One of the most difficult things for business owners and
managers is to engage their employees in continuous improvements every day. Even
the most advanced companies have struggled with this.
The problem is that companies focus too heavily on the tool
side of process improvements. It’s actually more important how these tools are applied.
The secret is to focus on your employees and make them as
successful as possible. When your employees are happy, they want to do a better
job for the company. When they do a better job, your customers notice and are
happier. Happy customers buy more stuff from you. Most companies don’t make
this connection.
Rather than dictate improvements
you would like your employees to make, you need to ask those who do the job day
in and day out for their ideas, and help them implement them as quickly as
possible.
Sadly, only a handful of companies have been able to break
through and accomplish this.
One of them is FastCap, a small manufacturer of woodworking
products and tools. The owner is Paul Akers, who has transformed his company
into highly motivated employees that drive their own efficiency into their daily
work.
Paul learned the culture of improvement from experts in the
Toyota Production System. He wanted to share what he learned with all his
employees, so he came up with a simple and easy approach that everyone in his
company could understand and participate in, called “2 Second Lean”. Employees are
encouraged to reduce time in their work by 2 seconds. That’s it! Who in your
company would not be able to do that?
Luckily for all of us, Paul has documented and recorded his lean
journey at FastCap on his YouTube channel and in his book. If you want to be
motivated, inspired and amazed at their success, check out his videos at Youtube.com/user/fastcaptv
If you want help with the technical tools, check out our
website at BIZ-PI.com.
If you want help engaging your employees, it starts with
you! We would suggest watching at least 5 of Paul’s videos, and sharing them
with your management team.
