Final Thoughts: Comebacks at Work

Commentary: This concludes the series that highlighted the book Comebacks At Work as the work place has become an increasing challenge today. People are on edge, tempers flare, and in some cases the competitiveness has taken a hostile direction.  Simply put, good communication skills is not enough.  Professionals must become skilled at handling difficult people and in many cases corporate psychopaths.

This series of postings discussed using communication methods to gain control of circumstances and reduce your chances of becoming a target. We covered the chapters in the book adding additional support and highlighting the need to improve communication skills.  I provided when appropriate with authors works such as Dale Carnegie to enhance the understanding.  Now Final Thoughts from Dr Readon.

Final Thoughts

No one is a comeback expert as it takes a lifetime of practice always improving. Having a repertoire or tool kit of practice and a good sense of when and with whom ti use comebacks is a good start.  Achieving confidence and a comfort zone with Comebacks is experience driven through mostly trial and error.   One of the key tactics with comebacks is to study the people around you. Listen to the more savvy people and what they say and do.  You do not need to become like them just learn the culture. 

Too many people reflect back and think to themselves, Ïf I had only said..." The goal in this book is to reduce those anxiety producing moments.  Dr Reardon provided a R-List and other strategies to to experiment and find your comfort zone. Once you gain confidence you may leave your comfort zone achieving a higher command in communications. 

However, do not get too comfortable as the circumstances change. New bosses turnover, atmospheres migrate, rivalries emerge, and career stages clash. All these episodes require changes in communications and comebacks.  Regardless, of the circumstances and environment the message needs to be sent that you will stand your ground and you will not tolerate attacks even if you are in a good situation currently.

If you are in a company with a highly political or pathological culture (i.e. a high degree of personality based character ethics) you are now ready to assume greater control over the situation creating your own space where things are better.  Utilizing the tactics in this book you will be able to enhance your skill level keeping people with your worst interests at heart at bay. 

Do not worry, you will make mistakes. In time, you will gain a gut feel for the comebacks. Just knowing that you have the capacity is a very comforting thing. Practice in everything you do and everywhere you go. Everyday is an adventure. 

Comments: "Comebacks at Work" is not about how to be a Smart Aleck but instead how to be in control by assessing the situation, your style, and the deliberate use of language. While seemingly intense and a lot of material to think about, with training, memorization, and practice the comeback become easier.  This concludes this series. Thanks! I hope you picked up on some valuable skills. 

Reference

Reardon, K.K., (2010). Comebacks at work: using conversation to master confrontation. (1 ED.). Harper Collins publishers, New York

Supply Chain: Implementation and Change Management

This is a series on Supply Chain Basics looking at the discipline from the Society of Operations Management perspective. Supply chain is also essential to project management as PMs are typically trained in world class contracting. For example, my Masters program had several courses involving contracting and the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act, DAWIA, certification highlights the combination of project management and supply chain. In this post, we will explore Implementation and change management methods adding some additional support as well.

Implementation and Change Management

At this point the supply chain processes have been identified and the improvements are associated with the benchmarks or objectives to achieve the improvements. Comment:  This dovetails into the leadership model presented in the leadership series specifically as the first two steps. This posting adds to the Change Management  step entering the implementation process and also includes additional leadership elements in the process. I will highlight the model as we move through the APICS approach which tends to skip around the model. 

1. Choose KPIs and Establish the Baseline

The Key performance indicators, KPIs, are associated with the benchmarks. APICS uses the balanced score card and sets a baseline for each indicator which are kept to a manageable number.  Please recall that the scorecard is designed around four areas; the customer, financials, growth, and learning.  Growth and learning are the foundations to supply chain management.  The customer is why the supply chain exists which is why improvements are necessary. The big challenge is to monitor the chain for performance and possible out of limits situations. 

Comment: Score cards and KPIs  are the same activity as Effects Based Outcomes, EBO, for most intents and purposes.  EBO is more expansive than four categories, is more intense, and the jargon is slightly different. Both operate using qualitative and quantitative measures.  KPIs expand on the goal setting portion of the leadership model. In change management element of the model people will look to the goals and KPIs for direction and achievability making change management more transparent to all. 

2. Develop a Master Plan and a Set of Project Plans

APICS speaks to two plan types; a master plan and project plans. The master plan pulls together the overarching effort into a concerted effort of multiple projects that strive towards the strategic goals and objectives. The project plans focus on a specific goal or objective and measured against the KPIs.  A project can be of many genres; engineering, job shop or batch, continuous improvement, PMI styled projects, and AGILE.  Each project genre has its unique method. 

Comment:  The WorkBreak Structure, WBS, or the Bill of Materials, BOM, is the centerpiece of any project depending on the genre. The WBS applies more to continuous improvement, AGILE, and PMI styled projects where as the BOM applies more to engineering, job shop, and batch style projects.  The BOM and WBS both have parent-child relationships but are scheduled differently and are structured slightly different due to purpose. The BOM relates to assembly of a component where as the WBS relates to the activities towards to deliverable. They can be interchangeable in some cases. Nonetheless, the WBS combines the master plan in the first two or three levels with the individual project plan in the lower levels.   The BOM usually delivers a single component or service.  The plans are part of the leadership model in the organizational design phase. 

3. Communication Plans and Measures to All Participants in the Process

Communication is the key element of any effort as change cannot occur without communicating the change. All parts affect other parts of a firm. if moving towards a Just In Time, JIT, model than all the suppliers need to be brought into the process and cooperate in order to squeeze out waste. 

Comment: The leadership model requires high levels of communication in all the steps. However, the building constituencies step has the highest requirement for communication. Building constituencies requires buy off by key stake holders and principles in the supply chain project.  Failure to engender support at this level results in project failure.  The building of constituencies is incumbent and one of the primary duties of the project sponsor.   The project manager usually picks up and runs with the project after the sponsors builds the necessary support.  After all, it is the sponsors project and if he does not support it then there is no real project. It may flounder and slowly make progress under these conditions. Sponsor support means continual engagement and interest in the project.

4. Pilot projects

Pilot projects are necessary in many instances to learn about the challenges and problems ahead. Pilot projects also seek to achieve proof of success or that success is possible.  This engenders confidence in the project. 

