Author: Mike Urgo
Waste is everywhere, and nowhere.
In my opinion it all comes down to perspective.
So, before you go any further in your quest to eliminate waste, the first thing you must do is agree that whatever it is you are looking to remove is in fact waste.
This step can be extremely easy or incredibly impossible.
Let me explain.
For me, I cannot help myself, every day I am on a quest to try and be as efficient as possible.
Where did that get me? In therapy.
All kidding aside, like with most things in life, there are extremes on both sides. For me, I can't help but sit at the checkout line at the grocery store and pick apart the poor cashier in my head as to how they can be more efficient. To belabor the point: every time I mow the lawn, do laundry, vacuum, or any other chore - I am looking to make it quicker and easier. What I must recognize sometimes is that if I just execute on the task, it would be done quicker than it would if I spent 15 minutes thinking about shaving off 3 minutes as a result. That can be described as analysis paralysis, which is also waste.
One the other end of the spectrum, people may have not ever thought about how things could be done more efficiently and are often very happy and comfortable with the status quo.
Before deciding whether it is waste or not, you need to identify whether it involves just you or other people or groups as well. For example, if I want to change the way I do my laundry to be more efficient, that only really impacts me. This means that I can experiment and try new things with no real impact on everyone else in the house. However, if I want to change the way everyone in my house does laundry, that is a completely different story. I can't walk up to my wife and two daughters and tell them that the way they do laundry sucks (it does) and that there's a better way to do it (there is) and expect them to embrace it.
That's not how the world works. In fact, operating that way only will push people away and make them even less open to making changes in the future.
It is crazy to me how many leaders do that in business. I am sure so many people reading this can think of a leader who has sat down in a meeting and tried to illustrate that the way they are doing things is "wrong". That never works out. So, if you find that the waste you want to address only really impacts you, and you want to change the way you fold and put away your clothes, go for it! If the changes you are looking to make impact a larger audience, then you are going to need to do some more change management leg work before jumping right into the change. I am not going to jump into the gaining buy-in piece here, but will cover that again in a future episode, or you can read some of the previous episodes like this one: Episode 15: Are You A Transformer?
For the sake of the episode, I am going to assume that you have your own buy-in and, or the buy-in from any parties that would be impacted by the change.
What I have had to learn, on my edge of the spectrum, is that way of thinking can be exhausting. While I may find that I have more time at the end of the day, if I have exhausted myself driving to that time savings, I can end up too tired to take advantage of the time. For me, a quick question to ask yourself both inside the workplace or at home is: Do I wish I had more time to do things? What would I do if I had more time? By having a target, it gives you a reason to be honest with yourself. For instance, sticking with the laundry analogy, I know if I sneak in rolling laundry during the day and fold it before I go to bed, I will have more time to do fun things on the weekend (like building Legos).
So how do you recognize and confirm waste?
For me, there's a feeling in my gut (see Episode 28) when I start to feel like something that's happening is a waste of time. For others you may start to notice duplicative tasks, or that more than one person is working on the same thing. You may also start to notice that something you spent time on and were passionate about didn't get recognition or make the impact you were expecting. My biggest pet peeve is in jobs where people spend hours updating weekly reports for leadership, only for the leader to call and ask a question that is answered in the report.
Why do the report?
The question in that example is: are the reports a waste, or do leaders need training and accountability to use the report? A tactic that is widely used is to ask "why" and not just once, but up to five times. It's called "The Five Whys" which gets you to the root cause of something. I have talked to people who have expressed that they want to stop wasting time "doom scrolling" on social media. My response is: Why? Why are you scrolling?
Here's a hypothetical example of how that conversation (either internal or external) could go:
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- I want to stop spending so much time scrolling through social media. Why?
- I want to spend more time reading. Why?
- I think reading professional help books will help. Why?
- I feel like I can accomplish more personally and professionally. Why?
- I think there are some opportunities I have missed, due to being distracted.
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It's not an exact science, but it's a wonderful method to try and get to the root cause of whatever it is you are working on or if your team is struggling with something.
Once you or your team have your why, it makes eliminating the waste so much easier. For higher-level business applications there are all sorts of measurements and value algorithms to look at, but for the purpose of this episode, I want to focus on the low hanging fruit. Take the example of scrolling as a waste of time with the goal reading more. If the person in this scenario is finding it difficult to stop scrolling, it may help to ask "why" there as well. They may find that there is stress they are looking to disassociate from, or that maybe they are afraid of the work it will take to accomplish their goal after reading the book. Personally, I find that I am my own biggest blocker when it comes to making a change at times. Not because I don't want to, but because I am comfortable in my current routine and don't want to deal with the uncomfortable feelings that come with change.
Let's review where we are so far.
- Determine whether the waste you are eliminating directly impacts you or involves others
- If it involves others, make sure you gain their buy-in and start change management
- Confirm that it is in fact waste and not an issue with conformity or lack of education to a process
- Ask why? Why are you eliminating the waste? What is the impact?
- This will ensure that eliminating the waste is going to provide value
Finally - it's time to execute on the change. Depending on the size and complexity of the change, this is where you must be careful and where the DMAIC process can be of great help. Eliminating waste with a large impact and higher complexity should use a more structured approach like the DMAIC process. However, for a simple change like trying to curve time on social media, I think there are three things to remember when executing.
1. Set realistic goals
2. Embrace trial and error
3. Don't forget your why
Setting realistic goals is so important. We all know people or have been the person (hand-up) who has announced a plan to lose weight in an extremely unrealistic way and in a timeline that only Hollywood actors could meet. Then when the results don't happen, they immediately quit. So, be sure to set realistic goals for change. Understand that trial and error is part of the process. Make sure you are learning from both successes and failures. It's a cliché, but I find that I learn more from failures or misses than I do from winning. Never forget your why. Losing sight of the goal or "North Star", can make it easier to fall back into the same processes and waste. By remembering and committing to your why, you will find that when things you try don't work, it's that much easier to jump back in and try again.
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