Blog masonry 2 columns

  Ok this is very embarrassing to admit, on Sunday I was scammed out of £270 trying to buy Taylor Swift tickets. I was in two minds to post this here but actually I think it's got some important lessons that I want to share. How could I be so naïve? Yes I do feel a bit foolish. I was brought up in a very urban, working class Merseyside in the 80s and 90's, that didn't really give me much of an edge in most areas, but it should have at least given me some street smarts. So this is what happened, my ten year old daughter and I are complete Swifties. I listen to all kinds of random music alternative/ folk/ country even a bit of hip hop and really generally I'm not really a pop culture kind of person but I have always liked Taylor. This was much more embarrassing to admit 15 years ago when she was a teenage country singer/ song writer to be fair. Now everyone seems to have caught up. Bonding Over Music Because of this my daughter loved listening to Taylor and she has become her biggest fan. Being Swifties has is a fun bonding thing between me and my daughter. It involves road trips and singing Taylor songs loudly, dancing and singing around the house. Crying when we actually listen to the words of Ronan (if you haven't heard that song and I guarantee it will bring tears to your eyes). Hilariously dropping in or quoting Taylor lyrics in our sometimes serious discussions. If fact there isn't a life situation where you can't find a Taylor song or lyric to match. Taylor is Inspirational My daughter is so inspired by Taylor she has learned to play the piano and guitar, she works out Taylor songs by ear and plays them. She writes her own songs and music.  She sings in public, at Christmas she sang a solo in front of a full Theatre full of people in our towns brass band Christmas Concert and then she got invited to join Gloucestershire Youth Choir. So this talented musician and savvy business women that is Taylor Swift (and the first musician ever to ever become a billionaire purely though music and shows), is not just a fun shared love but a significant positive role model in my daughter's life. We really wanted Tickets to the Eras Tour and Couldn't Get Them When Taylor announced her Eras tour I tried to get tickets and couldn't and yes I was listed on the pre-sale list but for Taylor to satisfy demand it would mean her doing a Stadium every night for almost 3 Years.. My daughter was gutted but she accepted it well. Even seeing others who are not even as big of Swifties as us get them, really handled it maturely. An Opportunity To Get Tickets Then on Sunday a trusted  friend of mine, shared a post from one of her Facebook Friends saying due to circumstance they was selling their tickets to see Taylor Swift at Anfield Stadium Liverpool (also my home town so it felt particularly special). I called my friend and asked do you know this guy? do you trust him? is he legit?  Her response was yes, yes I've known him since childhood he is a lovely guy. I messaged him and I agreed to buy 2 tickets at £135 each. He made the process easy and I was blinded by my desire for these tickets and my friends words. So I stupidly bank transferred him £270 and was waiting for him to transfer the name on the ticket via ticket master (can't believe I did that now, I know…) Shortly after this his Facebook and messenger account vanished. I messaged my friend and turns out her friend was the lovely guy she described but someone had cloned his account. I had been had! Ok so at that point I realised I had been scammed, my heart sank and I felt sick. I felt everything hurt, anger, humiliation, shame but most of all guilt, I had told my daughter I was getting these tickets and I was letting my daughter down. This broke me for a bit the tears came fast and heavy, luckily my daughter was at her dads house.  She cried too, when she found out but she was more upset that I have been scammed, bless her. So this is LinkedIn, I know it's not Facebook, so what is the point of this story? -I hear you thinking. The insight Most of us on here are buying and selling  whether that be a product, a resource, a service or even an idea. At some point we will all get taken for a ride and we will be let down by people many time. In business it hurts too, when people let us down and particularly if that is intentional and you think someone has taken advantage of your trust then it really can cut deep. Don’t Skip Due Diligence So I got carried away because I really desired these tickets from a really deep place a magical memorable experience for my daughter, so when someone placed an opportunity in-front of me, I did not want to miss that opportunity. In this situation I should have asked to speak to the person selling not just use messenger and looked at safer ways to transact the money. Any reasonable human being would have understood that. Ask yourself are you right to trust this person/ business? Have they earned your trust? Can they demonstrate trustworthiness… If you do decide to take a risk let's face it in business we often do, please look at the impacts and mitigation of that risk.. In my case I should have and could have done more to protect myself but in the grand scheme of things losing £270 does sting, but it will not actually really impact my life. Take a bit of Time to Listen to that Inner Voice We all have that inner voice, that inner knowing that gut feeling that is often over- crowded by noise from our brain and emotions. If I am honest, that feeling was there but I ignored it. I should have taken a moment to go silent and to meditate on it. I think that would have pushed me more into the due diligence action. So often when we feel pressure (even self-inflicted), we get busy and jump into action and can miss something that’s quite obvious. What to do when things go wrong In life even with the best will in the world you will get caught out from time to time, sh!t happens as they say. It happens to the best of us, I know - yes even me! How you react and recover from problems is equally as important as preventing them, in every problem there is a lesson, something that can make you stronger and fitter for the future and could even help you to avoid something much more serious or catastrophic, so don't waste that precious opportunity. 1.Contain Ok so it happened could this issue spread? Could anything else be affected? In my case are my details safe, can this person extract any more money?   2. Correct Ok the money has gone and no Taylor Tickets, but I reported it to my bank, filed a police report, reported the Facebook account and made sure the person whose account was copied was aware.   3.Root Cause Analysis  Use the 5 Why tool, drill in deep, get to the root cause was there a process issue? a system issue a training and awareness issue? In my case yes I was blindly led because I hadn't done my research and I had no process, I should have at least have thought through what the correct process should have been. I rushed because I felt under pressure from the desire and urgency I was feeling to complete, subsequently that caused me to cut corners, I see this in business all the time by the way.   4. Learn Lessons & Preventative Actions Use the root cause analysis and lessons learned to change processes and systems. Make sure its documented in your ISO system. Ensure sure people are made aware and are trained.   5. Finally Let Go and Don't Let The B@st#rds Grind You Down It happened no use wasting anymore time and energy festering on it. I think whoever did this to me was either in a desperate situation or they are broken in some way, either way I don't believe they are happy people so why let them drag me down, instead I send them my gratitude for this lesson and for this content. I believe most people to be good and honest in their intent,  so I'm not going to let the odd bad apple ruin the basket for me and jade my view. I have done what I need to do, now I have more important things to be getting on with. Let Karma deal with the rest, "Karma is a relaxing thought"  is the Taylor lyrics that spring to mind, from the track Karma, I'll post a link in the comments :) If you want a free 8D Problem Solving Template and Instructions message me with your email address and I will send one over to you! A bit about Pure Improvement Founded by myself Zoe Darlington we help Manufacturing and Engineering Businesses achieve their operational performance and environmental goals and save time and money. I have over 25 Years experience working in Quality Management, Supply Chain Assurance and Business Improvement. At pure improvement we optimise Business Management Systems to deliver improvement and add real value to businesses. With experience and expertise in ISO 9001, AS9100, ISO 14001 and ISO 27001 within the Manufacturing and Engineering sectors including Aerospace, Defence, Electronics, Security and Food industries,. We are working in collaboration with Titanify and Founder Stefaan De Vreese An Agile Business Automation Expert using AI-supported technologies. Who's mission is to completely systemise and automate business systems, using AI-supported tools like Microsoft 365.   If you like this article, please share. If you would like the next articles delivered to your inbox please subscribe to our newsletter or please feel free to contact me or connect with me via https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoedarlington/                              