5. Changement Management

Change, a common political mantra, has enormous disruptive implications across any system. Experienced professionals know that change is difficult and even impossible at times if no properly handled. Senior leadership must carefully plan change not only to a supply chain but any system. The more expansive the change the more disruptive the change becomes. Communication and groundwork before, during, and after are necessary. Transparency and confidence building are required. There are some organizational and personnel issues that must be addressed:

• Structural changes are part of the supply chain evolution and involve transitioning to a process-oriented structure. master and project plans will need to incorporate this strategy. 
• Strong competent change management is not only required but critical to success. If industry leaders and supply chain partners are not part of the process then there is no process. Passionate advocates and full partners, constituencies, are necessary to move the change forward.
• Growth and learning are key the change. People cannot be introduced to something unmanaged and expected to swim. Training on skills, policies, and processes are necessary. 
• Incentives should be reflected in the scorecard. Success must be focused on the customer and balanced with the business. 
• Transparency and information sharing are pinnacle to partner communications. Information sharing must be diplomatically approached focused on what is best for the customer and smoother supply chain operations. 

Comment: Much has been written on change and change management. The common theme is a connection to strategy, communications, and proper planning. This connect to strategy is almost always overlooked or poorly structured. Communications are also often amiss. If the other two are weak or amiss then proper planning follows suit. The best approach to change management is to hold workshops and involve everyone in the process. Dispersed ownership is the best solution to sweeping change.

Monitor Results and Make Adjustments

Continuous improvement projects come from both directions; bottom up and top down. Project must be compliant with strategies and strategies must be able to be effected. Proper management gives the driving force in order for change to be effective and credible. Implementation is effective working bottom up. 

Comment:  In my experience, one of the vast problems in industry today is the abandonment of management programs which is an underpinning of Operations Management. The programs provide structure, duties, and responsibilities for staff. They are loosely written as guidance and provide tools, practices, and methods for their respective areas. They are the baseline from which change occurs and stabilize an operation.  Having management programs also makes measurement and monitoring much more simple as the operational accounting is emplaced feeding the reports to management. Without management programs, the workplace becomes a wild West and pot shots in the dark.  

Reference:

(2011). APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional Learning System. (2011 ed.). Version 2.2.

Ten Questions to Ask Yourself: Comebacks at Work

Commentary: The work place has become a challenging place today. People are on edge, tempers flare, and in some cases the competitiveness has taken a hostile direction.  Simply good communication skills is not enough.  Professionals must become skilled at handling difficult people and in many cases corporate psychopaths.

This series of postings will discuss using communication methods to gain control of circumstances and reduce your chances of becoming a target. We will cover ten (10) chapters in the book "Comebacks at Work" over the next several weeks. I'll attempt to couple these when appropriate with other authors works such as Dale Carnegie.

Ten Questions to Ask Yourself

The goal of this post is to consider ten potential questions that need to be asked regarding relationships and circumstances at hand.  Like the R-List cited in Chapter 6, Choosing a Relevant Comeback, these questions are another tool. After some practice these questions should become second nature. It does take a lot of training but it begins here and in the end one should handle confrontation much better.

01. How much do I care about this relationship?

nearly all human activity involves fostering and building relationships. The question that has to be answered relates to one of three conditions of the relationship; professional, personal, or expendable. According to Dr. Reardon, the guiding rule is to use a comeback that does not damage the relationship or another person's ego. This can be difficult  to achieve when the other person is vile and deserving of a response in kind. The secret is that people who get ahead are people who make others feel good about having them around. A quick whit is good but does not always engender friends. Also stepping on toes is not a good idea either but often collaboration will not yield results in a timely manner. These are situations that create confrontation and reaction from people that you need to manage. Remember you are 80% responsible for your outcomes. 

In a world in which we are only three to six degrees away from everyone else, chances are that most relationship encounters are important at some level. Most productive relationships rank in the first three or possibly four degrees.  Treat all relationships as not expendable. 

02. To what extent is the offense purposeful?

This is perhaps one of the more important questions. Discernment of intentions is very important. We need to filter the hustle of the day for the real important insults. When someone does or says something insulting or confrontational; diffuse the remark and clarify. Ask yourself, "How close to my threshold is this?  Use the continuum in Chapter 3,  Assessing Baseline Comeback Skills, to assess situation. Then asked them, "Was that meant to be insulting or off color?" You should choose the degree to which you are hard or direct. Everything should be taken in a professional context in order to avoid personal betrayal emotions. 

03. Did you contribute? Do you own part of the problem?

Earlier Reardon introduced Unwanted Repetitive Episodes, URPs, which indicated that we communicate and influence based on histories.  Communications require a sender and receiver. Thus, not all communication problems are the other person's fault. If you find yourself in a situation where the other person is reacting oddly then ask, "Am I causing this?" Granted there are some people who naturally form opinions quickly about you. So when the conditions are identified, you must carefully craft and reconstruct things in the right way. That means providing opinions and putting people at ease. This way both parties can move forward. Reardon reflects on Dale Carnegie Principles of avoiding an argument, letting others save face, become interested in other people, and stir eager want. 

04. Is your credibility - or something else valuable to you - on the line?

When ever people attempt to scorch your reputation, it is time to give back as good as you got.  Fire back with evidence and confidence to shake the ground of future attackers. Take note of the attackers position acknowledge merits in their attack and return fire where they are incorrect. If done correctly a good critic will enjoy the verbal spar. Comment: A word to the wise, there are some folks who enjoy disrupting people's career.  They set prejudicial arguments and channel others into their lair for the kill. It takes tactic and skill to identify and break out of the prejudicial argument.  When you break out of the argument the attacker will be in unfamiliar territory and usually become obstinate or vile. You then have the dominant position. Prejudicial arguments are designed to lead the target having predetermined solutions or answers that disadvantage the target and elevate the attackers position usually pointing to a specific conclusion. 

05. Did the person attacking you do enough damage to himself? 

There are times when an attacker sinks himself in an effort to make you look bad. The best response is a blank stare or turning the back while shaping your head then change the subject.  The big question is how do you know when someone sinks themselves?  

