Daily Lesson from Life 25 April 2009

"Obama urges new cost-saving initiatives

He said the best ideas often come from workers, not just management. -Sat, Apr 25, 2009 AFP

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2009 (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Saturday urged workers and business to come up with creative and wide-ranging ways to cut budgets and reduce costs ahead of a forum on government reform.

Speaking to Americans in his weekly radio address, the president said that people across the country know that "the best ideas often come from workers - not just management.

"That's why we'll establish a process through which every government worker can submit their ideas for how their agency can save money and perform better," Obama pointed out. "We'll put the suggestions that work into practice."

The president also promised to reach beyond the halls of government and tap the experience of private businesses that have invented innovative ways of using technology to save money.


He announced that later this year, he will host a forum on reforming government so that government officials could hear voices from outside of Washington.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said its budget deficit estimate for fiscal 2009, which ends on September 30, would be four times the 2008 record shortfall and amount to 13.1 percent of the country?s total economic output.

"We cannot sustain deficits that mortgage our children's future, nor tolerate wasteful inefficiency," Obama said. "I will work every single day that I am president to live up to that responsibility, and to transform our government so that it is held to a higher standard of performance on behalf of the American people." "

Not mortgaging the future of the American children? This is a tall order now even for one of the most popular, and to me, really trying to do the right thing, President of the USA - What with the printing of trillions of new money to bailout the battered financial institutions and automobile lumbering giants!

Anyway, the focus for me is on his comments: that the best ideas comes from the workers and not just management!

Lessons for me are:

1. this is a known fact but conveniently forget when it come to crediting the casts! The limelight go to the 'management' or leaders! This is despite the fact that Quality Control Cycle (QCC), Work Improvement Team, etc concepts have been implemented in Japan, USA, Europe, Asia, and many other countries!;

2. it shows how bad it is for the President of the USA to repeat this reminder. It shows that the leaders have gone to sleep and not keep up with "doing the right but 'so old-school' thing"! The ones who are involved with the detailed work sometimes do have better ideas due to the mother of all invention: needs to make their jobs easier, faster, better and without compromising quality!;

3. at the same time, we must be aware that due to the position, the amount of information and insight to advance events, the leaders sometimes do have better ideas than the workers. In this case, the leaders MUST share the information and insights and invited the workers to give their thoughts and ideas. Only when both parties share and communicate in a 2-way and mutually respectful manner will all angles of looking at the issues be considered. The next thing to do is to devise a decision making mechanism where both parties can accept. e.g. a simply majority or 75% or 100% depending on what is involved and the impact to all parties.

Workers can contribute good ideas. The challenge sometimes is: do they want to do for if they perceived the management to be selfish, weak, corrupt, and insensitive?