Ebsco Spring Company

Coming Soon by Todd Pfeifer of EBSCO Spring

Ebsco Spring Company — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:46:14 +0000

It would be a huge understatement to say I am amazed at the speed of the proliferation of the internet and social media on society. Twitter, face book, LinkedIn, not even in existence a few years back are now daily staples of most people and the news media is covering stories on society’s latest addiction, social media.

Coming from my previous background of retail management it was very easy to see the utility of these communication channels in tracking customer sentiment and providing offers as a call to action for your customers. This form of communications fits with B2C business. Social Medias benefits are a little harder to understand in my current B2B role. Obviously tracking consumer attitudes is important anywhere but how do you even get your B2B clients engaged in this new media.

The good part of the ambiguity is that many B2B companies do not see any benefit in social media and utilizing the web as a marketing tool and have no plans to participate. They create the basic about us/contact us web page and then rely on traditional channels to grow their business. Companies like Ebsco, that understand the potential of these channels have a competitive advantage that will grow with the growth of these resources.

B2B companies cannot expect the web to be a direct marketing and selling tool as B2C companies. B2Bs must utilize these tools to:

Track consumer sentiments

Build relations with customers

Provide useful tools to customers and potential customers

COMING SOON

I am proud to announce here that Ebsco has two exciting launches coming to the internet this summer.

Spring Design Workshop on YouTube channel Ebsco Spring

Ebsco has obtained a YouTube channel and is producing an informational series of videos covering spring process designs. Engineers and purchasing managers are expected to be experts in several fields and we know it is impossible to know everything about everything. The Spring Design Workshop series will have short videos capturing several optional spring processes with information provided on their benefits and potential costs. It is designed to help engineers and purchasing managers determine what costs are truly necessary in designing the quality springs they need. The Video series will be available on YouTube and will have direct links on our website www.EbscoSpring.com.

Spring Design Forum

Ebsco will be launching a new web site, www.SpringDesignForum.com. This web site will be sponsored by Ebsco but will be opened to EVERYONE, including our competitors. It will not be linked to Ebsco’s company web site in any way. We are creating this web site for engineers, designers and purchasing agents to ask questions and share knowledge with one another and with other experts in the spring field. We are reaching out to wire suppliers, metallurgist, outside processing companies and other spring companies to participate in this forum. The forum will be completely opened and hopefully will become a major resource for spring related questions. We are looking forward to launching and participating in this site when it is launched in Spring 2012.

At Ebsco Spring we are committed to utilizing our over 70 years experience as a Spring Manufacturer while operating on the leading edge of technology and innovation to be the Spring Company in the market. The Spring Design Workshop Video Series and Spring Design Forum is just another way we deliver the cutting edge in service to our industry.

Where Are They?

Ebsco Spring Company — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:37:47 +0000

It’s the lead story on their nightly newscast every night,

Unemployment Figures.

They just released January figures. 8.3% or 13.7 million unemployed in the United States. For Tulsa, December figures show 6.8%, over 28,000 unemployed

I have one question, Where are they?

Recently Ebsco Spring has been searching for up to 4 entry-level positions, requiring little experience or skill. We utilized local temp agencies but it was understood that these were not temp positions. We went weeks with no credible applications. No one interested in applying. So where are all of the unemployed?

In more skilled positions, such as maintenance, I am seeing near bidding wars for qualified applicants. Companies are buying out the temp agency contracts and paying signing bonuses to attract qualified applicants. Again, not a lack of jobs, a lack of qualified applicants.

I am not doubting these people are out there, just questioning who they are. Are these highly skilled individuals from high paying jobs that are looking. If so I can understand why they would not be interested in our entry-level positions. The point is that I am seeing sales rebounding to and beyond pre-crisis levels, positions opening and help wanted signs everywhere. Yet no applicants. A shortage of qualified help.

