The Friction Report 08.30.17

              Change, good or bad     08.30.17

                                                            by Don Ford

            Is change “Good or Bad”?     It is both!        Now that you know, “Change is both Good and Bad”, you should consider why, and then how to make change mostly good!

            Knowing the above, and after you have taken the time to consider why, I should not need to add anything to this article, but I will!

            Because some in management have never been on both sides, (hourly and salaried). If you have only been on one side, “salaried”, and if your view (knowledge) is based on that work history, along with a higher level of education, then you are likely going to make decisions, that for many reasons are the correct thing to do, but possibly the presentation of the (decision) change is done in less than a professional manner.

            It is not necessary for one to have worked as both a salaried and hourly employee, although it can be very helpful. It is however, necessary for one to fully consider how any change will affect all concerned. Most often, change is needed, and when implemented properly will benefit all. 

            If change will benefit all, then why is it both good and bad?

            Change is often resisted because:

1. We have always done it that way and it works!

2. There is a huge amount of change tossed at staff all at once!

3. The change is presented in a manner that does not properly explain the benefits to those involved!

           

            A few thoughts:

    *It is difficult to get around the, “we have always done it that way”, scenario. One suggestion would be, get a few of the hourly staff, you know the ones, they are unofficial leaders in the work areas, to buy into the change, and they will influence the others. If you do not do this, they will still influence the others, but not as you would want.

    *When possible, break the change up into small units. Implement a segment allowing staff to adjust to it before implementing the next portion.

    *Follow-up with the staff to understand their thoughts (concerns) about the change. Do not assume they understand or that they have made the change, get involved, and follow up!

    *Select the presenter carefully. Do not assume that a supervisor, department manager, general manager, or upper management will be proficient at presenting this information (change). Consider for a moment this statement at the beginning of an announcement, “the home office has told us that we will be changing the way we…”! To some hourly’s that statement means, they think they know how to do our work better than we do!   

    *Very important, proper presentation with understandable explanations! This is a must, and this is often the difference between staff accepting or rejecting the change. I understand that staff cannot reject the change, but they can disrupt, and or slow down, any change that they don’t fully understand, or agree with.   

Summary:

            Change is a part of life at work or at home.

            Change is accepted when there is a clear understanding of the need for the
            change.

            Proper presentation will provide a clear understanding.

            Get buy-in from some of the unofficial group leaders.

            Follow-up with staff to insure the change is taking place and any concerns.

Thank You

Don Ford   

Postscript

            Public speaking made easy.

            Mr. Don Wolf is one of the best at presenting information. I have observed Mr. Wolf in various groups and he is a master at presenting information at the level of the audience. He never talked down to anyone, he always spoke at their level.

        He is also very observant. Many years ago my wife and I had supper with Mr. Wolf and the board of directors. Mr. Wolf made his comments and then went around the table allowing each member of the board to comment. This was prior to the opening of the Waco Center. I was going to be the last to comment and to say I was nervous would be an understatement.

        When it was my turn to speak Mr. Wolf interrupted and ask if he could comment before I did. That was ok with me as I was super nervous. Mr. Wolf spoke for a couple minutes and I listened to what he was saying. I had completely calmed down and was not thinking about what I would say but what Mr. Wolf was saying. Mr. Wolf Stopped, looked at me and ask for my comments. I made a short statement and did not have time to get nervous.

  

Thanks

The Friction Report 08.24.17

              The Friction Report 08.24.17

                                                                   by Don Ford

                                                 ^{This article may not all be work related. I have fun writing and I believe, “if you can’t have fun don’t do it”! If you don’t like it, don’t read it!}

                I may very well be reporting on items that may or may not be fiction, yet may have friction included. May I explain? Fiction is made up stories, while Friction can be anything that causes irritation or that is not politically correct.

                Let us consider hiring the right person. Now I am not suggesting that those who are responsible for hiring should break any rules, but I have the feeling they have considered it.

                What are some things you can’t ask in an interview?

1. What is your religious affiliation?
2. Are you pregnant?
3. What is your political affiliation?
4. What is your race, color or ethnicity?
5. How old are you?
6. Are you disabled?
7. Are you married?
8. Do you have children or plan to?
9. Are you in debt?
10. Do you social drink or smoke?

                I assume there is a reason for not asking those questions, but truthfully only a couple would concern me. If a person is in debt you can expect to get calls from debtors wanting to talk with the employee. I never allowed a debtor to speak to an employee, I would take a message. The big one is when the IRS gets involved. The IRS can take most of a person’s check and bank accounts.

                On one occasion, your IRS attached a person’s check and the person received $50.00 of their wage per week, the rest went to your IRS. Another time an employee went to her bank to cash her pay check and the teller told her do not hand me that check, the IRS has frozen your account and if you give me the check you will not get anything in return.