Today is world Autism day and I thought it was about time that I shared my personal journey with Autism. Two years ago my son (then 10 years old) was, diagnosed Autism level 1. Autism Level 1 is what a lot of people may know a Asperger's, it's the level that requires little support from an educational needs point of view. I will refer to it  ASC throughout this post, Autism Spectrum Condition, I'm not a fan acronym ASD as I don't see it as a disorder, we certainly don't treat it that was in our house. Oscars traits were there since he was a baby. I tried to introduce Oscar to a bottle at 6 months however he refused, as he got older he also refused food, Oscar didn't really even start eating solid food really until he was about 3. Even then his diet was and still is so limited, he will physically gag at just the smell of fruit.  Then noise, Oscar could hear noises most people couldn't or wouldn't notice, some could scare him and some would irritate him. Then there was light, Oscar can't stand bright light, he prefers a cloudy day to blue skies and sunshine. From a young age he would often have meltdowns, strong emotional reactions caused by overwhelm and over stimulation. Being highly sensitive is a trait of autism. Then he has his special interests, first it was planes  when he was about 3 year old he had so many toy planes, he was able to recognise airlines and models. Then there was sea creature's, this was my favourite one and I got obsessed with that too, we really did share that special interest.  I remember Oscar at pre-school age being absolutely obsessed with whales and squids, he could tell you every species and the explain the differences between them.  I clearly remember him searching stories on YouTube of epic battles between Sperm Whales and Colossal Squids (it happens, it's fascinating).  Then next it was Dinosaurs, in fact this one stayed. When you take Oscar to The Natural History Museum, he will give you a guided tour without reading any of the descriptions he can tell you from a skeleton what dinosaur it is, when period it was from (Jurassic, Triassic etc), where it lived and what it ate. He is now 12 year old and his number one special interest is the universe and he is obsessed, and whatever he becomes obsessed with he becomes an expert in, he can explain physics and space, time continuum stuff the things most of us can't even nearly grasp. He is an artist and loves to draw and make models, always of whatever his special interests are. At pre-school he would surprise the pre-school teachers of his extremely accurate models of whales he got size ratio spot on.. In fact inaccuracies' in these things really irritate him, although he loves the Jurassic Park films he is highly critical of the inaccuracies in the dinosaurs and how they are portrayed for the films. He is a talented musician and he loves to play the guitar. When Oscar was very young, his dad would say that he thought Oscar was on the spectrum I would simply brush it off, why do we need to give him a label he just a bit different a bit quirky in fact he could be just like me, is what I would say.. Oscar is brilliant there is was nothing "wrong" with him. But then as he got older it become apparent that the world and the educational system isn't really structured for those that are a bit different or "extraordinary" as we say. Don't get me started on the educational system (that's a post in its own right), it really is a one size fits all approach which in my opinion isn't best for any child not just the neuro diverse.  I believe all children  have their strengths but our system only seems to value a handful of attributes, it doesn't cater for passions and special interests, great all-rounders isn't often coined to the key to success when you reach adulthood but it is what we push on our kids. The people who have really changed things, are those that have been led by their passions and become so obsessed with them that they can't leave them alone. Then there was arguments in the playground, as the teachers reported back Oscar would want to dominate the play. This seemed odd to me as Oscar isn't particularly a dominant kind of child but as the diagnosis report later stated, Oscar can have a single track mind which make the reciprocal play difficult for him, he gets an idea and he will just run with it. These traits in adults are often admired as determination and strong willed but in school not so much. Often when social differences came up, the schools action would be to try and force Oscar into even more social activity, he would get extremely tired in the afternoons and would either be falling asleep or having a meltdown,  which was treated as behavioural or they assumed he wasn't getting enough sleep. When actually all he needed  was a bit of quiet time, to sit in the corner alone with his sketch book. To me it became apparent that the world around him was negatively affecting him, it not allowing him to just be himself, not accepting him as him. The world views differences as wrong and in my opinion it failed to recognise the brilliance in this boy. The feedback the world was giving him was that there was something wrong with him and that he should be more like the other children. It was at that point that I decided to pursue a diagnosis. It took me less than a year to get him diagnosed, the school didn't understand it, many in the educational systems don't especially ASC 1. They are more used to recognising ASC Level 2 and ASC Level 3 as these are the children that will need much greater support in life and in education.  