Here are our upcoming public training courses for February:

February 16 – Statistical Process Control – Knowledge Park at Penn State Erie, Erie, PA

February 22 – Root Cause Analysis – B3C at Linden Pointe, Hermitage, PA

Also, we will be holding a public Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course in Pittsburgh. Week #1 March 26 – 30, Week #2 April 30 – May 4.

Click on the links for more information or to register.

Photo Credit: Mattox

Whether I’m coaching one of my Six Sigma belts on their project or working with a business on their corporate strategy, I find there is an area that always needs revisited and refined: Clarifying the goal. It’s easy for a team to say we want to reduce costs or cycle time, we want to grow our market share, or we want to enter this new market. Great! But what does that really mean?

If you’re going to win in business you need to have a Vision and Strategy for your organization. For that vision and strategy to be effective, you need to begin with the end in mind. In other words: You need to define the win. If you don’t define what a win is, then you will never know if you get there.

1. Define the Win: Part of being an effective leader is defining the win. If you want to reduce costs, which costs and by how much? How much do you want to grow your market share and over what period of time? What does entering a new market mean – Is it having a new product or service available, landing that first client, or simply attending a trade show? Earl Nightingale in his The Strangest Secret says “A success us anyone who is realizing a worthy predetermined ideal, because that’s what he or she decided to do … deliberately.” Therefore, to win in business you must deliberately determine what it is you want to achieve.

2. Establish the Measure: To be able to define the win, you must identify what it is you are going to measure. By measuring, we can determine from where we are starting, where we want to get to, and how big that gap is. Once you’ve established the metric, baseline, and goal, you have something to monitor your progress towards that goal.

3. Develop the Plan: Look at what you defined as a win and work backwards to identify the milestones you need to hit to achieve that win. What are the quarterly or monthly activities that must take place to move you towards that win? Break those activities down further into the weekly and daily tasks you and your team must accomplish. Now when you are planning your day you know what those activities are that will get you closer to your win, versus just a random to-do list.

4. Communicate the Plan: It’s not enough to simply define the win, establish the measure, and develop the plan. Countless organizations have developed beautiful strategic plans in nice three-ring binders that sit on a shelf gathering dust, never to be looked at again. You must communicate the plan and get people involved. There is a great verse (Judges 5:2) that basically says “when leaders lead, people will volunteer.” If you do an effective job of leading, people will want to follow up and be a part of what you are doing. Remember, people are not against you, they are for themselves. Make sure when you are communicating the plan and the win that you connect it to how the people on your team will be impacted. If you reduce the cycle time, what does that mean for the amount of overtime people have to work or the additional capacity you create to take on more work or the available time for innovation? What’s in it for them?

If you follow these four steps you will set yourself and your organization up to win in 2012.

I would love to hear what your “wins” are for 2012, please share them in the comments.

Photo by Vivek Chugh

This time of year people often talk about their goals or plans for the year; businesses talk about strategy. Unfortunately, only three percent of people actually achieve their goals. So what can you do to improve your odds of achieving your goals, either business or personal?

First, we need to understand what these terms mean. I’ve often heard people use the words strategy, goals, missions, and plans interchangeably. I’ve also noticed that people overlook things like purpose, vision, or tactics. Simply understanding these terms and how they connect to each other can help you achieve more of your goals.

1. Vision – Vision is training yourself to be able to see what is to come to pass. It is a mental attitude you must develop. Proverbs 29:18 says where there is no vision, the people perish. If you are leading others (or even yourself, for that matter) you must have a vision for your team, believe in that vision, and impart that belief to others.

2. Purpose – Purpose is the why. Vision seeks clarity to better understand why you want to do or accomplish something. Purpose gives meaning to people and helps them develop their own internal motivation towards the vision.

3. Goal – Goals are mile markers that help you know if you are moving in the right direction. They can be short term and long term, but they are the “what” that drives toward the vision. Goals help you determine what a win is and keep you focused.

4. Strategy/Mission/Plan –Strategy is the “how” of accomplishing the vision. Strategies may, and sometimes must, change depending on circumstances, but the vision never changes. Remember also, that you may not have the entire strategy laid out in perfect detail. If you know the next step to take, you are not lacking in direction.

