Year End Reflection

By Al Norval

As we approach year end, many organizations reflect back on the accomplishments of the year, especially what business results were achieved. While this is admirable, it can sometimes amount to rubber stamping. Everyone draws from their list of excuses and talks about how things are going to get better next year but no one gets to the root of the real problems that are dragging their business results down. We call this happy talk.

True reflection not only looks at the business results that we either did or didn’t achieve, it goes deeper and looks at the plans we made and asks the following questions:

1. Did we achieve the results we predicted in our plans?
   
2. Did we execute the plans on time?
   
3. Did the execution of the plans give us the predicted results?
   

The key is to continually go back and test the original hypothesis. That’s the hypothesis we set at the beginning of the year; that the execution of these plans will give us these results.

The beauty of a hypothesis is that it’s binary and the questions we ask around it are binary. Being Yes/ No is very powerful in cutting through “Happy Talk” and getting to the real problems that are holding us back. No grey areas, no “yes buts”, just the facts. It makes for a very powerful dialogue that enables teams to address the real problems the business is facing.

This dialogue truly does drive relentless continuous improvement.

Cheers

Sincere Mind

By Al Norval

I like this phrase. They seem like easy words to begin with but there is a depth to this phrase that goes on deeper and deeper. Isn’t that true of many Lean concepts? The more we know, the deeper the meaning.

Where does Sincere Mind start?

It goes back to one of the original Lean pillars that Toyota gave us of “Respect for Humanity”. This doesn’t just mean the workings of our interpersonal relationships with one another; rather it means giving people work that fully utilizes the talents both of their minds as well as their bodies.

Here’s the fundamental question:

Why should team members waste their energy, time and talent doing non-value added work?

Giving Team Members non-value added work doesn’t show respect for them and their capabilities. For example – I can’t count the number of times I’ve observed Team Members sitting idly by watching a machine do the work, waiting to either feed more materials into the machine or to get it started again should it stop. The people are there to serve the machine and not vice versa. What a waste. Don’t get me wrong, machines are needed for many tasks to eliminate the burden and strain of heavy, repetitive work and I’m not suggesting we eliminate these machines although many times they are candidates for Quick Changeover and small lot sizes. I am suggesting that we think carefully about the work and design the work differently to add in time for people to solve problems and work on waste elimination and driving more value to Customers.

Isn’t one of the highest forms of respect giving people work that challenges them to learn and to grow and makes full use of their capabilities as an individual. Under this definition, letting people solve problems is a high form of showing respect.

Another concept tied to this is Safety. Giving Team Members work that is unsafe doesn’t show respect for them. Safety not only means a workplace that is physically safe but one that is emotionally safe as well. One that is free of harassment and discrimination. Having people work in a safe environment shows respect for them as people. That’s why Safety is always number 1 and is the first thing we address in a Lean transformation.

So “Respect for Humanity” means not only giving people work that fully utilizes their capabilities but also means creating an environment where people can use their talents to their fullest ability.

By doing this we as Leaders show that we have a “Sincere Mind”

Cheers

Lean Laughs

Lean & Business Results

By Al Norval

“We don’t do Lean for Business Results we do it to build capability”.

How many times have you heard that? I hear it a lot. And unfortunately the people who say it have got things twisted around a bit. Of course we implement Lean to achieve improved business results. It’s the way we achieve them that’s different.

The primary role of leaders is to achieve business results. If leaders don’t achieve business results, they won’t be leaders for very long. So we need to achieve results but we need to do it in a way that engages all our people in solving problems. For them to do that we need to build their capability. We need to build their capability to solve problems and we need to build their technical and social skills as well. The higher the capability of our people, the more problems they can solve. The more problems they solve, the better our business results. Therefore, the second role of leaders is to build the capability of the people in their organization.

Lastly, we need to achieve results and build capability in a way that’s consistent with the values of the organization. Showing respect for our people and challenging them to solve problems that stretch their capability. This way they are always growing and learning.

