It's Christmas time and tis the season to ask people what they are planning to do for the holidays.
You get a wide range of answers. The answers are all over the map.
Some of the answers I've gotten lately are sad, for example for some people, it is the first Christmas since a loved one died. Another person said they had no plans because the kids are going to be with their dad.
Some people's plan seems crazy to me, but normal to them. One person told me "First we go to my wife's parents, then we go to my Dad's and finish at Mom's. So we will drive about 150 during the day". They even admit to "wore out the kids." I hope they get an oil change for their car because they head out. Another told me they "have about 30 people over. The beer is in the fridge and whiskey is in the freezer. Stop by if you like." I'll pass, this party would seem to solve boredom but I don't think I've gotten to this level of boredom, ever.
Of course, most answers are happy and people are looking forward to the day, weekend and in some cases the entire week. One person told me they "don't really care what happens as long as we are together, Christmas season seems to be the only time we are all together." Another said, "it is the first time my son will be home in 4 years." Others have said it is their last Christmas it will be just them and the kids before some big event coming up in their lives such as a wedding or kids moving out of state.
Still, others are a mix of sad, crazy and/or happy. Because somebody has to work or is deployed overseas the timing of Christmas had to be moved. I have even had a couple of people tell me Christmas their plans are still up in the air until they know if the effects a recent surgery are gone or "if my parents recover from the flu."
Other people's traditions can seem scary, boring, fun or many other things it might be offensive to list off on a blog so I won't.
I will leave you with a plea. No matter what you are doing for Christmas or what your normal traditions are please consider borrowing Willmar Electric's purpose statement, People making a difference for People, this Christmas. Be a light in the life the somebody. Bring joy, lighten the load or do a favor for somebody.
Different people need and want different things. Find out what the people around need and try to make it possible. It might be as simple as a phone call, help with the dishes or break from the normal routine. (In my case the person might just need me to leave the room).
I don't know who to give the credit for the following advice but some of the best advice I ever got was "if everybody in the room worried about what is best for everybody else in the room, everybody in the room would be better off." you might need to read it twice because the advice uses the same words over and over and is kind of confusing. It is a great motto if you want to make a difference for people.
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate example of servant leadership. Hopefully this Christmas I can follow his lead and be a servant.
Merry Christmas!!!
Friday, December 21, 2018
Thursday, July 12, 2018
Do You See What I See?
Every day at Willmar Electric we start our day off with a huddle. Immediately after the huddle, we break out into a time of what we call “Lean and Clean.” The huddles typically last about 10 minutes, and the Lean and Clean is about 20 minutes
During Lean and Clean, everyone is expected to either clean up an area within our projects or offices or work on “leaning” a process within our work area. You might be asking, what is “leaning a process.”
In simple terms lean is a process of eliminating waste. At Willmar Electric we look for what we call 2 Second Leans. The concept of a 2 Second Lean is to look for waste no matter how small and fix it. Even if you only save 2 seconds, the improvement will multiply and compound over time, saving potentially hours and days. Also saving headaches and stress. The end result is a more fun workplace.
At first glance, our workspaces look pretty lean. Things are neat and orderly. People have even walked through and said: “wow this place is organized.”
Most of the time I work in our Lincoln, NE office. But this Tuesday morning my day started in our Willmar, MN office. I would say the two offices are very similar on the lean scale.
But when I’m in the Lincoln office sometime, I struggle to see waste and find things to improve every day. But in Willmar it was easy. Almost comical how easily I found things. I found and fixed 3 things within 10 minutes.
Let me give you some examples.
I found 2 checklists in need of lamination. I pulled out the laminator which was easy for me to spot because I bought it about 20 years ago. While I waited for the machine to warm up, 3 different people walked by at 3 different times and said: “Why aren’t you using the other laminator?”
