Business Problems Solved Podcast

Lee outlines the 3 factors that can lead to the success of any change team within an organisation. He strongly suggests you apply the PIE ; Performance, Image and Exposure. If resistance is something you face, these three factors can positively affect the efficiency of your team. KEY TAKEAWAYS This is the main body of what you do, done excellently. It is the fundamental of career success and effectiveness, be good at what you do. Do people think of you positively and accept you as a change maker? Do they understand your role and your abilities? How many people know the change team? How many can see the impact the change team is having? Are your senior leaders aware of your value and effectiveness? These three factors can reduce resistance to any change you effect. BEST MOMENTS ‘Performance is 10% of this overall pie. Doing what you say you’re going to do and your level of performance.’   ‘What can you do to try to build a stronger image? Do you have a brand? Do you have a logo? Do people understand what it is that you do?’ ‘As a leader of a change team it is arguably your role to maximise the level of exposure that the team get with the senior leaders and other departments.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast          ABOUT THE HOST   For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.   CONTACT METHOD   You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

Lee chats internationally! This episodes guest is Nicholas Faribeau, originally from France but currently resident in Canada, who helps people discover their voice by matching their mindset so the two are in sync, clear and understandable. Often peoples voice, the way they present themselves, is confused because we don’t understand how we say things rather than what we say. Nicholas aims to put this right to improve engagement and communication. KEY TAKEAWAYS How you speak as opposed to the words you say is important to psychologically engage with our audience. When we communicate we tend to speak quickly to transfer information. However, when you bear in mind that we only hear about 10% of what is said to us, the importance of how we speak and making our speech memorable becomes prevalent. Now we work from home and with modern telecommunications, voice only is often adopted, so clarity, tone and impression are even more important. The first word you speak, the first tone you take determines who you are. The initial ten seconds of communication is key. BEST MOMENTS ‘I’ve been on two stand up comedy courses. Not because I wanted to be a stand up comedian but I believe that comedians help people feel something emotionally far quicker than most other professions.’ – Lee ‘For example for me it’s more difficult for me to understand an English song because I’m French, buts it’s easy to remember the melody of the music and the tone of the voice of the musician.’ – Nicholas ‘They call me a voice designer because it’s like design your voice, your communication, design your image. Voice designer, it’s a nice word to express myself.’ - Nicholas VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast          ABOUT THE HOST   For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.   CONTACT METHOD   You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

There is so much conflicting or contradictory advice on this subject. Lee brainstorms to get to the bottom of this primary dilemma.     KEY TAKEAWAYS If you consider marketing, people recommend that you start small and target your messaging to a niche target, but you need to start big with your target vision. When starting with the end goal in mind the start may seem big, but can be broken down into smaller challenges, but most problems seem huge at the beginning. If you're leading change, think about the tiny actions you and the people you are helping need to take to get to their goal.  If you do go small quickly it is easier to learn from the actions you have taken because you are experimenting as you go. It is more difficult to unpick a complex, large, detailed task.   BEST MOMENTS ‘Is it best to be a mile wide and an inch deep or is it best to be an inch wide and a mile deep?’ ‘I think there is something about starting big and starting small because you need to start big on where you're trying to get to, what it is that you’re trying to overcome.’ ‘When we think about leaders and leadership, we train people on the fundamentals of the process of being a leader, the back to work interviews, the personal development plans, setting appraisals, but what about the small actions that are required for being a leader?’ ‘If you wanted to start flossing your teeth you should make sure that the floss is next to your toothbrush because then you’re stacking it on top of a pre existing habit.’   VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast            ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.   CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

Today Lee has the immense pleasure of interviewing much lauded author of ‘The Balance of Excellence’ Carl Klemm. The former head of Toyota plants shares his story and wisdom on manufacturing management culture, success and failure, leadership, coaching, writing, team structure, training good habits and learning.    KEY TAKEAWAYS Carl started off as a young apprentice with Vauxhall Motors and continued with them for 23 years ending up as a general manager in charge of plant quality. He then took up a post as General Manager for Quality Assurance with Toyota.  He started his own management consultancy sharing his wealth of knowledge he has gathered over so many years in the motor manufacturing industry.  The shift between GM and Toyota was a culture shock. GM was a competitive, non cooperative command and control structure. Toyota, however, was a collaborative, planning, teamwork structure. A real issue for organisations effecting change is if the upper management or CEO does not want to accept the changes to their own job. There has to be a steady flow throughout the power structure.  Top management is busy. They don’t have any spare time so are trained for fast decisions. Persuading them to consider the problem at the point of problem is difficult so get them to do it at least 12 times and they will adopt it as a habit. Learning is forever changing and evolving due to the nature of the journey.    BEST MOMENTS ‘And the President only asked one question, he asked “Why do you want to join Toyota” and I said “I spent four years studying Toyota for GM, including the plant in Fremont in California. Then I came back and tried to implement it and I failed miserably. But I want to succeed so I want to join and I want to learn how its done and then I want to share it.”’ - Carl ‘Coming from being a very successful General Manager in GM to a General Manager in Toyota but realising very quickly that I was an apprentice was really hard to swallow.’ -Carl ‘There is no other way, actually, than doing it. That’s why my first sentence is “I swore never to write this book.” - Carl  ‘I’m working with a national organisation at the minute and I had no influence on where they started and the pilot location, and we are at a point now where we’ve created a rhythm and a communication flow within a single location. What it has highlighted is that before I work with them they’ll have a monthly meeting structure, but then when you introduce a daily meeting structure and its feeding into a monthly meeting structure there’s a huge disconnect there.’ – Lee ‘I’ve written it from a selfish point of view to help me to explain to people, especially top management people, what it is we are talking about and how it all fits together and which bit of it we are working on now.’ - Carl   VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast            ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.   CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

