Ambidexterity – the Battles We Have to Win

 Doing nothing is the biggest risk.  21^st C truism

Nowadays, can we rest on our proverbial oars? Can we afford to coast, confident that our voyage & destination are assured? Are we immune to the deadly diseases of our day – Volatility, Black Swans, and Obsolescence?

Our good luck & curse is to be ‘born in interesting times’. Doing nothing is our riskiest option. When the ocean is in furious flux, alertness, manoeuverability and speed are of the essence. And the clearest expression of these qualities is ambidexterity – the ability to both protect the core business with Lean/OpEx, and also, to ignite new Growth using Digital methods.

This is the first of a series of articles in which I describe the transformation blockers I have experienced.  These are the ‘battles’ we have to win whether we are launching a Lean ‘model line’ or an Innovation ‘showcase’:

• Ignorance
• Fear
• Space
• Scatter
• Guesswork

I'll describe them briefly today and set the stage for a deeper discussion in articles to come.

Ignorance

When I launched our advisory service in year 2,000 the Toyota Production System was all the rage. TPS was indeed the ‘machine that changed the world’, and companies around the world were anxious to absorb & apply its secrets. In a marvelous spirit of generosity, Toyota shared its methods and opened its factories to the world. And yet, it took a long time to lift the veil of ignorance.  Indeed, it’s estimated that between 50 and 90% of Lean transformations fail to achieve their goals.

Fear

Senior leader mentorship is a big part of my personal practice these past few decades. I’ve worked with CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CMOs, CROs and with independent & executive Board members. With very few exceptions, they are smart, capable and committed to doing the right thing for their companies, team members and communities.  (To be clear, I carefully screen mentees – no bozos, a-holes, or ‘dark triad’ types.)

Fear is perhaps their most common shared emotion.  They don’t want to let people down; they don’t want to look bad. They want to leave the company is better shape than they found it.

Space

Transformation requires space – physical, temporal, financial, strategic, and cultural space. Such space requires ‘executive air cover’ against the inevitable ‘corporate antibodies’ that will shut down a model line or showcase in overt and covert ways.

Scatter

Scatter means the inability to pair down one’s activities & focus on the critical few.  The Pareto principle is often cited but rarely practiced consistently. There is something in human nature that likes to push buttons repeatedly, to see what happens, I suppose. This debilitating tendency has reached epidemic proportions in our screen-addled worlds.

Guesswork

Guesswork entails jumping to conclusions in the absence of data. Sometimes the deeper cause is HIPPO management (decisions based on the highest paid person’s opinion). Other times, we simply lack the data – very common when we’re trying to ascend the now mythical ‘hockey stick’ curve.

There you have it – the biggest blockers to ambidexterity that I have experienced.  In articles to come, I’ll do a deeper dive on each one.  Hope you join me.

Best wishes,

Pascal Dennis         E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org

In case you missed earlier blogs... please feel free to have another look….

Daily Management Walks - a Primer
Ambidexterity-in-practice
AI and Innovation, part 2

Daily Management Walks – a Primer

  

Don’t trust the report, dashboard or AI summary. Go see for yourself.

My friend & colleague, Martin, recently asked me about Daily Management Walks (DMW). I thought I’d share my thoughts with you all. DMWs are a key part of how managers deliver value.  Although they’re commonly associated with analogue industries (manufacturing, healthcare, construction), DMWs are as important in Digital industries like Tech & Financial Services.

The purpose of a daily management walk is threefold:

1) Show respect for the people doing the work,

2) Reinforce your core values & strategic direction, and

3) Confirm a good condition, both in terms of results & process execution (lagging & leading indicators, if you will). 

Show Respect for the People Doing the Work

Life is hard & people face great challenges holding things together. People who show up for work every day, ready & able to help our company meet the day’s challenges, and also to improve deserve our respect & recognition.

Mouthing cliches & feigning interest is not respectful. (‘Here comes the boss again, pretending she cares what we’re doing.’). Respect means checking on the team’s work & problems solving activity. Respect means observing several cycles or a given process & asking questions based on what you see.  ‘I noticed you were a bit behind when…’  ‘I saw a number of awkward postures…’  Would it not be easier if the work piece was a little higher when you…’

Whether you’re in an analogue or digital/virtual industry you need to understand the fundamentals of visual management, quality in the process, standardized work and ergonomics. It’s helpful if you can connect the work the team is doing with work of teams upstream or downstream, or with the ultimate customer. Core message: ‘You are part of a living breathing hole that is creating value for our customers.  We appreciate you & all your efforts. Thanks & please continue.’