Are these individuals being left behind by an economic recovery? Has businesses permanently shifted their needs away from the skills these individuals posses and moved on? Has anyone told these individuals there may not be any jobs like they had available in the future? Has anyone talked to them and encouraged education and training in new directions for them?

I propose a lot of questions and do not pretend to have any of the answers. I do not know if I am even asking the right questions. What I do know is I have a problem reconciling Ebsco’s record sales and struggles to find enough employees to keep up and other companies hiring and expanding with these unemployment numbers.

I hope there are much smarter individuals out there asking the right questions and finding the answers so the unemployed can find the jobs they need to put their lives back on track. Prosperity has a place for everyone.

EPS Ebsco Production System

Ebsco Spring Company — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:17:35 +0000

: The Toyota Way

I have been reading the book pictured here “The Toyota Way” by Jeffrey K. Liker (McGraw Hill 2004).

Professor Jeffrey Liker teaches Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan. Liker has been involved in analyzing Toyota since 1982. He has spent a great deal of time at Toyota and developed a relationship and access to the company that is unparalleled. In his book, Professor Liker looks at the underlying culture that drives Toyota’s TPS (Toyota Production System), the basis of Lean and so many other production systems and theories.

Professor Liker has observed countless companies efforts at implementing Lean, 6 Sigma, TQM and the like and seen many failures. In The Toyota Way he attempts to reveal the reasons other companies can not find the level of success Toyota experiences.

According to Dr. Liker, the point is NOT lean. Lean is simply a byproduct of Toyota’s DNA. Toyota’s DNA, directly links to the principles of the founding Toyoda family. When they developed TPS it was not intended to be a system. It was simply Toyota, reacting to obstacles that threatened the company. Toyota met the challenges head on and created new methods and philosophies to overcome. It was years later they published their system to pass on to suppliers and global partners that went on to become the driving philosophy behind manufacturing today.

Too many companies focus on the steps for lean production directly as an answer to their obstacles, while the underlying character and culture of the company hold the answers. Lean in itself is not an answer.

I do not believe Professor Liker is in any way diminishing the value of Lean. In fact he is a major proponent of Lean. His point is that lean requires a foundation or base. Without the proper foundation, the structure will fail. He presents TPS as a “system based on structure, not just a set of techniques”, At the base of the structure is “The Toyota Way Philosophy”. In the center of the structure is continuous improvement, waste reduction and people. Without the foundation and the central core supporting the pillars (the techniques) the house collapses.

As I read and digest Professor Liker’s book I constantly ask “How Does Ebsco Spring Stack Up?. Ebsco Spring is not on the scale of Toyota but Toyota did not start as the world leader in automotive sales. They built the company over years as our team is building Ebsco today. Is Ebsco on the right path to building a solid structure or simply applying techniques destined to individually fail as we roll on? What is the Ebsco DNA? Is it the right foundation to build the structure? What about the central core, our people, continuous improvement and waste reduction?

Professor Liker talks about the Toyota DNA. He states the company carries on the core values of the founding family. Management seeks long-term answers and avoids short-term gains. Developing and empowering people are the keys to success. After WWII Japan’s economy was in ruins and cash had little value. There was plenty demand for Toyota trucks, but little money to pay for them. Kiichiro Toyoda, Toyota’s CEO had trouble paying employees as most companies in Japan. Wages were cut by 10% and 1,600 workers were asked to ”retire” voluntarily. This led to work stoppages at Toyota which were common in Japan at the time. Kiichiro Toyoda took personal responsibility, even though everyone knew events were beyond his control. He resigned as President of Toyota. His personal actions helped quell worker’s dissatisfaction and put Toyota back on the assembly line. This is part of the Toyota DNA. Kiichiro felt he had let his employees down and sacrificed himself. Since I have the honor of being married to the CEO of Ebsco, I have unique insight into her core values of Ebsco. I remember in 2009 during the recession. The manufacturing industry was hit very hard and Ebsco suffered it’s share. Management took a salary reduction. Sales were down, some months up to 50%. When Cheryl came home from work I never heard her talk about her pay reduction or her future. What kept her up at night was fear for the employees future. She constantly talked about all of the people who were counting on her for a job. Her concern was for the team, not herself. This has always driven Cheryl. She looks at Ebsco as what it offers the employees, her family. She looks at Ebsco as a group of people who count on Ebsco for their futures and families and takes that responsibility very personally.