Most children with ASC level 1 don't need a great need of additional support but they do need a great deal of awareness and hopefully from awareness comes understanding. When we started the diagnosis process I remember one teacher saying to me, well it's not always good to put labels on children, which is what I believed a few years earlier. I know my son has the greatest potential, I believe one day he can change the world. But I also believe that the system could easily knock that spark out of him, it could undermine him, and could make him feel like he is a bit weird and a bit too different and flawed in some way. That is why I decided to get him diagnosed. During the diagnosis process, I realised that there was a very strong chance I was on the spectrum too.  It was funny because when I got onto it, I got on it, autism and Oscars diagnosis became my special interest, the obsession that I would not let drop. I managed to get him assessed and diagnosed in less than a year on the NHS, school and other SENDs parents have told me that is pretty much unheard of. My determination came through, I couldn't let it go and I had to understand it. The day Oscars diagnosis came through I remember crying, it was what I had hoped for but at the same time it was real, those words of the teacher and rang back in my ears about whether it was healthy to give children a label. I questioned whether I had done the right thing. But two years on and I have to say I am so glad that we got that diagnosis and it really helps us to understand, not just Oscars traits but also how neurotypicals minds work too, if I am honest that has baffled me my whole life too. Oscar is different and he really owns those differences, at parents evening his maths teacher nailed it, she said,  "Oscar is just himself, he is so happy in his own skin, which is very rare, he is just Oscar and he is brilliant and I hope he just stays that way". His science teacher said she has never met a child so passionate and engaged in science and again similar from his art teacher. In fact I think Oscar started an art and science club, his art class finishes at lunch time and instead of wanting to go to lunch he carried on, drawing pictures of the universe and black holes. A few other kids started to stay too, so after Christmas Oscar announces how lucky he is they have put on a Art and Science club, coincidently in the same day and classroom he stays every Monday lunch to sketch pictures of the universe. We are careful with the language, we  use words like extraordinary and I remind him all the best people are and who wants to be ordinary?  We are able to recognise his "super powers ", and accept the challenges he  has and that is much easier with understanding. Now we can plan strategies to ensure that they don't stop him. A friend of mine who is a brilliant gifted "Aspie" as he referred to himself, told me it is a superpower. In-fact it was this friend that first recognised these traits in me.  Last Tuesday I got referred for an assessment in Autism and ADHD. In the meantime I am self-diagnosed, which is absolutely acceptable in the autism community. The super power traits I have include determination, not wanting to put something down, it helps me to problem solve. I have a way of seeing how things connect, and have been told I am like the thread that joins everything up. I am obsessed with the truth and what is right and wrong and I get very  upset by injustice, this has drawn me into the world of activism. I do see myself now as a change agent and this runs in my work and out of work pursuits. However I have my challenges, when I focus it can be to the point of obsession and at the cost of other things, now I have routines to help me with that. One of the things I can struggle with is communications and I recognised I have a bit of speech disfluency, I can be repetitive in what I say, I'm also brutally honest (as a friend once put it), and sometime drill a point a bit too much. I used to burn out lots, now I recognise this as over stimulation and overwhelm and I ensure I get out of my mind regularly, in a healthy way through mediation and through nature. Since I was a child nature has always been a obsession of mine, my lifetime special interest. In fact it came as no surprise whatsoever to find out that Chris Packham was autistic, he was my first crush,  The Really Wild Show was my favourite show, when I was a kid! Oscar and I, are in good company I reckon. The people that don't fit into the box change the box, they break the box! Some of the most brilliant people are autistic. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Albert Einstein (is thought to have been), along with many scientists, Dan Akroyd, Tim Burton, Chris Packham and Greta Thunberg (she is brilliant)… My daughter displays strong traits and I will embark at getting her assessed too, the gender gap is wide in autism too only 1 in 4 diagnoses are female even though in reality it is 50:50, there are a few theories are to why this is, one is females are better at masking and fitting in from a young age. I know I spent my whole life trying to mask and I certainly would not recommend it - that’s its own post too, maybe for next year :). The other factor is that the early research primarily focussed on boys and so their traits are more recognisable, as it can look slightly different in girls. As I learn more about neuro diversity I am starting to love it, and even love it about myself and I am certainly more confident leaning into my super powers!  That certainly hasn't always been the case. I want to ask you to all do the same, think about the neuro diverse people in your workplace, how can you make your work place more inclusive to neuro diversity? If you do this it will pay off there is a whole spectrum of talent there just waiting for the right conditions to shine. When they shine they can change the world around them.

