Hubris and Ethics

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

Hubris is the ancient Greek word for arrogance, excessive pride or self-confidence.

Hubris is a common root cause of unethical behavior and, arguably, the most dangerous enemy of great companies.

(Check out this fine book on hubris and the Enron catastrophe entitled The Smartest Guys in the Room.)

What's the countermeasure to hubris?

Humility -- the extreme awareness of limits, of standards, of all that we are not. Humility is one of the Great Virtues, and underlies Prudence, Temperance, Courage and Justice.

Justice, for example, is only possible if we’re humble enough to accept a higher standard or code.

Visual management, 5 S, standardized work and all the other elements of the Lean business system are designed to keep us humble.

Our old Toyota plant in Cambridge Ontario won many awards. "How could they give us an award?" we'd wonder. "We're so screwed up..."

We need great companies -- they show us what's possible.

And great companies need humility - for the same reason.

Best,

Pascal




In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

TPS and Agile
Lean Means Don’t Be a Dumb-Ass
Scatter - Our Nemesis
The Biggest Weakness is Contemporary Business Culture?

Daily PDCA is a Meditation

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

We are sleepers in a dream, the great philosophers tell us. Our grasp of what's actually happening is tenuous at best.

The great religions and philosophies entail ritual, prayer and/or meditation to help us ‘wake up’.

Lean/TPS is about wakefulness too.

Lean methods like visual management, 5 S, standardized work, and pokayoke, are meant to jolt us out of our slumber.

"Hey, buddy wake up! There's a problem over here!"

And the most basic mediation of all is daily Plan-Do-Check-Adjust.

I’m a dreamer at heart, a ‘sleepy boy’, my Dad used to say. Daily PDCA is my anchor, my center, and has been for a long time.

Daily PDCA is hard, especially nowadays, when it’s so easy to get swept up in the tidal wave of tweets, blogs, pics, avatars, apps, games, music, videos…

I’m not very good at daily PDCA, but even partial success is a big deal.

In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed, confused & dopey man is king.

Best regards,

Pascal




In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Ethics Again
Lean/TPS in the Public Service – Part 3 – Obstacles & Countermeasures?
Lean/TPS in the Public Service – Part 2 – What are the Obstacles?
Is Lean/TPS Possible in the Public Service? – Part 1

Daily PDCA is a Meditation

By Pascal Dennis

We are sleepers in a dream, the great philosophers tell us. Our grasp of what's actually happening is tenuous at best.

The great religions and philosophies entail ritual, prayer and/or meditation to help us ‘wake up’.

Lean/TPS is about wakefulness too.

Lean methods like visual management, 5 S, standardized work, and pokayoke, are meant to jolt us out of our slumber.

"Hey, buddy wake up! There's a problem over here!"

And the most basic mediation of all is daily Plan-Do-Check-Adjust.

I’m a dreamer at heart, a ‘sleepy boy’, my Dad used to say. Daily PDCA is my anchor, my center, and has been for a long time.

Daily PDCA is hard, especially nowadays, when it’s so easy to get swept up in the tidal wave of tweets, blogs, pics, avatars, apps, games, music, videos…

I’m not very good at daily PDCA, but even partial success is a big deal.

In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed, confused & dopey man is king.

Best regards,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Lean & Wakefulness - Reprise

By Pascal Dennis

The Lean Business System, at heart, is about wakefulness.

Philosophers throughout the ages have argued that we are sleepers in a dream, that our grasp of what's actually happening is, at best, tenuous.

Many schools of philosophy and religion include exercises, prayer or meditation designed to "wake" the sleeper.

Lean tools like visual management, 5 S, standardized work, and pokayoke, are meant to jolt us out of our slumber.

"Hey, buddy wake up! There's a problem over here!"

Strategy Deployment, the application of the scientific method to our enterprise, is also about wakefulness.

Our Level 1, 2 and 3 check processes, for example, should be stand-up meetings in front of a board or wall that makes "hot spots" painfully clear.

"Holy cow, look at that! We should do something..."

My books Getting the Right Things Done, Andy & Me and its sequel, The Remedy, all entail the protagonists' gradual awakening.

Let me conclude with a mixed metaphor: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed woman is queen.