Language can have positive or negative connotations depending on context and our own personal feelings and experiences, culture and society. Lee has four examples of words that have negative definitions in the world of change and leadership ; failure, problems, conflict and challenge.    KEY TAKEAWAYS If we are all heading in the same direction and we have the same destination these four words do not have to be negative. It is a safer and better environment if we have more of them, a more open, communicative, accepting and encouraging environment. Failure means that you’ve tried something. This is a positive thing as the more tasks or goals attempted the better. Failure needs to be encouraged , not chastised, belittled or singled out. The more problems we can find the more beneficial our journey towards our goal is. Problems solved are systems perfected. Hidden problems continue to be just problems.  Conflict over differing ideas about how to reach the destination all are pulling towards are useful. Two ideas are always better than one and conflict is part of perfecting methods. A fear of being challenged keeps us from creating an open environment with failure, problems and conflict. If you are challenged then that’s an opportunity for you to learn about your approach.    BEST MOMENTS ‘We are trying to remove problems. We are trying to remove opportunities for failure. But I think we need to encourage more of it.’ ‘We are trained in improvement. We are trying problem solving. We prefer problems not to happen and not to occur. But, if we are finding problems, then that means that there are things in our way getting towards where we are trying to get.’   ‘Conflict is just a difference of opinion. And if that opinion is something about the journey or destination then conflict is a positive thing, because you're going to create a better solution or a better outcome because you’ve got two people with two different opinions that can be spoken about openly.’  ‘Be open to being challenged. How can you create, within yourself, more comfort about being challenged? I work with a lot of leaders and they don’t being asked questions where they don’t know the answer because of the challenge and the conflict that might arise.’    VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast            ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.   CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

If you want to form new positive habits you have to have the intensity, or strength of reason, and frequency to retrain your neural pathways to adopt them. Lee’s consultancy ‘Get Knowledge’ uses this method to encourage people to create a strong collective reason through a jointly owned vision and this is the intensity component of habit forming. Identified positive behaviours are then coached consistently, with frequency, to become habitual.    KEY TAKEAWAYS Lee has developed his own positive habits in relation to his podcasts due to intensity and frequency.  Understand your reasons for implementing a change. Bring people on board with your vision. Have clarity and ‘make it real with look, sound and feel.’  Be consistent with your message and disciplined with your frequency and your positive habit will be team wide.    BEST MOMENTS ‘Intensity and frequency in terms of habit forming has been pivotal to what I have been doing through what we’ve been doing at ‘Get Knowledge’ through business improvement.’  ‘I’ve committed to myself that I’m going to publish a podcast every single week, I’m going to post daily on LinkedIn, post daily on TikTok, post daily on Instagram. And I’m not bothered about the number of followers, I just want to be more conscious about what I'm posting and what ideas will come from it, and hopefully more people will be helped.’      ‘On day one you might not get the answers to the new questions that you’re asking, whether they be for yourself or they be for your team. All the time, by continually asking the same questions you will get better answers.’     VALUABLE RESOURCESBusiness Problems Solved Podcast            ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.   CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

Lee has developed an acronym, TEACH, which can keep you informed on how to achieve consistent improvement by changing your mindset. Remember the five essential ingredients that can keep your development going.    KEY TAKEAWAYS First of all we have to be open to change and be willing to apply the lessons we’ve learnt. Mindset is the most important lesson of all.  TEACH stands for Teamwork, Engagement, Accountability, Communication and Humble leadership. If you start with these five areas and look to improve them then your productivity, cost challenge or quality challenge might be resolved as a direct result.  Teamwork. You may have a working team but you may not have teamwork. What can you do to build trust and have more constructive conflict in your team? Engagement. Only by having a proper relationship with your people can you gain trust, through full engaging discourse. Do they believe in your journey? Accountability. We need to have clarity on who is doing what and when they are going to do it. Communication. Ensure people's interpretations of your messages are correct by staying clear and consistent. Equally ensure you understand what is being said to you and it’s intention. Humble leadership. Be selfless. Be there to help your people. It’s ok to not know answers.    BEST MOMENTS ‘Those five things really are, for me, the five main things that this ‘improvement’ thing that we all talk about could really solve. The symptoms of an ineffective system or environment create poor productivity, low customer satisfaction, poor quality, increased costs.’  ‘Trust is situational, its individual. I would trust some people to look after my children but I wouldn’t trust them to record a podcast for me.’  ‘If we assign tasks to whole teams of people it adds an element of doubt, and we need to start to take ownership of the things that we can do.’ ‘People will raise a problem, an idea, an opportunity but then they’ll not be communicated back to, we’ll not close the loop to understand why it can or cannot happen.’    VALUABLE RESOURCESBusiness Problems Solved Podcast            ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.   CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

