Turning impossible into most probable – taking actions ahead of decisions

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If I were in a mart (Tesco is nearby to where I’m staying) to get some essentials for my home and later decided to get few green apples, I‘d just go to the produce section and get me some green apples. The period between the time I decided and the action taken is just a few seconds apart; I could say that it’s an immediate action. However, if I thought of getting the apples and later was distracted by a phone call that lasted for 3 minutes; I might forget about the green apples entirely. Thus, I didn’t take any action at all; of course I might come back later to get the apples.
So, in an organization of 5 people, for example, with numerous kinds of distractions that are present in a typical office environment; getting all actions done immediately after making the decisions are sometimes just impossible. How many excuses for not taking spontaneously actions have you and I heard since we started working? Countless. Right? Is the situation getting better? Well, if you were to ask me; I’d say that it is getting worst. Why? The numbers of distractions are getting more each day. To name a few are, telephone calls, voice messages, cell phones, instant messages, sms, online conferences, online gaming, pod casting, webinars etc. Everyday our involvements and dependence on these new distractions are escalating and more and more actions are being pushed forward or delayed. Hence, procrastination is gradually gaining its ground in our daily activities.
Many managers just don’t realize that the increasing number of distractions in the office environment is in fact slowing down their people from working efficiently toward the goals of their organizations. They never acknowledged that this is the real culprit behind the excuses that they heard from their people for slow and no actions. Something has to be done to curb this bad influence in order to get actions taken immediately when decisions are made.
I don’t have to explain the reasons why decisions have to be followed by immediate actions. It’s imperative. No entrepreneurs or business owners would have the patience of waiting the implementation of an important project was carried few hours or days after a committee had decided just because everybody who was supposed to be on it was one way or another occupied by the office distractions I had mentioned early. Even though one would argue that the distractions on the average is not significant because not everybody would be contributing to the slow action.
Ok, to understand better, let’s do some simple math. Let’s say that 4 persons were responsible to take an action immediately decided by their manager. 2 were not distracted in any way and contributed 100% on the part of the action, the third person got distracted and was reminded by the 2 guys earlier who had completed their part thus his efficiency was cut down to 75%. The fourth person being so engrossed with the pod casting had totally forgotten about his part of action and as a result he could only complete a day later, thus making his efficiency on taking the action dropped to 20%. So, the question is; what was the efficiency of the group on taking the action? Well the answer is not ((100+100+75+25)/4=74%). The group’s efficiency was dictated by the efficiency of the fourth person, that is, 20%. It only takes one person’s carelessness to make the whole organization in efficient.
One solution that have been effective carried in throughout Japan is taking the actions well before that the decision. Some of you guys may have the idea that I am being ridiculous again. Some of you may argue that such a thing it just impossible. How can people take action in advance before it was decided. Well, just as the Adidas advertisement spells out “Impossible is nothing”. How does the Japanese do it? They call this process by the name ‘Nemawashi’. I would recommend you guys to do a Google search and read some explanations about the process. It simply means the act of cutting the earth around a tree making sure all the roots, taking extra care not to injure the roots hairs and wrapping it up gently with straw mattress; when in the process of replanting the tree to a different location. The most important point here is not to destroy the roots hairs because if they were destroyed it would be useless to plant the trees on a new location. By taking extreme care, all the roots hairs are well intact or as they were, the trees will be as there are and will continue grow no matter where these trees were planted.
I give you a simple analogy about the whole notion of ‘Nemawashi’. Lets said that in about 8 months time a couple are expecting a baby, they would be very busy make preparations so that they won’t be having problems when the time comes, such as the money, the schedule for medical checks and perhaps the arrangement to attend exercises for easy delivery. As the time draws nears other preparations are being made like the room, the cradle, the hospitals and even arrangement with the midwife who is going to deliver the baby. All the people who are going to be involved either in the preparatory stages, during the time of birth and also during the time when the baby is in the hospital getting accustomed the his/her new world are all played the people whose role are similar to the root hairs described above. You see, the couple knew that they going to have a baby in 8 months time for sure, so it’s imperative for them to make all essential preparations for the smooth delivery of the baby. In this analogy, the decision is the date when the baby is born and the preparations are the action taken.
Similarly as in the case of the Japanese organizations, most decisions are ‘known’ earlier through the process of ‘Nemawashi’. People responsible for execution of the strategic plans would make their move first by spreading the words to all people who made up the grass roots level. They should expect that implementation of a strategic plan are closing in and are expected to make the preliminary preparations. This is the top-down communication that is not obvious or unnoticeable to outsiders like you and me. In doing so, the members of the organization are well aware and are ready to take the necessary actions when the time comes. Just as the analogy describe earlier, the couple will know what to do when the baby starts kicking as if telling the mother that he/she is ready to see their faces.
The ‘Nemawashi’ makes the Japanese type of organizations ‘living’ just as our body utilizes the body chemistry to fight intruders and spontaneously comes out the necessary action plans to stop the intruders from taking charge. Once the body chemistry is in place the body will make the unconscious move to fight until all the remnants of the intruders are destroyed. Thus, in the organizations where ‘Nemawashi’ is perfected, I found that daily meetings or even the monthly meeting of section managers didn’t actually involved formulating strategies but were designed to monitor and to measure the results of actions the were taken by the members at all levels of the company.
The process of ‘Nemawashi’ in a Japanese organization is conducted by all everyday, collecting information, ‘hearing’ what the members’ opinions, conveying ‘instructions’ and propagate what transpired from the company’s president meeting. All the time these same ‘stories’ are being told over and over again to all the employees in the similar fashion as we were bombarded with the same advertisements on television and radio and lately even your browser.
As we grow accustomed to technological advancement and as the technological gadgetries are going into our flesh and blood, group cohesiveness is breaking as the iceberg of the artic melting in the warm current of the North Sea; hence, I can say the human touch of turning the impossible into most probable are losing its grip in organizations that neglect the dynamics of teamwork.

