WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BEING FIRM OR ACTING HOW TOUGH YOU ARE?

 We have a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be firm. We mistake brazen toughness for power and control. Our definition of toughness is that you fear nothing and are cold-hearted. Some individuals use the bully version, projecting strength, while hiding the hurt and insecurity within.  

Firmness is about responding to a crisis and not overreacting. It’s about authentic connection and belonging, not leadership through fear. It’s about making the right choice under stress, uncertainty, and fatigue which requires emotional control. Real firmness is borne of self-security that is rooted in confidence, but not arrogance. Firmness is about figuring out how to thrive in adversity. It isn’t concerned with tough posturing, but making sure you send the right signals on what is required.

 

We send the same message in the workplace, parenting, and beyond. Research shows that the marketing folks, endurance athletes and military personnel are better at reading their inner signals than non-trained individuals. Managers with firm control are experts at listening to their body.

 

Imagine being dropped in the woods with a friend or two and asked to live off the land to survive. In the U.S.A. military, this is part of everyone’s training. It’s called SERE: survival, evasion, resistance, and escape. Studies find that up to 96 percent of individuals experience dissociation during the training. Some handle it better than others. Responding is being firm about what your plan is and not exhibiting how tough you are, but keeping your head cool amid chaos and completing the task.

 

When under pressure, we often default to a controlling leadership style. We dictate and demand, believing that we are taking charge and creating order out of disorder. This often backfires.

 

In the workplace, the strongest predictor of how well staff deal with demanding work was whether they felt respected and valued by their managers. In other research, those who report feeling more autonomy and less micromanaging have higher levels of job satisfaction and performance. Being firm and not overly tough is amplified when we have a choice and feel like we can make a difference.

 

When we satisfy basic needs, we create an environment where people play to win, instead of playing not to lose. When fear dominates, we perform worse. For many years we thought callousness was the key to toughness. It turns out the real secret sauce is being firm and a decent human being who actually cares about others as you make the final decision.

Encourage Staff to Move Beyond Their Potential

Over my many years in business I have found that individuals of brilliance or exceptional talent often fall short of their true potential. 

Encourage your staff to use their own abilities to implement new ideas, or improved concepts. Provide them confidence to  break through and carry out the mission.

It seems they want others to break through and are happy operating in the sea of business mediocrity. Ideas are the currency of the twenty-first century.

The ability to persuade, to change hearts and minds, is perhaps the single greatest skill that will give you a competitive edge in the knowledge economy — an age where ideas matter more than ever.

Some economists believe that persuasion is responsible for generating one-quarter or more of America’s total national income. As our economy has evolved, successful people are capable of convincing others to act on their ideas. Think about the role of persuasion in our daily lives:

• Leaders persuade employees to take specific plans of action
• Salespeople persuade customers to choose their product over a competitor’s offering

In short, persuasion is no longer a “soft skill”— it is a fundamental skill that can help you sell products, build brands, inspire teams, and trigger action. Persuasion is so important to billionaire Warren Buffett that the only diploma he proudly displays in his office is a public-speaking certificate from a Dale Carnegie course. He once told business students that improving their communication skills would boost their professional value by 50% — instantly.

Brevity is a crucial element in making a persuasive speech. An argument, Aristotle said, should be expressed “as compactly and in as few words as possible.” He also observed that the opening of a person’s speech is the most important since “attention slackens everywhere else rather than at the beginning.”

The lesson in this blog is: start with your strongest point to persuade good people to react and move beyond being just normal.

Home HYGIENE after Covid-19

Oral hygiene is essential when working around others but it won’t make a difference if you’re using an ancient toothbrush. Dentists suggest you replace your toothbrush every three months at minimum, and sooner if those bristles start fraying. Use 3% hydrogen peroxide on the tooth brush. Some of us struggle to brush twice a day, and we’re barely scratching the surface when it comes to the upkeep our mouths should receive. In reality, we should brush and floss between every single meal.

Lurking on that hairbrush, even with your wad of old hairs removed, are plenty of bacteria. Brushes need regular cleaning too. Otherwise, they can harbor dead skill cells, oils, and dust mites. If you leave brushes unwashed, the bacteria that forms can cause acne, which, ironically is the reason some people use makeup in the first place. Give them a good rinse weekly.

Not washing your towels after four uses leaves you vulnerable to ailments like athletes foot, warts, and various fungi and yeast. Plus, infrequent laundering can trigger flare-ups for people with skin conditions. Most towels are used after hand washing or showers, so our bodies are clean when we handle them. But, that doesn't mean they stay clean, and they should hit the washing machine after four uses.

Razor users note chances are you’re using your razor way too long. It’s recommended that men use facial blades no more than 7 days. Women should replace razors after 3 or 4 uses to prevent infections, trapped fungus, molds, or yeast.

People who use a computer on a daily basis should give the keys a cleaning once a week.

A 2015 survey conducted by Verizon Wireless concluded that 90% of people admit to bringing their phones to the bathroom. Germs are the main problem but also, this habit causes hemorrhoids! If you’re on the can, no phone should be in hand. 

