Lean Quote: Looking Back

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.

"We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are." — Bill Watterson

Unfortunately, there’s not enough emphasis in the business world about the need for leaders to make time in their day for reflection. In fact, thanks to today’s accelerated pace in the workplace, a greater focus is being put on a leader’s ability to react fast to changes and making quick decisions for their organization. While the ability to think quick on one’s feet is certainly a valuable trait for a leader to demonstrate, it’s also important that leaders develop the habit of putting aside time during their day to reflect not only on current decisions their organization needs to make, but also to review past mistakes to see what lessons their company can gain from that experience.

The process of thinking about the past learning - the process of reflection - can be a powerful process for building self-awareness and self-confidence. Reflection increases self-knowledge, better preparing people to make deliberate, well informed choices for their futures.

Reflection enhances your abilities to see connections between various learning contexts and the transferability of their knowledge, skills and attitudes. Reflection involves four main steps:

1. having an experience,

2. thinking about the experience,

3. learning from the experience, and

4. applying what has been learned.

The more you reflect, the more you realize that it comes naturally, and that without it, you are not able to do your job. You will discover that we all reflect, most of the time. By relearning how to use your reflecting skills as a tool in your leader’s toolbox, you can increase your ability to see possible challenges early, and seek alternative solutions before you are forced into a corner. You become pro-active.

Making time to reflect on past decisions and mistakes, and allowing yourself the opportunity to learn from it, is a critical step to continued growth and development and your ability to effectively lead others.

 

Better Change with Education and Training

Education and training are important means of changing individual perceptions and behaviors. There is a distinction between training and education. Training refers to instruction and practice designed to teach a person how to perform some task. Training focuses on concrete tasks that need to be done. Training will be an integral aspect of instituting any process level change.

Education refers to instruction in how to think. Education focuses on integrating abstract concepts into one’s knowledge of the world. Educated people will view the world differently after being educated than they did before.  This is an essential part of the process of change.

When Lean improvement plans are implemented, the nature of the work being done changes. People involved in or impacted by the new approach must receive two different types of training: conceptual and task-based.

Conceptual training involves explanation of the principles driving the change and a shift from an internal, product-based perspective to a customer and process-based focus.  Rather than viewing their jobs in isolation, employees must be taught to see all work as a process, connected to other processes in a system.

Conceptual training also involves teaching employees the basics of problem-solving. Data-driven process improvement demands an understanding of the fundamentals of data collection and analysis. Employees are trained in the basic tools of quality which provides a means of understanding the systematic nature of process variation.

Task-based training is necessary to help employees acquire and maintain new skills and proficiencies. Employees are given the responsibility for self-control of process quality.  These skills must be acquired through training and experience.

As part of the change initiative, an effective change agent will organize an assessment of the organization to identify its strengths and weaknesses.  Change is usually undertaken to either reduce areas of weakness, or exploit areas of strength. Knowing one’s specific strengths and weaknesses is useful in mapping the process for change.

Training and education are a key aspect in initiating change and maintaining the improvements that are deployed.

A Call For Shorter Meetings

No one likes long meetings or too many meetings for that matter.  Meeting efficiency is a frequent topic on this and many other sites. Recently in an article on LinkedIn Fast Company explored the 18 minute meeting.

It doesn't take a scientist to know that you cannot inspire people if you put them to sleep. But scientists are beginning to identify how long most people can pay attention before they tune out. The range seems to be in the area of 10 to 18 minutes. TED organizers reached the conclusion that 18 minutes works best. 

TED curator Chris Anderson explained the organization’s thinking this way:

It [18 minutes] is long enough to be serious and short enough to hold people’s attention. It turns out that this length also works incredibly well online. It’s the length of a coffee break. So, you watch a great talk, and forward the link to two or three people. It can go viral, very easily. The 18-minute length also works much like the way Twitter forces people to be disciplined in what they write. By forcing speakers who are used to going on for 45 minutes to bring it down to 18, you get them to really think about what they want to say. What is the key point they want to communicate? It has a clarifying effect. It brings discipline.

