The human element of an organization is easily its most valuable and, indeed, the most difficult to replace.

#4 From the 8 wastes described in the lean principles, under-utilized employee talent is the most difficult to quantify. Determining when an employee's talent has been wasted in the first place is a major challenge. Here are examples of employee wastage: ✦ Employees spending time on tasks that do not add value to customers. ✦ Career development and planning are absent from the company. Implementing a program that leverages employees' skills and interests will result in higher workforce motivation. Once the program is executed, employees will feel valued and have higher job satisfaction and consequently higher overall respect for their product, brand, and workplace. You should ask yourself: ✦ Are employees wasting time on tasks that do not add value? ✦ Are their voices being heard? (Perhaps improvement ideas could come from them). ✦ Are over-skilled employees doing routine work?

Photo by studiogstock on Freepik Reference: Lean QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner's Guide To Lean (QuickStart Guides™ - Business) by Benjamin Sweeney. ClydeBank Media LLC, 2015.