Reinforce Core Values & Strategic Direction

Who are we? What do we believe in? These questions define our core values.

Where are we going? How do we get there? And these define our Aspiration & Winning Logic.

Leaders needs to articulate clear answers for themselves and then tirelessly reinforce the key points (without becoming tiresome.)

Core values must begin with People, and in particular, Health & Safety. As a Toyota manager I attended daily walks with the President, Mr. Watanabe, a person I still revere. He continually stopped to pick trash & other tripping hazards, not because anybody was watching, but because it reflected who he was & what he believed in. I remember thinking, ‘I want to be like him.’  I still do.

Here’s a clever way to measure strategic alignment: Ask ten people on the shop floor, ‘What is our company’s Purpose?’ and ‘What is our company’s winning logic?’ I recall a fine manufacturer in America’s Midwest whose team members could readily articulate the company’s aspiration (The Solution Provider) & winning logic (Speed, Cost, Innovation). The company remains as focused as a great sports team.

Confirm a Good Condition (both results & process)

Key checkpoints include output & process, informed by your strategic pillars (typically People, Quality, Delivery, Cost), and the Four M’s (Manpower, Methods, Machinery, Materials). ‘Results’ means: Are we winning or losing? ‘Process’ means: Is the process working as designed?  Do you see any evidence of waste, unevenness or physical/cognitive strain? (Muda, Mura, Muri for the cool kids).

Build a schedule that helps you touch each zone you manage. For example, if you are in charge of Zones 1 to 5, you might schedule your daily walks as follows: Monday: Zone 1; Tuesday: Zone 2; Wednesday…). In the same way, you can shift emphasis each week by, say, doing a deep dive on People in Week 1, Quality in Week 2, Delivery in Week 3 and Cost in Week 4. In other words, organize your DMWs so you cover the key checkpoints in a systematic way. 

It also makes sense to summarize key checkpoints on small cards (kamishibai for all you hipsters) and then use the cards to populate a visual schedule board. You can digitize all of this, of course, and there are intense debates in Lean circles about the pros & cons. I am an agnostic. I prefer analogue systems but working with multinationals I see the benefits of electronic systems than connect far-flung locations.

There you have it, Martin. Trust it is helpful & makes sense.

Best wishes,

Pascal Dennis         E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org

In case you missed earlier blogs... please feel free to have another look….

ambidexterity-in-practice
AI and Innovation, part 2
AI Without Acumen = Garbage at the Speed of Light

Protect the Core & Ignite New Growth – Ambidexterity in Practice

The ambidextrous will prosper.

Pascal Dennis, co-author of Harnessing Digital Disruption

I’ve walked two pathways in my career– OpEx/Lean, and the way of Smart Growth (applied Innovation).  Integrating them is my aspiration these past ten years. So, what does such ambidexterity look like in practice?

Some years ago, I wrote a book about planning & execution called Getting the Right Things Done.  GRTD is about protecting your core business by focusing & aligning on a clear aspiration & winning logic. Our winning strategy is typically expressed in terms of core pillars, such as People, Quality, Delivery and Cost. Each pillar’s story is told on one-page A3-sized storyboards.  Each pillar’s A3 storyboard in turn comprises a clear aspiration & winning logic.

Simplicity is a key organizing principle in GRTD – if we cannot tell a clear simple story on one page, we probably do not understand the problem. The cost of complexity is extremely high – doing nothing is often less wasteful than pressing random buttons on the hope something will work.

Love the problem is a second core principle – develop a profound understanding of what we are trying to achieve before attempting countermeasures.  Given our impatient human nature, this is very hard to do.  (‘Don’t just stand there – do something!)  Plan & execute in accord with the scientific method a third core idea. In other words, our winning logic is a hypothesis, which we must test & validate based on data.

Protecting your core business in this way provides the foundation for Smart Growth. For a start, you free up plenty of cash which you can invest in your innovation portfolio. Moreover, the core principles of Protecting the Core are aligned with those of Smart Growth.  If you’ve been practicing kaizen, Growth Hacking (‘Lean experimentation’) will not be entirely foreign. If you’ve learned the physics of Flow in a great Lean company, you can readily apply them in an innovation sprint.

