| In this E-Zine we honor the individuals and organizations that keep the Scanlon dream of better organizations alive. Bill Main has received as the 2008 Scanlon Stewardship Award. Under Bill's leadership Landscape Forms has been recognized as one of the top 100 Best Places to Work in Michigan. We also recognize the Best Practices award winners and thank them for taking the time to submit their ideas that help us all learn and grow.
You do not want to miss the 2008 Scanlon Conference on May 5-7, in Dearborn, Michigan. Over 175 Scanlon delegates will assemble to study Innovation and Scanlon thought and practice.
We are excited to report that we have just received word that Art Fry, inventor of Post-It Notes, will be joining the 3M Grass Roots Innovation Team's conference workshop panel. This panel includes such GRIT notables as:
Bret Ludwig, 3M Advanced Research Specialist
Teri Fick, Senior Toxicologist 3M Material EHS - Medical Department
Mike Wiehe, 3M IT Project Manager
Shawn Schow, 3M Financial Brand Anaylst
Kim Johnson, 3M GRIT Essentialist and former 3M Teams, Project Management and Innovation Internal Consultant
Cat Thompson, President Emotional Technologies
3M is considered one of the most innovative organizations in the world, and the GRIT knows 3M better than anyone else!
The Scanlon Foundations' book, Scanlon EPIC Leadership: Where the Best Ideas Come Together is experiencing record sales. If you want to learn about Scanlon thought and practice from great Scanlon leaders, past and present, you'll want your own copy. We continue to offer pre-conference discounts. Order your copy today! | | | 2008 Annual Conference-Register NOW | |  There is still time to register for the 2000 Scanlon Leadership Network Annual Conference. The conference will be held on Tuesday, May 6 in Dearborn, MI, with premiere events on May 5 and tours on May 7.
You won't want to miss this one.The Scanlon conference will help everyone in your organization become a catalyst for innovation and growth. Innovation will be made practical and real. Keynotes by innovation thought-leaders will show you how to increase innovation in your organization and avoid innovation pitfalls.
Tours of Edison's lab and the Wright Brothers bicycle shop will allow you to walk in the footsteps of the greatest innovators in history. Tours of the Ford River Rouge Plant and Thomson-Shore, Inc. will help you see today's innovative practices. The Conference is attracting innovators like Art Fry (the inventor of Post-It Notes) and Sarah Miller Caldicott, great grand-niece of Thomas Edison. Conference participants will experience the world premiere of the Innovation Simulation™ developed by the Scanlon Leadership Network to bring the lessons and research on innovation back to your workplaces. Animations, exercises, an innovation whitepaper, and an engaging simulation take the research on innovation and teach it in a fun and engaging way. A comprehensive leader's guide and a reproducible participant manual are all included, making the Innovation Simulation™ a turn-key training and development tool. Each Scanlon Network member delegation will be fully prepared to take what they learn back from the conference! Workshop sessions such as Scanlon 101, Servant Leadership, Kaizen, Complex Problem Solving, and Emotional Intelligence will help you develop personally, professionally and organizationally. And if all the formal, scheduled events aren't enough, the conference is always a great opportunity to talk to people from all of the other Scanlon Network member companies, from the CEO to front line associates. What a great way to experience what Scanlon is all about! More information? Download the Innovation: Catalyst for Growth Brochure | | Bill Main of Landscape Forms is 2008 Scanlon Steward | |  Congratulations to Bill Main, President of Landscape Forms in Kalamazoo, MI as the winner of the 2008 Scanlon Stewardship Award. The Scanlon Stewardship Award recognizes outstanding Scanlon leadership. It is given to a deserving individual who has contributed significantly over time to the Scanlon Principles and the Scanlon Network, and has also demonstrated the Scanlon Principles in their profession and community. Past winners of the award include Dr. Carl Frost, Bill Greenwood, Dwane Baumgardner, Paul Davis, Dick LeVan, Pat Thomson, Buzz Kersman, Tim Tindall, John Chipman, Myron Marsh and D.J. Hugh and Max DePree.
