of bits that would help them reach their real goal – getting help. Sometime the caller (we) don’t realize the customer experience person doesn’t have all the background we do and they need to be filled in – calmly. And trust me, if you’re asking for help, unless you’re the boss, and even if you’re the customer, others can make things tough – drawing out the process, requiring extra steps, putting you on hold just because they need to calm down or think that you need to calm down.

Regarding the voicemail example, which is also addressed in another post here: Good Voicemail Messages Matter. When you give the full details for your call you leave a good impression. You build your brand to be what you want it to be. And, you’re more likely to get the results that you want. A little planning trick many people use is: jot on a piece of paper:

• Your goal for the call
• Supporting point 1
• Supporting point 2
• Supporting point 3 (max)
• What you’re going to ask the listener to do – be specific

This little trick also avoids hanging up, snapping your fingers and thinking, “Oh man, I forgot to mention…..”

Having this record also gives you confidence that you made the first call, what you said in case they miss something on their end, and allows you to move on.

Give it a try – let us know how it works!

Use the phone company voicemail system for your land line? If yes, how many digits do you dial to retrieve your messages? If it's more than 3, consider programming the speed dial to pick up your messages. Just like your cell phone, if you're familiar with that, you can make the dialing to get messages quick and nearly hands-free.

A tip I want to give you on using speed dial to pick up your messages is that you can put 1 sequence in to enter the access number (the number you dial to access the voicemail system) and your password. The trick here is to learn what the pause button is (often the * or P key) and enter a couple of those between the access number. Here's an example. Jay has to dial, 610-729-0220 to access the voicemail system at Verizon then he enters his password (7727 = Pass) followed by the # sign. So, he can program a speed dial on his phone to be 610-729-0220***7727#*1. That final *1 instructs his voicemail to play the first message.

When you're communicating via voice mail there is one thing that you can do to make the communication most effective – be complete and clear. For those of you saying, "No kidding," know that this message is prompted by recent messages I've received, voicemails, that just make me nuts on one hand and make me feel like I can be responsive on the other. The bad messages, "Hey, it's me, please give me a call," and "Hi Susan, its Terry, give me a call."

Here's what's missing:

• the full name of the person
  
• their phone number
• what I can do for them
• how urgently they need a call back
• and, if I don't know them, how they got my name

So here are some good messages:

"It's Steve Frank calling about the agreement you said you would send yesterday. I haven't received it. Please give me an update. Again, it's Steve Frank and my number is 416-622-6222 that's 416-622-6222."

"Hi Susan, its Bobby Allen, we met at the Keeping It Real event last week. I have an opportunity for you to write an article for our internal company newsletter. The deadline is in 2 weeks so I need to know if you're interested within the next day. You can reach me, Bobby Allen, at: 919-911-9111, to repeat, my number is 
919-911-9111. "

Have you received any 'remarkable' voicemail messages lately? We'd love to read about them so leave a comment below.

I met with Terry to assess his use of Outlook and offer suggestions to improve his use of it. We met in a conference room – presumably to project the screen so we didn't have to crowd around a smaller screen. After a while it became clear that we weren't in Terry's office because he has so many post-its on his monitor and desk that the clear slate of the conference room table was the environment he wanted to show me. Does this remind you of anyone?

A simple solution to all sorts of post-it clutter is to use the task list in Outlook. Studies show about 10% of us do use tasks in Outlook which gives 90% of users the chance to make a productivity leap by using the task list. Ah, I hear some of you saying, "Out of sight, out of mind. I need those reminders." The good news is that you can keep your task list right on your screen so it is always in sight. Additionally, you can set reminders on tasks so you don't have read, re-read, and continually re-read your post-its so you don't miss any.

Let's cover that step by step.

First is the creation of a task. The fastest way to do that is in Outlook type ctrl-shift-k. A new task window like the one below opens. (or click on File, New, Task). Complete the tasks information. In the sample you'll see a task of revamping a business card in the subject line. It's advisable to be complete and make the first 3 or 4 words the summary of the task because those are the words that show on your task list.

Step 2: Set up your task list to be open all the time.

In Outlook 2007 you can show it on the right side of every window (called the todo bar). To show it click on View, To-Do Bar and check Normal & Task List. In Outlook 2003 simply open your Task List in a new window. To open your Task List in a separate window, right click on the Task List Icon and select Open in New Window.

And finally, set reminders for things that are time-sensitive. A reminder pops on screen at the designated time – the perfrect sticky note replacement. For example, refer to the image above. There is a check in the reminder box and the date that this should be done. Another example could be to pick up your clothes at the cleaners. When you drop it off they tell you it will be ready in 4 days. Simply put a task with reminder 4 days in the future near the end of the day to remind you to pick up the dry cleaning on the way home.

Try it now and let us know how it works.

Have you sat through day-long meetings with the most memorable part being the numbness you felt in your bum, the big blinks you took at 2pm because you were fighting a snooze reflex after the hotel meal, or thinking, "How many freaking speakers are there?"

I recently received this message from "John" in Atlanta.

Hello Susan … would you have a suggestion how to keep attendees of a daylong seminar stimulated until the end? I read your article on organizing a meeting, but an all day seminar is hard to keep people attentive.
We have 7 speakers, and we are all in one room, usually 250 to 500 people. We are in a convention hall, and the main topic is financial investing.

Here's my reply to John. Hopefully you find something to make your next long meeting better here:

Keeping the audience engaged for a whole day is an art form as well a specific set of skills.

Here are 3 quick proven ways to engage people throughout the day:

1.      Make sure they move from the seat they started in at least every 20 minutes. Use group problem solving, sharing in pairs, and similar activities (and urge that people cannot have the person to their left or right as their partner). The success of this is 100% in the setup (the way it's presented to participants).

2.      (foreshadowed above). Have the participants do activities that require them to talk, think, and assimilate the information given to them.

3.      Hire a facilitator or Master of Ceremonies. Good facilitators preview the meeting, make suggestions, and guide the meeting to successful engagement throughout.

Oh, and, end before an 8 hour day is done.

p.s. send me your questions – I love helping you have 'the good life' in work & out

Have you started getting the holiday catalogs of your favorite companies? Are you also getting the holiday catalogs of all their favorite related businesses? Most of us are. And, the number of trees they represent, the hours you could spend perusing them, and the duplication is remarkable. Most people tell me they'd visit with family, get a spa treatment, go for a walk, enjoy their pet more, and languish in a good book if they just had more time. Ignoring catalogs so you can do your favorite thing with your time is an easy way to claim hours each week from now until Christmas. Ah, exercise. That's the other thing readers would like to do more especially to counter the calorie fests that we're invited to attend.

This weekend begin a collection routine for those catalogs – not so you can shop but so you can stop them during the slow and relaxing month of January. Simply put a brown paper grocery bag near the door you enter the house most of the time. Rather than bring the catalogs in, simply drop them in the bag on the way in the house. Don't forget to engage whoever retrieves the mail most days in this new routine.

If the bag is full in a couple of weeks… put it aside, thank goodness that your catalog contribution to landfills will soon diminish, and start another. Check back here in January for steps to stop catalogs… and enter your favorite way in the comment section below for those that want to get started soon!