Willmar Electric doesn’t do so much lamination we need two machines. In fact, we hardly need
1. Both machines took different materials to make them work. We had two brand new supplies for each!!!
What is my point? Am I saying I’m a master at leaning things and the Willmar office is full of fools?
Nope.
In May the people in each office teamed up with a partner and analyzed what waste we each could help the other person find in their office. All the groups came up with about 12-20 ideas and stopped finding ideas not because they ran out of ideas but because they ran out of time.
My point is I think I have discovered people are often too comfortable with their current surroundings and are unable to see the waste sitting next to them.
I’m not suggesting outsiders have a better handle our own waste. I’m suggesting each of us shouldn’t be afraid to get an outsiders opinion or advice. Using our coworkers as another set of eyes potentially could help make improvements that could be missed.
Who knows in the end in your mom might get a “new” laminator complete with a fresh stock of supplies.
During Lean and Clean, everyone is expected to either clean up an area within our projects or offices or work on “leaning” a process within our work area. You might be asking, what is “leaning a process.”
In simple terms lean is a process of eliminating waste. At Willmar Electric we look for what we call 2 Second Leans. The concept of a 2 Second Lean is to look for waste no matter how small and fix it. Even if you only save 2 seconds, the improvement will multiply and compound over time, saving potentially hours and days. Also saving headaches and stress. The end result is a more fun workplace.
At first glance, our workspaces look pretty lean. Things are neat and orderly. People have even walked through and said: “wow this place is organized.”
Most of the time I work in our Lincoln, NE office. But this Tuesday morning my day started in our Willmar, MN office. I would say the two offices are very similar on the lean scale.
But when I’m in the Lincoln office sometime, I struggle to see waste and find things to improve every day. But in Willmar it was easy. Almost comical how easily I found things. I found and fixed 3 things within 10 minutes.
Let me give you some examples.
I found 2 checklists in need of lamination. I pulled out the laminator which was easy for me to spot because I bought it about 20 years ago. While I waited for the machine to warm up, 3 different people walked by at 3 different times and said: “Why aren’t you using the other laminator?”
Willmar Electric doesn’t do so much lamination we need two machines. In fact, we hardly need
1. Both machines took different materials to make them work. We had two brand new supplies for each!!!
What is my point? Am I saying I’m a master at leaning things and the Willmar office is full of fools?
Nope.
In May the people in each office teamed up with a partner and analyzed what waste we each could help the other person find in their office. All the groups came up with about 12-20 ideas and stopped finding ideas not because they ran out of ideas but because they ran out of time.
My point is I think I have discovered people are often too comfortable with their current surroundings and are unable to see the waste sitting next to them.
I’m not suggesting outsiders have a better handle our own waste. I’m suggesting each of us shouldn’t be afraid to get an outsiders opinion or advice. Using our coworkers as another set of eyes potentially could help make improvements that could be missed.
Who knows in the end in your mom might get a “new” laminator complete with a fresh stock of supplies.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
May Day?
May 1st is May Day. I thought everybody knew this simple fact.
What is May Day you might ask? You make up a basket of goodies, candy, popcorn balls, or other fun things, you set the basket on a neighbor’s doorstep and ring the doorbell. Then you run. Your hope is you have left an anonymous gift for a friend. Granted in 2018 you could ring a doorbell and not need to run because all of America would hear the doorbell and assume it was just Amazon delivering the latest online order of dog food or laundry soap. No need to rush to the sound of the doorbell in 2018 America, if we were actually out of something we do the old fashion thing and go directly to the store.
To put it more simply. It is the reverse of Halloween. You go door to door leaving gifts instead of begging for things.
As a kid, I was introduced to the May Day holiday in Willmar, MN. I got married to a wonderful girl who grows up in Austin, MN. She knew what it was and in fact, she loved the idea so much she taught our 3 children about the special day. When we moved to Lincoln, NE and most of our neighbors celebrated the fun day. This year on May 1 I walked into Willmar Electric’s education center to see Happy May Day written on the whiteboard. At lunch, with my Nebraska born and raised co-workers, we discussed what everybody put in his or her baskets as kids.