5 characteristics of a pro - instill them and make more

When I first went to Japan for my industrial training in 1978, most of my trainers couldn’t speak English. The only way that I could communicate with them was through my interpreter, Hino-san. Since my training period was short I thought if I could get hold of the written procedures it would help me to cover all the operations on time. I thought it was a smart thing to do; having discovered that they are all handwritten in Japanese (Toshiba had not come out the affordable word processors, pronounced as ‘wapuro’ in Japanese during the time yet); the motivation that I had to getting every operation covered within the period just flew away. “My life is going to be a miserable one for the next 30 days”; I said to myself while pondering what was going to be my next strategy.
Hino-san, 20 years my senior, knew that it was not going to be easy for me; and had arranged the authors of the handwritten procedures to explain what they had written. It was definitely a break for me. So, we started the meeting immediately. Having gone halfway through all the operational procedures, I noticed that most of the authors were elderly with high school background and would be retiring in 4 to 5 years time. Hino-san would always refer them as ‘pro’, I knew he was serious and wasn’t ‘pulling their legs’. He really meant that they were professionals specializing in their field of work. This made me wonder what actually was in Hino-san mind when he referred to them as ‘pro’ because what I understood was; a professional is a person who belongs to a professional club or a society and would provide professional kind of services.
Well many years had passed. Occasionally, I would use the word ‘pro’ to tee-up the skillful seniors to new members of a group without really knowing the true characteristics of a pro or a professional.
Only after 30 years I heard that the word ‘pro’ uttered by Hino-san, I am able list down the true characteristics of a professional. (I hope I am not a slow learner.) To me a pro or professional is anybody who not only confined to doctors, lawyer and golfers; conducts any work that can maintain the his/her livelihood; he can be an online marketer, machinist or taxi driver. I came up with 5 characteristics of a true pro or a professional which I believe can make tremendous change in ones life and make him/her a true professional. These set characteristic I think would agree to Hino-san’s definition of a pro.
As for presenting the 5 characteristics; this time I would do a write up instead of to listing them here like 1, 2, 3 or a, b, c, etc. I know it’s very ‘unprofessional’ of me to do so; but I came across too many blog posts that were like technical writing assignments that were written for grades. When reading a post, particularly the how to…types; I would just jump start and look for the head of the list or number 1 and start my reading from there and I will not read beyond the last number. These posts were set up for quickies I presumed.
When I recollect my encounter with the pros 30 years ago, I recalled that all the handwritten operational procedures were accurate in describing the steps of how the operations must be carried out in order to produce quality products. Each step of the procedures had a unique connection to one another and must be executed precisely at a given interval. It was like the execution of hitting each note on the piano keyboard or the combination of several notes at a given moment when a wonderful melody is played on a piano. These operational procedures were based on many years of data collection and analysis done by the pros. None of the operational procedures were written based on assumptions or inclusive studies or simulations. These professionals kept a detail and comprehensive record showing the effects of varying conditions against the product quality. They never ‘lied’ when writing the operational procedures. True professionals never tempered with the results they got or bluff their way through. Nowadays, the fame and glory of winning are so huge that some professionals resort to cheating which can land them in jail and disgrace. Be a lesson to us, cheaters may get by once or twice or three times but sooner of later that truth will get even with them.
You see, the professionals that Hino-san introduced to me were about 50 years old at that time. I presumed they had started working at the age of between 18 to 20 year old as operators in the company few years after World War 2 (WWII) where resources were a limited and difficult to get. Despite of the hardships and difficulties they put in great efforts into learning while making their livelihoods through the jobs that were given to them. They might have had bad memories during the war but they never dwell on these bad experiences. They kept on working diligently recording and maintaining a superb documentation of their experiences which without them the company would not have been able to grow rapidly and making offshore investments. Many among us have the habit of dwelling on the past whether on our successes or failures so much so that these past experiences would dominate our present life and stop us from taking actions base on current situation. Those who take actions base on present situation are the true professionals. We heard many entrepreneurs who failed due to reasons that were either within their controls or that were beyond their reach came back successfully making their millions again. These are the people who never let failure or success to influence their decisions on current matters. A classic example was Thomas A. Edison who failed in his experiments more that 10,000 times before finally discovered the light bulbs and patented it in January 27, 1880 as written by Napoleon Hill in his great book “Think and Grow Rich”. I think if Mr. Edison were to dwell on his failures; I would never be using the electrical light bulb and would be burning candles to study for my high schools exams in the early 1970s.
If you had read part 1 of my 5-parts Positive Thinking series which entitled “Focusing on what’s right”; you would know the importance of this habit in being part of our life. It is thus one of the important characteristics that must be possessed by the people who we referred them as professionals. The professional operators that I was referring earlier surely knew what were expected from them besides earning their living as the machine operators in the factory; they knew was exactly to do, what exactly to measure and what exactly to write because they understand that their efforts would be put in good use for the benefit of the company and ultimately for the benefit of the entire community in which they belong. In another example, by doing what is right for him and fellow players, a world class profession golfer, like Tiger Wood, exhibit a high standard of performance that has made golf a phenomenal sport has attracted millions of new enthusiasts in the past 10 years. All he does is focusing on what he’s good at; that is, winning.
Dedication in ones field is the answer to be good and thus getting the respect from others who benefited from ones work. I read a blog post sometimes last week that told me to be passionate about writing if I have the desire to tell the world and making my readers benefited from my posts. Keep doing in what you are good at is the key note to be a true professional. “A rolling stone gather no moss” and “jack of all trades but master of none” are proverbs that tell us that we will not leave a good impression of our ability if we keep hopping from one field to another. It is like investing your money in businesses or markets that you already knew its return and with no risk, it’ll be much safer rather that gamble it in places that promised high returns only to realized later that your money were all gone. True professionals only concentrate the improving in the fields that their livelihoods are depended on. Being a consultant like me, it’s imperative to be good at what I’m passionate about. So, be a pro and have a desire to master the skill that you are passionate about; this would make your living easy and more meaningful.
The pros who wrote operational procedures that I mentioned earlier had utilized their power of knowledge to enable that company to go into unknown territories to expand it business. I am sure that they would feel proud that their hard work had resulted in the betterment of lives of people in another country by providing jobs and creating new businesses. They never would have though that it would have a great impact on the livelihood of the people in another part of the world.
The procedures that were shown to me were just the tip of an ice berg of the total work that they had contributed to the company. Other works like the calculations of the machines design and the reliability data of each machine for 20 years in the process lines are powerful information that these people have collected and used in setting up new factories abroad. I refer it as powerful information because it is being use for the benefit of its owner. Knowledge of a professional is only considered powerful if it is being used by the professional to transform into innovations to serve the population and thus makes millions.
You and I can become a pro in our own field if we live up to have the passion of being a professional and possess the 5 characteristics as described above. These are the characteristics that one should posses in order to achieve our goals in life. This law of professionalism that I have presented here is the essential ingredient in today’s living where competition amongst us is just too great and success is measured by the millions we make.
I can now list down each characteristic for your reference;