Waste reduction is one of the three elements in our central core. Ebsco tackles this daily. We address it not by engineers or management reviewing KPIs (yes we do look at these also) but by empowering our team to question everything. I have repeatedly retold a story at Ebsco about a manufacturing company in England. A consultant at the company asked about a column on a production report that workers checked NO daily, (The heading at the top of the paper was gone) The workers replied they didn’t know what it was for but knew to put NO down every day. One day the consultant found the original form with the heading still in tact. The company had been around pre WWII. The column said AIR RAID YES/NO. Obviously this had meaning during the Battle for Brittain but workers continued the practice today, just because that’s what they always did. (SOURCE BusinessBalls.com) We take nothing for granted at Ebsco. We ask why on everything, but most importantly is who asks. EVERYONE asks. Those doing the job know what has value to the customer and what is waste. They are our source for eliminating the waste. At Toyota they challenge everything. It is part of their DNA. The key is EVERYONE challenges everything. It’s in Ebsco’s DNA also.

The second item in our supporting core is continual improvement. This is actually written into my job description as a responsibility. I am evaluated on continuous improvement at Ebsco. If you have followed my Blogs you know where Ebsco is on that. Baby steps… One Million at a time. We’re changing many things at the same time. Is change actually improvement? In The Toyota Way, Cho Toyoda, Toyota president in 2002 is quoted, “There are many things one doesn’t understand and therefore, we ask them why don’t yu just go ahead and take action; try to do something? You realize how little you know and you face your own failure and you can simply correct those failures and do it again and at the second trial you realize another mistake or another thing you didn’t like so you can redo it once again. So by constant improvement, or, should I say, the improvement based upon action, one can rise to the higher level of practice and knowledge.” At Ebsco we encourage everyone to try, mistakes are not “got yous” but opportunities to learn. I think Nike’s “Just Do It” applies at Ebsco.

The third item in our core is people. My management philosophy is “It’s People Stupid”. That’s it. Nothing else to say. Without people nothing happens. Our commitment to our team is in our Mission Statement. At Ebsco we learned that management doesn’t have the answers. Management has the questions and the team has the answers. In lean you talk about elimination of waste, anything that doesn’t add value. The team adds value, management supports the team. In any other capacity management becomes a source of waste, which I am sorry to say is the case at many companies.

If I may be bold enough to state that Toyota left out an important element that the Ebsco System embraces. FUN! Toyota has proven their system is sustainable for sure but I have to believe that fun is a part of the system or the cultural differences are broader than I imagine. Fun is essential to building the enthusiasm and sustainability that Toyota speaks of. The Ebsco team has pride and knows how to have fun.

So what about the Ebsco Production System compared to Toyota’s TPS? We’re not there yet but isn’t that the key. It’s impossible to even define where there is. There is no final destination for Toyota or Ebsco, both under a constant form of improvement driven from the employees within. Beyond the TPS, Ebsco values fun in the workplace as an additional important element. The keys are in the right position. Like everything else, hold on for the ride, it’s going to be fun.

What Am I Talking About?

Ebsco Spring Company — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:30:58 +0000

We have recently switched at Ebsco Spring, to Word Press for our Blogs.

As I struggle to learn a new format and new tools, I have begun to ask myself, “What am I talking about?”. I have been blogging for almost a year now. It’s time to refine what am I trying to say and who am I trying to say it to.

I actually have two audiences I want to reach. The first is the team at Ebsco. I hope these blogs give them a better understanding of who I am and why I am attempting the things I do. I always attempt to convey the why behind the what but my hope is these blogs will provide a better understanding of the who behind the why.