Running a business can be pretty busy

Does it sometimes feel like you are spinning a thousand plates?  It can be hard to stay on top of everything, particularly if business activity is disjointed. Do you find yourself spending too much time  searching through and relying on emails? There is always so much happening Sales Meetings, Production Meeting, Product Design and Development, Quality Meetings, Project Meetings, Health and Safety meetings, KPI's, Objectives, Internal Audits, External Audits, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, Customer Complaints, Supply Chain Issues, Governance, Risk Analysis and Improvement Projects. There never seems to be enough hours in the day.  

Do you worry something might catch you out?

I'm sure you and your team are really on top of a lot of these activities. But can you hand on your heart say that you are on top of all of them?  Do you sometimes worry that amongst all this, it is only a matter of time before something catches you out and creating a costly big issue?  

Disconnection creates waste

Where there is a disconnect there is leakage and process waste, how may actions have been agreed upon that never saw the light of day? How much time is taken up in meetings discussing the same information over and over again.  It is  frustrating finding out that something that you thought was happening, simply isn't. Often even with technology it seems to get harder not easier and as the business systems evolved in an ad hoc way, not by design. So now everyone is working on a number of systems and processes that are not really connected.  

What if you could join everything up?

Wouldn't it be good if you could find a way to join everything up? To connect all business activity, systems. processes and communication whilst ensuring compliance to ISO 9001, AS9100, ISO14001 and customer requirements.  