Efficient meetings are the result of careful planning by the meeting planner. Make your meetings more effective with the use of SPACER as a meeting framework

Use SPACER (Safety, Purpose, Agenda, Conduct, Expectations, and Roles & Responsibilities) as a technique to improve team meeting efficiency and effectiveness.

Safety – is always the top priority, discuss safety protocols like evacuation, PPE or safety equipment needed in the facility, bathroom location, etc.

Purpose – "what is the meeting for?", discuss what is in scope and what might not be.

Agenda – no matter what type of meeting or for how long there should be some sort of plan.

Conduct – what are the rules the team participants should adhere to while in the meeting like cell phone us, side discussions, etc.

Expectations – what do we expect to get out of this meeting especially if it is a training session?

Roles – what are the roles of the participants in the meeting, is there a note taker or time keeper for example. 

One of the biggest challenges to meeting effectiveness is we are essentially creatures of habit. We do things this way because we have always done things this way – status quo. Perhaps the easiest change is break away from the Outlook meeting defaults of 30 minute blocks. What do you think? How do you make your meetings effective.

Lean Quote: Combine Passion and a System to be Unstoppable

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.

"Just as passion without a system will fail, so will a system without passion fail. We must have a system with passion." — Thomas Berry

Passion is the driving force that enables people to attain far more than they ever imagined. Commitment means you will go all the way for what you believe in. Passion and commitment go hand in hand. Remember to have a positive attitude because of the saying “Good attitude, good results; bad attitude, bad results.”

Passion is everything. Without passion there is no drive to succeed. It is the fuel of the will, and everything you do as a leader must express your passion. Passion is contagious and is easily shared. Passion will bridge moments of weakness, and will drive you past your failures while reaching for your goals. Passion radiates from you and is easily detected by others.

Having passion makes sense, and has proven to be a key factor for many successful businesses and endeavors, but passion alone is not enough to be successful. The key to is to set up a system. A system lets you focus with strategic tunnel vision on what you need to be focused on right now. Systems are about the long-term process. In the end, process always wins.

Feedback loops are important for building good systems because they allow you to keep track of many different pieces without feeling the pressure to predict what is going to happen with everything. Forget about predicting the future and build a system that can signal when you need to make adjustments. Committing to the process is what makes the difference.

Passion can put you on the path to starting a successful endeavor, but once you combine your passion in a system, you can truly become an unstoppable force.

 

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

If you ever wondered if you're paid to talk about doing things rather than actually do them, you're not alone. Many businesses suffer from the same ailment – stifling innovation by running good ideas through the ringer. Hours of meetings about the same topics and endless email chains can kill good ideas before they ever get off the ground.

Actions speak louder than words! An expression where doing what you say you will do is a greater determinant of behavior and character. People can say anything, but when what they say and do are contrary, it’s easier to judge by what is done instead of by what is said.

For leaders, action is one of the most important traits they can embody.  Taking action means getting things done.  It means seizing the initiative.  It conveys momentum, and energy, and creating something new, something that didn’t exist before.  And this excites followers and others who understand that going towards something is always better than sitting around staring at the wall.

People will usually listen to what you say, but they really pay attention to what you do. You can't say one thing and do another if you want to be effective as a leader. What you say is important. However if your actions are different than your words people will assume the actions are what is true.

It’s easy for leaders to exhibit a disconnect between what they say we stand for and what they really do stand for without even realizing it. When this happens, it has an unmistakable effect on the effectiveness of teams and individual team members. If your words aren’t consistent with your actions, you’re not only confusing the listener, you may also be causing irreparable damage to your own credibility.

When you “walk the talk,” your behavior becomes a catalyst for people’s trust and faith in you. And it also emphasizes what you stand for. Leading by example shows people exactly what you expect and gives them living proof that it can be done. On a deeper level, leading by example and being as good as your words builds trust. It’s a sign that you take what you say seriously so they can, too.

In the end, taking action is simple.  You do or you don’t.  The hard part comes when we introduce doubt, fear, concern about what others will say (or not say) and the outcome being failure.  If you have a great idea, why not take action?  What will happen if you fail?  You’ll learn from the failure and perhaps, have even more great ideas.  You’ll also be taking action and not just merely talking about it.

“Words may show a man’s wit but actions his meaning.”  Benjamin Franklin

Celebrating 300 Single Point Lessons!