The problems our people work on need to drive improvement for the Customer, for the Employee and for the Organization.

When we look at business results, we’re not just looking at a narrow view of the organization financials; rather we need to take a broader view that encompasses all three areas.

Here’s an example of what I mean by business results:

1. Safety
   
2. Quality
   
3. Delivery
   
4. Cost
   
5. Morale
   

We need to engage people to solve problems and remove waste to drive improvement for the Customer, the Employee and the Organization. By doing this our business results get better.

So Lean is about business results and it’s about developing capability in people to solve problems to help achieve them.

Cheers

Kaizen Events vs Continuous Daily Improvement

By Al Norval

I’ve run across several organizations recently that seem mired in the belief that kaizen is all about weeklong events. Nothing could be further from the truth.

These organizations describe situations where they have a problem that isn’t big enough for a weeklong event so they are forced to add other items to it to make the problem larger enough just to use their kaizen process. Now give them credit, they are following their standard process but if we apply PDCA Thinking to this, we realize that if the standard is inadequate, we adjust the standard.

Problems come in all sizes and shapes. Some are large and messy and others are smaller and straight forward. In all these cases, the most important thing is to use a formal problems solving approach that embodies the Scientific Method. Why? Using the scientific method we set up experiments that are binary. They work or they don’t but in either case we learn from them and we learn from both our successes and our failures.

Because problems come in different shapes and sizes, kaizen needs to be able to handle both large problems as well as small ones.

What is kaizen?

There are many definitions that include “continuous improvement” and “change for the better” but I like to think of it as:

“an orderly, incremental, relentless process of continuous improvement” which was best captured in a quote:

“every day a little bit higher” by Taiichi Ohno.

Kaizen needs to embody the scientific method of problem solving which makes it an orderly, repeatable process. It also needs to be able to solve problems both large and small so we can use it for daily continuous improvement as well as for bigger problems both of which lead to incremental gains. Make no mistake; many small daily improvements often lead to larger gains than a few big ones because of the ability of small improvements to compound and to involve the people who do the work in actually improving the work as the problems occur.

In the end it’s all kaizen and we need both, kaizen events supported by daily kaizen. Together they give an organization the ability to have relentless continuous improvement.

Cheers

Alistair Norval

Customer Service in Telecommunications?

By Pascal Dennis

Health care horror stories come to late every day.

Infections, mis-medications, even wrong site surgeries are, tragically, common-place.

A health care leader recently said, "Hospitals are no place for a sick person!"

Does any other industry provided this level of customer service?

Here's a candidate - TELECOMMUNICATIONS.

My recent telco experience, trying to upgrade my cell phone, reflects business processes that might've been "designed" the Three Stooges.

I won't bore you with the sorry details. Suffice to say, it should have been an easy two to three step process, with a lead time of a day at most.

TARGET

Lead Time: 1 day

Number of process steps: 3

ACTUAL

Lead time: 10 days & counting

Number of process steps: 20 & counting

Most of the process steps are on the customer's end, of course...

We've all had similar experiences? What's the root cause - in telecommunications and health care?

In chapter 11 of The Remedy, the protagonist, faced with a near catastrophe to a family member, settles on the following root cause:

THE CUSTOMER IS NOT THE CUSTOMER

Health care organizations in the U.S. Canada perform the way they do because the patient is NOT the customer

Usually, the Payer is the customer, be they Medicare or a private insurance provider.

And the Payer's definition of Value, does not coincide with that of the Patient.

Similarly, my telecommunications carrier is one of Canada's biggest providers and until recently had a near monopoly.

They don't care about the customer because, as a monopoly, they didn't need to care.

Now that Canada has a measure of competition in the industry, one can expect their market share to fall.

(Sadly, seems the new industry entrants are, so far, as bad as the incumbent)

What's the lesson for people in the transformation business?

Socrates said, "Know thyself."

Know your customer too - and what they value.