1. Professionals never lie. In any circumstances we must talk, measure and relate as accurate as possible and with confidence. It is our responsibility that these matters are being correctly conveyed to the people so that the information that we gathered would benefit the public in general.

2. Professionals are not deterred or absorbed by past successes or failures and allowing these past experiences to influence their decisions on current situations. Without looking back they keep on marching into new frontiers discovering new beginnings for others to share what they have discovered.

3. Professionals focus on what is right for them and making decisions that are right for their professions so many would emulate them in their footsteps

4. Professionals are devoted people. Their devotions in the field of their specialty are unparalleled so to open up the opportunity for others to study and be devoted like them; thus ensuring that their professions will never be forgotten.

5. Professionals posses the knowledge that is unique to them and uses them for the benefit of the people believes in them.

5 sales points to satisfying your customers and growing your business – two in one

Today’s post is about successful salesmanship, and I dedicate this blog post to all sale persons who have done and contributed more than they were paid for. I’m sure few of you out there will think that I’m being ridiculous - ‘doing more that you‘re paid for?’. To good to be true….. but let’s ponder for a while. How many of us feel that we are under paid? Many… sure there’s many of us think so. Then ask again…. What is the difference from being under paid and doing more than you are paid for? Emm… Can you grasp the math there? The two sides of an ‘equation’ are equal; the only difference is one is on the right, whilst another is on the left or in math we say that one is positive (on the left) and another is negative (on the right) if you were to bring it to the positive side and letting the equation equals zero; (x = y same as x – y = 0). So if you did more than you were paid, you are positive thinker (x) with regards to the contributions to your employer; and if you thought you were under paid then you are being negative (-y).
Let me suggest to you the extra work that has to be done by the sales team which can have tremendous result on the company’s business performance. The result would be similar for the case when an enthusiastic entrepreneur puts in this extra effort to his business. These extra duties by the way do not require you to burn more calories or performing back-breaking tasks; it only needs just a little extra concentration and focusing on the requirements of the customers, that is, from the start till the end. In other words, give the customs what they want and at the same time increasing your business efficiency. This is like killing two birds with one stone.
The example below will illustrate my point.
My client has a sales team that consists of 3 sales persons. They did a great job 3 months ago by bringing in 5 orders of automated process machines of about the same size from 5 different customers. However, all the customers want the machines to be delivered after a month. My client so far had the experienced of producing 3 machines in a month and felt that his capacity was already up against the ceiling. I thought that if we could just focus to making improvements a little bit more on the process of getting all the information from the customers to the production people my clients might be able to increase its capacity from producing the normal rate of 3 machines to 5 machines in 1 month time. He got no choice but to make it possible if he wanted improvement.
My client had experienced receiving many complaints from customers when starting the business. When we studied the nature of the complaints we found that main culprit was short in meeting the requirements of customers such as higher rejects rate when running at the required speed. We also found that some important information from customers was not delivered to the people making the machines and we decided to have solutions for the sales team not to leave behind information from customers.
The first thing that the sales team had to do was to identity the gaps in the process of communicating the requirements to the people who were directly involved in the planning, designing and all personnel of the manufacturing department. The idea was to get the manufacturing people as close as possible to the customers’ needs; so close that they could actually feel like the customers. The sales team must not sit back until all their coordinating jobs were well done.
The sale team had identified 5 points could be improved the process of conveying the customers’ demand to the others. The 5 points to be improved were;

1. Understanding the exact requirements of customers by all personnel involved in the production of the machines by defining the purpose of each requirements.

2. Performing all calculations and carrying out simulations by all concerned personnel to assess the requirements by the customers as to gauge their needs and other specifications.

3. Making 100% certain by analyzing the availability of technology, hardware and software and their alternatives to satisfy the requirements of the customers,

4. Designing and developing the manufacturing process of each machine ensuring that these processes can meet the requirement of the customers.

5. Carrying out reviews and verification on the above 4 points and ensuring that all requirements of the customers are met.

The sales team stepped up their activities by holding several discussions sessions with other personnel to ensure that all these points were being addressed to the other related department. Thus taking charge as the ‘front wheel drive’ in coordinating the efforts of getting the demands of customers to the people in manufacturing. They would take along key person from manufacturing to discuss directly with the user of the machine.
Previously this process of communication the customers’ demands was done once per machine during the project’s kick off meeting. Although other discussions were held like design review meeting, none of the sales team attended the meeting.
The results were very astounding and encouraging. My client was able to ship out all 5 machines in about 5 weeks after their ordered were received. Even though the target of one month was not realized, my client discovered that by making each process efficient, improvements in productivity can be achieved, like what I’ve described, without much investment on extra equipments and manpower.
You will notice that process of conveying the demands of the customers is located some what in between the sales and the departments responsible in the manufacturing of these machines. I called this as the ‘no-man-land’ where if it is left unnoticed; it will be neglected by the all departments and will result in miscommunications and other undesirable effects because many requests of the customers were neglected and not considered important by the people in designing the machines. The real problems will come when customers are not satisfied with the machines and the machines will undergo numerous modifications and be subjected to verification again and again – like a yoyo. The worst part is when receiving customer’s complaints after the machine had been delivered; it can be a real nightmare for my client.
I think it is most appropriate for the sales team to take the responsibly to ascertain that the above 5 points are meticulously addressed to the various departments so as to delivery what were being ‘promised’ to the customers. As we have already known by now that satisfied customers are held by delivering what the sales person had promised.

Letting your sales niche paves the way for bigger sales

I think I’ve gathered some good facts in my head to write in this post as a continuation of what I had written yesterday. The topic of yesterday’s blog post was ‘The 3 steps to secure loyal clients’. I think they were fairly simple to understand and easy to remember steps. I’m quite satisfied with the post because it simplified the sales process to just 3 simple easy to remember steps.
This morning in the daily meeting, the new sales engineer who I mentioned in earlier post suggested an idea which I considered to be brilliant. I thought it was brilliant because nobody really thought about it before and it can be used as a sales niche to opening opportunities for bigger sales to prospects.
You might know that in the business of making custom-made automated process machines, prospects are very careful when it comes to making purchase decisions and they sometimes are reluctant to discuss further about it because they don’t believe in what they hear. Prospects are not willing to commit until they are truly convinced that the machines can perform as expected and that will mean fast returns of their investments. Further, the machines that are being proposed are available elsewhere ‘on shelf’ with very competitive price. This makes it difficult for the sales team to pitch in their ‘promises’ that could make the prospects to not even considering their presentations. No matter how well the sales team phrases its ‘promises’; they sounded monotonous filled with platitudes.
Since the company is also selling small and single unit process equipments which we called them as the semi-auto equipments, some of these equipments, especially those that have higher profit margin and wider range of applicability, can be used as sales niche by aggressively offering prospects to buy for their smaller production quantity lines. The sales records shows that only one unit was sold last year because the sales team was concentrating on selling another type of semi-automated equipment that was common in the market and not versatile in its applications. This was due the fact that they were unaware of the potentiality of the semi-automated equipment that has a wider range of applications.For every sale of these equipments will ‘convert’ the prospects into customers, and subsequently open up the way for the purchase of the fully automated process machines to these customers. Thus, it will be easier for the sales team to pitch their ‘promises’ when the customers are ready to listen with open hearts.