What a happy tradition. At the risk of sounding like the Beach Boys, it was fun, fun fun.
But May Day is going away (or maybe it is already gone).
I haven’t moved, but the doorbell didn’t ring on May Day this year. (Except for the delivery of some ink refills I ordered on Amazon ☺).
My daughter, Sara, said she brought it up at a Minnesota college campus and nobody had ever heard of May Day.
Research told me May Day is downplayed because the communist use May 1st to celebrate their military strength. But I grew up during the end of the cold war, and we ignored the Commies and still had fun while they showed off their tanks. Stalin didn’t steal May Day. We gave it to Putin.
So, what? Why am I focused on May Day? What’s the big deal?
Lack of fun. I think too often we stop doing things we all enjoy. We give up on harmless goodwill for no reason. We just stop.
It happens at work as well. I believe in 100% in continuous improvement. As a company, Willmar Electric tries to improve everything we do every day. We plan to keep improving. But it isn't just changing for change sake.
If something is useful, we will continue to do it. We never just stop because we grew bored or tired of doing something.
Continuous improvement is an important part of our core value of Meeting our Customer needs. (So is having fun and giving your friends a special gift).
(Of course, it is possible May Day is dying, and Halloween is getting bigger and bigger is because our society prefers to take over giving). Because if it is, then I should have written about our core value of Treating Others the Way they want to be Treated).
What is May Day you might ask? You make up a basket of goodies, candy, popcorn balls, or other fun things, you set the basket on a neighbor’s doorstep and ring the doorbell. Then you run. Your hope is you have left an anonymous gift for a friend. Granted in 2018 you could ring a doorbell and not need to run because all of America would hear the doorbell and assume it was just Amazon delivering the latest online order of dog food or laundry soap. No need to rush to the sound of the doorbell in 2018 America, if we were actually out of something we do the old fashion thing and go directly to the store.
To put it more simply. It is the reverse of Halloween. You go door to door leaving gifts instead of begging for things.
As a kid, I was introduced to the May Day holiday in Willmar, MN. I got married to a wonderful girl who grows up in Austin, MN. She knew what it was and in fact, she loved the idea so much she taught our 3 children about the special day. When we moved to Lincoln, NE and most of our neighbors celebrated the fun day. This year on May 1 I walked into Willmar Electric’s education center to see Happy May Day written on the whiteboard. At lunch, with my Nebraska born and raised co-workers, we discussed what everybody put in his or her baskets as kids.
What a happy tradition. At the risk of sounding like the Beach Boys, it was fun, fun fun.
But May Day is going away (or maybe it is already gone).
I haven’t moved, but the doorbell didn’t ring on May Day this year. (Except for the delivery of some ink refills I ordered on Amazon ☺).
My daughter, Sara, said she brought it up at a Minnesota college campus and nobody had ever heard of May Day.
Research told me May Day is downplayed because the communist use May 1st to celebrate their military strength. But I grew up during the end of the cold war, and we ignored the Commies and still had fun while they showed off their tanks. Stalin didn’t steal May Day. We gave it to Putin.
So, what? Why am I focused on May Day? What’s the big deal?
Lack of fun. I think too often we stop doing things we all enjoy. We give up on harmless goodwill for no reason. We just stop.
It happens at work as well. I believe in 100% in continuous improvement. As a company, Willmar Electric tries to improve everything we do every day. We plan to keep improving. But it isn't just changing for change sake.
If something is useful, we will continue to do it. We never just stop because we grew bored or tired of doing something.
Continuous improvement is an important part of our core value of Meeting our Customer needs. (So is having fun and giving your friends a special gift).
(Of course, it is possible May Day is dying, and Halloween is getting bigger and bigger is because our society prefers to take over giving). Because if it is, then I should have written about our core value of Treating Others the Way they want to be Treated).
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