5. Tactics – These are the precise disciplines or behaviors which you follow in order to implement a plan and strategy. These become the day after day and week after week actions that enable you to execute your strategy.

If you simply funnel everything into this structure and execute on it, you will place yourself far ahead of those around you.

Operations Strategy Consulting, in partnership with the Northwest Industrial Resource Center, is holding several public offering courses in December. For more information or to register, please contact JoAnn.

December 1: Root Cause Analysis – Penn State Behrend’s Knowledge Park, Erie, PA

December 8: Failure Modes & Effects Analysis (FMEA) – Penn State Behrend’s Knowledge Park, Erie, PA

December 9: Root Cause Analysis – B3C at LindenPointe, Hermitage, PA

December 14: Statistical Process Control – Penn State Behrend’s Knowledge Park, Erie, PA

Operations Strategy is pleased to welcome our newest consultant to our team, Sara Goncus. As a consultant and trainer, she will be focused on helping our clients improve their processes and achieve operational excellence. Sara comes to us from Lockheed Martin where she was a Quality Assurance Engineer at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico. A certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, she knows the importance of making improvements that benefit the client as well as the client’s customers. Please join us in welcoming her to the team. (Full Bio.)

Let me publicly say thank you to Buddy Hobart for inviting me back as a guest on Friday’s “Solution 21 Show” on The American Entrepreneur Radio. I was joined by Rob O’Donnell, Managing Director of Solutions 21, as we answered listeners questions on how to maximize their business’ productivity while keeping your employees from breaking down, especially in a tight economy when these workers are more put upon than ever before.

Listen to the Audio.

Operations Strategy Consulting has partnered with Catalyst Connection to offer an Open Enrollment Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course in Pittsburgh. Attendees will learn to apply lean tools to reduce and eliminate wastes, and the DMAIC methodology to reduce process variations and defects to achieve quantifiable bottom-line business improvement. Typically Green Belt projects spin off $25K to $50K in cost savings in process improvement. Those choosing to receive Green Belt Certification, will also receive project coaching specific to a process improvement project that you bring to the course; one-on-one project review and coaching by the Master Black Belt.

Training dates are June 13-17 and July 25-29. The “early bird” discounted rate for training and certification is $4,500 if you register before May 13, 2011. After May 13, the Green Belt training and certification will be $5,500.

For more details and to register visit the course training page at Catalyst Connection.

As the economy continues to falter and industries such as financial and health care continue to grow, the question arises: Is manufacturing still relevant? After all, we are continually told by the media that most manufacturing jobs have been sent overseas, that the US is just not competitive, and besides, manufacturing is messy and dirty, who would want to work there anyway.

I would argue – and I think you would agree – manufacturing is key to growing our economy. Here are just a few stats you might find interesting:

• In Pennsylvania alone, manufacturing is the single largest sector of the economy (14 percent of the gross state product in 2008).
• Approximately 16,000 manufacturers in PA employ more than 570,000 people.
• The average annual salary in manufacturing is $53,000.
• Manufacturers account for 70 percent of the private sector Research and Development.
• The U.S. produces approximately 21 percent of the world’s manufacturing output – a number which has remained unchanged in the last 40 years.

So what?

Here are four things manufacturers can do.

1. Make sure you are competitive. The U.S. needs manufacturing to remain a world leader and maintain our standard of living. That means we need you and your business. With all the resources available today, if your business is struggling in any area get help. Businesses must be strong and profitable, our communities depend on you.

2. Clean up your shop. This may sound strange, but seriously, with the proliferation of 5S (workplace organization) and the emphasis on safety, your shop should not look like a pig sty. I’ve seen foundries that do sand casting look better than some assembly shops. Not only will your shop be safer, but you will improve your productivity and your employees will feel more valued.

3. Be recruiting all the time. You need to be marketing and selling yourself as an employer – not just your products. The average age of  manufacturing employees is 54! You are going to have a labor problem in the near future, if you’re not already feeling the crunch. Get involved with your local high schools and vocational schools. Partner with the engineering and business departments are your local colleges. Host a family or community day at your plant so parents can see how far manufacturing has come (assuming you have done #2).