Cheers,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Reprise: Lean & Wakefulness

By Pascal Dennis

The Lean Business System, at heart, is about wakefulness.

Philosophers throughout the ages have argued that we are sleepers in a dream, that our grasp of what's actually happening is, at best, tenuous.

Many schools of philosophy and religion include exercises, prayer or meditation designed to "wake" the sleeper.

Lean tools like visual management, 5 S, standardized work, and pokayoke, are meant to jolt us out of our slumber.

"Hey, buddy wake up! There's a problem over here!"

Strategy Deployment, the application of the scientific method to our enterprise, is also about wakefulness.

Our Level 1, 2 and 3 check processes, for example, should be stand-up meetings in front of a board or wall that makes "hot spots" painfully clear.

"Holy cow, look at that! We should do something..."

My books (Getting the Right Things Done, Andy & Me, The Remedy) all entail the protagonists' gradual awakening.

Let me conclude with a mixed metaphor: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed woman is queen.

Cheers,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Reprise: Lean – Where are We Now? - Part 2

By Pascal Dennis

Last time, I invoked nature’s sigmoid curve and asked:

1. Where on the curve are we now? Are we still in the state of accelerated growth – or has Lean leveled off?

2. If the latter, how to create a new sigmoid curve? What are the obstacles and possible countermeasures?

These questions have triggered fine discussions within our Lean Pathways team and among all our friends & colleagues.

Seems the consensus is that Lean is levelling off and approaching a plateau. Lean has ‘won’, if you will.

Lean/Continuous Improvement has developed roots in most Fortune 500 companies, and across a broad range of industries.

We have a significant and growing number of splendid Lean organizations.

It would be easy to rest on our oars. But if we did, we’d risk the fate of numerous other worthy “improvement” paradigms (e.g. TQM, Business Process Reengineering et al).

Here’s our next challenge: How do we get a new sigmoid curve going?

In my view, the key to generating a new upswing for Lean is two-fold:

1. Double down on the principles and thinking behind Lean, and

2. Extend Lean thinking upstream and downstream of Operations

I’ve written a book {The Remedy] & blogged extensively on number 2.

What about number 1? Increasingly, Lean is taught as a set of tools and practices – each worthy and helpful in their own right. Visual management, 5 S, standardized work et al are splendid, effective practices – necessary, but not sufficient. For a start, they’re unlikely to seize the imagination of, say, a Chief Information Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, or Chief Medical Officer – or of a CEO, for that matter. I spend much of my time coaching such folks. They see the tools of Lean as ‘Operations’ stuff – helpful, but not transformational.

But the ideas & principles underlying Lean are as profound as those underlying medicine, law or engineering, or any great profession. I was trained as a Chemical Engineer and learned the principles of heat transfer, mass transfer, fluid mechanics, unit operations and more. I understood that my job was to apply these principles in ever more complex situations – hence their power.

Lean principles are as powerful and as eternal, in my view. We need to teach them as such, and challenge ourselves to apply them in more & more challenging and complex situations. How well we do this will determine Lean’s trajectory over the next few decades. (It’s the challenge to which we at Lean Pathways have dedicated ourselves.)

Our nemeses in this great endeavour? Arrogance (Hubris), complacency, fear – the eternal trifecta.

Should be an interesting year - and decade.

Best, Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Hubris and Ethics

By Pascal Dennis

Hubris is the ancient Greek word for arrogance, excessive pride or self-confidence.

Hubris is a common root cause of unethical behavior and, arguably, the most dangerous enemy of great companies.

(Check out this fine book on hubris and the Enron catastrophe entitled The Smartest Guys in the Room.)

What's the countermeasure to hubris?

Humility -- the extreme awareness of limits, of standards, of all that we are not. Humility is one of the Great Virtues, and underlies Prudence, Temperance, Courage and Justice.

Justice, for example, is only possible if we’re humble enough to accept a higher standard or code.

Visual management, 5 S, standardized work and all the other elements of the Lean business system are designed to keep us humble.

Our old Toyota plant in Cambridge Ontario won many awards. "How could they give us an award?" we'd wonder. "We're so screwed up..."

We need great companies -- they show us what's possible.

