Teamwork - All Posts - Ze'ev Ronen - Business Excellence

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What can be achieved in four-day workweek and what can we learn from it?

Do you remember the days when we worked six days a week? Has moving to five days had a bad effect on employers or employees? Has efficiency decreased? Have we been achieving less?

859 Views

How to run a business during wartime?

This article was written during wartime. Life continues and businesses continue to operate. I have recently been asked many important questions regarding the correct way to operate a business in the face of the current difficulties and obstacles.

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How does courtesy contribute to business?

Dan was rushing to a meeting. He could not find parking space in the car park of the tower building. Suddenly he spotted a free parking slot. He accelerated towards the slot only to realize that a female driver was maneuvering her car into that slot. She drove backwards and forwards trying to steer her way between the lines. That was all Dan needed. He quickly pushed in front and parked his car, leaving the lady driver bewildered.

684 Views

How to create winning teams?

A management board of a retail chain outlets decided to set a prize-winning competition between the outlets. The competition aimed at providing an incentive to increase sales. The prize was a medal for the winning team and an invitation for two to a fancy dinner for the team members.

1184 Views

How to Communicate Effectively

While bike riding with a group of friends, A. and H. began a heated argument. As I got closer to them I heard it was about a bike riding event that took place many years ago, and they each had a different memory of. Each was convinced their memory was more accurate, and as often happens in such cases, they only listened to each other in order to quickly contradict each other. This wasn’t a dialogue, but two monologues.

1503 Views

The Cost of Work-From-Home and Zoom Meetings

Covid-19 changed many things in one fell swoop. One of those is the prohibition on face-to-face meetings. With the meetings we were used to no longer possible, we started using Zoom or similar softwares. School and university lectures, management meetings, consultations, workshops, coaching sessions.

5963 Views

What Makes Improvement Teams Successful?

In some companies, working with improvement teams brings quick, clear, and considerable success. On the other hand, in others the work done by improvement teams is accompanied by frustration, and has no quick and clear results. Why? What's the difference?

1133 Views

[presentation] How to Create an Environment of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Excellence

I drew a big pyramid on the board, with him at the top, below him 8 VPs, and at the bottom 10,000 employees. I asked – how can you guarantee they'll efficiently produce quality products, if they aren’t engaged or invested in company goals?

1773 Views

Blue Ocean Sales Strategy

I write a lot about getting employees invested, about efficiency, improved service, measuring indicators, and precision work with employees and clients. But if, at the same time, you have to lower prices in order to preserve clients in a competitive market, and to supply custom products to every client – you might find yourselves running fast in order to stand still. There's a danger that increased profit as a result of improvements in production will disappear compared to competition in the market, and at best you'll maintain low profit margins.

1444 Views

How Often Should Teams Meet to Discuss Analysis and Improvement Schemes

When the team deals with sales development or debt collection, there is almost no new information on a daily basis, and so there's no need to meet daily. But work on the production floor is continuous and at the very least daily. So there are new developments every day. Should results be analyzed daily? Weekly? Monthly?

1770 Views

From defining a job title to defining responsibility: How the right definition can solve interorganizational problems

I am sometimes asked if I provide organizational consultation regarding management conflicts, and I answer that usually the source of the problem lies in the missing parameters in the allocation of authority, within management, and from there, the situation spreads to the entire organization.

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"Stars" and professional workers we can't do without

When I was young, I managed the kibbutz field crops section. Meir (not his real name) was one of the main workers, a serious professional. He knew all the tasks and could do any of them equally well. But he didn't want to perform just any task. He chose what he wanted to do and what he didn't, as well as how he performed it.

2897 Views

On the power of fairness in generating employee motivation

One of the most popular articles from my blog is one I published last year on coping with employee absenteeism. In the article, I discuss how, 15 years ago, the significantly high rate of employee absenteeism was handled through positive rewards for employees who were never absent, along with interest and concern for the health of anyone at home sick.

1829 Views

Can We Apply Lean Production without Employees?

In a course I gave to a certain company, some employees mentioned the "lean production" the company was implementing at one of its divisions. Nathan, who works at that division, stated that "actually, all this lean stuff has one hidden agenda. It's directed towards moving maintenance over to the operators, loading them with more tasks than they are already loaded with".

2404 Views

Teamwork – How important is it and how do you create it?

One employee interviewed said that she loved working there. People were nice and she enjoyed working with them. I showed this same employee a photo of the sign over the door and asked her if she recognized it.

Manage Cover Front w150My First Book: Manage! Best Value Practices for Effective Management

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Read the first chapter & Reviews from previous readers >>