4. Focus on innovation. Manufacturers must find ways to innovate. Look at your process flow and procedures and find ways to streamline them so your people are freed up to innovate. How can you use your technology or processes to serve a different industry? What new products or services can you develop? Are there different technologies or approaches your could implement to better serve your existing customers?

By taking these four steps, manufacturing can be the catalyst to revving up our economic engine!

What are you doing in your business to improve your community? Share with us in the comments section.

As I meet and talk with executives and business owners, I discovered there are three types of leaders when it comes to corporate strategy: Those who do strategic planning, Those that don’t bother with a strategic plan, and Those who actually implement their strategic plans. Unfortunately, the percentage of organizations that actually implement their strategic plans – and as a result, achieve their annual goals – is quite small.

“Most of the time, strategists should not be formulating strategy at all: they should be getting on with implementing strategies they already have.” – Henry Mintzberg

According to a recent survey by McKinsey & Co., of the respondents that actually do strategic planning, 69 percent reported that there was a breakdown in the alignment of the company with the strategic plan and poor execution of the plan.

So what can you do to make sure your business is in a better position at the end of the year versus where you are today?

1. Make sure you actually have a strategic plan. If you don’t have a strategic plan, develop one – it’s not too late. Define your business mission. Assess the external forces that affect your business (economic, environmental, political, legal, competitive,  etc.). Conduct an Internal Audit of you business including your culture, management, marketing, financial/accounting, operations, HR, R&D, and IT. Define your strategic objectives and strategies to achieve those objectives.

2. Communicate your strategic plan. You should be able to distill your strategic plan down into a single page. If you cannot communicate your strategic plan on a single sheet of paper, it’s too complex. Not only that, but your team members will struggle to understand how what they do relates to or impacts the business’ strategic plan. Everyone from the executive offices to the shop floor should understand where your company is going and how they contribute to getting there.

3. Translate your strategic plan to measurable goals. Based on your strategic plan, where should each department and person be at the end of each quarter, each month? These measurable goals should now be driving weekly and daily activities for each function and team member.

While this is a very high level approach, following these three steps will help ensure your company’s daily activities are aligned with the business’ strategic plan.

If you have other approaches that have worked in your company, please share them in the comments section, I would love to hear what you’re doing.

As we are pursuing our goals, there are times when we get stuck. We start going in circles instead of towards our destination. I ran into this problem earlier this year in my business and spent too much time going in circles instead of breaking out and getting back on track to my destination. As I went through that process, I focused on building five habits back into my life. I can’t take credit for developing these habits, I picked them up from the book of Proverbs. (If you read that book 12 to 15 times, you’ll practically get an MBA, it’s in there.)

The preface to all of this is you have to seek to get unstuck. Which means there must be an energy, a passion in your efforts and activity.

1. Don’t Be A Loner. If you want to get unstuck or grow in a certain area, you need fresh information coming in to you. Go get counsel from someone who is where you want to be or can give you an objective assessment. Get advice from others who truly care about your success and don’t have their own agenda.

2. Don’t Make Excuses. This usually sounds like, “this isn’t going to work, so I’m not even going to try.” Listen, when you make excuses it changes your focus away from the real issue. Not only that, but it paralyzes you. You become very good at finding ways to shoot down every potential solution you come up with. Learn to change “I can’t … ” to “I can….”

3. Don’t Love Comfort and Ease. Don’t be a comfort addict. Life is not supposed to be comfortable. If you’re comfortable you’re not growing. At the end of the day, it’s not about how you feel, it’s your destiny that matters. You were put on the earth to accomplish something. Change isn’t comfortable, get over it, it will help you grow up and mature.

4. Don’t Get Preoccupied. When we’re stuck and going in circles, we are often just focused on what we are doing. Instead, focus on why you are doing it. If you’re a plant manager, you’re not just running a plant and shipping products; you’re providing people with good jobs, serving your customers with a product or service they need, and making your community a better place to live.

5. Don’t Be Hard-Headed. Be teachable. Just because you thought it, doesn’t make it right. Always be looking, gleaning, growing, seeking. Ask questions. Let others talk more, not you talking about yourself. Read. Five years from now, you will be in the same place except for the conversations you have and the books you read. Be teachable.

By incorporating these habits back into my life, I got myself and my business back on track. I would love to hear what you have done  or your thoughts on how to get unstuck.