When someone looks bad themselves, it usually is because they conduct themselves in a manner unbecoming, ask questions that are taboo, or remark in ways that implicate themselves.  Remarking in public is not a good idea. Silence or the skillful use of silence is better. Body language can be used effectively during these times. Observe others under attack for reactions and outcomes or if the other person survives. You may meet privately with the attacker to discuss the reasons for outrage or any underlying causes.  Be certain to fall back on Dale Carnegie principles. 

06. Are you inserting yourself into the response too much?

When working with comebacks you have to be objective and remove as much of the emotion as possible for your position. You do this by shifting to third person as much as possible.  The discussion cannot be about you but instead about the circumstance and the other person.  The other person will be all to delighted to make the issue about you. Do not give them this ground. The goal is to discuss thoughts and observations, not feelings. 

07. Do they know what to expect of you?

Do not be predictable. Humans are creatures of habit and patterns. There is tremendous power in being unpredictable. However, if you overdo it others become suspicious of you or think you are down right strange.  Nonetheless, skillful use of unpredictability leads to surprise which can go a long way.  Instead of getting angry as expected or maybe even prodded, be calm. 

08. What does your gut instinct tell you? How about the other person's body language?

There are three ways of thinking in general; creative, critical, and gut. Most people hone one or two and fewer hone all three.  Gut thinking is instinctive and results from experience and/or training more than anything else. People who gut think make quantum leaps in judgement anticipating something about to occur. They are poised to react more quickly that critical thinkers who first have to assess the situation or creative thinkers who have to select a response. Episodic memory in gut thinkers kicks in and the appropriate response is more likely to be effective.  But that may not be enough or may be delivered incorrectly due to body language. 

People with high emotional quotients, EQs, have an innate awareness of body language and can adapt theirs to the situation. Others must develop their body language awareness. Practicing in front of a mirror can help.   Reading the other person body language can increase the context of the message being delivered. However, in a digital age context is attenuating to the words written or voice transmitted. Skillful use of words and language help improve the delivery. 

09. Are you sufficiently skilled to pull this off?

Everyone has a comeback comfort zone. The situation, personalities, and environment all combine to create the culture for comebacks. While some work and other do not, you have to develop the gut feel for what works and what does not.  You'll need to assess the boundary limits and skill sets. Trial and error is the primary route and it is the unknown territory that must be traversed again and again. You need to poke the system to see the sensitivities which can provide good information but also has a risk of creating appearances with negative outcomes.  In time, you will gain confidence and overcome brain freeze.  The answer is yes, you are able to pull this off. 

10. Can you live with the outcome?

Taking the long view is important in life and if overdone it can delay action or if underdone it can fall short creating future issues. Those who use comebacks effectively are not impulsive, short term thinkers. Blasting forward with comebacks without proper experience and consideration is usually foolish. One has to meter and practice along the way in moderation increasing skill and confidence.

Nonetheless, there are times when the offense is too egregious that immediate and powerful responses are warranted regardless of the career or job consequences. Effective communicators prevent themselves from overreacting. Injecting activities such as counting down, taking deep breathes, or excusing ones self are reasonable ways of averting emotional tendencies such as outburst or snippet remarks. 

In conclusion, keeping these ten questions at hand or memorized will aid in assessing the situation quickly. The more prepared you are the better you will be at comebacks as these situations are inevitable everywhere.  In time, people will begin to think twice about saying something that will engender a comeback from you according to Dr Reardon. 

Reference

Reardon, K.K., (2010). Comebacks at work: using conversation to master confrontation. (1 ED.). Harper Collins publishers, New York

Improving the Supply Chain: Continuous Improvement Part 3

This is a series on Supply Chain Basics looking at the discipline from the Society of Operations Management perspective. Supply chain is also essential to project management as PMs are typically trained in world class contracting. For example, my Masters program had several courses involving contracting and the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act, DAWIA, certification highlights the combination of project management and supply chain. In this post, we will explore continuous improvement methods adding some additional support as well.

Theory of Constraints (TOC)

TOC has the premise which states that in any system there is,  at least, one constraint that limits maximum output. The constraint can be any elemental part of a system such as people, machines, processes, facilities, or even a way of thinking.  Because the constraint limits output, the constraint naturally becomes the focus of any improvement efforts.  The limiting constraints throttle the supply chain. Thus, improving other elements beyond the constraint is futile as the chain can only produce results up to the constraint.  TOC is a five step process ad detailed:

1. Identify the constraint: The common indicator of a constraint is large amounts of backlog or jobs in the queue.  The work can be of any genre from a widget awaiting work or install to paperwork sitting in the bin awaiting review and approval.  Comment:  Most companies that are not traditional manufacturers. Thus, they do not organize around work centers and have little understanding of work in progress management. They rely on corporate knowledge to determine how something gets done. Often in these environments the complaint is that operations was left out, that finance needed a chop, or someone somewhere did get their input. Some companies try to center around project management setting up processes like tollgates and AGILE to resolve these issues. Yet they fail to organize work centers and job queues and creating the operational accounting processes making the OM's and PM's job more difficult since work center loading cannot be seen nor realistically managed. The effort suddenly becomes a lot of dialogue, trust, and juggling of schedules creating problems - building relationships with people who, in some cases, could care less. 
2. Exploit the constraint: A constraint should never operate below peak capacity given that its indicator is a backlog. Exploiting the constraint is a means of testing the constraint to ensure that the constraint is in fact operating at peak capacity before any major changes. 
3. Subordinate the other processes to the constraint: Processes that feed a constraint often require adjustments after changing the constraint to ensure optimum flow. Processes above the constraint should have buffers in the event the constraint shifts up the line or production slows and the corrected or former constraint is feeding at higher rates. 
4. Elevate the constraint: After review of the adjustments the constriction does not clear then the issue may require a larger investment in equipment, training, or other resources and solutions. 
5. Repeat the cycle: There is always at least one constraint in the system. After completing the first four steps the process may need to be started over to address the next constraint. 

TOC is often expressed as a turning drum that has a rope that pulls the demand through the chain. The tension of the rope is the level of the constraint or resistance and the speed of the drum is the tempo of the operation. 

Reference:

(2011). APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional Learning System. (2011 ed.). Version 2.2.

