Presentations are for Managers

There is often a perceived ‘glass ceiling’ by frontline workers that presentations, meetings and systems are in the arena of management.  In reality, many staff are uncomfortable in these areas.

Recently, one of our programme participants was adamant from the outset that he would not be delivering a presentation in front of ‘strangers’. The concept of running a meeting was alien to him.  Furthermore, he thought that presenting work on a ‘computer’ was work normally done by office staff.  Microphone for presentation

The Presentation

Three months later, our participant delivered a 12 minute 30-slide presentation.  Firstly, he outlined the background to the issues that he wanted to address in his business to a room of ‘strangers’ through simple diagrams and lots of photos. Secondly, he explained the work and ideas of his team.  In short, he delivered a project that outlined the re-organisation of the workplace.  In fact, this would reduce product transportation by over 800 metres per unit.  Furthermore, this would save the company 3 hours of labour time per unit.

The confidence in the Manager Presentation delivery gives us huge satisfaction.  This participant is now using meetings, data and presentations to drive continuous improvement.  Like all good Lean systems, there is no mystery.  Just simple ways to engage the knowledge and experience of the staff already present in every business.

We are very proud of the improvements that all of our participants achieved in 3 months.

You may be interested in applying Lean thinking to your business and putting these ideas into practice?

The ETAC Lean Business programme will run in 2019 at various locations in Ireland.

We hope you enjoyed reading about our article on Presentations for Managers.  You may also be interested in reading about our insights on the Leader’s Role in Building a Lean Culture and our 10 Top Lean Tips for Business Transformation.  All our blogs are available to read here.  Please connect with us on Linkedin and Twitter.