by Shawn | Jul 6, 2021 | Podcast
If you did something 35,000 times in one day, do you think it might fatigue you a little bit?
According to some sources, that’s how many conscious decisions we make each day.
Seems ridiculous at first. Because I think we tend to group decisions somehow and we only recognize decisions that are in a certain group.
For example, we made the decision of where to go for lunch. We decided what to wear today. We decided to punch it through the yellow light instead of trying to stop. We bought that thing on Amazon. We decided to move a deadline until Thursday, to let someone go, to accept a new client, to send that text.
You get it, right. If I asked you what decisions you made today, those are the types of ones that would tend to come to your mind.
But meanwhile, under the surface, there are thousands of decisions we make that don’t even cross our mind. I think some of them we make out of habit or out of common sense. Like, we didn’t run that red light or we brushed our teeth or we said hi to someone at the store. There are tons more like these that happen and that our brains have to deal with even if they make the decision rather effortlessly.
Either way, decision fatigue can become a real thing. When we find that we need to be able to make a really big decision, our brains might just be so worn out from all the other decisions that they have trouble processing or carrying that load.
I think this shows up in our workplaces as well. And certainly there are decisions that your people will have to make every day that there’s just no getting around.
But I believe there are plenty of areas where we can help reduce decision making in order to help our team be mentally ready to make wiser bigger decisions.
One way can be to make sure that work flows and processes have all the information needed and are eliminating as much ambiguity as possible. It starts at the question, basically. If something is clear enough, it reduces or eliminates the questions and thus does the same for the decisions.
If you think about all the micro decisions that we may be asking the people in our organizations to make without thinking about it, we’re adding to this decision fatigue, leading to slow downs in projects and lack of efficiency as brains just get overloaded.
So the easiest way you can start to dig into this is to sit down with some people on your team and begin to brainstorm on this idea. What clarity could you add to instructions or what choices could be taken away that wouldn’t have a negative impact but could little by little reduce the number of decisions your people have to make each day.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. You can shoot me an email at shawn@shawnwashburn.com
And if you want help with the decision on whether to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes, I’ll help you out and say “yes you should!”. I’d love it you’d take a minute to do that. You can head to shawnwashburn.com/apple to take you right there. Thanks for spending some time today to help you and your business thrive.
by Shawn | Jul 5, 2021 | Podcast
We’ll rejoin our ABC’s of Engineering Your Business Tomorrow, but I wanted to just take a few minutes as we finish out our 4th of July weekend here in the U.S. to say how much I appreciate the freedoms we have here and those that have sacrificed to give them to us.
It was a beautiful weekend here in Cleveland and everywhere the last few days you could see red, white and blue, parades, cookouts, fireworks, gatherings and people enjoying themselves.
It just reminded me that freedom is such a funny thing. The longer it’s been since you weren’t free (or if you never known a time that you weren’t free), it’s hard to really grasp and appreciate the feeling of being free.
For an inmate who finally smells the air outside of a prison he has spent the last ten years in, he feels it.
For those who have been freed of a debt that was owed, they feel it.
For those who have to come America to escape oppression in their own country, they feel it.
I realize too that there are still those for whom freedom still feels out of reach in one way or another.
We need to collectively work to not only fight for the freedoms we personally enjoy but also for those that still are fighting for their own freedoms.
I hope you were able to enjoy some of what makes the 4th of July special here in the States and that we can collectively honor all who have gone before us who have paved the way to buy those freedoms by continuing to recognize and fight for them today.
Join back in tomorrow as we dig into the topic of Decisions and how decision fatigue can be such a drain on your team and their efficiency. Catch you tomorrow.
If you’ve been enjoying the podcast and haven’t left an Apple Podcasts or iTunes review, I’d love it you’d take a minute to do that. You can head to shawnwashburn.com/apple to take you right there. Thanks for spending some time today to help you and your business thrive.
by Shawn | Jul 2, 2021 | Podcast
We’re taking a break from our ABCs of EYB series today to do another Ode to the Office.
If you’ve ever been involved with automating anything, especially anything physical like a machine or process, then this one is for you. I tried to shed some light on both the dream of automating and the reality of automating.
For those who haven’t walked this road, the dream of automation is a machine or self-contained process that will magically drop in, do everything 10x faster with 10x better quality and save the day.
The reality is that, yes, that can be true at times, but it will also bring with it it’s own set of issues to deal with as everything is worked out. It just happens. As long as everyone knows that, then it can be a wonderful thing.