My second audience is other business leaders. Most of these blogs focus on a theory, practice or school of thought in leadership. I hold no illusion that I am the best qualified person to provide guidance in leadership. What I can provide is Real World examples of the theories and practices applied. These blogs will allow others to see the theoretical meet the practical. My stories share my experiences applying knowledge I have gained in my 32 years of management.

Some of my stories will hold triumphs that reinforce the theories and practices, others will share failures where they were not applied properly, not used at all or maybe a case where they were just wrong. Regardless they should all provide opportunities to learn.

Learning from academics and text books is an important part of leadership. This blog offers the practical side . Where the rubber meets the road. You will see first hand, what to avoid and what to embrace.

I hope others will follow this blog and find it of value. I do not consider myself a great writer but I always strive to provide real situations, in real terms that are easy to follow.

So on to my second year of blogging at Ebsco Spring. Hope you enjoy the trip.

It’s Been ONE YEAR

Ebsco Spring Company — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:25:00 +0000

This is the team I am very proud to say I am a part of now. It’s been one year since I started this new journey at Ebsco and in a couple of words, “It’s a BLAST!” The Community Involvement Team paired Ebsco with a local event to support breast cancer research and this pic shows how everyone gets behind the team.

I wanted to look back and share some of the lessons and experiences I’ve had over the last year. It has been a unique opportunity. Many of the things I had taught at my previous job for over 30 years were really put to the test at Ebsco. I’m proud to say I have come along way since that first day I took the wrong turn in the warehouse and got stuck in a dead end and looked foolish, only to compound it by pretending to look at boxes on the shelf like I had a clue. Oh I still do stupid things everyday but now the team has learned to expect it from me.

I have always preached that any team will look at leadership, decide if they are going to succeed or fail and then set forth making their decision a reality. Their determination on the leaders fate is based on if the leader cares about them and has the entire teams best interest at heart. I really do care about the pink mob pictured above and I think they all know it. They have responded posting one of the best years ever at Ebsco and driven positive change to new levels. They are making us a success. It took a little time but when we develop a relationship on trust, they responded. When I asked for ideas on change at Ebsco they responded and responded and responded. It wasn’t necessary to sell change to them, my problem was keeping up with all of their ideas for change.

Another point I have always preached was that management was the same everywhere. You do not need to be an expert on the industry, you need to be an expert on caring and leading a team. Again they have proved this correct. I knew I didn’t know anything about spring making when I walked in and the only progress I’ve made is to realized I didn’t even know how much I didn’t know. That might not be completely true. I found that people like to talk about their jobs and love to teach the boss. They have taught me a great deal about spring making and Ebsco. Now I might know a tenth of what they do, but they keep trying.

I read several books before starting my new position on manufacturing, lean, TQM blah blah blah. what I found was none of the books had any answers. What they did have was the questions. They providing me with the right questions for the real experts, the Team Members. The knowledge I gained from reading didn’t apply directly to Ebsco but it allowed me to ask the right questions and they provided the answers. Reading can spark the imagination or start the kernel of an idea. This is just the starting point. People hold the answers.

I discovered that being a catalyst is an important trait for a leader. Being inquisitive and asking why or why not sparks the minds of team members. Those sparks lead to the fires of invention and unlimited potential. When you can take the combined knowledge and experience of the entire team and create a spark, the results will often knock you down. Coming in from outside gave me a real advantage at this. I had a complete different wealth of experiences and didn’t have the “we have always done it that way mentality”. This made it easy for me to “spark”. Now, what keeps me up at night is that I am becoming an insider and may loose some of that spark. I have committed myself to continue reading, visit customers and vendors to see and experience new things. I don’t want to loose the spark.

