The Immense Value of your Entire Workforce
by June 18th, 2007 Patrick GreerLast week was a interesting week in regards to networking meetings I attended and learning radical, yet proven but often not used as much as they should principles. In a previous post I mentioned the concept of how to measure anything. The day after I heard that presentation at GSATC I attended a lunch of local business people in the organization, Professional Network Connections. The speaker during that lunch was Chuck Yorke of Charleston,SC who was representing his company, PeopleKaizen, which helps train and evaluates company using the Kaizen Methodology. This method is often used in the manufacturing sector as that is where it was first developed and made well known through the Toyota Corporation however a company does not have to restrict themselves to that box. As of this writing our company consists of three people but we plan on doubling that number in 2007 and who knows what 2008 will hold.
One of the topics we discussed at our staff meeting this morning was how we have a vision for our company and it was encouraging that our “animated ambassador”, Nancy Gentry feels she has “ownership” and a stake in our company. She loves what she does, shares our vision and is constantly offering creative ideas especially in the realm of marketing, graphic design and general business. It’s great to have her fresh viewpoint and we value her for her valuable contributions to the company. Her vision and ideas have not added a third to the present company but have instead exponentially helped us grow in many areas. I’m convinced this is the Kaizen philosophy on a small but significant scale.
Since the meeting I have shared correspondence with Chuck Yorke. I received an e-mail from him today in which he share an article he co-wrote for Industry Week. Chuck has also written a couple of books you may find of interest; Yes Innovation and All You’ve to do is Ask.
