Lean Quote: Survival Is Not Mandatory

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." — Dr. Edwards Deming

I always liked this quote from Dr. Deming. I thought it really highlighted the importance of change. 

The point is that you don’t have to change, but it is key to survival. Over time everything changes and you must be able to keep up with the changes and adapt or change also. If you don’t, things will pass you up and eventually you won’t survive. 

This rarely happens overnight. GM is a great example. For decades, they did not change a single thing about there management, accounting and manufacturing practices. Finally, after the turn of the century Toyota caught and overtook GM as the #1 car manufacturer. Profits are higher. 

Quality is higher. Even with the stumble by Toyota a few years ago with the quality issues, they maintained their profitability and continued to change. 

There comes a time where every company needs to change its practices in order to survive. In some cases, it may take years or decades to feel the pressure (GM) and in some cases it may take a few months (tech companies). 

Of course, you don’t have to change, because there is nothing to say you have to survive.

About the Author: Today's Lean Quote is brought to you by Matt Wrye, blogger at Beyond Lean. Matt has a been a good friend through my online Lean trials and tribulations. With Matt's 10+ years of lean implementation and problem solving experience, he is able to draw on his successes and failures to tackle new challenges by presenting fresh perspectives and results-driven solutions. His cornerstone belief is that all levels of the business unit should be educated on lean thinking and principles. To this point, Matt diligently challenges his own lean knowledge while working with all business levels ranging from human resources, accounting and the manufacturing floor to senior managers, executives and presidents. By adhering to this continuous learning philosophy, Matt is able to focus his lean efforts to provide continuous improvement. 

 

Daily Lean Tips Edition #54 (796-810)

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey.  Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Click this link for A Lean Journey's Facebook Page Notes Feed.

Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #796 - Everything is Important But Some Things are More Important than the Others

A cornerstone of Lean Six Sigma is the Pareto-law or 80/20 law. Choosing the right project, focusing the project on the key problems, selecting the main causes of the problem or defining the improvement actions is important. Determine which activities/problems are most important using data, not perceptions.

Lean Tip #797 - Don’t Take on Massive Projects

Massive projects, taking place over long stretches of time, can encourage procrastination – as far-off goals are less motivating – and can be discouraging since your team will feel that they are achieving less. Instead, try to work on smaller and more focused projects, which will be far easier for your team to concentrate on.

Lean Tip #798 - Middle Management is Essential For Motivating Your Team

In order to properly motivate and keep a close eye on your team, Middle Management is essential. Make sure that your project leaders are keeping them in the loop, and they will ensure a smooth and connected working environment.

Lean Tip #799 - Make Sure Your Leaders are Active Teachers

All leaders, and especially senior leaders, have to remain fully engaged. It is their responsibility to ensure that the team successfully improves, through leading process improvement activities. The project and the team will not be successful if leaders delegate their responsibilities to others – this will lead to a lack of strong leadership and possibly failed improvement activities.

Lean Tip #800 - Everyone Can Solve Problems 

Avoid thinking that experts are always needed. Although experts can be essential, on a day to day basis, everyone can use basic six sigma tools and think creatively and practically. Don’t let your team get stuck too often waiting for an expert’s opinion.

Lean Tip #801 - Create Organizing Systems.

Being organized saves tons of time, and you don’t have to be the most ultra-organized person in the world either. Systems aren’t complicated to implement.

Create a filing system for documents. Make sure all items have a place to be stored in your dwelling. Streamline, streamline, streamline.

Lean Tip #802 - Constantly Improve Your Process

Change is good, especially when it translates to getting things done with more efficiency, more expediency, or less cost. Be on the lookout for ways to do things better – it could mean you have an easier time managing your workday.

Lean Tip #803 - Think of how to do it, not why it cannot be done.

The pessimist will create all kinds of reasons that something can't be done. The optimistic, forward thinker, on the other hand, knows that "if the why is strong enough, the how will come."

Focus on the outcome. Then, come up with all the ways that the outcome could possibly be accomplished.

Lean Tip #804 - Do not seek perfection. Do it right away even if for only 50% of the target.

If we all waited for perfection, we'd still be reading by candlelight and riding horses to work. Once you get to a certain point (whether it's 50% or 80%, or another number that makes sense), then run with it. In other words, take action. Then, adjust as you go along.

Lean Tip #805 - Kaizen ideas are infinite.

Kaizen is a process of learning and growing, steadily and continually. There are always ways to "tweak" elements of your life in order to improve them. It has been said that life is a journey, not a destination.  And practicing the philosophy of continuous improvement, of kaizen, will help you to make the most of that journey!

Lean Tip #806 - Question Everything. Ask "Why" Five Times.

A brilliantly simple root cause problem-solving tool, asking why five times becomes easier the more you do it. Adopting this as a default way of looking at things will aid, not only your problem solving, but other areas, too.