Lee talks to you about customer experience, (different from customer service), and how you should be thinking about the interactions you have with your clients and everybody within the organisation.      KEY TAKEAWAYS When we analyse a touch point with a customer you should be considering what they see, think, feel, and hear in detail. In this way, you can step away from the process and step into the customer's shoes. This method works for employee experience as well. Be aware of how perceptions can build through witnessed action. Every interaction creates an impression. Be aware of how your actions as a leader can create the culture of your organisation.   Display reliability, credibility and capability. Every conversation is an opportunity to create a more flourishing and meaningful relationship.   BEST MOMENTS ‘When doing that, when setting the stage, there’s a realisation in people that they have a role to play with other customers. So as a leader, it could be argued that some of their customers are the people that work for them.’ ‘We have an opportunity to influence how people feel and think about us and also the organisation, the team or even just their day.’  ‘Every single interaction and touch point we have with people, how are we with them? How does that make them feel? What conversations are heard and what can they see?’   VALUABLE RESOURCESBusiness Problems Solved Podcast            ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.   CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

The second funniest lean guy Lee chats with the funniest lean guy Jake Harrell. Jake has been in various leadership roles in manufacturing and distribution and utilises his seductive personality to move people onto the same page as himself and gain business results through cooperation. Even though barely clothed, Jake still discloses all his secrets on problem solving and motivation. Oh, and dating adventures.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Jake started in hospitality, as the ‘hi, how are you?’ guy. This is  how he learned to be skilled in interactions and full on seduction.  You have got to want to solve the problem more than anyone else in the room. Enthusiasm gets everyone's attention. Make it fun and the people will want to engage. Collaboration, although not a natural instinct in competitive industries, is the main key to problem solving and the general smooth running of business. Jake is living the dream encouraging people to do this.  Just do the things you want to do. Over caution and risk avoidance is no fun. No one ever had a good time putting money in a savings account.   BEST MOMENTS ‘If I walk in and go, “Y’all suck. How we gonna get better? Well you guys know you’re not doing the best you can right now.” That just sucks, right? The animation, the attitude I can bring can make it fun where it's not personal to the individual.’ – Jake ‘All I want is for Lee Houfton?…Hoofton?…Hoogieton?..Hufton? All I want is for him to be successful. If I want that more than I want it for myself people are going to come to me for collaboration not the other way round.’ -Jake  ‘I remember being told by a consultant to smarten my act, get better shoes, stop wearing jumpers, start wearing shirts to actually make it as a consultant because that’s what he perceived was the successful thing a consultant needs to do.’ – Lee ‘Remove that barrier of yourself holding you back. If there’s something dumb you want to get out there and do, do it. Have you ever played Monopoly..ly? Imagine you go round the board, but the only rule is you can’t spend money on anything.’ – Jake   GUEST RESOURCES Jake Harrell his Linkedin Link: (99+) Jake Harrell - The Funniest Lean Guy | LinkedIn His video podcast link: A Quality Podcast - John Thacker and Jake Harrell - YouTube VALUABLE RESOURCESBusiness Problems Solved Podcast            ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.   CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

We all measure stuff. Why? The sole purpose of measuring something should be to learn something, but often its done to prove our worth. Data gathering and counting is time consuming, so what are the best circumstances in which to start measuring? KEY TAKEAWAYS We should only measure to learn and understand what things are getting in the way of what we are trying to achieve. What are the measures that allow you to understand that you are achieving your standards. Anything else is superfluous. Are you employing effective leading measures? Will they inform you of an impending problem which you can then avoid? Measures can be complex so should be easy to understand and provide knowledge, understanding and wisdom to the organisation that they are detailing. BEST MOMENTS ‘You might be measuring all sorts of different processes, the outputs of different processes to put into a dashboard to go to a monthly meeting. To look good. To make it all green.’ ‘If you read the newspaper or the football scores after ninety minutes as a football manager its too late to affect the result of that game.’ ‘How can you make sure that the measures give you enough information for the things that you control and can control to make it better?’ VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast          ABOUT THE HOST   For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.   CONTACT METHOD   You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/