In a previous post I talked about lean and the Lean Enterprise Institute. This lean six-sigma blog post discusses how employees can be the most effective at developing best practices:

"Traditionally, work standards were imposed on a workforce. Industrial engineers studied the work and then told workers what needed to be done and how much time each task should require. While this information could be valuable, it ignored the all-important employee ownership element that can drive genuine and ongoing change. Standardized work, on the other hand, centers on the fact that workers themselves understand the best ways to perform their jobs. Employees, not "outsiders," study the jobs they know intimately in order to uncover best practices and create methodologies for continuous process improvement. Thus they become responsible for solving problems and own the standards that result."

ESOP Q&A

This ESOP blog has answered the following questions in recent posts:

• Can I Use ESOP to Motivate Employees?
  
• How Can an ESOP be an Exit Strategy?
  
• What should I look for when choosing a Third-Party Administrator (TPA)?
  
• Who should consider installing an ESOP?
  
• Who can qualify for the S-ESOP?
  
• What advantages do ESOPs bring to employees?
  
• Why is Congress supporting ESOPs if it means companies do not have to pay taxes?
  
• ESOPs have been making headlines since Zell used it to purchase the Tribune. What is it exactly?
  
• What options does a business owner have to exit the business?
  
• What should business owners be doing to prepare for retirement?