The "Hot Stove" Rule of Discipline

In a recent supervision class I learned of an interesting analogy between touching a hot stove and applying positive, corrective discipline. The similarities are: immediacy, advance warning, consistency, and impartiality.

1. A hot stove burns immediately. Likewise, discipline should be applied quickly after an infraction. There should be no question in an employee’s mind as to cause and effect.
   
   
2. A hot stove radiates heat and gives a preliminary warning – so should discipline.
   
   
3. A hot stove always burns when touched. Likewise, discipline must be applied consistently.
   
   
4. A hot stove plays no favorites. Neither should discipline.

While I don’t directly supervise people anymore I still found this analogy useful. I am sure anyone with kids has had to discipline them at some point. It would be ideal to avoid discipline and we should work toward this but sometimes it is necessary. Are you impartial, immediate, consistent, and do you give warning when discipline is needed. Just think of touching a hot stove before you act.

The 6 P’s of Leadership

When you hear the word “leadership” what comes to mind? There are numerous definitions of leadership. For me leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen. Effective leadership comes down to people. It is about the ability to successfully engage and maximize all human resources for the attainment that vision.

In keeping with this idea that leadership is about people, there are 6 qualities of leadership starting with the letter P:

Principles - You have to have a moral compass as a leader. It starts with basic beliefs and values. It's important to make clear to the people in the organization what those are, so you're transparent. They have to be consistent with the values of the organization, or there will be a problem.

Perspective - That's an ability to dream, visioning that leads to strategies. It starts with a broader view of the world you live in. It's about value to the consumer.

Passion – It is not style. There are a lot of different styles -- charismatic, quiet, confident. But it all comes down to this motivating sense of commitment to what you do. Vince Lombardi said “the difference between success and failure is energy … fired with enthusiasm.”

Perseverance - That's sticking with it through the good times and the bad times -- mostly the bad. It means picking yourself up every day to go after it.

Plan – It's great that you have a dream and a vision but how are you getting there? If people see that you have a passionate purpose but get the feeling that there's now way you'll get there, how likely are they to buy into it? Not very to say the least. Build a plan and use it.

Partnerships - Seek co-operative working relationships both internally between functions and externally with suppliers and customers. Seek to use teams, not individuals. Seek to build trust. Create win-win solutions.

While there are people who seem to be naturally endowed with more leadership abilities than others, I believe that people can learn to become leaders by concentrating on improving these particular leadership skills.

It's important to remember that results count. Effective leaders are those who increase their company’s' performance by creating value profitably.


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Lean Quote of the Day - January 22, 2010

On Friday’s 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.

Feel free to share some of your favorites here as well.

"Trying to change people's habits and their way of thinking is like writing in the snow during a blizzard.  Every 20 minutes you have to start all over again. Only through constant repetition are you able to create change "
        - Donald L. Dewar (author of A Serious Anomaly: Quality Circles without TQC)
 
Check out this post on coping with resistance to change to learn about the common reasons people resist change and how you can overcome those conditions.

Respect for People One Cup at a Time

This is a guest post by Rebecca Kane Dow, Marketing and Communications Manager for  CONNSTEP.   CONNSTEP is Connecticut's NIST/MEP affiliate, helping Connecticut's small and midsize manufacturers compete and grow through highly personalized services tailored to the specific needs of companies.  Rebecca is also the voice behind @CONNSTEP on twitter.

I visit Dunkin Donuts far more than I should. With the ease of a drive-thru at most every location and one directly across the street from my office, the convenience of getting a quick coffee is often too hard to resist… or so I had thought.

During one visit in late November, I became incredibly frustrated by having to repeat my order three times at the microphone and then again when I got to the drive through window only to realize, when I got to my office, that my coffee had no cream and all sugar, and my bagel had cream cheese, not peanut butter - exactly the opposite of what I requested. But the real disappointment lie in that, at no time, during that whole transaction, did I get a simple “thank you.”

So, for the next few days, I waited. After the transaction was completed and there was no “thank you,” I waited, and when the employee annoyingly asked, “what?” I simply said, “you’re welcome.” This exercise got me a few annoyed, “thanks” or for the most part absolutely nothing.

I called and spoke with three store managers – nothing changed – and after reading about how Comcast and Dell use Twitter for customer service, I developed the “12 Days of Dunkin Donuts” campaign (as it was the holiday season). Each day, I would use my allotted 140 characters to share my experiences – good or bad (mostly bad) - to illustrate how unvalued I felt as a customer with the hopes of getting corporate attention, and by day three, I got a direct message from the voice of corporate Dunkin Donuts. We chatted, I got a lovely gift of coffee and a travel mug for my time and follow-up calls from the managers of the stores that I specifically highlighted.

Sadly, though, poor customer service seems endemic regardless of franchise, so I continue on with my campaign to highlight the poor customer service culture at the largest coffee chain in America. But what does this have to do with Lean?