And great companies need humility - for the same reason.

Best,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Lean – Where are We Now? - Part 2

By Pascal Dennis

Last time, I invoked nature’s sigmoid curve and asked:

1. Where on the curve are we now? Are we still in the state of accelerated growth – or has Lean leveled off?
2. If the latter, how to create a new sigmoid curve? What are the obstacles and possible countermeasures?

We had a fine response, as usual – thanks. Seems the consensus is that Lean is levelling off and approaching a plateau, and I would agree.

If so, how do we get a new sigmoid curve going? How do we avoid the fate of numerous other worthy “improvement” paradigms (e.g. TQM, Business Process Reengineering et al)?

In my view, the key to generating a new upswing for Lean is two-fold:

1. Double down on the principles and thinking behind Lean, and
2. Extend Lean thinking upstream and downstream of Operations

I’ve written a book & blogged extensively on number 2.

What about number 1?

Increasingly, Lean is taught as a set of tools and practices – each worthy and helpful in their own right.

Visual management, 5 S, standardized work et al are splendid, effective practices – necessary, but not sufficient.

For a start, they’re unlikely to seize the imagination of, say, a Chief Information Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, or Chief Medical Officer – or of a CEO, for that matter.

I spend much of my time coaching such folks. They see the tools of Lean as ‘Operations’ stuff – helpful, but not transformational.

But the ideas & principles underlying Lean are as profound as those underlying medicine, law or engineering, or any great profession.

I was trained as a Chemical Engineer and learned the principles of heat transfer, mass transfer, fluid mechanics, unit operations and more.

It was understood that my job was to apply these principles in ever more complex situations – hence their power.

Lean principles are as powerful and as eternal, in my view.

We need to teach them as such, and challenge ourselves to apply them in more & more challenging and complex situations.

How well we do this will determine Lean’s trajectory over the next few decades.

(It’s the challenge to which we at Lean Pathways have dedicated ourselves.)

Our nemeses in this great endeavour?

Arrogance, complacency, fear – the eternal trifecta.

Should be an interesting decade.

Best,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Lean Fundamentals & Strategy Deployment

By Pascal Dennis

Strategy Deployment makes problems visible.

The core process steps are:

1. Develop the Plan
2. Deploy the Plan
3. Monitor the Plan
4. Improve the system

Each step entails a deep, shared understanding of Lean fundamentals.



To develop a good Plan, for example, we need to Go See and grasp the situation thereby.

But this is difficult if our visual management and information flow are poor.

It'll be doubly hard if our managers hide problems because of dysfunctional mental models.

Similarly, improving the system requires a solid understanding of Practical Problem Solving and root cause analysis.

Sustaining improvements entails locking in improvements with 5 S, standardized work.

Weak fundamentals are perhaps the most common failure Strategy Deployment failure mode.

In summary, please supplement your Strategy Deployment efforts with a broad development of Lean skills - for front line team members, as well as senior leaders.

And remember, since Lean is all too clear, it takes time to grasp.

Best regards,

Pascal

Two Pillars of the Lean Business System

By Pascal Dennis

Continuous Improvement and Respect for People - big ideas that deserve to capital letters!

These reflect the infinite finesse of the Lean Business System.

They are yin & yang, masculine & feminine, mind & heart.

Each contains the other, as in the famous yin/yang image.

Continuous improvement is largely, though not entirely, an affair of the 'rational mind', which some people call the 'Left Brain'.

We need to know the fundamentals, including Value/Waste, 5 S, Visual Management, Standardized Work & the like.

We need enough problem solving 'reps' so that our core katas become part of our muscle memory.

Respect for People is largely, though, again, not entirely, an affair of the 'heart, which some people call the 'Limbic Brain'.

Respect for People requires empathy, and a solid grounding in core values.

Our readers will know, by now, that for me, this means the Cardinal Virtues:

• PRUDENCE,
• TEMPERANCE,
• COURAGE,
• JUSTICE

These figure strongly in my latest, Reflections of a Business Nomad.

By the way, my friend and colleague, Dr. Reldan Nadler, has written persuasively about the importance of Emotional Intelligence in leaders.

I recommend his books warmly.

Best regards,

Pascal