Now, I give you Ode to Automation
Ode to Automation
Robots, conveyors, sensors and more
Are all there assembled right there on your floor
You’ve waited for months for this day to arrive
And now all that you’ve dreamed of is coming to life
You plug in the cord and you push the start button
And then, hmmm, scratch your head as the thing just does nothin’
Puzzled, your team tries to find out the problem
Your hopes that were high quickly sink to the bottom
Then all of a sudden it begins to start moving
Your team’s whole morale is now quickly improving
The grippers and slides are now doing their thing
As the servos and cameras are all in full swing
You smile as you look at this sweet automation
Tomorrow you plan to take your long vacation
But just as your mind is almost to the beach
You hear a loud whoomp and a thunk and a screech
“That didn’t sound good”, you hear somebody mutter
“It was running so well, like a knife through some butter”
But welcome to life now with your new machine…
Either scratching your head or then living the dream
If you’ve been enjoying the podcast and haven’t left an Apple Podcasts or iTunes review, I’d love it you’d take a minute to do that. You can head to shawnwashburn.com/apple to take you right there. Thanks for spending some time today to help you and your business thrive.
![075: C is for Curiosity [ABC’s of EYB]](https://shawnwashburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/075-c-is-for-curiosity-abc-s-of-eyb_thumbnail.png)
by Shawn | Jul 1, 2021 | Podcast
So far, we’ve covered the importance of providing your people Access to what they need and the value of aiming for Better in your organization in incremental ways and how that can often succeed when other things fail.
For all of my fellow fans of the TV show The Office, it took everything I had to not want to title this “C is for suspension”. If you aren’t familiar with the show, just ignore that. But if you are, I’m sure you can see Kevin saying that. Anyway…
Today, with the letter C we’re going to talk about one of my favorite topics: Curiosity.
I’ve always loved the power of Curiosity and the impact it can make on the world around those who are curious.
As skill sets go, being naturally curious is up there because it flows out into so many aspects of business.
And it doesn’t cost anything to learn to be more curious. Just learn to ask more and better questions, to dig deeper, to wonder more about the world and how it works, etc.
When your team members are curious, they will give the extra effort to try to solve problems on their own. They will lift up the rocks in your organization and look underneath them, pull back the curtains and see the inner workings.
Curious people see things that others don’t… simply because they are looking. They are ALWAYS looking.
Their eyes catch the details. They notice why the website is buggy, why the parts aren’t coming out right, why the customer isn’t responding to that email.
They aren’t OK with answers like “that’s how we’ve always done it”, “that’s just what the procedure says” and “that’s not an option”.
They ask the question that we grew up asking: Why.
And they ask it early and often. Why is their constant companion. They need to know the background, collect all the data, talk to all the people.
Curious people may step on toes, ruffle feathers and stir the pot. But it’s usually because they are growth-minded and want to make things better.
Want to help your organization thrive?
Hire naturally curious people. Encourage and empower the people you have to be curious. And learn to be more curious yourself. When people are around others who are more curious, it will often rub off on them. Sometimes they just need someone to model what curious thinking and questions look like.
Well, I could talk about curiosity for hours… but I won’t.
Tomorrow we jump into another great topic in our ABC’s of Engineering Your Business.
Curious? Stop back tomorrow to find out more.
If you’ve been enjoying the podcast and haven’t left an Apple Podcasts or iTunes review, I’d love it you’d take a minute to do that. You can head to shawnwashburn.com/apple to take you right there. Thanks for spending some time today to help you and your business thrive.
![074: B is for Better [ABC’s of EYB]](https://shawnwashburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/074-b-is-for-better-abc-s-of-eyb_thumbnail.png)
by Shawn | Jun 30, 2021 | Podcast
Yesterday we started our new series talking about how important it is to give your people Access to the information, tools and people that they need to complete their task or project.
Today, we’re going to talk about Better
In the manufacturing world there is a concept known as Continuous Improvement. It is often tied to a Japanese word that means the same called kaizen.
I like the concept because it is easy to apply.
Should you have goals? Yes.
Should you set the bar high? Sure.
Will unforseen events come along that will try to highjack your progress? You bet.
And that’s where a lot of projects come to a halt or just end prematurely. Because it’s clear that the goal can’t be achieved and we should cut our losses or there’s a manpower issue or something else has taken priority.
But today isn’t about perfect. Today is about Better.
How can you make that process better today? How can you improve that workspace today?
How can you level-up your customer experience today?
How can you value your people a little more today?
Better looks at incremental change that can build over time. Kind of like interest.
Goals are still good and should be set.
But when everything goes downhill, better is still there and reachable.
And if you can build a culture that knows the value of better, you and your team will begin to look at things differently.
You’ll see opportunities to improve that you didn’t think would make a difference before. Because you’re not looking for perfect. You’re looking for better.
If you have kids, you understand that they change slowly over time. You see them a lot and you may not notice those changes. But when their aunt Helen comes by and hasn’t seen them for months, she just can’t believe how much they’ve grown.
And it’ll be the same when aunt Helen visits your business if you begin to make those incremental changes along the way.
Make aunt Helen proud and begin to establish a culture that values better and continuous improvement. You’ll be glad you did… and hopefully aunt Helen won’t pinch your cheeks this time.
If you’ve been enjoying the podcast and haven’t left an Apple Podcasts or iTunes review, I’d love it you’d take a minute to do that. You can head to shawnwashburn.com/apple to take you right there. Thanks for spending some time today to help you and your business thrive.