The two basic tenets of the Toyota Production System, the genesis of Lean, are “Just-In-Time” and “Respect for People” and they are equal in importance.

During the times I have been inside a Dunkin Donuts, I’ve noticed the successful implementation of some Lean principles including single piece flow, kanban, point of use storage, FIFO and takt time, however, I believe it is the intense focus on takt time or, as they call it, the “customer wait time,” that is partially to blame for the degradiation of customer service. And witnessing how managers treat employees and employees treat each other, the root cause of poor customer service is glaringly obvious - if you don’t work in an environment where there is “respect for people,” then how can you pass respect on to the customer? Dunkin Donuts is out of balance.

DD’s biggest competitor, Starbucks, provides health insurance, benefits and a higher paywage to their employees and the culture of customer service is evident throughout your visit - from the greeting when you first arrive in the store through to the appreciation from the barista when you receive your coffee. Granted their coffee is more expensive, but I feel valued – and that value is worth paying for.

Every customer has choices today – from the customer who buys coffee to the customer who buys actuators or circuit boards or fuel systems – and in this commoditized market, how do you differentiate your company from that low-cost supplier?

Respect and value your employees, they will in turn respect and value your customers.

And don’t forget to say thank you.

If you enjoy this post and want to continue learning you can subscribe to A Lean Journey, join the discussion on LinkedIn, and follow me on Twitter with links on the right hand side of this page.

Lean Quote of the Day - January 15, 2010

On Friday’s 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.

Feel free to share some of your favorites here as well.

"Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day." - Frances Hesselbein - The Key to Cultural Transformation, Leader to Leader (Spring 1999)
 
Follow these ten factors for making culture change stick in your organization. 
 
If you enjoy this post and want to continue learning you can subscribe to A Lean Journey, join the discussion on LinkedIn, and follow me on Twitter with links on the right hand side of this page.

New 5S DVD To Get You Focused on Eliminating Waste

This is a guest post by Jeff Hofstetter, the President of Xtreme Lean Consulting.  I previously wrote about Jeff and his company in this post on Xtreme Lean's 5S Quiz and Learning Videos.

5S is a powerful improvement process that gets impressive results.  It is an essential part of Lean manufacturing because it focuses heavily on the elimination of waste.  This is also a great place to begin a Lean program for any business.

The main challenge of implementing 5S is developing a shopfloor understanding of its key points and tools. It is important for all employees to have a good working knowledge of 5S before you begin, and this new DVD uses easy to understand graphics and animations which clarify what 5S is, how it works, the numerous benefits, and how 5S can be implemented at your business.

This DVD will make it easy for your entire workforce to comprehend all of the principles of 5S with examples of Sort, Set-in-order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain being explained in detail, and how they can be applied at your business.

5S will help your business eliminate much of the waste found in almost all manufacturing processes. When you implement 5S and become Lean you will realize all of the benefits 5S has to offer your business. You can purchase the full version of this DVD by visiting this website, and then you too will be on your journey to a leaner more competitive business.

Coaching for Safe Behavior

Note: Coaching is founded on Dr. E. Scott Geller's Coaching philosophy, the second principle of his ground breaking People-Based Patient Safety® paradigm.

Coaching is basically a process of one-on-one observation and feedback.  Coaching can be applied to safety by systematically observing the behaviors of another person and offering constructive feedback to reduce the occurrence of any at-risk behaviors. The letters of COACH represent five fundamental steps of safety coaching: Care, Observe, Analyze, Communication, and Help.

Care…Show you actively care about each other's safety and health.  Looking out for each other is the right thing to do.  Do on to others and you want done onto you.

Observe…Take a few minutes every day to observe people working and their behaviors.   When observing, remember you are not looking for just risky actions, but also for safe behaviors to support or encourage.

Analyze…Think about why your co-worker might be doing what they're doing.  Use the ABC Model to help figure out why:
            A = Activator
            B = Behavior
            C = Consequences
An Activator directs a Behavior which leads to a Consequence that either encourages or discourages us to perform the behavior.

Figuring out why safe or risky behaviors happen helps you know what motivates safe behaviors and what causes risky ones.

Communicate…In order to be a good coach, you need to communicate behavior based feedback in a helpful, non-threatening way.  When you communicate: you want to teach, and you want the message to be heard.

Help…There are many ways to help people be safer and incident free.  One way to help is to educate and teach; another way to help is to offer assistance.  You and your co-workers must rely on each other to choose safe actions or behaviors.  Helping everyone to act safely requires a team effort.

When people sense you truly care about them, and you want to listen to what they have to say, you make them feel valued.  Then they will be much more willing to accept your input.
 
If you do all these things, you will be a great COACH.  When everyone in a workplace is a coach, the whole team wins.

This coaching process is clearly relevant for improving behaviors in areas other than safety and in settings other than the workplace.

If you enjoy this post and want to continue learning you can subscribe to A Lean Journey,  join the discussion on LinkedIn, and follow me on Twitter with links on the right hand side of this page.