Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing another group get excited about the power of clarity! This time it was at the Northeast Lean Conference where I spoke about Transformative Clarity – The Best Thing Since Lean. It was an excellent audience with people coming from San Diego, the Canadian Maritimes, and everywhere in between. As always, I wish we had had much more time! Nonetheless, they left eager to apply some of the specific techniques we discussed to improve productivity, results, and commitment.

During my presentation yesterday, I asked the group to identify the top time wasters in their companies. I wasn’t looking for non-work activities like Facebook and surfing. I was looking for legitimate job responsibilities that do not create value for which customers are willing to pay. From there, we looked at how clarity could eliminate or minimize the waste. They came up with a great list, every one of which can be reduced by applying the three pillars of clarity and the techniques I write about regularly in this newsletter, as well as in my Forbes Expert Blog, on my website, and in other publications.

Here is their list:

Email
Reporting
Meetings
Forms
Firefighting
Scrap /rework
Material handling
Inspection
Irrelevant or unhelpful training
Training people who don’t want to learn
Budgeting
Approvals
Finding equipment
Quoting
Waiting for answers
HR policies
Time trackers
Discussions without action
Bad information from customers

What are your top 3 time wasters? How much time are employees spending on these activities? How would greater clarity help you eliminate or minimize such wasteful activities?