I have discovered new perspectives of leadership. In my new position I have the opportunity to see the mile high view. At that level the details are very fuzzy and that allows the total picture to be very clear. This is a big portion of my job. I may not understand all of the details but I have the opportunity to see how the entire process works and the relationship between groups. I have been able to relieve the boss of some of her day to day activities and allow her to step back even further. I think this has helped her with some big decisions that have really impacted Ebsco. I can’t take credit for the ideas but hopefully what I have done has contributed to her being able to take a new perspective on things.

Organizational skills have turned out to be essential. I’ve adopted a saying “Baby Steps… One Million at a Time” To keep those million steps in line takes organizational skills. A little OCD isn’t a bad thing when herding this many projects. Outlook has become my best friend. i have always utilized planners but in this job it’s my life line. Without it, most things would just fall through the cracks.

So to recap, what have I learned. A great deal and nothing at all. I’ve learned allot about manufacturing, springs, ISO, Job Boss and many other specifics. Generally though, I’ve learned nothing new, just reinforced what I knew all along. “It’s People Stupid“ With all the technology and management theory it boils down to that one simple phrase. PEOPLE. I’m lucky I have the people at Ebsco on my team.

Critical Mass

Ebsco Spring Company — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 11:46:00 +0000

Critical Mass is the point when you have enough of the right materials, put together in the proper way to create a sustained nuclear reaction. It’s the point when it all comes together to make the BIG BANG.

Ebsco is reaching critical mass. All the ingredients are coming together to create our Big Bang.

Ebsco listened and surveyed our customers to find out what was important to them. What did Ebsco need to offer to create a Big Bang as there partner. This is what our customers told us were the right ingredients;

The Best Quality Springs
Competitive Pricing
Short Lead Times
Responsiveness to Needs

We then looked at what our competition was offering and set our goals to reach critical mass by exceeding what they had to offer. Ebsco fared well against the competition but nothing short of “World Class” was going to be good enough. We are going to reach critical mass.

The entire Ebsco team looked at every aspect of our company, searching for improvement. Communication and cooperation between every department reached new highs. Employees took ownership and greeted the challenge with enthusiasm. Working together, with everyone’s input we are finding new and creative solutions and I must add, having allot of fun along the way.

Every aspect of quality is constantly monitored, recorded and communicated. Anything short of perfect is analyzed and corrected. The Quality Control department is now Quality Assurance, as everyone has taken on the role of Quality Control. Specifications are checked and re-checked by several team members throughout the process. When something doesn’t meet our standards, everyone is involved in finding a solution.

Our team constantly evaluates every step of the process from the initial phone call to customer delivery. We look for more efficient ways to operate and reduce costs. Beyond simply eliminating waste, we look for any opportunity to improve the process. Our key to success is our team work. Looking beyond ones specific job into the whole process is illuminating several new opportunities. As we become more efficient we have been able to pass along savings to our customers in the form of better pricing. Even with drastic material cost increases we have been able to hold many prices to our customers.

Our biggest successes from our team members has been shortened lead times. Team members have followed work orders through every step of the process looking for wasted time. Working together they have found new methods that have reduced lead times up to one half. New technology has been implemented to focus these gains and continually monitor our efforts.

Customer responsiveness has always been a priority but like everything else you don’t find opportunities unless you take a critical look. We have looked and improved several areas. From the first call from the customer (to a team member, no automated systems here) to our reply, a new sense of urgency exists. We strive to respond to any customer request, “NO PROBLEM” and make that response quickly.

We are proud of the improvements the team has made at Ebsco and are closing in on the “World Class” status we have targeted. We realize we haven’t arrived yet but if you truly want to be World Class you will never arrive because it requires continual improvement. We are at a point that we can stand next to any competitor and say “We Are Your Best Choice” without hesitation.

We are extremely confidant in the abilities of our team to provide the BEST to our customers and now need to spread that word. We have recently added a marketing department to support our sales department. In addition to spreading the word about Ebsco, they will work with our production and process teams to produce and distribute valuable tools to our current and future customers. These tools will assist them in cutting costs in design and engineering.