An interesting story about Bill is shared in his letter of nomination: Bill was introduced to the Scanlon Principles when he joined Landscape Forms in 1985. Some people are natural born Scanlon leaders, others grow into the role. Bill falls into the latter group! He tells a story from the late 1970's, long before his first exposure to Scanlon. He was stopped at a traffic light when an employee, who was supposed to be home sick, pulled up next to him. The guy was obviously dressed for an interview, so Bill rolled down his window and fired him before the light changed. The story is a great illustration that "Scanlon works" in developing people, an ideology that Bill has become firmly committed to. Landscape Forms tries to hire the best people; people accomplished in their fields, willing to work hard, and contribute to organization success. Bill believes in everyone's desire to do their best. He says, "It's our job to fill their tanks when they get here!" It works. In an interview with Bill for this article, he said he is "amazed at the energy and ideas" he sees every day at Landscape Forms. When asked what he has learned in his years of involvement with Scanlon, Bill shared what he sees as the fundamental belief necessary to lead in a Scanlon organization. He says it is crucial to deeply accept and believe that "this is NOT a zero sum game. The pie can get bigger for everyone if everyone is sharing both the gains and the pain." Personally, he credits Scanlon with providing him with a structure that is invaluable in leading a company. Without the Scanlon Principles, a manager or leader may intuitively see a problem in an organization, but may not have the language to adequately describe it and talk with others about it. Scanlon provides the ability to be descriptive of the problem, drastically increasing the ability to address the issue. What would Bill like to see for Scanlon's future? He said that the Scanlon concepts are in broader existence today than they have been in years past, but many of the companies using them are not part of the Network. He would like to see many more of these organizations engage and commit in a more formal way by becoming members of the Network. Bill would also like to see more resources attracted to the Network to enhance its growth. He describes the scenario of the Network changing from many members being large organizations, with substantial resources, to a group of smaller companies today. He says it is harder today for a large organization to commit to the Scanlon concepts and responsibilities of membership. Bill also talked of his early days of association with Scanlon. At that time, mid-eighties to mid-nineties, there was a lot of thinking and discussion of what have become formalized as the Scanlon Principles. He sees a danger in becoming static in this regard. He would like to see continuous application and development of the Scanlon Principles, especially as applies to the new problems of organizations, such as globalization. He wants to continue to see an evolution of the concepts. Another phenomenon that Bill discussed is Scanlon organizations that revert to more traditional ways of operating. It has become widely accepted that the primary reason this happens in a Scanlon organization is when there is a change in ownership or top leadership. He would like to see the Scanlon Network address this issue. Congratulations again to Bill Main, the winner of the 2008 Scanlon Stewardship Award. The award ceremony for Bill will take place at the Scanlon Annual Conference on May 6. | | Best Practices: Golden Ideas (and Silver and Bronze) | |  The Scanlon Awards Committee recently announced the 2008 Best Practice Award winners. This year, there were four Gold, four Silver, and six Bronze medal winners. All of these winners will receive their awards at the Annual Conference Reception on May 5. Members of the Network will receive these best practices and all the rest of the submissions in the 2008 Best Practices Book that will be completed by the beginning of the summer.
For a taste of what you will find in the book, keep reading! Lisa Kowalski of Meier Tool & Engineering in Anoka, MN submitted this year's highest ranked submission, and one of the Gold winners. Lisa said this practice came from an idea to expand on Administrative Professionals Day. They wanted to appreciate all associates instead of only Administrative Professionals. She says employees "have a blast" with the games and activities, and cross-functional teams and relationships strengthen. Read on for more details. Employee Appreciation Week Each year, Meier Tool holds a week of participative activities for all employees. The Human Resources Manager is the champion of the planning process, which includes all managers, including the President. The week starts with a participative (continental) breakfast at first break. Then the games begin. Each year they hold a scavenger hunt with daily clues at 8 am, a brunch and a Theme Lunch cooked and served by the managers, and a Friday award ceremony for the week's winners and non winners. Different games and events are used each year to change things up from one year to the next. At the Theme Lunch, the president is always the willing participant in taking the theme to the extreme, and giving a short "what day is it" speech that ties in with the theme. (Example: In 2007, it was a NASCAR theme and the president spoke about "Speed to Market") The extreme part came when he entered the room on a kid's race car, in a race car suit and helmet. Also, all the managers wear something to match the theme and the lunchroom is decorated. They hold a mixture of individual and team based events, such as a pine wood derby or a rubber chicken shoot. The owner (managers/leaders) of each game place all employees on a cross-functional team, give them the rules of the game, and let them go. Everyone participates and has a good time and everyone knows a co-worker much better by the end of the week. Here is a list of all of the award winners for 2008: Gold - Employee Appreciation Week - Meier Tool & Engineering
- Show Trailer - Bradford Co.
- The Kaizen Advantage - SGS Tool Co.
- Back to the Basics - Wescast Industries
Silver - School Halloween Party - Landscape Forms
- Healthy Lifestyle Reward - SGS Tool Co.
- Review Meeting Format - Watermark Credit Union
- Supplier Day - Thomson-Shore
Bronze - Safety Team Success - SGS Tool Co.
- Good vs. Bad Newsletters (Illustrations of Service) - Watermark Credit Union
- Recruiting Communications - SGS Tool Co.
- Marathon Relay - SGS Tool Co.
- Open House Invitation - Watermark Credit Union
- Cafeteria Streaming Web Page - Wescast Industries
| | | Sincerely, Paul Davis and Majel Maes
Scanlon Leadership Network
2875 Northwind Drive, Suite 121 East Lansing, MI 48823
Phone 517.332.8927 Fax 517.332.9381
Email office @scanlonleader.org www.scanlonleader.org | | | | SCANLON EPIC BOOK NOW AVAILABLE! | | 
| | Scanlon EPIC Leader fact sheet
Scanlon EPIC Leadership: Where the Best Ideas Come Together is now available!
Featuring a Foreword by Warren Bennis and an Afterword by Max DePree, this is the definitive book on Scanlon thought and practice. Contains classic original articles by Joe Scanlon, Douglas McGregor, Fred Lesieur and Carl Frost and new chapters by today's Scanlon thought-leaders.
All proceeds go to support the Scanlon Foundation.
$29.95
See coupon below for preconference discount! | | |
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