My friends at Fuss & O'Neil are celebrating a milestone, their 300th Single Point Lesson.  John Kravontka and team have been sharing an accumulation of best practices learned by other manufacturers over the course of many years. I am happy that they are letting me share this with you.  Below is an excerpt from John Kravontka on SPLs:

An idea is a treasure. It can be killed very quickly by a negative comment, or it can be enhanced by a positive one.  To get ideas to begin to flow is a very difficult process. Working in teams seems to help idea generation. If someone comes up with a good idea in a small facility it is easy to spread it to another part of the facility or to a similar piece of equipment. If you have a large facility and/or multiple facilities it can be very difficult to spread a good idea, or a best practice. If you cannot spread them, everyone has to re-invent the wheel over and over again, and this can take a lot of time.  If we can capture an idea in words and pictures we can then spread it quickly from one place to another. If we categorize the ideas we can then search/find them more easily. We can take these good ideas or best practices and teach concepts with them.

This is what we (Fuss & O’Neill Manufacturing Solutions) do every day, teach safety, maintenance and reliability concepts with hands-on training/ideas. We put the best ones out there for everyone to look at, and hopefully utilize to make their company better… While we teach and train, we get our clients results, at the same time. In many instances the ROI for our work is measured in weeks and months..

As the TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) process hit the USA in the early 70’s a Single Point Lesson (SPL) or One Point Lesson (OPL) was a way to train an Operator to perform an Operator based task on a piece of equipment to help maintain that equipment, or to keep it from deteriorating. It focused on a “Single Point” or idea and by using many pictures (visuals) it quickly got the point across about what the Operator needed to accomplish. It also created Standard Work around that task. At that time a major thrust of TPM was to have the Operator perform simple maintenance tasks (transfer from Maintenance) so that the Maintenance Technician could then do more work or different work. As the TPM process matured here in the USA, the SPL’s also began to change. They started to become more of a way to document a great idea, normally a Maintenance idea that would help improve the Safety of the equipment or keep a piece of equipment clean (documenting a Countermeasure), or improve the access to the equipment (make it easier to maintain), etc.

You can use these SPL’s or OPL’s in many ways:

•       As a tool box meeting for Maintenance Technicians, starting off each day, or weekly to talk about safety, new ideas, thoughts and the sharing of best practices

•       As a weekly bulletin board of best practice ideas

•       As an intranet site to hold and categorize best practices

•       To categorize them for use during; TPM events, SMED events, RCM and 5’S events, to begin to generate and stimulate some team ideas

•       From a corporate viewpoint, as a way to spread Maintenance and safety best practices across multiple facilities in the USA and across the world. Why should each facility have to re-invent their own wheel over and over when they can plug into other “wheels”

•       Run contests for the most, the best, the cheapest idea

•       As a way to promote Maintenance and the “status” of Maintenance in a facility

•       As a way to train operators on ideas for Daily Operator PM’s for equipment and visuals that they can add. Help operators to “see” the invisible, so they can begin to see minor defects, etc. on their own equipment that they run each day

•       As a way to elevate the function of Maintenance across the country

•       As a way to capture the “Intellectual Capital” of your employees and to spread to future employees

•       As a way to help change a culture or mindset in an facility

•       As a way to train new employees

•       As a way to create standard work

You can see more SPLs at http://www.fando.com/tpm-single-point-lessons/

Lean Quote: Make Work Fun

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.

"You can’t accomplish anything unless you have some fun." — Charles Knight, Emerson Electric

Don't let the pressures of business bring down your employees. If your employees aren't having fun, they're probably not performing at their highest level. It's time to inject fun back into your company's culture.

Getting energized about work usually results from a couple things. Primarily if a work culture is fun to be in, it’s a place you look forward to going because the people (and leadership) are authentic, caring and fun. And teams that are energized with what they are doing get excited by the opportunities that a day may bring.

It is time managers learned how to create an atmosphere that is challenging, creative and fun for employees as well as for themselves. A good manager knows how to have a good balance between being professional at work and having fun in the process.

Remember that employees create fun in the workplace, not managers. It’s a manager’s job to orchestrate fun activities (and not get in the way of them).