Blog Archives
Dilbert Deals with Budgeting Issues
Have you ever seen your company play with budget numbers? Cut in one area but pay out of another area and name it something different?
Well the Pointy-Haired Boss is playing the game to perfection in this Dilbert Cartoon by Scott Adams.
My favorite part of the cartoon is the Pointy-Haired Boss saying, “If we reduce the training budget this year, we’ll get less next year.”
If I had a dollar for every time I have run up against that statement I would have enough to fund the Pointy-Haired Boss’ Contract Employee budget!
People shouldn’t be given less money just because they used less one year. That may have been good for that year but it may not be even close to what is needed for the next year based on the current circumstances.
In the end, it all comes out of the same pocket. Companies still don’t realize they are spending a lot of time managing minute details of their finances. Sometimes it is just best to take a step back and take a look at a bigger picture.
I try to imagine my own finances. There isn’t a detailed budget for every line item money could be spent on. Groceries, gas, cable, electric, etc… It is cut into bigger slices like Food/Entertainment. That could be eating out, groceries, going to the movies, etc… Each item is budgeted in detail. It is known this is the amount and how it is spent among the line items can vary from month-to-month.
Why can’t companies say this is how much will be spent on Research and Development. R&D can decide if that is on salaries, contractors, equipment, etc… But what the money they have is all the money they have so use it wisely.
Be smart with the money and always manage costs appropriately. In the end, what is best for the company needs to be done before anything else. In Dilbert’s case, it is paying the contract employee.
Counting Down the Top 10 Viewed Posts of 2011 – 10 Thru 6
2012 is now in full swing. Before 2011 is too far in the rear view mirror, I thought I would recap the Top 10 most viewed posts on Beyond Lean for 2011.
New followers of the blog can use this as an opportunity to read posts they might have not seen in the past. While, long time followers can use this as an opportunity to re-read some of the top viewed posts.
This post will count down the 10th thru 6th most viewed posts of 2011. Enjoy!
10. Dilbert Leading Transformation (July 2010) – Previous Year Ranked #3 – The Pointy-Haired Boss wants clear responsibilities and employee engagement.
9. Adding Inventory…A Good Thing? (March 2011) - Sometimes adding inventory might be the right thing to do based on your business. Take time to understand your business and its needs before deciding.
8. Making Leader Standard Work Visual (June 2011) – An example of a visual board from a group I worked with. The board makes the tasks and if they were completed by the managers visual.
7. Beyond Lean Joins Twitter (February 2011) – Beyond Lean announces the venture out onto Twitter.
6. Redbox Produced in the U.S. Using Lean (October 2010) – Previous Year Ranked #5 – News article about Redbox manufacturing using Lean to produce the Redbox dispensers close to it’s customers in the U.S.
My next post will count down the Top 5 viewed posts of 2011.
Dilbert Animated Cartoons
I hope everyone had a great Christmas yesterday. A little Dilbert treat for the holidays.
The Pointy-Haired Boss makes it so hard to get clear objectives and Dilbert is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Does any of this sound familiar? Clear objectives and misaligned values can cause a lot of confusion in an organization. The confusion can lead to nobody taking action. No action means no improvement. I hope your objectives for 2012 are clear.
Dilbert – Exceed Performance….Don’t!!!!!
I read Dilbert everyday. In fact, I downloaded an app for my Blackberry so I can read it anywhere. This one caught my eye a few weeks ago and thought I would share it.
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Does this sound familiar? Every year we sit in a chair with a blank stare as a boss tells us in order to get an Exceeds rating we need to go above and beyond. Only to have your boss see you go above and beyond and ask themselves, “Do they have too much time on their hands?” So then more work comes your way. The boss considers the extra work normal.
The next review comes. You go through the same process. Eventually, the employee becomes disengaged and dissatisfied with their job.
Another reason that performance reviews are waste in the system. Can you imagine the amount of time for continuous improvement that would be gained if your company eliminated performance reviews? Would it help or hurt employee engagement and satisfaction?