Improving the Supply Chain: Continuous Improvement Part 2

This is a series on Supply Chain Basics looking at the discipline from the Society of Operations Management perspective. Supply chain is also essential to project management as PMs are typically trained in world-class contracting. For example, my Master's program had several courses involving contracting and the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act, DAWIA, certification highlights the combination of project management and supply chain. In this post, we will explore continuous improvement methods adding some additional support as well.

Continuous Improvement Methods Part 2

Lean Supply Chain:  Eliminating waste which has two approaches, at least; Just in Time (JIT) and lean.  Waste adds no value in the eye of the customer and is a by-product of a process or a task requiring special management control.  Waste can be planned and somewhat controlled during a production run.  Scrap is an outcome of the same production run and is not planned. In short, waste is a residual or by-product of adding value in a process. Whereas, scrap is a result of quality failures. JIT and lean are most applied to manufacturing operations and can be applied to broader operations such as supply chain. Smooth running operations result from a smooth running supply chain.

Just In Time: This is a philosophy of manufacturing based on the planned elimination of waste and continuous improvement of productivity.  JIT adapts TQM principles with the intent to diminish time in queues having the right materials arrive at the right times. A lack of quality can result in disruptions of the flow. Three JIT basics attempt to prevent such disruptions: waste reduction, variability reduction, and pulling materials into production. 

• Waste reductions are a step-by-step elimination of non-value added activities that cost money and slow production.
• Variability reductions seek to eliminate variation discovered in any system regardless of the source and not based on the customer's understanding of quality.
• Pulling materials into production means that demand drives production and not preset schedules. This reduces inventories to queues that compensate for planned risk events.  Defects become part of the risk planning and safety stock buffers against disruptions.  Ideally, in JIT there are no buffers. Thus, a defect would disrupt the line and signal an improvement event.

Elements of JIT for Continuous Improvement

JIT is not limited to manufacturing and elements of the supply are subject to continuous improvement in many other operations. For example, 

• The supplier must be willing to incorporate JIT principles into their operations. The objective is to establish long term relationships with a few suppliers. 
• Logistical partners and JIT Layout can reduce waste by minimizing handling, transport, and opportunities for defects while maximizing flexibility.
• Warehousing must consider JIT. Inventory reduction is pinnacle to JIT as inventory is evil and cost money. The goal is to eliminate all forms of inventory and have a system operating near-perfect through continuous improvement practices.
• Scheduling is based on good communications.  JIT schedules are widely communicated when operating in a push system. Pull systems have transparency along the supply chain. There are two types of schedules; level and kanban. Level schedules run in batches equal to the daily demand. Kanbans are pre-expended bins based on lot sizes in which suppliers stock to specified levels. Signals to stock are sent based on pull demand.
• Continuous Job Improvement means that employees closest to the process have the greatest impact and take on supervisory duties. There is cross-training to boost skills and knowledge in order to pace with increasing responsibilities. 

JIT is a variant of quality that begins with the idea that inventory is evil. Then seeks through continuous improvement to eliminate waste and improve quality. JIT is a pull system throughout the supply chain.  The ultimate goal is to have defect-free materials arrive in a timely manner for use or end sales. 

Lean Supply Chain Thinking

Lean seeks to minimize all resources used while eliminating all forms of waste. Thinking lean is not a new idea. The concept dates as far back as the 1450s when the Venetian Arsenal of ships used mass-production methods. The modern notion of lean dates from Henry Ford's concept of flow production or full supply chain integration. Lean supply chain thinking has applications from waste elimination to alignment of supplier processes with delivery schedules. Waste, in lean thinking, is any activity that does not add value in the eyes of the customer.

A lean supply chain would add value throughout the chain to the customer. Win-win in the supply chain puts everything on the table for negotiation and ultimately results in diminishing waste.  One example of reducing waste in creating transparency throughout the chain so that forecasted production diminishes the bullwhip effect. 

Lean initiatives are coupled with other tools, techniques, and methods such as JIT or Six Sigma. Lean Production is a philosophy of production that emphasizes the minimization of resources and activities in order to diminish waste by:

1. Identifying and eliminating non-value added activities in design, production, and supply chain.
2. Employing multi-skilled teams.
3. Using flexible and automated machines.
4. Using JIT production and Six-Sigma quality.
5. Consisting of principles and practices that reduce cost by removal of waste and simplification.

Implementation of lean efforts involve:

1. Mapping the process, finding the value stream.
2. Clean and organizing areas to be changed.
3. Setting up a KanBan pull system from order to delivery.
4. Work through the supply to the suppliers in order to align efforts.
5. Reduce setup times and batch sizes.
6. Reduce defects.
7. Do employee training.

Lean Objectives involve:

1. Eliminate waste in business value streams
2. Meet customer demand
3. Increase velocity
4. Reduce the need for working capital
5. Increase inventory turns
6. Gain market share
7. Increase profitability
8. Develop the workforce:
9. Produce products and services with near-perfect quality

Lean Principles are derived from a book, Lean Thinking by Womack and Jones. They identified five core principles:

1. Create value for the customer
2. Identify all steps across a value stream
3. Create value flow
4. Pull products based on end demand
5. Strive for perfection continuously removing waste

Toyota has been the model for lean implementations using JIT, Jidoka, and culture to achieve continuous improvement operations.  Jidoka is a technique of compartmentalization of a process flow in order to mistake-proof quality.  This is builtin on top of operational stability which is the result of standard work packages, kaizen, and leveling.  Another consideration is 5S which is short for sort, simplify, scrub, standardize, and sustain. 

In conclusion, Supply chain improvement centers on the methods to remove the eight deadly sources of waste:

1. Overproduction
2. Waiting
3. Transportation
4. Inappropriate processing
5. Unnecessary inventories
6. Unnecessary motion
7. Defects
8. Unused people skills

Complex supply chains, especially global ones, create enormous challenges in order to lean them out. When achieved or closely achieved the potential benefits are enormous creating a durable competitive advantage. Part three will look are the theory of constraints. 

Reference:

(2011). APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional Learning System. (2011 ed.). Version 2.2.

Improving the Supply Chain: Continuous Improvement Part 1

This is a series on Supply Chain Basics looking at the discipline from the Society of Operations Management perspective. Supply chain is also essential to project management as PMs are typically trained in world class contracting. For example, my Masters program had several courses involving contracting and the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act, DAWIA, certification highlights the combination of project management and supply chain. In this post, we will explore continuous improvement methods adding some additional support as well.

