Long Hours

Howdy folks and here I am once again writing to you from an aircraft on my way to work.  Yes, it has been a few weeks and in these weeks this cowboy has been doing the 60 plus hour weeks with his team to implement Lean and learn about process improvement from the front lines.

This posting is going to be about something all of us can experience.  Burnout.  When we continually work our team sixty plus hours a week, be it voluntarily or not time in is time in.  What do we as Lean leaders do to help alleviate the stress and burnout that comes with burning the candle at both ends?  Well that is what I'm going to discuss here today.  So grab a cup of coffee and have a seat at the fire and we will dive right into this stampede of a topic.

One of the biggest things I do is listen to my team.  Yes, listening to your team is sometimes all that is needed to defuse an issue or lend a shoulder.  You may even find that you have something in common with this team member and can use these times to build bridges with that individual.  Another one of the techniques I use is to buy my team lunch when they have gone above and beyond.  Yes I've touched on this before, yet it is imperative that your team understand you appreciate them.  Lean is more than just improvement, it is building capability in people.  That in an of itself is improvement.  When people are dedicating six days a week to an organization ten plus hours a day that needs to be recognized by you as the leader.  When I talk about leader, that could be CEO/CFO all the way down to front line supervisor.  Leading your team in every moment requires you to recognize and acknowledge people.

The more I've recognized efforts and advancements with my team, the more I've seen us grow.  Grow in our problem diagnosis skills as well as implementation skills.  How does this happen you may ask?  It all stems from the People, Process, Culture trifecta my wife talks about each and every day.  Though times may be busy, product needs to be manufactured, and overtime is to be worked.  Recognizing the concerted efforts of your team and being fair and equatable with them is something we as leaders need to be cognizant of all the time.  Think of it as listening to the machine.  When the machine is making odd noises, we get maintenance to look at it do we not?  The same thing when our workforce is in need of help, we need to listen to them as they are on the frontline.  When they need help we are morally obligated as Lean leaders to listen and implement the required help our team needs.  For if we fail to listen, then we are destined to break the machine.  When we break those bonds with our team rebuilding those structures can be very difficult if not impossible.

We must remember that though the hours may be long, the trail may be filled with hard work, the weather may not always be pleasant, we as the leaders MUST make a concerted effort to go above and beyond to help the team.  Note I did not say coddle, I said help.  Big difference their cowpokes.  When the mutual respect of your team works hard and you work with them to blaze that trail, your organization will experience progress.  When you run your cowboys and cowgirls into the ground without recognizing their efforts and helping pull them forward, well.... you are a poor trail boss and it is time to course correct.

Well folks, I'd like to thank you for stopping by reading my latest post.  The Respect for People concept isn't just words it is reality and when truly practiced great things can become reality.

Happy Trails

Cowboy