Otherwise, you'll miss the mark badly, and might even generate the customer's disdain.

As for my telco providers - a pox upon their houses!

Pascal

Apple University, Yokoten and Leadership

By Pascal Dennis

Yokoten is a lovely Japanese word which means shared, experiential learning.

The late Steve Jobs set up Apple University to ensure yokoten after he was gone.

Apple University is dedicated to developing & sharing the "Apple Way", the set of practices and values, Mr. Jobs left behind.

"Thanks, Steve" by Jonathon Mak Long,
19 year old student at Hong Kong's Polytechnic University School of Design.

Jobs was a great admirer of the "HP Way" developed by Dave Hewlett and Bill Packard.

In the last decade of his life, Jobs lamented the loss of Dave & Bill's brilliant, humane culture.

I have a number of HP friends and colleagues and am struck by how strongly Dave & Bill still influence HP Culture.

Sadly, given the organization's recent travails, that influence often entails, "Dave & Bill would never allow that to happen!"

In any event, wise leaders build "leadership pipelines" -- to ensure their organization adapt, survive & prospers for generation.

In difficult times, when it often seems we’re led by swine and psychos, let's honour leaders like Jobs, Hewlett, Packard et al.

Leadership is a game with endless innings. We've struck out badly the past decade, but we'll get to the plate again.

History suggests we'll learn and get better.

Indeed, I feel a growing sense of decency and service among the leaders I work with.

Hopefully, the reign of the toxic "expert" -- the disconnected brain who "manages by the numbers from a distance" -- is beginning to pass.

The recent indictments of high profile executives of such firms will surely help.

Imagine one of these bozos doing a cost-benefit-analysis on yokoten.

"It doesn't make sense for me to teach anybody anything."

Been thinking a great deal about leadership lately. In fact, I have a new book coming: Reflections of a Business Nomad.

More on that later.

Stay young, stay foolish.

Cheers,

Pascal

Yokoten, Meta-cognition and Leadership

By Pascal Dennis

A lovely Japanese word, no?

It rolls off the tongue, and ends with a long, pleasing 'nnnn...'

What's it mean?

Here are some definitions:

Horizontal sharing, best practice sharing, lateral deployment, shared experiential learning...

I like the last one. Shared -- experiential -- learning.

Yokoten entails not just cognition (knowing), which tends to be shorter term, but also meta-cognition.

Meta-cognition entails 'knowing about knowing' and mean answering questions like:

How do I learn?

What do I know?

What do I not know very well?

Great leaders know themselves thereby, and can make conscious decisions.

(The Lean Business System is fundamentally about wakefulness.)

Leaders need to ask these questions of their organization:

How do we learn best?

What do we currently know, and not know, well?

Most important question for leaders:

How do I ensure that we'll continue to learn, after our current leaders retire or move on?

A tough one, to be sure.

The late, great Steve Jobs thought about it a great deal.

The result: Apple University.

More in my next blog.

Cheers,

Pascal

Images and A3 Thinking

By Pascal Dennis

Seems Getting the Right Things Done has been helpful in teaching A3 Thinking, the "story-telling" approach to strategy.

I'm gratified by all the good people who've told me, "That book really helped us – thanks!"

We're hard-wired to tell stories -- that's what our ancestors on the African savannah did at day's end around the fire.

(They didn't show PowerPoint...)

Like any good story, a good A3 pulls you in...

"And what happens next?" you wonder.

Where do images fit in?

Assignment

Here's an assignment for folks that have gained proficiency developing A3s.

Turn your A3 over – now draw a picture that tells the story.

Don't worry if you "can't draw" – stick figures, circles and arrows are all you need.

Now tell the story to your team through the image.

The better your understanding of the problem, the easier this'll be – and the clearer your image.

We've tried to illustrate Lean Thinking, Tools and Leadership with our Brain Booster pocket cards and apps.

Hope they're helpful.

Cheers,

Pascal