ISO Management Systems for connection, information and communication

The Business ISO 9001/ AS 9100/  quality management system touches all of your operational processes, this is the perfect systems for connecting everything together. We believe that a management system should be embedded within the businesses IT and data systems. Meeting the employee at their place of work, when they need it rather than be something they have to search for. We Mould the system to the business,  rather than it being an outdated manual that only the Quality Manager/ Environmental Manager seems to use. At Pure Improvement we are collaborating with Titanify to transform Quality/ISO Management Systems and turn them into a strategic asset that supports delivery of sales,  drives Continuous Improvement and ROI.  

Management Systems to manage and stay in control 

By digitising and optimising ISO Management Systems, using the IT infrastructure you already have in place, linking your CRM, ERP, MRP systems to Microsoft 365, Teams and AI you can have Management System that are fit for the future, systems that enable the team to easily find information and do their job seamlessly. Management Systems that; ✔️Supports Delivery of Vision & Objectives ✔️ Improve Operational Performance ✔️ Improve Quality ✔️ Achieve Net Zero & Sustainability Goals ✔️ Reduce Waste ✔️ Reduce Costs & Deliver ROI ✔️Complies the with ISO9001 or AS9100, ISO14001, ISO27001  

Book a Free 1 hour Discovery Workshop

If this sounds interesting I invite you to book a Free 1 hour discovery workshop, to find out how to turn your Management Systems into a real Business Improvement asset.  

A bit about Pure Improvement

Founded by myself Zoe Darlington we help Manufacturing and Engineering Businesses achieve their operational and environmental goals, reduce waste and save time and money. I have over 25 Years experience working in Quality Management, Supply Chain Assurance and Business Improvement. At pure improvement we optimise Business Management Systems to deliver improvement and add real value to businesses. With experience and expertise in ISO 9001, AS9100, ISO 14001 and ISO 27001 within the Manufacturing and Engineering sectors including Aerospace, Defence, Electronics, Security and Food industries. We are working in collaboration with Titanify and Founder Stefaan De Vreese, An Agile Business Automation Expert using AI-supported technologies. Who's mission is to completely systemise and automate business systems, using AI-supported tools like Microsoft 365.   If you like this article, please share. If you would like the next articles delivered to your inbox please subscribe to our newsletter or please feel free to contact me or connect with me via LinkedIn.

Is your business tapping into the benefits QAEHS Management System?

What benefits are you getting from from your Quality or Business management Systems? Do you know what the ROI  is? In many businesses the ISO management system/s are regarded as a mandatory entity to gain ISO certification.  Something that the Quality Manager pulls out for ISO audits, delivering little value other than the certificate on the wall. 

Or does your QMS/ EMS simply a just a cost to your business?

Most business’s don’t leverage their management system to deliver and real improvement.  I see many so many management systems that are disconnected to the IT infrastructure and data systems, the very systems that people use day to day, while ISO Management Systems sits alone in out-dated folder/ file systems. Many business leaders just accept the additional, cost and wasted time and resources, believing it to be the necessary price to gain ISO certification.

The ISO Management System should add  real value beyond certification,

According to ISO, The whole purpose of ISO 9001 (Quality Management System Standard), is to help businesses and organisations to be more efficient and improve customer satisfaction. Whilst,  ISO 14001,  "helps organizations improve their environmental performance through more efficient use of resources and reduction of waste, gaining a competitive advantage and the trust of stakeholders" and  ISO 27001 Safeguards  your information assets, mitigate risks and build trust. All good stuff, I'm sure you agree but does your Management Systems actually do this for your business effectively?

Simplify your Management Systems, by integration and connection

All the ISO standards are designed to be integrated into one Management System, however instead many organisations  add in-efficiency and waste  into their business through their management systems.  Many organisations have separate systems for each standard, often because this standard belongs to the Quality Manager, the other one belongs to the Environmental and Health and Safety Manager and so on.  This completely  contradicts the aims of the standards, "Process Approach" , which according ISO "The process approach includes establishing the organization’s processes to operate as an integrated and complete system". 

How do you transform your ISO Management System/s into a Strategic Asset for your Business?