Igniting new Growth entails developing a balanced portfolio of innovation projects that a) align with your overall Aspiration & Winning Logic, and b) are mutually supportive. In other words, by doing project A & B, you are better able to tackle the more challenging C. Balanced means the right combination of better journeys, new journeys & offerings, and new businesses.

Your organization’s ‘mother Obeya’ (Control Tower, Cockpit, Big Room) with look just a little different.  In addition to the Pillar report outs and visuals, you’ll have a section showing the status of your Innovation Portfolio.  The visual system we use most often is a funnel with swim lanes corresponding to the type of innovation. We’ve also had success with race tracks and regatta courses.

Your funnel has to reflect the progress of each innovation (often called a ‘proof of concept’ – POC) toward validating the key tests:

1.     Does it Wow? (Desirability)

2.     Can we make money? (Viability)

3.     Does it work? (Feasibility)

But that’s a topic for another day. If you’re impatient, you can read about it here.

Best wishes,

Pascal Dennis         E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org

In case you missed earlier blogs... please feel free to have another look….

AI and Innovation, part 2
AI Without Acumen = Garbage at the Speed of Light
Smart Growth (continued) - the Hacker
Smart Growth - the Huslter

Ai & Innovation, part 2

 Pascal Dennis, co-author of Harnessing Digital Disruption

What’s the greatest danger posed by AI? The brutal fallacy that human creativity & achievement are nothing. ‘Look,’ AI tells us, ‘I can create a poem, essay, song, image in thirty seconds!’  Hence the proliferation of AI slop.

AI engines are akin to a smart intern or research assistant. In the hands of a skilled practitioner, AI saves time & effort, freeing us up to get at the crux of the problem or job at hand. Beware using AI as a crutch or a short cut. Learn the fundamentals of your chosen business, discipline or art. Put in the needed reps, cloister yourself with you craft, remote from AI support. Why, you ask? Because practice makes you smarter. And not doing so, asking AI to do the reps for you will surely make you dumber.

That said, AI can be very helpful to the innovator. Let me use the music to illustrate the point. As some of you may know, I am a dedicated composer & musician. (Management & Music are my ‘twin pillars’, and my family is my foundation).

To compose, say, a jazz ballad, you have to understand music theory, and in particular, jazz harmony. And you have to know your chosen instrument(s). Suppose you begin with a basic melody and a I – VII – III – II – V – I structure. How do we innovate?

Well, we can use chord extensions; that is, we can add the 2, 4, 6 or 7 to a given chord to give it the emotion we’re seeking (tension, anticipation, brightness, melancholy…). Then we can make the extension sharp or flat, or we can add multiple extensions, say, a 6 & a 9 on the tonic chord and 6 & flat 7 on the subdominant. Our progression is taking on a personality, an edge, a feeling. Now we can consider modulating to a different key, which is akin to entering a new room in a beautiful house. Or we can modulate to series of keys, which is akin to a series of rooms.

You get the picture. Absent an intuitive understanding of these things, gained by long & patient study, can anybody really innovate - with or without AI? To be sure, you can ask an AI music site to create a song for your spouse about a giraffe & hippo in the style of Willie Nelson, with a solo in the style of Chet Atkins – but is that innovation?

No, it’s AI slop.  (And even worse, it is stealing from Willie & Chet, no?)

And so, each of us must learn their craft under the guidance of a mentor, a sensei – one who has ‘gone before’. AI can help us in the same way as a smart intern or research assistant can help. By saving us time, by reducing hassle, by doing repetitive stuff that frees us up to do the hard working of thinking, experimenting and creating.

Do I use AI to help me write songs?  Short answer – No. I’ve played with AI in the manner I described above.  ‘Here is a chord sequence in the key of F minor. What kind of chord extensions or key modulations are possible?’  Like any smart intern, AI tries to be helpful. ‘Hey boss, did you consider adding a flat 9 to the dominant chord? 

But I already thought about that. It takes our producer & my composition coach, maestro David Logan, to suggest something truly cool like: ‘Try adding a flat 9 and a sharp 9 to the dominant…”

Now we’re talking…

Best wishes,

Pascal Dennis         E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org

In case you missed earlier blogs... please feel free to have another look….

AI Without Acumen = Garbage at the Speed of Light
Smart Growth (continued) - the Hacker
Smart Growth - the Huslter
The Difference Between Protecting Your Core Business & Igniting New Growth