Continuous Improvement Methods Part 1

Numerous well-tested process improvement methods in the last several decades emerged mostly from Total Quality Management, TQM. The goals were to reduce defects and waste in the use of time and materials.  Six Sigma seeks to reduce defects to statistical insignificance. Once the operation is leaned out and defects are reduced to zero, then Just In Time seeks to reduce inventories increasing the leaning out of the operations. meanwhile, the Theory of Constraints, TOC, provides a systemic approach to increasing throughput. As one constraint is removed another will appear in a continuous improvement manner. The remainder of this post will look deeper into the methods of continuous improvement.

Six Sigma:  APICS defines Six Sigma as a methodology that furnishes tools for business process improvement. The intent is to diminish process variation and improve product quality. The specific goals is to achieve near zero defects, 3.4 defects per million samples. In Six Sigma jargon a defect is anything that annoys the customer and an opportunity is the chance to be annoying.  The challenges in Six Sigma include:

• Determining what constitutes a defect.
• Setting meaningful limits on variability.
• Which opportunities will yield the best results.
• Setting the sample size as wide as possible in order to achieve Six-Sigma level of defects.

Not all opportunities are as significant as others. Customers may not tolerate defects that are a cost to them but may embrace a defect that is a benefit.  The Six Sigma process results in a Bell Curve distribution of opportunities for defects; Figure 1. The idea is to push the unacceptable conditions outside the production process through design of the process by making incremental improvements and monitoring for out-of-specification conditions. 

Figure 1: Six Sigma Control

Achieving Six Sigma quality standards requires participation of three elements; the Customer, Process, and Employee. The customer sets the quality standard or acceptable rate of defects. The process has to be assessed from a customer perspective to include low errors and consistent performance. The process measure is to prevent customers from shifting to the competition. Full employee involvement in the quality system is a necessity as there are no irrelevant employees when it comes to customer satisfaction. The lower staff is on the totem pole the more visible to the customer. Hence, the defects become more apparent.  Training with certification levels of green, black, and master black belt ensure that employees have sufficient knowledge to lead quality standards, design, and development. 

The Six Sigma process and tooling begins with DMAIC; Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. Each is a phase in the Six Sigma process. Designing and developing new processes is another process model known as DMADV; Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify.  Six Sigma is data heavy and without that level of visibility, defects / quality cannot be determined. Some of the tools to analyze include process mapping, control charts, and Pareto diagrams. 

The next post will continue this posting by looking at eliminating waste.

Reference:

(2011). APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional Learning System. (2011 ed.). Version 2.2.

Internet Search Engine Mayhem

This was originally posted on January 14, 2011. I have made a few updates to the post and reposted as recently there  was an undesirable association in the Internet Search Engines.  The article was removed by the online service that published it but the link remained in the Google search engines and could be brought up in the cache. I removed the link and cleared the cache using the Google Webmaster Tools: Fix A Problem. 

SEO Mayhem

During a job search keeping the internet under control is important as potential employers scan the internet for information about you. People need to know how to manage information on the internet in order to assure that incorrect associations and misinformation is not posted.

On the Internet Google reigns supreme! The Google search engines crawl the Internet to find then reveal every kind of detail out there about you.  The Google Search Engine Optimizer, SEO, looks for associations in the information and lists them together for people to review when searching the internet for information. While in general a great tool, the optimizer can make incorrect associations that can be damaging to a person when social media is involved.  I was confronted with a challenge when Google's SEO commingled my social media information with another person's social media information incorrectly portraying me as a character that I am not. Most  people would have gone into a frenzy. I instead initiated a deliberate and aggressive information campaign to overwhelm the erroneous messages and distance myself from the incorrect association. Others should understand how they too can gain greater control over seemingly uncontrollable circumstances on the Internet.

The first step in gaining control over any situation is to understand the circumstances, technology, and processes. In gaining this understanding one is able to attenuate the problem to a narrow set of issues that can be individually addressed. Internet search engines are limited to what they find. So I simply changed what they could find about me. This was a little labor intensive but began to yield results in a very short amount of time distancing myself from the errant association. In my case, I identified the commonalities that caused the errant commingling and updated my information everywhere possible in order to mitigate the association. This meant I had to make changes to my social media accounts such as FaceBook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  I also went out to my blog postings and either deleted or changed the one's that had the commonalities identified so the search engines would not find the common information any longer. I also found I had to make updates to my email signatures, resumes, cover letters, and other documents as well. This was necessary to ensure that future errant associations were not made online or offline.

Google's SEO technology combines then caches information which is the source of the errant associations. This can be removed by the use of simple internet management tools. There are a variety of approaches to handling this issue. Since I removed the source of the confusion the new information would be cache'd again at some point flushing the older incorrect associations out of the system. I accelerated this process in two ways. The first action was to remove the source URLs in which the incorrect associations originated from the search engines. I used Google's Webmaster Tools and Webmaster Tools: Fix A Problem and other like applications to accomplish this task. This ensured that if any other information was out there it would not be picked up and listed. For example, an Australian website pasted my blog post into their webpage with the older URL. I have no control over the Australian site but I could tell the search engine to ignore older URL pasted in the site.  The second action I took was to flood the Internet with messages that further distanced me from the undesirable association and correctly cast me. Crawlers located these new messages and began populating the listings within 24 hrs.

Finally, the contextual nature of the association is, quite frankly, insulting to my character and was not remotely close to my true character. Therefore, I crafted a series of posts that highlighted my  conservative American values to move forward and not look back. These messages engendered people and resulted in new social media connection requests. This was an indicator that my efforts to correct the situation were working. In the end, I stopped the crawlers from making the errant associations by removing the cause or commonalities, drove messages on to the Internet that overwhelmed the listings having the errant associations, and published a series of post reflecting my true values that distanced me from the errant association. 