The 3 steps of sales process to securing loyal clients

Today a new sales engineer starts his first day in the company. He had two years of experience selling automated packaging machines which made him quite seasoned in this field. He is expected to prove leadership to the present sales team. Since I’m the coach for the managing director of the company, it’s quite natural for him to ask me to make a short presentation about sales and marketing.
I wasn’t taken by surprise, after knowing him for two years now; I knew that I have to give one or two pitches to the new guy as well to the other two sales persons who had not really came up with outstanding and consistent sales figures since. Due to the …emm ‘so so’ performance of his sales force since I came in, I had begun reading and subscribing to the channel of Chuck Bauer’s getsalesresulnow on youtube.com to equip myself with marketing and sales knowledge, although sales is not my main bread and butter. Yes, I can say that I am all ready for a short presentation that could motivate these guys to building a solid pool of loyal clients.
Being a science student since the age of 16, I distanced myself from sales since. People who were closed to me told me that sales line could not make good money. I was convinced when I saw the shops in the town that I lived showed little signs of improved living standards. It was a common scene to see the owners sat behind their counters waiting for customer to drop in, really nothing interesting happened. The managing director who is few years younger than me also grew up learning science as his main stream. Thus, making us both paddling the same boat.
Before working on my own as a freelance process improvement consultant, I had been working in manufacturing department all the while. The people in the production or manufacturing were regarded as the pillars of the company, and many freshies (newbies) opted to work in the manufacturing department for better salary and future advancement. The corporation that I was with never had a president with sales or business background since it was incorporated. As such, I felt secured. Another fact that I wasn’t really involved in sales was because sales and marketing figures were all decided by the HQ (headquarters or head office) in Tokyo. We just produced in accordance to the figures given by the market representative from HQ. Furthermore, the local consumption was less that 5% of the total sales of the company so there not much of sales activities going on in the factory.
As competition got tougher and the emergence of stiff competitors from Taiwan and South Korea, the company that decided to mold all senior managers from developing countries into a all-rounded general managers knowledgeable in technology and in business. The corporation had also promoted a vice-president with business and sales background as its president for the first time in history of the corporation. It was a great surprise to every employee either in Japan or their overseas ventures. So, as to gear up the performance to the company for the new millennium all general managers from overseas ventures were brought to the executive training center in Japan to attend seminar organized by the HQ for a month; it was like a crash in-house course in MBA studies.
In one of the classes, I remembered very clearly a senior director of the sales and marketing division of the corporation emphasized that sales and marketing in like front wheel of a front wheel-driven cars, contradictory to the previous understanding that manufacturing was the power behind the wheels of the back wheel-driven cars. The analogy given was totally the opposite of my understanding that manufacturing push for sales was the norm of businesses to staying in business. The era of production push is fast losing its grip on how businesses are to be carried out nowadays. The only thing I had in my head was that I hope it’s was not too late for me to take sales and marketing seriously as the learning synapses of my brain were getting weaker.
I have to do what most good consultants would have done, that is, regardless of my weaken brain synapses I got to restructure my understanding on what business is all about today by getting totally involved in the business of creating customers rather than business of creating large inventory on products. As for my weak brain synapses, I guess by taking correct dosage of Eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA capsules daily I can revive the strength of my brain synapses….emm hope so…
You see, a sales person can be regarded as a preacher of a particular church who preaches to invite people to believe in his church. The general public are his prospects, and his job is to convert as many followers as possible attracting them with promises of good blessings and resurrection. Converts will be loyal if and only if they are held satisfied with the promises that were given to them through words and assurance of the preacher.
It’s a simple analogy of a salesperson and it gives me a vivid understand of what the sales department must do, that is to get as many prospects be converted into customers. Having able to convert them into customers is not the end yet; there is another area path that we have to take them in order to be loyal to us. This is the difficult part; turning the customers into clients who would come repeatedly for the products or services and consultations. At this juncture, your prospects were already converted to full pledge clients because they are held satisfied with the products or services that your had promised them earlier. How can sales persons do this?
Sales persons, being like a the front wheels of the front wheel-driven vehicles, have to get across what ever they had promised to the customers to the other functional groups of the organization, namely, designing, purchasing, manufacturing and assembly. The sales persons are also responsible to translate the requirements of the customers in meticulous details and they should be crystal-clear of what required by the customers. They must not leave it entire to the hand of these groups and must continuously coordinate the manufacturing processes of the products. At this stage no assumptions must be made by the sales persons because their customers are held satisfied with their promises. Many a time sale persons commit ‘unforced’ errors here which can cause serious damage to the company’s reputation. It is all because they make assumptions.
Let me repeat again the simple 3-step sales process that the sales person must adhere to in order to secure loyal clients.

