As I’m settling into my desk and sipping on my hot coffee this morning I find my to-do list and mentally prepare for a game plan to get things done this week. I look to my calendar and see that Thanksgiving is a week away. A week away?? Where has the time gone?! In any case I remind myself that every year it comes as a surprise to me – even though I always know it’s coming. It always seems to creep up on me when I’m the most busy. I sigh out loud thinking about the work I’ll have to catch up on. The thoughts of working through my lunch hour and working late into the evenings sink in as I shift around in my office chair. Those thoughts alone make me feel tired. For a moment. Then, a thought lifts me up. How great does it feel to get back to work after a refreshing long weekend? Oh yes, there are other stressors – the ones that derive from family members that drive you crazy during the chaos of Thanksgiving. But what about the moments during it all? The release of laughter at the table when someone tells an embarrassing story about you? Or the sweet taste of honey-glazed ham that your loved one cooks just right? Or the fireplace crackling over the chatter that fills the room?

That brought me back to thinking about how you should find things that you’re thankful for in the workplace – even if you’ve got a lot on your to-do list. What are the things that put a smile on your face while you’re at work? What drives you to hustle for your team? What are the things that have kept you going and keep you motivated to be the best you can be at your job?

This morning I have come up with 5 reasons to be thankful for your team – and I’ve given a personal account of what that has meant for me and my experiences with EAC Product Development Solutions.

1. A Team That Gives Back

I am so grateful that I am a part of a team that cares about giving back. From the moment I started here I knew it was going to be a great fit. There is a very active presence in the volunteering department. I immediately wanted to get involved. The first month I started, I organized our team to volunteer with Feed My Starving Children for the late part of an afternoon. You get together in groups at each station and work together to pack food into boxes- and as a challenge, you’re timed and it becomes a race to see which group can pack the most food within the timeframe. It’s the perfect team building exercise as well as a great way to give back to those that are in need of food around the world. If you’ve never done this with your team, I strongly suggest doing so.

I’ve also had a few conversations with some team members who felt strongly about the Men’s Health movement so our team got together and launched a Movember project. We currently have a lot of hairy men in the office right now – all of whom are behind a good cause of course. The Movember Foundation lets individuals and teams raise funds for prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide awareness – all in hopes of stopping men from dying too young. We’ve come together as a team to raise funds that many of us are truly passionate about.

Please donate to our team! https://moteam.co/eac-no-shave-ember

2. A Work Culture That Aligns With Your Values

The first week I started at EAC, our team had a company BBQ potluck where everyone brought something to pitch in for an afternoon lunch. That was where I got to meet a lot of people who work remotely or are just in different corners of the office. So I got to see faces that I normally wouldn’t run into just because of a simple, yet impactful afternoon BBQ.

When football season crept up there was a lot of talk about a fantasy football league around the office for people who wanted to participate. When the fall season peaked, one of our engineers brought in their garden squash to share with everyone. There are plans to have a ‘Teams-giving’ next week to celebrate Thanksgiving in the office. When you run into a coworker, there is more than just work conversation – there is real value in that conversation because your work culture is fun.

Another great example of how fun the work culture is at EAC is the fact that we celebrate people. In our weekly meetings we celebrate work anniversaries and birthdays – and if that person works in the same office – guess what? We go out for lunch to celebrate them. Work for a company that cares about you and celebrates you.

3. Individual Strengths

I can honestly say that everyone that I have met from our company has a strong work ethic. Everyone is proud of their work and wants to do well at their job. It is the little things that each individual does that makes the whole team successful in the end. What is that saying again? Oh yeah – you are only as strong as your weakest link. When everyone works hard to accomplish their goals then the ultimate goal on top is just that much closer to being managed.

So how do we make sure that each individual is on track to meet their goals? We check in on them. And I’m not talking about just one-on-ones when you can talk about your individual progress. We check in on each other. You know – as friends – no, as humans do from time to time. Mental health is important in the workplace too. We even started doing wall-sits, squats, and planks to keep our physical health in check. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had someone just come up and just ask how I’m doing or just ask what I’m up to out of curiosity. We treat each other like family here which takes me to my next point.

4. Small Wins

I’ve learned not to ignore the small wins. Every day you put forth a lot of effort to get things done. Some days you accomplish more than others. But all efforts mean that you care about your job and that you are willing to do what needs to be done – even if it may not mean more money or more praise. There are always opportunities around the office that may not be on your priority list but if you go out of your way to tend to them, then it can give you a solid reward in the end. So when you’re checking tasks off your to-do list, do not forget to feel good about checking the small tasks off too.