                I can’t say that this was in my thoughts when I interviewed, but I can see it as a problem, if you hire a pregnant person. Yes, I said pregnant person and not woman, who knows, some men may be, “with child” now days! If you hire a pregnant person you will probably lose them in a few months, for a few months.

                When interviewing women for a position, one should not take the applicants looks into consideration. If the female applicant is very pretty and well portioned, the interviewer should not think,

“If she were hired, the guys in the department will all be watching her or following her around.

If she were hired, the females in the department will all be upset and probably talk about her! 

 If I hire that pretty female my production from the male and female employees will drop.” 

It is basically the same when hiring a good looking, well-proportioned man.

                The fear could be worse if the male or female were single, but you can’t ask if they are married. 

Is the solution; hire applicants who are not good looking, and appear to be older? 

Use good judgement when hiring!

Don Ford

Stretching is good 08.16.17

                Stretching is good for everyone. When you get out of bed in the morning what is one of the first things you do, stretch. Ever watch a dog or cat as they get up from sleeping, they stretch. Stretching is a natural thing and it is a good policy for all and should be done often.

            Stretching is something that should be done whether at work or at home. It will help prevent or at least minimize muscle strains.

            The company is responsible for employee safety, and proper stretching will improve the odds of employees not having a strain.

            So why do some people not stretch, or not stretch properly? Why do some people talk through the entire stretching program? Why are the management teams not requiring all to stretch properly? There are several reasons but I will not elaborate.

            I have been in the stretching programs at every center in the past. Most of the staff understand that stretching is good for them, and they stretch properly, but there are those who don’t seem to care and do not participate or, participate in a less than effective manner.

            What do I suggest?

            Announce that everyone is required to participate, and that non-participation will result in corrective action/s. The actions are the same as those for other violations.

            When those who are not properly participating, see that the company is serious, all will begin to stretch properly.

            Do not assume a one-time announcement of expectations will correct the situation, it only works while staff remember the expectations and results of not meeting expectations.

            If you are serious about the program, act serious.

Don Ford

Who do you hire 08.15.17

                This title says it all, “Who do you hire”? Possibly the title should have been, “Hire the right person for the job”! No one is perfect when it comes to hiring the right person, but a few of us did it fairly well.

                One time during my working days, I was told to hire a certain person. The position was a supervisor (known as department managers today), the person was not good in that position and should not have been hired.

                I was replacing a supervisor. I had narrowed the list down to two candidates. The HR person, at that time (Doug), came to Waco and interviewed both candidates. He did not like the candidate that I wanted, and he said, “I don’t think you will ever get him past Mike”! Mike was the president of the company. Instead of fighting for the one I thought was right. I gave in to the HR person. A big mistake!

                The supervisors “I picked”, were good!

                Hourly staff were our choice. By our choice, I mean my supervisors and me.     

                We were never told to hire a person from a particular race, sex, etc. We looked for people that we believed could do the job. I remember one year HR called and asked for a count of our staff by male, female, black, white, other minority, place of origin. We put the list together and sent it to HR.

                I received a call saying, Waco had the best mix of staff, and that will help us with the reports. She went on to say that one of the centers had a problem (did not have a good mix). I was never told to hire a minority or a person from a particular group, we hired the best person for the job.

                If you are the person who hires staff, hire the person that can do the job, not a person of a particular race, color, sex, education, etcetera.

                Your company should be productive at whatever it is they do. When you hire the right people you will get the right results. By the way, this includes all new hires, hourly and salaried, even upper management!

                When you make a mistake in hiring, terminate the mistake quickly!

                My team and I learned this the hard way. All new hires had a 90 day probationary period. A few times we would have a staff member who was not meeting production standards as we neared the 90 day period. There were occasions when we decided to keep a person we should not have. Our logic was, we will work with them, we believe they can do the work and will be productive. Dumb and wrong!

                When you keep someone past the probationary period, it is difficult to terminate them. You are then asked the question, if they were not at production during the probationary period, why did you keep them.

                We learned, maybe you will not need to learn, if you take this to heart!

Don Ford

Security 08.12.17

            At times every company gets hopped up on security for their buildings. This usually occurs after something bad happens at another company. These companies send out the rules that everyone is to follow. The rules are put in place and they work for a while. I believe, as time passes, some of those involved either forget or just don’t see the need of the safety procedures.

            When I visited the centers, I was aware that they kept the doors from the lobby into the office area locked, all had sign in and out sheets at the front office.

            These sign in and out sheets are good if there is an emergency and the building had to be evacuated. A roll call should be taken of all staff and visitors during any evacuation, and the information provided to the responding police or fire department.

            When I reviewed the main buildings they were not as secure as the office. Shipping and receiving doors are often open allowing easy access to the building.

            Employees of companies who deliver freight most often have access to the building, without a sign in or visitor badge.

            Outside repair personnel, often do not sign in, or have visitor badges.   

            Securing the entire building seems a waste of time to many, as they assume nothing bad will ever happen at their location.

            I suggest, either commit to security or not! In my opinion, securing part but not all is not acceptable.