1. Create customers by converting prospects into customers

2. Attract customers with promises that held them satisfied

3. Deliver promises by coordinating the efforts to produce the products or services, so as to convert customers into clients.

The wonder world of meetings and discussions - The Japanese style

It is just difficult for me to begin this post; and I don’t really know how and where to start despite of have a clear motive on what to write. I have many things in my head to write, but they just don’t line up in an organized manner. I think it’s better for me to might as well write what ever goes into my head. OK…You see, there are many kinds of meetings in a typical Japanese organization. In this blog post I’ll give a brief account on the daily meetings or discussions that are routinely conducted in a typical Japanese company. Let’s count how many types are there assuming that the working time of this hypothetical organization is the usual 9am to 5 pm:

1. At 8:55am a daily 5 minutes group assembly before work starts. I called it the morning exercise meeting. This meeting is normally conducted in factories or manufacturing plants where all employees will do simple rhythmic routine of stretching of the commonly used body muscles outside of their offices. Colleagues from the same office would group together and give morning greetings to each other.
The good point of this morning exercise meeting is employees are able to start work immediately from the time the siren sounded. They are in the alert mode as the exercise ends. This is because the early exercise that had given them the warming up to jump-start their work. So work begins fast. This meeting also encourages employees to come early by about 10 minutes before work. Through these morning exercise meetings, Japanese companies are gaining on the first few minutes of productive time from each worker. The number of productive hours gain is significant if we were to take the total sum per year.

2. From 9:00am to 9:15am a daily 15 minutes section morning meeting is conducted. All sections must carry out this morning meeting. This meeting is very ritualistic and is conducted while standing. Each member of the section will take turn to say a loud while pointing his/her index finger to the vision of the company; other will follow to recite the text. The ‘ritual’ of read the company’s vision can be at the beginning or at the end of the daily section meeting. An assistant to the section head will conduct the meeting, informing the section head and other member what are to be accomplished for the day.
The good point of this meeting is the tasks that must be accomplished for the day is known by every section member before actual work begins. Although everyone in the section has his/her separate duties and responsibilities; by the end of the day these duties can be summed up into one common goal. Shift workers are not exempted from holding this meeting. Shift managers must make sure that this meeting is conducted 15 minutes at the start of their shift work.

3. From 10am to 10:45am. A daily liaison meeting, an inter-department meeting where the supervisors or the key persons of the sections, lets say manufacturing and engineering departments, will meet to straighten things on issues relation to the on coming jobs between the departments. This meeting normally starts an hour after work begins, that is, 45 minutes after the section daily meeting. The supervisors of the said departments would have gotten all the facts to be discussed within the 45minutes period. The meeting will windup all issues or job requests so that jobs like maintenance can be smoothly carried out and jobs that are in the ‘no-man-land’ would be resolved and would have someone responsible. This meeting will take about 30 minutes.
The good point of this meeting is that communication between two or three departments are constantly maintained in high spirit so as everybody in the organization will be on the alert to carrying out and taking the correct jobs as planned. This type meeting will reduce if not eliminate entirely the sectionalism mindset, thus making way to have a fool-proof system or mistake-proof as miscommunication between members of the separate departments can surely be avoided.

5. From 10:00am to 11:00am., in larger organizations where 3 to 4 sections make up a department; a section head daily morning meeting is held with the department head. This meeting is scheduled at about the same time as the daily liaison meeting (3) and attended by the section heads of a department. Since this meeting will take slightly time longer time, about an hour or so, it is normally conducted in a meeting room with a fixed agenda every day with provisions to discuss possible solutions for problematic situations in a particular section. All daily figures from each section are recorded in a journal which serves as the official meeting minutes of the meeting. These figures are compared to the targeted department’s budgeted figures.
The good point of the meeting is daily achievements of the various sections are measured against the budgeted figures and thereafter estimations are made whether the monthly targets are within reached. These figures are analyzed and scrutinized daily; any discrepancies must be accompanied with objective evidences. Section heads, being university graduates, are expected to perform a higher degree of complex calculations as to forecast accurately against the budgeted figures.