Social media is a new tool in our world. This event is unfortunate and most likely has a hidden cost to me.  Older business cards and ported documents have the potential to revisit the issue since they possess some of the information that contributed to the errant association.  Nonetheless, the correct messages are out there in force and the errant messages are being marginalized. I cannot afford to look back and waste time on this nonsense. I am on this planet for a purpose and distractions like this are part of the game to be expected. One must deal with it and move on. Search engines in the future will need to offer tools to correct incorrect associations and allow people to manage their online presence with greater ease.

I suggest that others considering an online presence research the Internet before creating a presence and regularly monitor their presence. You should use distinguishing language, names, and other information in order to avoid errant associations with characters, topics, and beliefs that are not consistent with your principles and values.  I hope my process helps many of you should you encounter the same issues.

Assessing the Situation: Comebacks At Work

Commentary: The work place has become a challenging place today. People are on edge, tempers flare, and in some cases the competitiveness has taken a hostile direction.  Good communication skills is simply not enough.  Professionals must become skilled at handling difficult people and in many cases corporate psychopaths.

This series of postings will discuss using communication methods to gain control of circumstances and reduce your chances of becoming a target. We will cover the chapters in the book "Comebacks at Work" over the next several weeks. I'll attempt to couple these when appropriate with other authors works such as Dale Carnegie.

This post is about assessing the situation which is in addition to pulsing methods. The situation involves many things to include histories, subliminal information, and ground conditions. 

Assessing the Situation

There are a lot of subliminal rules at work in any setting; public, work, and/or group interactions. These rules only become visible when you or potters break them.  Thus, only three months on the job rarely is sufficient time to reveal these rules.  By not assessing the situation before deciding to respond, can cross the line of these subliminal rules creating awkward and tenuous situations. The one's station in the relationship can be leveraged to expose the ground conditions, relief the tension, and  movement the engagement in a positive direction. For example, if a new employee then this can be used to express bewilderment at a stressing situation. Remember Comebacks at Work require curiosity not defensiveness. Bewilderment is both a state of confusion and curiosity that asks the question of 'why'. i.e. Why are you behaving this way? Why is this happening?  Why is this email so abrasive? If you are not asking why then you are most likely doing something defensive or taking something as a personal affront.

The Beauty of a Process Comeback

Personal attacks are often perceived as such due to the timing of the message. These are known as process errors. Comebacks at Work seek to disarm and diffuse the situation.  The process comeback is useful because it distances a person from the error.  The comeback can frame the violation or offense as outside normal practice, missing the company goals, or as an obstacle to a positive relationship. For example, "I think we are going off course." or "We got the cart before the horse." or "We have a solution without defining the problem." 

Whenever a senior person does something that is a procedural error consider positioning your comeback to address the issues. This can be effective at disarming a potential confrontation and begin correcting the process error.  Then personal errors can be addressed if still important by using a caveat, "There is one more thing and its can be easily corrected."  

Comment:  Post-modern America has produced an increase in character challenges. Post-modernism began in late 1950's. Despite debates about post-modernism being over the effects are still ever present. The underlying principles of Post-modernism include questioning everything and relativism as a reaction to certainty specifically of the Judeo-Christian worldview and its principles.  The paradox is that by questioning everything and realizing a sense of relativism, post-modern thought has placed itself at peril of self destruction which is one argument for its demise; recursive skepticism resulting in a downward spiral. 

Due to the undermining of widely held Judeo-Christian principles and practices held in America at the beginning of the period, a host of other characters are now in the workplace. Deceit, lying, bullying to the top, selfish preservation, and other behaviors are becoming more prevalent. Corporate speak, colloquial conversation with its own jargon and phraseology unique to corporate culture, has followed suit becoming personality based character ethics which are relative to each person and do not aspire to common principles.  Misuse or the extreme use of Dale Carnegie principles can lead to this situation of personality based ethics as well.  For example, your boss is always spinning things to his personal advantage using carefully placed language involving ambiguity, innuendo, projection, and a host of other methods. Personality character ethics are only short term and the truth quickly becomes exposed, if only for a brief moment.  Principle based character ethics are durable and people see a person centered on common principles as true and trying. People tend to relate better to other in common. 

Personality based character ethics show quickly, usually within the first two or three weeks. When offended the situation is different than ComeBacks at Work because people who use personality based ethics cannot be trusted due the selfish focus.  Once that confidence and trust is lost then the game is over.  You will need to assess your circumstances and determine if you want to move on immediately or sort of hang on until other goals or objectives are met first.  

Having performed a lot of contract work over the years, I have had both in my experience and its does get old.   I call personality based ethics, buffoonery as it often results in a circus show people acting on their ever changing  values during operations. In most cases the staff becomes cog in a wheel not knowing the business and how it makes money. Organization with a high degree of this activity tend to have gaps in management demanding reports without proper operational accounting design behind them. Overall, poor management and leadership are an indicator of the potential for personality based ethics. Thus, people with weak or poor principles fall back on personality based character ethics which become pervasive through out the organization. In most cases, the people are unaware of their conduct acting as automatons in the culture.  A principle based person can appear odd to them or even lack competency as they highlight perceived faults and leverage humility to their advantage. It is not uncommon for personality based people to demonize and conduct vicious attacks on a principled person.  A principle based person can be misfit in these places as much as a beacon or pillar of strength. Station and ground conditions relative to the  personality based conduct set the opportunity and outcomes. The bottom line is that in a situation where personality based ethics are operative the eventual outcome is that a principle person moves on unless the situation has a significant change. 

All Comebacks are Situation Specific

Given that situations vary, the comebacks are structured different. The trick is to quickly pulse the situation, assess your position or station in the event, and determine the nature or character of the environment. Once this is achieved the comeback process is centered on curiosity. Although, some attacks or events may require a measured defensive posture to the extent of stabilizing the situation.

When Insulted: When the goal is to not only insult the person but also humiliate them rather than some benign objective, that plain rude. Often it is never seen coming. Derogatory comments with a slight element of truth can certainly hurt. There are three general responses: 1) say nothing which is the default, 2) humorously quip, or 3) bite back with an edge.  Taking self-importance out of the response is critical as the focus is not you. Dr. Reardon stresses to sparingly use aggressive retorts because they lack a couth or an absence of wittiness. Nonetheless, there are some people who need to be brought up short publicly. Some of the responses may sound similar to these:

• Humorous with an edge, 'Are you this kind to all your guests?' You are smiling during delivery.
• Sharp and to-the-point, 'This is when most people respond in kind!' You are smiling during delivery.
• Concerned with recovery in mind, 'That was not like you at all!' You show bewilderment while smiling.