             

            Put the rules, not guidelines but rules, in place

            See that everyone understands, the rules are for their safety, and why they are in place.

            Provide the training for those who must control the safety measures.          

            Someone, usually the safety coordinator, must review at least monthly, that the safety measures are being followed. 

            If a safety measure is not being followed, report it to your manager.

           

               When part of the business staff are following the safety measures, but others disregard them, there is a, “why should I effect”! Yes you understand this without me explaining it, but just in case someone needs an explanation, the why should I effect is simply, why should I follow the safety guide lines when others are not, no one cares!

            The above is boring to many, I can understand that. Let someone into the business with a weapon and if he / she hurts someone, then it will not be so boring.

Don Ford 

Suggestion not taken 08.10.17

                This article will also be about one of my visits to a center as a Logistics Manager. Most of the General Managers had some type of college degree, I did not. I had taken some college classes but did not have the degree. The fact that someone has a higher education than others, does not mean they have more knowledge, talent, or experience and it does not mean they will take a suggestion.

                At one of the Centers I had noticed the General Manager did not go out into the center very often, and when he did he was always in a hurry. He would get on a scooter, ride to the person or place he needed to be, take care of business and ride back to the office. He spent most of his time in his office.

                After seeing this several times I offered a suggestion that he should, at least once each day, take 30 minutes and walk out in the center to visit with staff. Each time he should go to a different part of the center. This would help him to understand what his staff were thinking. He could possibly answer questions for staff before they become problems.  This General Manager quickly told me, “That is not my way of doing things”. Maybe it should have been...

Just because one has an advanced degree, does not mean one has all the answers.

Don Ford

How do you do what you do 08.09.17

                During my last couple years working, I was considered a Logistics Manager. My duties were to visit and review each center. Occasionally I went to a center with specific instructions to review a particular practice or situation. Most often I went to a center with no specific area or situation to review. This was a good for me as I could take my time and observe various activities.

                I took photos to show situations to the Center General Manager and to the logistics people in the home office. I intentionally did not take photos of people, as I assumed that most people did not want to be in a report or power point for others to see.

                As a side note; after I left the company I received a comment from a person in the home office who said, “I recently reviewed one of those power points that you sent us, and those power points had a lot of good information in them”. I thought, they could have used that information when I was sending it to them.

                During most of my visits to Centers, I was looked at as a pain in their neck, and not as an outsider offering a different view of their operation and procedures. During a visit to the center in Mesquite Nevada, I was approached by a supervisor who asked, “How do you do what you do, how do you find the things that we don’t see?” 

                I explained that it is simple. I am not in a hurry! I went on to say, “Most visitors have an agenda and want to visit with as many staff as possible, and or make presentations to all staff”. I, on the other hand, am not trying to visit as many staff as possible, and I am not here to make presentations.

                He asked if I would show him how I do what I do. I said to this supervisor who is now known as a department manager, “You pick an aisle and we will together look for problems”. He picked an aisle and we walked into it.

                I always look for general cleanliness, has the area been swept, is there litter on the floor?

                We stopped and looked at the home locations for empty bins, mixed bins, dirty or damaged product, empty boxes left in the location.

                Thinking of safety, we considered the product and was there anything located improperly. Could staff properly access the product, in other words lift it properly and safely.

                Then we looked above the bins at overstock locations. Is the product stacked properly, were the pallets secured, was there anything overhead that appears as being unsafe? I often looked between the racks to see if there was any product that had fallen, or was there litter (trash) between the racks.

                In doing this type of inspection, one should never get in a hurry. Often you will see something that don’t seem right, and if you look at it from a different angle you may see something that needs to be corrected. Example; at a different center I saw a large roll of what appeared to be AstroTurf, unsecured on a pallet, on the top rack approximately 20 feet high.

                Another thing I would do was to look in places that most people would avoid. In between racks, in corners, behind things, in closets and especially in the areas where damaged product is stored. Returned goods area is often very telling of the overall operation.

                If you want to inspect something properly, take your time, stand and observe, do not hurry, do not assume. I would often ask staff why something was that way, and I often received interesting information. 

                Also, when I was reviewing locations for safety, I was also observing my surroundings. Even though I seem to be focused on one thing, I can still observe other things.

                Example: I was at a center and I was observing how the orders from the bin section were being placed on carts. The product was coming from the lower and upper bin sections. The product needed to be consolidated and then loaded onto carts which were used to transport the product to shipping. It happened to be winter and staff were dressed appropriately. I observed the person using a tugger to take the carts to shipping. He had a hooded sweat shirt on, with the hood up, his peripheral vision was obstructed. I saw the hoody as a safety concern! Operating equipment and not having a full field of vision is a safety concern.

                The hoody situation was reported to the center’s General Manager who said, “It was not a problem”. It was then reported to the corporate office who viewed it, and decided it was a safety concern.
  

                Inspectors should take their time and observe everything.

Don Ford