5. One Mission, One Message

I noticed right away in my interview process was that not only was I interviewed with the Marketing Department but I was also interviewed with the Sales Department as well. I had a professor in college who told me repeatedly that in marketing you need to have your sales department on the same page as you or you’ll never meet your goals. He said that it sounds so obvious but you would not believe how often it happens because people get so buried in their own work that they forget to work as a team. It was very clear from the interview process that EAC knew this and that the collaboration between departments was vital to their success. I immediately had thought of what my professor had said and I decided that this company was on the right track.

After being with the company for only four months I can say that I work with sales on a weekly basis – if not daily. It is so important to have the right message – whatever that may mean to your company. This not only helps with consistency but it helps with your company branding too.

These 5 reasons are what have helped me through the busy and stressful times and remind me that I’m working for a great company. What are the things in the office that you’re thankful for?

There are a lot of things in life we as humans seem to put on autopilot. We seem to do things the same way, around the same time, even sometimes in the same place. Despite our best efforts to be different, we find ourselves thinking, behaving, and feeling the same way we did yesterday and the even days, months, and years before that. It’s time to challenge your ways.

Look at the way you do things for instance.

If you’re anything like me, you have routines for almost everything you do, from the time you wake up to the time you go to work. We often get so accustomed to how we do things, finding the reasons why we do them becomes a challenge. It is easy to overlook our other options if we fail to recognize the benefits of change. It is this very mindset that holds us, and the rest of the world from reaching our full potential.

Aside from personally challenging our ways, we should also be challenging our business processes.

It is my belief that companies, more than individuals, tend to do what they’ve always done. We become comfortable in the systems we know, the methods we have created, and the processes we have established. This is when we fail to recognize opportunity in organizational change.

Although the concept of change can be frightening for some the reality is, success doesn’t originate within our comfort zones.

If we never reevaluate or challenge the way we do things, how would we ever get better? I believe the answer is, we wouldn’t. As the quote often attributed to Albert Einstein states, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

We must acknowledge our propensity to build repetitive cycles in order to successfully grow our businesses, change and be different. After all, change is the vital element for both success and survival.

With the rapid advancement of technology our world is changing more than ever.

This means our organizations must quickly change, too. It is crucial that we optimize our business practices by looking at our operations and leveraging the resources we use to get things done. In order to grow and prosper, we must recognize our patterns and learn how to change them.

Taking an engineering department for example, your in-house staff may know your business or a particular CAD (Computer Aided Design) package, but are they experts at prototyping, simulation, electronics, and new materials? This is example is where utilizing a fresh perspective could more than benefit your company.

Now look at the systems your company currently depends on.

The methods by which you currently transfer documents, communicate through departments, and transmit information. These are the systems we ultimately forget to challenge. As we become comfortable in our ways, we forget our competitors might be challenging theirs. You might think to yourself.., ‘So what if our department communication may not be the most efficient process’ , but what if speeding up communication would bring your cost down by up to 10 percent! What if your communication systems boosted your competitive advantage, and ultimately accelerated your time to market? These everyday, repetitive processes are what I am challenging you to re-think.

Organizations benefit from change.

A change within an organization results in new ways of looking at customer needs, new ways of delivering customer service, new ways of strengthening customer interactions and new products that might attract new markets. But what many fail to realize is that many of these are driven from internal practices.

If you can imagine the kind of businesses that will all be able to help you improve the products you’re making, then you can see a world where people are able to find a lot more success.

Change is what allows us to explore new opportunities, learn new skills and exercise our creativity.

If nothing else, I challenge you to be fearless in the pursuit of what sets you and your solutions apart. I challenge you to re-think your ways and become the best you can be.

Assessments help organizations avert risk

Today’s post is a blog entry we swiped from Bettina Giemsa and the PTC Community blog. Not only is it a great topic, she also references our good friend and customer Doug Hippe from Extreme Tool and Engineering.

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“Vacation? No, thanks. I am too busy.”

Sounds familiar?

There are a lot of articles out there on what it means to be a team player. They could be from motivational speakers, to well-educated authors, to successful business people. Today, I would like to look to one of my best sources for learning life lessons: my kids, specifically my youngest son in this case.

At the time my son was 8, almost 9. We were having him try various youth sports. One of which was youth football. The age group of his team was 9 and 10 year olds. He was not the smallest kid on the team, but he was one of the youngest and his size reflected that.