Insulting Someone Else: There are times when something on the edge or uncomfortable can be taken as an insult and there are times we are not up to par letting something slip that causes a problem. Situational cues often indicate something is wrong.  When this happens, you need to apologize quickly and ferociously as Dale Carnegie says. Sincere apologies are the best option. 

Comment: Apologies in themselves can create problems as they can be interpreted as an admission of wrong doing or guilt creating a host of other issues both social and legal. For this reason, many people either avoid or dislike apologies. Instead they use other phraseology such as 'I regret...'  or 'Please forgive me...' as oppose to 'I apologize...'.  All phraseology has some implications with varying degrees of back wash.  Some people will demand an apology as anything else is not sufficient. You will have to gauge the use of an apology verses other methods keeping in mind the scope and moving things forward. 

When to Let it Go:  There are some circumstances that require no action. People pickup idiosyncratic behaviors in life that are annoying to others from hugging to the use of colloquial jargon such as 'honey' at awkward moments.  If the behavior is infrequent then let it go. If you are aware of the tendencies then soft peddling your interaction may be appropriate. For example, let's keep this professional or let's downplay the folksy mannerisms. 

When to Poke a Bear: Occasionally there is office bully, difficult person, or a corporate psychopath. Poking the Bear is a technique of anchoring behavior to an innocuous object in order to carefully send a message.  They often get the message then shift tactics anchoring to something more tangible themselves. Anticipating this shift, the wind can be taken out if you have been attentive. Dr. Reardon gives an example of a combat helmet worn to a meeting and passed to people taking blows from a bully. When the Bully shifted to the lack of use of a report. They pulled out their reports with notes all over them. 

In some instances, an individual is simply way over the top in their conduct. They make attempts to humiliate another or use methods such as mobbing to undermine someone else. Mobbing can be quickly identified as they are on the hunt for something to exploit in front of others. Thus, during the hunt initial conditions can be setup to bring them down. 

Comment: On a contract project,  I dealt with a woman who spent a 10 hour day badgering me on every minor project detail. I was receiving successive IMs, phone calls, and emails in the order of about 30 to 40 for the day. She was simply on the hunt. To make matters worse, my boss insisted that I build a professional relationship with this woman. It takes two people to build any relationship and both have to be willing. She had no intention of building a relationship.  By the end of the day, I was tired and ready to go home but knew I would receive a call as close to leaving as she could make it. So I planned what I would do, as I knew she would go out to the world with an email immediately if she found something.  I poked the bear.  The call came as expected and I gave her some fodder from a problem already solved. As expected, she sent an email out to world that she caught something I had missed and everyone needs to jump on this. She editorialized the email as expected since she was attempting to mob, a technique to build animosity against the target person. Everyone else responded that they had already worked problem and it was done. I never had another direct incident from her after that.   

When someone is disrespecting deliberately you, do not ask them for respect. Instead, poke the bear to get its attention. Respond with, "I am going easy on you which is more than you can say. Be clear on this. I only do that once." Or attempt to expose them as I did. The subsequent course of action may be a formal grievance, legal action, or some other action that deals with the injury.  

Learn the Taboos

Most organizations and people have pet peeves, harbor forbidden topics, and morays for conduct. Assessing the situation is important in order to know when approaching taboo. Some common taboo items are:

• Brown nosing and being a 'YES' man.
• Stealing someone else's ideas.
• Possessive actions, ownership, can be mistaken for a control or power grab.
• The use of 'I' instead of 'We' or visa versa.

Comment: I once had a boss who insisted on team. The jargon was We and not I. After leaving that contract, I went to another in which the boss mistook 'We' as being deceptive since there was no We in his investigation. My use of 'We' was in the context of We the people or We, in the trenches need and not as me and some other specific person. I assessed this second boss was solely a tactical thinker who could only deal withimmediate factuals. I had to adjust to the new taboos and that problem did not arise again. 

A Fool's Paradise

Suffering fools may be a part of assessing the situation when necessary according to Reardon. Fools may need to be tolerated for short periods and on rare occasions.  There are people in positions within companies that will never be released and no one enjoys dealing with them.  Often they become marginalized and sent off into a corner until retirement or they are promoted to somewhere else; upward failures.  Unless these folks are creating a direct issue, targeting you, or causing an ethical issue then avoid them and keep all contact to a minimum.  Reardon suggests the following actions:

• Walk away slowly.
• Change the subject of discussion, as if the person attacking doesn't exist.
• Reflect the attackers conduct, mannerisms, and language in order to annoy. 

In closing, the next time a comeback becomes necessary, begin by observing, consider the environment and significance of the violation, the character of the person, and the advantages of responding. With practice, in time this will become second nature. 

Reference

Reardon, K.K., (2010). Comebacks at work: using conversation to master confrontation. (1 ED.). Harper Collins publishers, New York

Comebacks at Work Series Posts

Everyone has been in a situation when they are put on the spot or just never had the right thing to say or in some cases said the wrong thing.  Moreover, there are a host of characters in the workplace and people need to learn how to not only communicate with then but also manage.  ComaBacks at Work discusses the underlying conditions that feed your handling of these situations and people. Then looks to methods and language to better steer the conversations into more productive outcomes.

We will cover then chapters in the book "Comebacks at Work" over the next several weeks. This series of postings will discuss using communication methods to gain control of circumstances and reduce your chances of becoming a target.  I'll attempt to couple these when appropriate with other authors works such as Dale Carnegie or Stephen Covey.

If interested and taking Dale Carnegie courses, ask to modify the lessons to encompass some of the topics here to gain valuable practice.  There are also executive grooming training and coaching as well as 'imageers' (image engineers) that help develop your presentation.  Imageers are common to politicians, senior military officers, and other people often in the public sphere. Nonetheless, with all this training and skill development, if the culture of the organization is poor or the leadership is weak then the best thing to maintain until you can egress.