Ebsco has reached critical mass and is about to make a BIG BANG in the spring industry.

Change Doesn’t Just Happen

Ebsco Spring Company — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:08:00 +0000

When you think of leaders, several traits come to mind;

Dynamic
Compassionate
Intelligent
Risk Taker
Decisive
Communicator

and several others. One that you don’t hear often is a catalyst. Dictionary.com offers the following definitions for catalyst

a person or thing that precipitates an event or change
a person whose talk, enthusiasm or energy causes others to be more friendly, enthusiastic or energetic

Many organizations, like Ebsco are moving responsibility and accountability to the entire team. The team members are moving into new territory. In the past team members waited for someone to tell them what and how and then executed. In the new organization the team members are moving into the role of determining the whats and whys. They have the knowledge and want to participate but this is a new roll for them. Effective leaders in this new organization must become catalyst.

Team members will be apprehensive in this new role. I can assure you that they have a great deal to say but will be apprehensive to talk in this new situation. The effective leader must be a catalyst, creating enthusiasm within the group and reassure them of managements support.

The leader will need to address three situations within the group;

Create enthusiasm in all members to participate and assure them of management support
Offer the group specific topics and examples to start the dialog
Push the group beyond ideas into implementation

Individuals will need to be encouraged to participate. This is a new role for them. Leaders will need to assure them that their input will be utilized. Team members need to feel confident they can speak freely. Management must create excitement within team members that they now have a say in the organization. Beyond simply being engaged, team members must be excited and have passion for the opportunities in their new role.

After you have assembled a group of passionate team members they may need help starting. This is a new role for them. Management should offer examples of what they want from the team and give them examples of how they would tackle the situation. Management must be cautious in providing too much guidance. The examples provided should just give the team a spark on where and how to start. Any more will be kill the individuals enthusiasm.

One of the biggest issues in any organization is taking a concept to reality. The new group, when sparked will have several ideas and solutions. In most cases they will have no idea on how to bring the concept into practice. The leader will need to stress to the group they are responsible from idea to implementation. The group may need some guidance on where to go to next, The leader must be available to them and provide the resources they need to succeed.

In participatory organizations leaders must shift their roles away from directing and become catalyst for action. As the team begins accepting responsibility for the organization, leaders must focus on creating the environment for the team to succeed. An effective leader will become the spark to ignite the talent and passion of the team.

LEADERSHIP How Do You Know When You Get There

Ebsco Spring Company — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:34:00 +0000

Leaders always set goals. People need to know when they have arrived. Goals tell us when we arrive. Good leaders always paint a picture of what it looks like when we succeed. Most leaders are good at this. BUT How many leaders can paint a picture of success in their role? What is the picture when they have succeeded as a leader? Ask ten leaders and you may get ten answers and I will differ with all of them. I would like to propose my picture of what it looks like to succeed as a leader.

To paint the picture I think we first must look at common definitions that do not work.

A successful leader beats the competition.
Beats the competition at what? What is the companies vision? Is it to be the biggest? Is it to have the best customer service? Is the victory achieved by short term strategies and can’t be maintained? Beating the competition does not necessarily measure a successful leader.

A successful leaders meets or exceeds all goals.
Who set the goals, the leader? Were the goals a stretch? Do the goals align with the long term goals of the company? Are the methods used to meet the goals sustainable or were they short term tactics? Simply meeting goals, usually established by the leader spell true success as a leader.

A successful leaders achieves record sales for the company.
If the company has performed poorly in the past is record sales really a success? If you cut costs and profits to obtain sales is that successful? Sales only are not a measure of success.

A successful leaders achieves record profits.
You can slash payroll and capital investment for a year and achieve record profits, ONE TIME, is that a success? If you raise prices and lower quality you can see a one time record profit but is that a success when all of your customers leave the following years?