6. From 11:00am onwards, department heads would make presentations to the factory manager. Department heads are third in rank below the president of a typical Japanese corporation. They are sometimes called as general managers. They are influential people in the factory working closely with the factory manager. Often factory manager will make consensus decisions with them on all matters related to factory operations. The daily encounters between department heads and the factory manager is usually one to one basis. However, factory manager has all the liberty to call on the department heads any anytime to discuss issue relating to the operation of the factory. Informal meetings or discussions can also be conducted over lunch at about twice a week where set-lunch boxes are brought in the meeting room and discussions can be on any factory matters that don’t necessarily have to be concluded with resolutions. These keep-in-view items are essential for near future factory expansion or production facilities for new products as preparation to anticipate the on going continuous improvements by marketing and the research and development departments.
The good point of the constant interaction between department heads and their boss is reflected in the comprehensiveness in analysis work to evaluate the action plans laid down by them daily. This daily checks is like steering your car in the busy streets of New York City, making all your senses to work to get good results in the operation of the factory.

7. From 4:45pm to 5:00pm. a daily 15 minutes meeting before work ends is conducted in a similar manner as the 15-minute section daily meeting (2). Here, members of the section may take turn to talk on the items that they have completed and on what to expect on the following day. The assistant to the section head makes record the presentations. Their presentations are short and concise.
The good point about this meeting is mainly for the reflection of each section member on his or her job well-done for the day. The voicing out of his/her accomplishments of the day has a positive impact on his/her mental alertness in preparation for tomorrow’s work

8. After 5:00pm. After work informal meetings and discussions would continue to about 9pm. Section heads, who are often busy formulating solutions on special projects with department head and even factory manager, apparently don’t have time to discuss daily matters with other members of his sections. This get together at company sponsored drinking clubs or pubs from 6pm to 9pm can serve the purpose of mending the cracks and breaks in the communication between him and other members of his section. The section head will use this daily drinking session to air out his dissatisfaction in the performance of the section or a member of his group; like wise the members can make comments on what he feels about his section head. Rarely, the members of other department would join in this 3-hour free talking unless they have had previous close ties with the section or the section head.

Maintaining constant communication to make the day’s efforts worth it is the result of meetings and discussions that are going on very strong in Japanese companies by employees to staying in close rapport to one another. Daily achievements are regarded as a step head towards attainment of the company’s goal; yes it is a process in making to attainment of the final goal. Their work expectations are dedicated for the well being of the group that they belong to; day in and day out. They show strong cohesiveness for more than 8 hours a day depending on each other to achieving what not be possible by an individual. This is the wonder world of participative management.