Lean Tip #807 - Ideas are Infinite. Execution is the Key.

This simple maxim is often overlooked as people get caught up in meetings and so on. You've got to be the change you want to see, not the change you'd like to see. It's the same as not confusing better with best. You want to move to better right away, not take forever working out what "best" looks like.

Lean Tip #808 - Kaizen Starts With Taking a Look at the Actual Place of Work.

Continuous improvement efforts must start with a trip to the gemba. The gemba might often be the factory floor, but people forget about Lean in the office, where half of the work starts out being late! It's easy to see waste on the floor, but it's harder (at first) to see waste in the office or other value streams. Going to the gemba will make it easier.

Lean Tip #809 - Kaizen Requires a Bias for Action.

Get your teams out of the conference room and into the gemba. From there, mandate a fast turnaround time, have them quickly do a value stream map and root cause analysis for their actionable items, and post their successes right away.

Lean Tip #810 - Discard Conventional Fixed Ideas.

Part of problem solving is thinking outside of the box. Encourage people to think this way and not in the same old way that got them into the problem to begin with! Think about how to do it, not why it can't be done. I often hear, "We tried that before and it didn't work." They may have had a good idea, but the chances are that they didn't include the accountability portion. Without accountability, you will not have sustainability.

The Lego Calendar, Fun and Productive Visual Management

Productivity tools and techniques have been a frequent topic of discussion here. A personal kanban has been a highlight of this topic. Recently, I came across a great video series combining a common Lean training tool, Legos, and project management kanban system. 

Last year, workers at a design studio in London recently went on a quest to find a better way to organize themselves while in the office. There were a few requirements. It had to be big. It had to cover a few months into the future. It had to work both online and offline. They settled on Legos. Using Legos, Vitamins built a large, wall-mounted calendar with flat gray pieces as the base, representing the days of the week. Each person has their own line on the calendar, and is represented by a custom minifig character. Different projects are assigned different colors of bricks. The wall-sized calendar made entirely of Lego bricks also syncs with Google automatically via smartphone screenshots.


Lego calendar by Vitamins from Vitamins on Vimeo.

This Lego calendar may be the most fun business calendar ever created. Do you see an opportunity for this approach in your business?

Lean Quote: Eiji Toyoda's Respect for People

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"…employees are offering a very important part of their life to us. If we don’t use their time effectively, we are wasting their lives." — Eiji Toyoda, former President and Chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation and cousin of the company’s founder, Kiichiro Toyoda

In remembrance of Eiji Toyoda, a key figure in the development of the Toyota Production System, who recently died at age 100 I chose the quote above because it forms the foundation of  “Respect for People.” Like Eiji I believe people are the most important asset in any company but sadly this is not a management philosophy shared by all.

A survey of over 100,000 people in more than 2,000 companies highlighted that managers are wasting their employee’s time.

Among the surprising facts: Over the years this index has been compiled, only 12% of people responded positively to the following statement: “My company is respectful of my time and attention, and is focused on using it wisely and effectively.”

The survey also indicates that, among other findings, for every 100 employees:

51 must go back to their manager frequently to determine what they’re supposed to do.

71 can’t find what they need to do their best.

81 think an Xbox works better than the tools their company supplies.

Lacking clear direction, tools, and systems at work can cost time or even worst cost talent. In fact, the design of workflow and workload are matters of respect. The time, attention, ideas, knowledge, and energy you ask your employees to invest in their job day in and day out is certainly worthy of respecting.

Respect for people means developing their latent skills in both on the job and off the job training. It is easy to invest money in new technology, software, or equipment. It takes time, effort, and planning to invest in employee skills development. Wasting employee time implies a lack of respect and poor planning by all involved.

See Mark Graban’s post: Eiji Toyoda, Credited with Developing TPS and Expanding Toyota into North America, Passes Away at 100 , Bill Waddell’s post: Eiji Toyoda – the Master Innovator , Jon Miller’s post: The Man Who Saved Kaizen, and Karen Martin’s post: Eiji Toyoda: A Consummate Leader (1913-2013) for more great tributes to Eiji Toyoda.

 

Lean Leadership Requires Servant Leaders

What is a servant leader? It's not complicated really. If you see people as a means to serve you, then you are not a servant leader. I would call you a manager or simply a boss. If you view your role as a leader to empower others to become better at what they do, to achieve greater levels of skill and ability, and become better, more productive people in the process, then you are a servant leader.

A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first, and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world. The key differences between servant leaders and more autocratic styles can be summarized as follows:

Motives. A servant leader uses their power to develop followers and growing the company through the development of the full potential of the workforce, rather than using their power to control and exploit employees.

Preferences. Servant leaders prefer inspirational and transformational power, because they seek to influence and transform followers, rather than using positional, political and coercive powers to control subordinates.

Outcome. If we define power as the ability to influence followers, then servant leadership is more effective, because “the arm of control is short, while the reach of influence has no limits”.