Dilbert – Eliminating Redundancies
I thought a great Dilbert cartoon would be just right for today. A fun break from the norm.
Have you ever started a project and then found out someone else is working on the same thing or something very similar? It can be very frustrating. How about Dilbert? Trying to eliminate redundancies only to find out there is redundancy.
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Dilbert has great intent because it is a good thing to eliminate waste. This is why alignment throughout the organization is so important, especially today. Resources within companies are too scarce to have people not aligned. Multiple employees working on the same thing is waste that companies can ill afford.
Have a great Memorial Day!
Dilbert Tackles Stand-up Meetings
A concept that is commonly referred to from a lean perspective is the stand-up meeting. Instead of sitting in a conference room where everyone can get comfortable and talk about things for hours……….and yes I mean hours, the stand-up meeting is a shorter, to the point meeting. During the stand-up meeting the group focuses on the problems and opportunities. Two benefits of standing up is people are more willing to be short and concise with their statements and people are more willing to go and directly observe the problem or opportunity they are discussing. When sitting it is even easier to problem solve in the conference room.
Below, Dogbert the Consultant suggests stand-up meetings. It may be for the wrong reasons, but I bet the meetings are shorter. Great depiction of misunderstanding a concept. Hilarious cartoon though.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Top Posts of 2010
The wonderful people at WordPress.com and Stats Helper Monkeys provide some great statistics over the year. I thought I would share the Top 5 Posts based on views from 2010.
If you saw them it might be a refresher. If you didn’t see the post I thought it might be good to share what seems to be the most popular ones.
These are the posts that got the most views in 2010.
5S in the Office September 2010
This is about applying 5S in the office. When is it appropriate to use and when is it not.
Comparing Lean Principles to the 14 Toyota Principles (Part 1) July 2010
This is the first of a three part series comparing the 5 Lean Principles from the Lean Learning Center to the 14 Toyota Principles.
Dilbert Leading Transformation July 2010
A funny Dilbert Cartoon from Scott Adams about how employees might react to a boss wanting employee engagement after years of not caring about the employees.
Walmart Changing Transportation Strategy June 2010
Comments on an article about Walmart changing their transportation strategy.
Redbox Produced In the U.S. Using Lean October 2010
Highlights of an article showing what Redbox is doing to use lean and keep the manufacturing in the U.S.
Dilbert – Six Sigma and Lean
This is the time of year where everyone is (or just finished) planning for the new year. One of the biggest topics, I hope, is what are the improvement strategies for the new year. The pointy-haired boss is tackling that same issue.
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I hope it wasn’t a waste of time at your company. Good luck in 2011!
Dilbert – Creating Less Fear to Experiment
I hope everyone had a great Turkey Day. I had plenty of food and and football with my family. It was great. Now it is time for a sanity break from the Black Friday shopping. What better way to do it then with Dilbert.
As lean leaders, we try to create an environment that rewards experimentation. With experimentation comes failure and we want people to feel comfortable with failing if they try something new, as long as they are learning from it. I saw this Dilbert strip a couple of weeks ago. It seemed to nail the struggle between traditonal mindsets and lean mindsets.
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Is this what you hear a lot at work? Does you manager say he wants you to try new things? Does your manager get upset when you try something new and it doesn’t work? This is such a big mindset to break. We have to provide them with experiences that show them it is alright to try something new and if it doesn’t work, that is OK.
Dilbert and Traditional Accounting
I was perusing some random older Dilbert comic strips and stumbled upon this one. What a great example of traditional accounting gone wrong.
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I couldn’t pass posting this Dilbert cartoon. How many times as lean change agents do you have work halted or the value not seen because of the way the accounting system calculates standard costing or budgeting? How many times have you made an improvement that required less people for that area. The people were reassigned (showing respect for people by not laying off due to improvement), but accounting system claims a labor savings. At the end of the year, management is asking where is all the savings that was promoted throughout the year? It’s not hitting the bottom line.
This is always one of my favorites to explain. How about you?