A successful leader achieves record customer service scores.
If you throw payroll at the company you can increase customer service scores, but what about profit? Even with satisfied customers, you can’t sustain losses.

Looking at these common definitions it’s clear that all of the above are factors to success but no single one measures success. To say a good balance of all of the above spells success may be accurate but is very difficult to define. The leader must establish the right combination of each will take the company to the intended destination.

So how do we paint a picture of a successful leader? How do we measure when we have achieved success?

To say one has achieved success as a leader…. the operation will continue and achieve the same results in the leaders absence as it would if they were there.

That’s it, my definition for success as a leader. A successful leaders is the least needed person in the organization when it comes to day to day operations. A successful leader effectively communicates his vision and culture to the entire team. Everyone knows where the company is going. They train individuals to do their jobs. everyone knows how to do it. They push things down through delegation. Everyone shares the responsibility. They instill ownership. Everyone takes responsibility. They encourage risk taking and individual thinking. No one is afraid to make decisions. They create a motivating environment. everyone is excited about the journey. they create team work so everyone shares in the process.
When a leader accomplishes this, the team takes off toward the vision usually leaving the leader in the dust. What an exciting organization. This allows the leader to sit back and observe the environment, looking for opportunities and hazards. They can refine their vision and prepare for tomorrow.

A leader that has built his organization to be self sufficient without his input is the definition of a success. Their team will be engaged taking ownership of the organization. The leader will then have time to chart the next step for the organization.

Funny to think that when you’re needed the least, you have achieved success.

Spring Cleaning

Ebsco Spring Company — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:28:00 +0000

Spring Cleaning is a time to open up the closets and garage and take accounting. Put away the things from completed projects and new projects never begun. Look at the half finished projects and determine if you want to make the effort to finish them. Look at the future projects and see if they still have meaning. Throw out things that have no meaning and discover things that spark new ambition. It’s time to put your life in order and focus your efforts for the future.

I’ve recently been ill and forced to take time off from the job. Not something I find easy to do. As I ease my way back into the office, I find myself somewhat overwhelmed with the missed deadlines and unfinished work awaiting me. It has forced me to step back and evaluate everything. It has forced me to do a Spring Cleaning of my time.

I began with my “daily duties” I imposed on myself. I looked at the reports I create and review on a regular basis. I evaluated all of the incomplete tasks still in my planner and finally the projects, many scheduled months prior. What I discovered is that I’m working too hard, or maybe not working smart enough. When stepping back and evaluating the true importance of many of these items I found I was waisting time.

My management style is exception based management, which I spoke of in a previous Blog. I focus my efforts on a few under performing areas and as they improve replace them with new areas. The problem is that many of the reports and daily duties I initiated in these focused areas was never stopped when my focus changed. As each new focus emerged, I added tasks without removing old tasks. Things that required daily attention before might only need monthly scrutiny now, but I never adjusted to the situation. I have been piling task upon task that didn’t reflect my current priorities. With Spring Cleaning, out with the old and in with the new. I feel better already.

Another realization is how everything is interrelated. As we continue to move forward and improve, each improvement impacts the entire process, not just the specific area of focus. Many projects and tasks that had importance at the time were now irrelevant due to other changes. Fixing one thing often has a cascade effect and changes several things in their coarse. I found planned tasks and projects that were no longer necessary.

Increased knowledge and capabilities also influenced my Spring Cleaning. As we have developed our technology and I have better learned to utilize it, I have found more comprehensive and simpler ways of obtaining information and monitoring processes. This has made me better at my job. What I haven’t done a good job with is alleviating some of the old methods as I develop new ones. It’s time to weed out the data and focus on the what gets the biggest bang for my buck.

Reviewing some tasks and projects simply left me confused. I could see no benefit in if their potential results. The reason for this is obvious. I was wrong in my original evaluation of the situation. The purpose of the task or project was based on bad conclusions. As time passed and more information gathered, the source of many opportunities became clearer and my original conclusions were wrong. Time to accept that and not waist time on these.