The most effective management systems are integrated, a single system that supports your business to deliver to your customers effectively and efficiently, On Cost, On Time and On Quality, Drives Business Improvement and ensures your business complies with all the required standards and compliance requirements. At Pure Improvement we are collaborating with Titanify to transform Quality/ISO Management Systems and turn them into a strategic asset that supports delivery of sales,  drives Continuous Improvement and ROI. We believe that for a management system to truly work for your business,  it needs to be connected and embedded within the businesses IT and data systems. It needs to meet the employee at their place of work, when they need it rather than be something they have to search for. 

Create a Management System that is fit for the future

We digitise and optimise ISO Management Systems, using the IT infrastructure you already have in place, linking your CRM, ERP, MRP systems to Microsoft 365, Teams and AI we create Management Systems that are fit for the future, systems that enable the team to easily find information and do there job seamlessly. Management Systems that; ✔️Supports Delivery of Vision & Objectives ✔️ Improve Operational Performance ✔️ Improve Quality ✔️ Achieve Net Zero & Sustainability Goals  ✔️ Save Time & helps processes flow ✔️ Reduce Costs & Deliver ROI ✔️Complies the with the Requirements ISO9001 or AS9100 standard Book a Free 1 hour Discovery Workshop If this sound interesting please book a Free 1 hour discovery workshop, see find out how to turn your Management Systems into a real Business Improvement asset/ A bit about Pure Improvement  Founded by myself Zoe Darlington we help Manufacturing and Engineering Businesses achieve their operational performance goals, eliminate performance issues and save time and money. I have over 25 Years experience working in Quality Management, Supply Chain Assurance and Business Improvement. At pure improvement we optimise Business Manage Systems to deliver improvement and add real value to businesses. With experience and expertise in ISO 9001, AS9100, ISO 14001 and ISO 27001 with this Manufacturing and Engineering sectors including Aerospace, Defence, Electronics, Security and Food industries,. Our programmes will empower your team to drive improvement and deliver results, whilst saving your business time, money and delivering a ROI. If you like this article, please share. If you would like the next articles delivered to your inbox please subscribe to our newsletter  or please feel free to contact me or connect with me via LinkedIn.