Orientation. Servant leaders are sensitive to individual and situational needs, because they exist to serve others; therefore, they are relation-oriented and situational, rather than being only concerned about their own authority and power.

Skill level. Servant leadership requires a higher level of leadership ability and skills, because it takes more interpersonal skills and positive inner qualities to inspire and influence workers.  On the other hand, authoritarian leaders only need obedience and coercive power to enforce compliance and conformity from their subordinates.

Attitude to vulnerability. Servant leaders are willing to risk making themselves vulnerable by trusting and empowering others, rather than being afraid of vulnerability.

Attitude to humility. Servant leaders view themselves as servants and stewards, and voluntarily humble themselves in order to serve others, rather than blaming others for failure and claiming credit for success.

Lean organizations need leaders who know how to serve their people. A servant leader -- one who wants to serve first and lead second -- strives to create a work environment in which people can truly express these deepest of inner drives. Servant leadership entails a deep belief that people are the greatest asset any organization has, and to nurture their individual growth becomes the basis for all organizational development. That growth goes far beyond the limited dimension of financial benefit -- it dives into our core motivations as people.

People want to be engaged and also have some level of control over their environment. A servant leader recognizes that the people doing the work generally have the best ideas about how to improve the processes they participate in. Through tools like rapid improvement events and PDCA (Plan Do Check Act) suggestion systems, servant leaders practice participatory decision-making, empowering employees to be innovators and co-creators in positive change. Such leaders are also enablers; they spend a significant amount of time at the workplace, making direct observations, and then striving to create systemic improvements that add value to the work of their employees.

To be a great Lean manager, you need to be a servant leader. Wouldn’t you agree?

Lean Quote: Teamwork Breeds Success

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Coming together is a beginning.

Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success." 
— Henry Ford

You need to put a Herculean individual effort to get the same result that a well-knit team could easily achieve. The key to building a successful team is to instill in all the team members a sense of shared responsibility. In addition to sharing the responsibility, a wise team leader will also generously share the credit for success.

A second important element of success is rapport, which the manager or team leader bears much of the burden for creating. When each team member feels that s/he plays a vital role, the outcome will almost certainly be an enthusiastic, productive team. Note that this applies not only to teams but also to organizations in general.

Successful team leadership is therefore a bit of a balancing act. The leader must be able to inspire and motivate the team, which requires a certain amount of charisma, vision, trust, and strength of character. However, if taken too far, these traits may backfire on the leader. For example, the leader may overestimate his/her influence over the rest of the team, or grow arrogant, or push the team too hard. This sort of extremism can easily jeopardize the team’s performance; warning signs might include stress, short tempers, and the inability to meet deadlines.

Organizations that cultivate a culture of teamwork generally outperform their more individualistic competitors. Frequently, this leads to a virtuous cycle of self-improvement, as success breeds enthusiasm, which breeds better teamwork, which breeds yet more success. For this reason, teamwork is important for creating a healthy, prosperous organization.

 

Lean Leadership Lessons We Can Learn From Geese

Living in New England you become accustom to seeing the migration of Geese.  As the leaves start turning colors the Geese head south for the winter. But did you know that we can learn a lot about leadership from geese? It’s true! Animals can teach us valuable lessons about life. It is truly amazing how humans can relate to them just by observing their behavior.

Many years ago, I was given a copy of “Lessons from Geese” as part of an organizational leadership program I was enrolled in. To this day, it is still my favorite leadership analogy. The story was written in 1972 by Dr. Robert McNeish, a science teacher from Baltimore, Maryland and has since been used as a study lesson by many leadership institutes, consultants, organizations, and corporations.

We all know how important leadership and teamwork are in today’s organizations.  We can use the five principles presented in the “Lessons from Geese” story as inspiration to practice good leadership and teamwork skills as we implement Lean.

Fact 1: The Importance of Achieving Goals

As each goose flaps its wings it creates an “uplift” for the birds that follow. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.

Lesson: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

Fact 2: The Importance of Team Work

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it

Lesson: If we have as much sense as a goose we stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and give our help to others.

Fact 3: The Importance of Sharing

When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position.

Lesson: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. As with geese, people are interdependent on each other’s skills, capabilities and unique arrangements of gifts, talents or resources.

Fact 4: The Importance of Empathy and Understanding

The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Lesson: We need to make sure honking is encouraging. In groups where there is encouragement the production is much greater. The power of encouragement (to stand by one’s heart or core values and encourage the heart and core of others) is the quality of honking we seek.

Fact 5: The Importance of Encouragement

When a goose gets sick, wounded, or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.

Lesson: If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.

"Lessons from Geese" provides a perfect example of the importance of team work and how it can have a profound and powerful effect on any endeavor. When we use these five principles in our personal and business life it will help us to foster and encourage a level of passion and energy in ourselves, as well as those who are our friends, associates, or team members.