I have always taught, preached and I thought practiced pushing things down. Delegation is vital to the organization. Delegation frees time to work on other priorities and prepares those being delegated to for taking on additional responsibility. I discovered I am not as good at it as I thought. Some things can’t be delegated. Whether based on specific skills, knowledge, access to information or availability of staff, some things must be done by ones self and can’t be pushed down. I discovered many things I am currently doing should be pushed down. At the time I took ownership of these responsibilities there may have not been someone qualified to accept them. Some were the result of specific emphasis at the time that has changed. The problems was that I did not constantly evaluate and continued doing the tasks after situations and resources changed. Team members received additional training and moved into new positions that made them available to assume new roles. I have began pushing things down, team members are exited about new opportunities (and will do a better job at them with their enthusiasm) and I now have additional time.

So as I have opened up the garage and the closets to do Spring Cleaning I have learned a great deal. Things constantly change in a vital organization and require reevaluation. I am so committed to my Spring Cleaning I have asked my team to individually do the same thing. They need to open there closets and garage and evaluate how they spend their time. I have learned so much I plan to do Spring Cleaning twice a year from now on. Maybe I will actually do one of them in the Spring.

The Pinball Effect

Ebsco Spring Company — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 22:33:00 +0000

Have you ever played pinball? The shiny ball moves forward smoothly on a predictable path until it strikes a bumper. Then chaos erupts. The ball jumps from one bumper to another. There is no predicting its path as it spins wildly out of control (It’s the springs that cause the reaction). The chaos of the pinball effect is very common in business.
Think about a calm day at work. You have a plan for the day and you are consistently making progress in your efforts. Then…. you receive a call from an associate, Customer BIG TIME Inc hasn’t received their order and is upset. You fire off emails to two other associates asking why. They each shoot emails to two of their team members asking for information on the order. Those four each ask two of their team to find documentation on the order. A VP from sales calls one of the associates looking into the order on a different matter. They are told that will need to wait because of the lost Big Time Inc order crisis. The sales VP runs back to their office and emails their associates to make contact with the customer and assure them all is fine and your company is working on the problem. This VP copies senior management on their email and the Production VP, seeing that email contacts their associates to pull the production schedule to make arrangements to start production on a replacement order. These team members go on the production floor to give prepare technicians they may need to switch runs. The technician informs them that scheduling called an hour ago saying they had an expedite on another order and need to know which is the priority. An email is sent back through the chain asking about the priorities. Everyone now is making calls and sending emails concerning the expedited order. Big Time Inc calls and informs you that the actually have the missing order, it was delivered to the wrong dock and the crisis is over. Not for you. Everyone is now chasing the mysterious expedited order you just found out about. And the pinball moves on to the next bumper.

This only happens in GOOD companies. It is rooted in, a sense of urgency, a desire to communicate and the drive to deliver great service to your customers. The very things that make companies successful, can disrupt production and create confusion. While several people are acting on the “crisis” production is interrupted and other crisis maybe developing due to inattention. Everyone is acting with the highest intentions, the problem is EVERYONE is acting.

The key to any “crisis” is establishing an event manager. Event Manager is not an individual or position on the organization chart. It is simply a member of the team that takes ownership of the event.

The event manager can be anyone in the organization. It is most effective when it is an individual with the authority to make decisions and whose responsibilities most closely correlate to the event. The event manager becomes communication central and directs the actions. Others may provide suggest from their area of expertise but no action is taken without the direction of the event manager. This allows most team members to stay focused on their responsibilities while the event manager only utilizes select people to focus on the event. The event manager will cut through the clutter, duplication of effort and conflicting directions to provide a smooth seamless conclusion to the situation and allow others to focus on current business at hand.

If you are pinball fan, I suggest you go to the arcade. Use an event manager at work to coordinate your efforts and allow your team to focus on their jobs.