It was not long into the session when the coach realized they needed a better center. The current one was having trouble getting the ball into the quarterback’s hands without dropping the ball. The next few practices the coach had various kids try the position. Sure enough, my son, one of the smallest on the team, was good at it.  So, they started playing him as center.

One day (not long after my son started to play this position) he came to me and said that playing this position was hard. He knew it was an important position, and even at his age he felt the pressure. He knew his teammates were counting on him to play his position well…without dropping the ball. He was doing something “outside of his comfort zone”. I told him to just do his best. As long as he knew he had tried his best, no matter what the outcome, he did not have to feel bad. He could hold his head up and be proud of his effort. Slightly to my surprise, that’s exactly what he did. He consistently got the ball in the quarterback’s hands, and still got right up to block the defensive player across the line from them. He even managed the huddle. It was easy to see he was trying his best every time he was on the field. It was not long into the season before he was made captain of his team.

Thinking back on it one day, it occurred to me that this was a very good example of what it means to be a team player. When you’re part of a team, you have to be responsible for your position. You have to play your position to the best of your ability or your entire team suffers. You have to be willing to go outside your comfort zone. If your team has enough players doing this same thing, your team will win. This can easily be related to your role at any company: you are part of a team and your team needs everyone to perform their position to the best of their ability to be able to be successful. Sometimes that means working outside of your comfort zone.

Another part of being on a team is being able to rely on your teammates for help. As I said, my son was one of the youngest on the team, and so one of the smallest. There were times when across the line from him was a kid much bigger than him. Much our dismay, my son still took his role seriously and did his best to block these big kids. But, at times it was just too much for him. The coach would quickly see this, and started having one of the other linemen start to double team my son’s opponent. This worked very well. Not only did it help my son, but the entire team.

This too can be related back to being part of a company today. If you are in a situation that is more than just outside your comfort zone, but outside you experience or ability level, you should ask for help. It is more important to keep a customer happy, or not lose a sale, or not miss a deadline, than it is for you to worry about asking for help. Your ability to ask for help, and having coworkers willing to help others, are a key factor to any successful company.

My son’s team had a winning season that year. Not just because of my son, but because he was not the only one on the team that played his position to the best of his ability. As well has having many kids that were also willing to help other teammates when needed. And…yes…this is a true story.

Sometime the best lessons in life don’t come from those motivational speakers or highly educated authors. Sometimes you just need to look to children to see how we should live our professional and personal lives.

The evolution of management was kicked off during the industrial revolution with the introduction of Taylorism. Frederick Winslow Taylor was responsible for designing the production lines for Henry Ford, and for establishing a management approach for physical labor. His approach focused on time and motion studies to improve manufacturing efficiency. His management approach broke the work down into constituent parts.

1. Responsibility: Deciding what work to do is the role of Management.
2. Knowledge: Deciding how to do the work is the role of an Expert.
3. Action: The person doing the actual work.

This top down, command-and-control structure is the foundation of how we (western organizations) still manage today, a whopping 130 years later.

In WWII, when all of the able bodied men went to war, everyone else entered the manufacturing workforce which sparked a change in the evolution of management. The Army was concerned that these inexperienced manufacturers would not be able to adequately support the resupply of soldiers. Thus, a new idea was introduced to manufacturing: Training Within Industry (TWI).

In TWI, knowledge leaders or experts would train a set of trainers and they would in turn train the workforce. The army collaborated with manufacturers to ensure that new workers operated with optimal productivity. One aspect of this new approach was that if a worker had a better idea of how to do something, management listened. It was the first time that the people actually doing the work were able to provide feedback on the process.

When the soldiers returned from the war, management reverted back to the way it operated before the war, i.e., pure Taylorism. Western business management, including product development has largely advance along this historical path using Taylorism as the basis for management.

Meanwhile, General MacArthur brought TWI and its management concepts adopted during WWII to post-war Japan. At the same time, Deming was working for the army in Japan and taught practices developed at Bell Labs to the Japanese.  Among the practices was PDCA, since dubbed the Deming Cycle. PDCA – Plan, Do, Check, Act – is the primary differentiator between our Taylorism based management approach and the Japanese management approach.

With Taylorism, there is no place for feedback as the people actually doing the work are not in a position to tell the expert what to change. It is the responsibility of the expert to discover the single best way of doing something. In contrast, it is the people who do the work that are the experts in the Japanese approach to product development.