How to Motivate People to Get Big Goals Over the Finish Line Do you wonder why your team sometime just can’t get the important stuff done? You think it’s been made crystal clear how important it is to get those goals delivered. Everyone seemed so enthusiastic about it, but somehow that enthusiasm diminished. As each month rolled over, so did those objects. With little progress meetings start to get awkward as frustration and defensiveness kick-in. In these COVID-19 times this issue is compounded, with major disruption, people working remotely it’s been so difficult to get on with improving the business. What Stops People From Getting on With it? So WHY don’t people complete what they have started? WHY do people end up procrastinating? and WHY don’t people shout-out, when something is not going to get completed? Wouldn’t it be amazing if people just grabbed those goals and delivered them?  However, it seems other things always get in the way. Despite what people say, day to day issues and being too busy are NOT the reason improvement initiatives fizzle out and fall by the wayside. The truth is that people find those tasks easy, it is a comfort blanket and people can and will use them as a distraction or an excuse. People Are Not Too busy or Too Lazy They are Just Scared Ultimately the real reason stopping them from getting on with the big goals is fear. They are just scared, scared of not knowing how to do it, scared to ask, scared to expose themselves, scared they will fail. It is much easier to deal with something easy rather that crack on with the large-scale goal. Bonuses and Traditional Motivational Techniques are not then answer Traditional management style has inherently used the carrot and stick approach, people rewarded or incentivised when performing well, and punished when performing badly. In Daniel H. Pink, book, "Drive -The surprising truth what motivates us", he points out that there is a huge mis-match between what science knows and what business does. Leaders use rewards, expecting them to increase a person’s motivation, when unintentionally they can undermine a person’s intrinsic motivation. In Daniel Pinks book Drive, he also refers to a LSE study, where 11 Nobel laureates in economics analysed 51 studies of cooperate pay performance plans, the conclusion, “We find that financial incentives …. Can result in a negative impact overall."  There are many more studies that have similar findings. Fear paralyses the ability to take the long-term view... Fear of retribution, fear of failure, fear of humiliation, and even fear of losing their job, these are all common fears. Particularly in today’s climate, fear is running at an all-time high. Anxiety activates the most basic human instinct, the fight or flight mechanism. Fight or flight, drives people to react to the short term perceived threat, paralysing the ability to take the long-term view. We often see this manifesting in negativity, confrontation, finger pointing, deflection, or procrastination and indecisiveness. Be Wary of Narrow Goal Focus Achieving that goal at any cost is a behaviour we have all seen, and often people are rewarded for this behaviour.  How-ever leaders should approach this with a large degree of caution. Narrow minded solo operators may gain short term benefits, but this working practice will not deliver a large step improvement or a large-scale goal. In-fact using a carrot & stick, heroes & zeros approach, promotes a toxic type of behaviour, it creates divide, mistrust, and resentment. Nothing destroys momentum and enthusiasm more than, low morale and team spirit. Volkswagen diesel scandal – and the narrow goal driven culture    We have all heard of the Volkswagen’s 2015 Diesel testing scandal. Volkswagen cheated diesel emission testing and marketed cars as “Clean Diesel”, with some cars emitting up to 12 times more than the legal limit. Over 50 employees from various levels, executive to technician admitted to knowing about the cheat. One Volkswagen executive said “many of Volkswagen’s employees may have remained quiet about the emissions-cheating issue for so long - even if they didn't want to, is the company’s bonus system. Which is unusually generous to all employees, from the assembly line to the CEO, and rewards consensus. Volkswagen pays bonuses not only for individual performance and company performance but also goes the extra step of rewarding team performance, he says, which creates financial incentive not to offer dissenting opinions." People not concerned with the periphery, looking narrowly at meeting the goals and not feeling safe to speak out, cost Volkswagen of over $30 Billion. According to research from MIT scientists , an estimated 1,200 people will lose as much as a decade of their life as a result of excess emissions generated between 2008 and 2015 by affected cars, sold in Germany. The damage to trust and reputation, will not be mended quickly. Shortcuts come back to bite.. This is an extreme example of the consequences of a narrow goal focused culture, however narrow focus is a common cause of issues seen in many organisations. We all have witnessed those times that a shortcut came back to bite, after a product was released before complete test or inspection, or someone by-passing the correct process, just to get it out the door before month end. Only to be followed by the angry customer to deal with and a huge amount of time, effort, and money to resolve. Trust, Transparency and Long-Term Focus Nurtures Innovation & Motivation Innovation and change rely on the motivation and engagement of people; it requires a team of people to pick a goal up collectively and see it through to the end. This means everyone working together coherently and openly. Intrinsic Motivation – This natural innate human drive Humans have a natural intrinsic motivation, we do things because we enjoy it, like to be challenged and we need to have a purpose. We see this in small children, they will learn to speak, walk, ride a bike, spend hours creating in Lego, art and craft. They do not need rewards or punishments to do this, they do it because they have innate drive to create, learn and to overcome challenge. As we grow into adults, we don’t lose this innate motivation, often it is our environment or culture that will stifle it, but it’s still there ready to be tapped into. Why do people learn to play a musical instrument, learn new languages, learn to dance or practice driving at the driving range? It is the intrinsic motivation and we all have it. Daniel Pink, writes about the three ingredients required for intrinsic motivation, Autonomy – The desire to direct our own lives Having autonomy over their task, schedule, situation and environment. People who have this will feel secure, free and responsible. Mastery – The urge to get better and better at something Dedicating time to master their skills, working hard to improve, people who do this will exude passion, commitment and drive. You see it when an artist or engineer is in creational flow, the look in their eyes and how they get lost into the task. Purpose – The yearning to do, what we do in service There needs to be a reason, a WHY, it isn’t enough just to be told to do, people need to understand the bigger picture. It is the reasons bigger than themselves, that have been found to be most effective for motivation. Getting Over the Finish Line To get that programme over the finish line a business needs an environment where people can focus on goals and consider the bigger picture, where people can learn and make mistakes without fear of repercussions, an environment where positive team behaviour is encouraged rather than individual competitiveness. This is the key to a sustainable improvement culture. To inspire these qualities people need to connect with the big picture, the company vision & purpose, and believe they all have a role to play in this.   Leaders can create the environment and the conditions where intrinsic motivation can thrive. An environment that inspires passion, creativity, engagement and drive. Building intrinsic motivation into the day to day running of a business! In my next post, "5 Tools to Motivate People to Get Stuff Done", I have compiled a list of 5 tools that you can implement into your business, each one selected to create the conditions where intrinsic motivation can flourish. These tools are a practical way to free people from the narrow tunnel view, to unleash their innate drive to get stuff done! This article is from this series of posts on how to run a successful Continuous Improvement Programme. If you want a Continuous Improvement program that will help you to reduce costs, reduce waste, save time, improve quality, whatever your operational objectives are this series can help you. Through the series I will using my 3 core pillars, the 3 P’s. This post is part of the first P, Planning the second P is Programme, which is a framework, process and templates for delivering improvement and the third P is Perform, this will help you to inspire people and guide you through how to get people to deliver results.