Ignoring the tiny printed expiration dates on your makeup products is not worth it, even for the expensive stuff. Bacteria, mold, yeasts, and fungi can lead to rashes, bumps, pink eye, infections, and permanent damage.

All the vacuum fanatics take heed: Your carpets can still be dirty. Think about it — if you only vacuumed your clothes, they wouldn’t be clean. Regular carpet shampooing are the only way to remove trapped bacteria and viruses.

A 2009 study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found 35% of women and 69% of men don’t wash their hands after using public restrooms. Those statistics alone should make you wary of every public surface. Surfaces are constantly being touched with hands that could be unwashed. Sanitize at all times after washing.

CLEAR COMMUNICATION IS ESSENTIAL FOR SUCCESS

Communication is extremely vital today. To be effective you need to follow a set of rules and not get lost in phone calls, texting, video messaging etc. No matter who you are, which division you work in, or what your job is, clear communication will be a critical factor in your ultimate success. It might involve telling your needs to a supervisor, or collaborating with others. Communication may be mainly face-to-face in the plant, and by email to people outside the company. However, you want to convey concisely, accurately, and appropriately, what you are requesting or stating. 

Being organized means you'll be more likely to get to work on time, prioritize your tasks effectively for the day, and seek solutions to problems before they even become problems.

Without organization, even the most capable worker often falls behind, or make critical mistakes. Clear communication allows for more creative solutions to problems, faster assessment of bad situations, and greater pattern recognition in large systems. Applications of clear communication are practically infinite. Critical thinkers understand clear communication and can acknowledge, analyze, and solve problems without much outside influence. They are always looking for improvements to add to the system.

 

While some positions rely on it more than others, you'll always have some level of teamwork to manage in the workplace. When you first start off, that might mean collaborating with your supervisors and a few of your fellow workers. In your future, it could mean delegating work to your subordinates. Knowing how to work with others effectively and how to communicate and play to individuals' strengths is a key skill for success in this area. The better you know how to work in groups, the better you'll be able to collectively perform. Without teamwork skills, you'll end up slowing the operation down.

 

Research and analysis skills come into play for nearly every conceivable position. Plant workers need to know what machine or process to use. They need to know how many people are needed and how long it will take. Marketers need to research and analyze their campaigns for possible effectiveness. Salespeople need to research and analyze sales leads. Engineers need to research and analyze potential technologies or solutions. Being able to quickly find information, review it, and communicate key patterns is essential for practically any job function.

 

Communication confidence might seem like a trait, but it can be developed like any skill. You can increase your communication in some areas through sheer practice; the more often you do something, the more confident you'll be in doing it. In other areas, communication confidence can be a product of your practiced habits.  Clear communication leads to greater respect, greater precision, and greater efficiency all around.

A MAKE-TO-ORDER PRODUCTION STRATEGY

Selling food, beverages, or pharma products in 2022 will be very different than before. Historically, most food and beverage manufacturers have used some combination of production strategies to develop their products, but recent supply chain disruptions and consumers’ desire for variety are forcing many to rethink their approach.

Traditionally make-to-stock (MTS) is a “build-ahead” production strategy in which manufacturing plans are based upon sales forecasts and/or historical demand. A company using this approach would estimate how many orders its products could generate, and then supply enough stock to meet those orders. Form-fill-seal roll stock machines make the least cost pouches using this method.

The opposite method is make-to-order (MTO) which is a production approach in which products are not made until a confirmed order is received. This typically allows consumers to purchase products customized to their specifications. Our premade pouch fill-seal machines allow this flexibility in running many short run products with low waste.

We are seeing a shift to the MTO approach as companies increasingly seek out ways to optimize manufacturing costs — and there are a lot of costs tied up in huge stocks of inventory. After all, if low demand for a particular product outpaces its shelf life, you’re now throwing away money in the form of spoiled inventory. Make-to-order production requires specific planning and increased changeovers.

The MTS approach is more predictable: it operates under the assumption that you have a specific inventory to fill and repeats the process accordingly on a schedule. An MTS operation may only conduct changeovers every few weeks, in which case a three-hour changeover time, while not necessarily ideal, isn’t very consequential. The SN machines are designed for long runs and low waste using recycled or mono structure film specifications at best pricing.

MTO production is subject to the fluctuations of customer demand, it means more frequent changeovers to produce various SKUs whenever needed. As changeovers increase, changeover time becomes more significant and that is where the PSG LEE premade pouch fill-seal machinery leads the field in fast changeovers, low waste, and high efficiency. Think of a MTO-driven facility that conducts changeovers much more frequently. Each minute of each changeover now carries more weight, because the changeovers themselves have more opportunities to set your production efficiency back. That’s why optimizing changeovers is critical in make-to-order production.

The Production Manager has to plan changeovers and schedule packaging lines to run as you make product, so that packaging can continue as you shut down the production line for cleaning. A well-run plant always has, if possible, a processing or packaging line running and plans to minimize idle time during changeovers.

The decision to change to MTO approach also marks a shift in how raw materials are sourced. Rather than maintaining a large inventory of raw ingredients in storage, making to order requires management of just-in-time (JIT) delivery, where the facility receives goods as close as possible to when they are needed.