 |
 |
|
 |
Get It Done! Soft Skills not Hard Tools are
Required
By Chuck Yorke
If your organization has people, then interpersonal skills
are needed.
I work with companies that are on a path they call the lean journey.
Whatever you call it, it’s based on the Toyota Production System.
Some manufacturers embraced it and it became known as Lean Manufacturing,
expanded into the Lean Office or Lean Enterprise. During this transformation
the approach became focused on tools, but Toyota’s approach is about
people.
The focus of Lean Manufacturing training has been on technical skills
such as value stream mapping, 5S, and set-up reduction. People skills;
also known as “soft skills” or interpersonal skills haven’t
been much of a priority. Difficulty in moving from a traditional to a
lean organization is usually blamed on the culture of the organization.
If this is true than interpersonal skill training needs to be a higher
priority. Communication often determines if the transition succeeds or
not. Could the “soft” stuff actually be more important than
the “hard” stuff?
Somehow, many companies seem to believe that training managers to “create
a vision” and engineers to map the value stream, make work instructions
visible and dictate how to clean and organize will magically transform
the company.
However, as we all know, it’s the people who do the work, not maps
or set-up calculations. In a Lean organization, it’s the people
who do the work that create the standardized work, not managers or engineers.
In his book, The Toyota Way, Jeffrey Liker explains, “it’s
the people who bring the system to life: working, communicating, resolving
issues, and growing together.”
Toyota, on its website, states that “Improvements and suggestions
by team members are the cornerstone of Toyota’s success.”
Managers act as coaches and develop their people. Once again, let’s
not forget, it’s the people who do the work. Continuous improvement
is part of the work.
It’s easy to see (but somehow difficult for some of us to embrace)
that any organization can effectively follow Toyota’s lead. Managers
only need to coach and develop their people. Communication is the key.
Interpersonal skills training, the “soft” stuff is actually
more important than the “hard” stuff.
Copyright © 2005 Chuck Yorke - All Rights Reserved
Chuck Yorke |
About the Author:
Chuck
Yorke is an organizational development and performance improvement
specialist, trainer, consultant and speaker. He is co-author, along
with Norman Bodek, of All You Gotta Do Is Ask, a book that explains
how to promote large numbers of ideas from employees. Chuck may
be reached at ChuckYorke@yahoo.com |
|
All You Gotta Do Is Ask
All You Gotta Do Is Ask explains how to promote large numbers of ideas
from your employees, something most organizations do very poorly,
if at all. The people who manage such organizations are either unaware
of the power of employee ideas, or they don’t know how to tap
it. This easy-to-read book will show you why it is important to have
a good idea system, how to set one up, and what it can do for you,
your employees, and your organization. In 1989, for example, Japanese
companies were averaging more than 37 ideas per employee, of which
87% were implemented. Quantifiable bottom-line savings were calculated
at more than $4,000 per employee. By contrast, their U.S. competitors
put little effort into encouraging employee ideas.
|
top of page |
|