A bit about me

I help Manufacturing and Engineering Businesses achieve their operational performance goals, reduce costs, increase profit, and eliminate performance issues.    

Coronavirus is affecting businesses, there is no getting around it and we are in for a bumpy ride. Businesses are facing all kinds of challenges in staffing, supply, delivery, sales, profits and morale. Now is the Time Adapt, Change and Improve… Quite often when something big happens that shakes a business (and boy is this BIG…), focus is taken away from improvement programmes. People become channeled, running on the treadmill of dealing with the daily issues and firefighting. However, it’s the high-level holistic view that’s needed to spot risk and identify opportunities. Running Continuous Improvement & Lean Programmes can enable you to take that high-level view, identify and put in place the actions required to safeguard your business.

1. Teams Need to Be Problem Solving

CI is problem solving, we always start with the problem statement. The conditions for effective problem solving requires collaboration and a safe space to observe, question and brainstorm. Problem solving improves with practice, the more people problem-solve the better people become at it, when embedded in the company culture problem solving becomes second nature and businesses become much more agile, adapting and changing quicker to external conditions. By using the creative part of the brain, people develop that high level and peripheral view, where they can spot problems before they occur. These skills are imperative to helping your team overcome the obstacles they are about to face… Tip # Start with brainstorming, create a problem statement, involve a cross section of people, give everyone a voice, treat every idea as valuable, never allow people to disagree or shout down ideas. Use scoring matrix to prioritise ideas.

2. Saves Your Business Money

Cashflow is going to be a big concern in the current climate, CI can help strengthen the business by reducing costs and saving money. However, it is essential that Improvement Programmes are aligned with the financials and costs, savings and ROI are tracked according. Make sure the Financial Controller is a key stakeholder/sponsor of the programme, and target improvement activity where savings are hard and hit that bottom line. TIP # Review Your current programme for hard saving, hold a project selection workshop use the financials to guide you to where the biggest savings can be made, where is the biggest spend, and dig deeper e.g. is it raw materials for instance? Why is the spend high, price, waste, quality, inventory levels etc.

3. Saves Your Business Time

You are going to need to do more with less, with sickness, staff taking time out to care for family, school closures etc. Removing waste, constraints, optimising set-ups,  improving flow will save you time, time that could be converted into hard saving but perhaps more importantly help you become more agile & flexible giving you the opportunity to do things differently, perhaps more flexible shift patterns. TIP # – Get out on the shop floor do a Gemba walk, observe and identify Waste and Process Constraints. Good tools are the 5Ws & 1H (Who, What, When, Where, Why & How), the seven wastes TIMWOOD, identify the wastes and constraints and then quantify and prioritise.

4. Improve Morale & Team Spirit

You need your crew to get through this storm, if you can inspire and engage people that will make all the difference. So how do you go about doing that when people have real personal worries of their own now? It’s going to take empathetic and supportive leadership, listening to people, praising the effort rather than the performance. If people can chip in, help and be part of securing the businesses future, they will develop a sense of purpose and give them inspiration and hope. We want them to have that feeling of   “we a have got this!” Tip # Walk around the business and get to know people ask their advice and listen to them, take an interest in them personally. If they connect with you and feel respected, they will engage and put in that extra effort.

5. Future Proofing

We have no idea what the long-term economic outlook is but there is a good chance that we are on the brink of a global downturn. If businesses are going to survive, they need to be able to adapt, change problem solve. CI supports all of this; CI is change management. The world is changing we have no choice our businesses must change, however with change there is opportunities. If we can be creative an innovative, we can find those opportunities and grow in ways we never imagined possible. Tip # Don’t wait get on and drive that Continuous Improvement Programme. If you are worried about pulling people together use technology, we have Skype and zoom there is no excuse these days not to collaborate and work together. Give people the right conditions and you will unlock the creativity and generate innovative solutions. A bit about me I help Manufacturing and Engineering Businesses achieve their operational performance goals, eliminate performance issues and save time and money. Our programme will empower your team to drive improvement and deliver results, whilst saving your business time, money and delivering a ROI. If you like this article, please share. If you would like the next articles delivered to your inbox please subscribe to our newsletter  or please feel free to contact me or connect with me via LinkedIn. Zoe Darlington