Positive thinking part 5: Believing

Yes, finally I am able to write the final part 5 of my positive thinking series. I really don’t expect it this early. The most wonderful aspect that I have learned in the course of writing this series is being more positive towards in life since the last 5 or 6 days. The best achievement of the week happened yesterday. I was able to save my client from losing his best customer by giving the right solutions for a process automation machine to qualify and meet the six sigma acceptance level of his client. This is something that I can proud of and it’s definitely a plus for my new consulting business.
Another pleasant thing happened was; just before I started writing this final part; I visited the Website of Michigan Technological University, USA, the school that I took my Bachelor in Chemical Engineering. I had never gone to the Website since I came back from there in 1983. That was really a long time ago. It was a long shot for me to do that because I don’t really think that I’ll be up there in Upper Michigan again. As I browsed the pages, I could get a page that allowed me to search for my name. Then, waaalla…. there was my name. I am very happy to be able to log in and would start to be in contact with my classmates.
I guess the best explanation on why I browsed the site was, for last one day or two my mind started working on this final part 5 which has to do with the reflection of one’s life. Throughout our life, we have met people from various walks of life whose habits and behaviors in one way or another had made what we are today. From them, we learned, filtered and stored all information about their habits and later used when and as situations demand.
Very often we can observe the similarity in verbal expressions of a father and son and even in the way they walk. These are habits that passed on in the family sometime down to few generations. If the habits were predominantly negative conscious efforts must be made to change or to improve. Schools, colleges and institutions are the places where positive habits can be learned. However, it would depend on the individual students themselves to learn what’s right and have a mindset to believing in the teachers.
To lead a life that is filled with contentment, we have to eliminate entirely the habits that are negative which can post as obstacles against our pursuit towards achieving success in all aspects of our life. We can bring about the change by believing in the people whom we look up to with great respect and admirations and let ourselves be immersed by the memories of these people who we believed has the positive characteristics that we desired.
There are two ways of learning and knowing the characteristics of these people. First, is by reflecting our life and think of the people closed to us who have made significant influence in our way of thinking. Second, is to the read repeatedly the bibliography of people who we admired. I mentioned repeatedly because it is important for us to grasp a very clear and comprehensive picture of their lives in our mind. Believing in them and believing in their deeds for humanity is of paramount importance. Failing to do so, all of our efforts and time will just be wasted away.
The first person whom I believed most was my mother. She was a friend, a teacher, a supervisor, and a mother to me. Until today my mental picture of how she dressed me up in my first school uniform for my first day of school is still very clear. My school uniform was always neat and starched pressed. And she would always slipped in 20cents (0.5 US cent at present forex rate) coin in my pocket. She never failed me, not a single day until I was big enough to manage on my own.
Went I was 16, my chemistry teacher whom through his understanding and patience made me believed in him that I went on studying in science and engineering. I was not his favorite student but I developed the belief that he could lead me by the hand to learning the subject that most students hate. I guess he might have known that we were students from a rural area and had acquired a teaching method that suited to our way of life. I would always ‘played back’ his style of teaching even after I left the high school. From there on I started to focus on what was right and believe in all my teachers and professors. One must give due respect to one’s teachers and have faith in them because through them we will come somebody of the same or higher status later in life. So the habit of believing in the people who were responsible to make us ‘grow’ is very important and this habit still runs deep in the eastern culture. By instilling this belief that my teachers were important to me when I was a student, I discovered that I would always be ready for classes most of the time and would not fail to impress them by submitting my complete assignments.
You see, when we believe in someone we will act as though we are that someone with meticulous details. This act of acquiring the action of an influential person can clearly be observed in a young Japanese manager who would imitate the moves of his boss when attending customer negotiations or important meetings in for his future undertakings to acquire the character of the boss that he believes in.