ComeBacks At Work

Introduction / Chapter 01: The Art of the ComeBack / Why Communications Matters

Chapter 02: Getting Started

Chapter 03: Assessing Baseline Comeback Skills

Chapter 04: Perils of Patterns

Chapter 05: Overcoming Brain Freeze

Chapter 06: Choosing a Relevant Comeback

Chapter 07: The Gut Check

Chapter 08: When Conflict is Inevitable

Chapter 09: Pulsing the other Person

Chapter 10: Assessing the Situation

Chapter 11: Ten Questions to Ask Yourself

Conclusion / Summary: Final Thoughts

Reference:

Reardon, K.K., (2010). Comebacks at work: using conversation to master confrontation. (1 ED.). Harper Collins publishers, New York.

Pulsing the Other Person: ComeBacks at Work

Comment: The work place has become a challenging place today. People are on edge, tempers flare, and in some cases the competitiveness has taken a hostile tone. Simply put, good communication skills is not enough.  Professionals must become skilled at handling difficult people and in many cases corporate psychopaths. 

This series of postings will discuss using communication methods to gain control of circumstances and reduce your chances of becoming a target. We will cover the chapters in the book "Comebacks at Work" over the next several weeks. I'll attempt to couple these when appropriate with other authors' works such as Dale Carnegie.

This post is on the technique of 'Pulsing' which is used to gauge a situation. 

Pulsing the Other Person

When communicating with others and sending various messages, pulsing is a method of gauging other people's disposition; style, mood and receptivity. The most astute among us perform this quickly before delivering messages in order to ensure the conditions are favorable. Of equal importance, is the appropriate selection of comebacks in order to be effective when messages are received that are unfavorable. The ability to assess the situation is crucial in emotional and public situations. The technique of pulsing does not come easy to impulsive or overconfident people either. Some common errors impulsive and overconfident folks make include:

• Jumping to conclusions
• Relying on first reactions
• Internalizing the focus on oneself; selfishness
• Failing to consider past histories
• When kindness is extended, failing to respond with the principle of reciprocity
• One Up'ing; Failing to use the one down or one across method in language

The one upper can become a contest as well as offensive. The competitive process begins when an experienced person shares their 'better' experience after hearing a similar one. The offensive process begins with comebacks 'more' offensive putting another in their place as a matter of defense. The situation can be diffused with a one down or one across comment. 

Culture has an impact on pulsing too. High context cultures which are typically Asian are better at pulsing than low context cultures such as the United States.  When a culture is outcome-driven, extra care has to be taken to ensure that the right processes will give rise to desired outcomes.  If driven to results quickly,  an injustice could be done by neglecting to pulse the people who determine the outcomes. Overall, there are innumerable opportunities to alter the course of a conversation if the time is taken to pulse the other people. 

Pulsing Known and Unknown People

There is a dialectic struggle within people. There is theory of who they say they are and then there is the practice of who they are. Often the two are in conflict. Likewise, there is a concept, Myths of Disparity, which states that we tend to think we know someone but only know the illusion. Thus, we act or react based on the illusion. This Myth can mislead one when pulsing. Therefore, the investment needs to be fostered in which a relationship and positive history needs to be established. If there is no history or relationship then folks need to be prudent, patient, and observant. The mindset of the person pulsing is curiosity rather than defensiveness. 

Taking the pulse of an unknown person is somewhat different than someone known.  The unknown person requires far more effort assessing mood, receptivity, character, and communication style. Whereas the known person will be assessed or pulsed for mood and receptivity since the other aspects are known.  Early in a relationship, people tend to invest heavily in social etiquitette masking their moods and receptivity.  Therefore, body language becomes more important. Dr. Reardon gives some guidance regarding body language: 

• Assess the differences between denotative and connotative meanings. 
• Assess the person's convictions. Do they demonstrate virtuous gesticulations and eye contact?
• Assess tone.  If there is a mismatch between tone and content then there may be something hidden.
• Listen to style; commanding, logical, inspirational, or supportive. 

Listening to how people speak, you can achieve some degree of pulsing from which to baseline for the future. Many folks pulse using only one indicator, the predominant one, which can go a long way in knowing how best to communicate with them.   

When They've Pulsed You Wrong

Other people are reading signals from you.  Being able to manage your own signals is the ideal situation.  However, most people will only have an awareness and may adjust or correct. The measure of ability to do this is the Emotional Quotient, EQ.  If someone misread your pulse then one of the comeback methods involves setting parameters for the relationship subtlely by framing circumstances. For example, when someone expresses appreciation given the incorrect use of your time then use something like this: 

"You're welcome. You'd do the same for me, I'm sure."

This sends a subtle signal that you normally don't do things in this way and the other person should think before asking. The response also sends the signal that you are pleased and that perhaps in the future they may be called upon as a favor too.

The most important take way is that you are being pulsed and you are responsible for how you are treated 75% of the time. Mis-pulsing can box you into a corner that could have been avoided having had practice and developed intuitive skills. 

Comment: Pulsing is learning to read people. This is not a science but instead an art. Pulsing is not perfect but does offer methods and means of learning to read a person. The methods and means include understanding body language, assessing histories for relationships, building relationships, developing a sense of your own actions, and the ability to modify your actions and language in order to achieve positive outcomes and move closer towards goals during adverse situations.  With practice and skill people become more adept at handling situations. 

There are a few folks who not only learn these skills to read people but leverage them in ways that dominate and control the situation for selfish and ill spirited reasons such as climbing the ladder or seeking their personal gain. These people are destructive and fall under the concept of the corporate psychopath. Managing intent is a more difficult and advanced skill set that often requires authority, position, and/or top cover.   Your position in relation to the person exhibiting these traits is essential. Almost always you will need to remove yourself or leave if subordinate to the person. Although, you can protect yourself and manage the situation using these skills until you are able to egress. Top cover is useful when a boss sets the tone and everyone is horizontal equals.  You can appeal to the tone during the conversation to disarm the person. Of course, if you are positionally over the other person then you have the advantage and can steer the conversation more easily. 

Overall, people, their behaviors, and their responses can be difficult and unpredictable. Pulsing is a leading indicator that can point to ground conditions such that the direction of the conversation can be steered and managed to a positive result. 

Reference

Reardon, K.K., (2010). Comebacks at work: using conversation to master confrontation. (1 ED.). Harper Collins publishers, New York