There are times in our lives we have to rely on the belief in our ability and trust our guts and judgments. When you compete in singles tennis game, for example, you are on your own against your opponent; decisions must be made and executed by you within a fraction of a second that can determine whether you or your opponent will merge as victorious. Your guts play important roles in deciding what shot to be taken. You can see that successful professional players have higher degree of self belief that they acquired through rigorous training, positive mental attitude and making wonderful passing shots.
I did try on two occasions to test my guts and my determinations. The first was to walk up Mount Fuji (3776 meters) in Japan in summer of 1990 with my International friends from Japan, Korea, Thailand and Singapore. We started from Tokyo in the morning and arrived at the 5th Station in the evening from there we paved our way up to reach the summit very early in the morning of the following day; and by the late evening we were back in Tokyo again. So, to complete this journey we had no time to get proper sleep for more than 36 hours. I was so exhausted that I slept for more than 12 hrs upon returning to my place.
It was a very slow journey up, trailing in long line and one could not be out of the line formation to make sure that no one stepped on a loose rock that could roll down and caused injuries to the people lining up at the rear. As I reached higher, the air was becoming thinner and to maintain my oxygen level in the body I grabbed two canisters of fresh air and take a breath or two of good air supply every time I felt weak. Some of my friends gave up because were too tired to continue due to lack of sleep. At the rest point (8th station), I had to make a decision to proceed or to give up and shortly after consulting my friends, I made a decision to continue the journey to the top. If I had decided to stop and take a rest, all I would get was just a little sleep in a crowded rest point with no fluffy mattress and pillows. We arrived at the summit at about 4am and were able to see the sun rising from the east. It was a beautiful sight indeed.
I could remember the challenge that I took together with other Hindu devotees to walk a distance to over 200 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur to a small town called Maran, situated in the north east region peninsular Malaysia, in 4days. It was an experience that I will not forget till the end of my life. The first few hours of day one was ok, but as the hours gone by, little by little my guts were being consumed by the heat from the sun, radiated heat from the surface of the tar road and pain in my feet. Mirages of me sitting at home watching TV with a glass of cool lemon tea started flashing in my head like a computer that be ‘consumed’ by Spyware or Malware. For me, I knew that the objective of this ‘game’ was to complete the whole distance in 4days but for the other Hindu participants this event was sacred in which their suffering would be blessed with good fortune later in life. So, it was no surprise that they were willing to endure the ‘punishment’ that they were receiving. After enjoying a healthy vegetarian dinner and good live musical performances on our first night, I decided to move on because I too had my purpose to complete my walk; passing through day two and the other two days; I kept my desire strong to complete the journey. When the walk ended, my feeling of achievement was so good and wonderful that it over came the pain of losing the whole nails from two toes of my left foot and swollen feet that lasted for about a month. From the experience, I could feel the hardship that my father experienced, when he was a teenage, escaping from the Japanese hard labor camp in Singapore walking more than two hundred kilometer back to his home town in northern Johor.
Now you see, going beyond our limit is crucial in developing our guts and determination which it not tested would not be tough to fight the challenges to become positive thinkers. Our guts should be subjected for endurance test after we acquired the self belief that we are capable to over come any unexpected obstacles. Weakness in a one’s determination is reflected when a person has never ending excuses about not getting any results.
Procrastination is the enemy that one has to fight till the end. It is the fruit of negative habits that have rooted in ones mind. These habits were either inherited or acquired later in life from sources of negative elements or both. You can see and understand better if you were to take the habit of smoking to present procrastination. Similarly, smoking habit is either acquired from internal family or from outside sources. The only effective and known weapon against procrastination is making definite decision and immediate actions. The act of taking fast actions in any problematic situations can instantly kills the habit of procrastination – just like spraying water into fire.
So, let’s start the design process of a wealthy life by first believing in others who shared your dreams now. Share the beliefs of friends and trusted associates who have achieved wealth (not necessarily money). Finally, have the faith in your pursuit of achieving the true sense of richness in life.