Lean Quote: Freedom is a Chance to be Better

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.

"Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better." — Albert Camus

Tomorrow, we celebrate Independence Day in the US. The 4th of July is an extremely patriotic holiday where we celebrate the independence of our country. People celebrate with family and friend gatherings, barbecues, parties, games, food, fun, festivals, parades, musical events and fireworks.

Freedom is not just the natural right of every human. It is the state of mind that enables people to create the greatest and the most inspiring things. The spirit of freedom gives us the power to conquer new heights, whether it is a real mountain peak or a bold business challenge.

Lean is all about finding better ways to do things, so that they require less effort, less time and fewer resources. It is not about cost reduction – penny-pinching, cutting investment, taking out people – it is about finding better ways to get work done. It is about developing a mindset, methods and tools to identify and eliminate waste in all its forms at every opportunity. It is about freeing-up resources because you no longer need to use them.

Lean manufacturing provides your workforce the freedom that they need to own and maximize their productivity. In a Lean production plant, the "freedom to control one's work" replaces the "mind numbing stress" of mass production. Armed with the skills they need to control their environment workers have the opportunity to think actively even proactively to solve workplace problems.

Lean is more than the traditional metrics of improved efficiency, reduced costs and increased throughput. The people-centric approach to the application of Lean creates a better future, driven by empowered individuals working in teams, committed to continuous improvement. It is this culture of responsible freedom and trust that allows employees and their organization to realize the positive benefits of Lean and achieve a successful outcome.

 

The Gemba is our Lean Classroom

Human beings can definitely learn by hearing, reading, watching, seeing, and analyzing…but when it comes to getting results there is no better way than to learn by DOING.

If you want to learn how to drive, you have to drive. Humans are natural learners. They learn from everything they do. When they watch television, they learn about the day's events. When they take a trip, they learn about how to get where they are going and what it is like to be there. This constant learning also takes place as one works.

Learning by doing, also known as experiential learning, happens when you use hands-on learning to engage in an ongoing cycle of action and reflection, deepening your understanding of concepts and mastering practical skills. As you take part in meaningful activities—instead of simply watching them—and then later evaluating what you have learned, learning is far more meaningful, memorable, and long-lasting.

Leaders/coaches assist in this process by facilitating appropriate experiences through which you can learn, and by leading discussions that reflect on those experiences. Learning comes from the floor, from the Gemba, where the condition occurs.

The word 'Gemba' is a Japanese word that means the real or actual place. You need to go to the real place and experience these conditions for yourself before being able to take the next steps.

Management must go to the Gemba to practice Lean management. Gemba walking teaches us to see in new ways what we have failed to see before. There you can identify problems, non-value added activities, or wastes through a deliberate observation of a particular area or process.

Learning requires two elements to be truly successful overtime:

PRACTICE: After completing a learning experience, create opportunities to apply what you learned as soon as possible and many times to refine your ability.

EXPERIMENT: Take a risk and try something new, even if you aren’t all that comfortable. We can learn as much, sometimes more, from our mistakes than from getting it right the first time.

Everything can contribute to our experience of learning. But as you may realize, learning is incomplete if we don't experiment and practice. These activities can only occur in the Gemba and for that reason I say the Gemba is our Lean classroom.

Lean Quote: Don’t Seek Immediate Perfection

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.

"An environment that calls for perfection is not likely to be easy. But aiming toward it is always a goal to progress." — Thomas Watson, Jr.

Perfection is futile.  To be sure, perfection is the goal but it can not be achieved in one single initiative.

If we all waited for perfection, we'd still be reading by candlelight and riding horses to work. The problem in the real world is that nothing is perfect. It sounds obvious, but it is not quite as obvious.

Shoot for better, 80% better. 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.

The 80/20 rule states that 80% of the benefit comes from 20% of the work. The last 20% of benefit (the perfect) requires 4 times more work. Often people believe perfection (100% benefit) is only slightly more expensive/difficult than the good (80% benefit). That isn't true.

If you try to achieve perfection you may well be at the kaizen a very long time.  Perfection is elusive.  If you can accomplish 80% of what you set out to and meet the goals of the charter then call it complete.  You will be back to improve from this new state again.

If people are told that perfection is the goal, but that it is impossible, they will rightly think that management has not quite thought this one through. They will mistrust much of what else is said. Instead, people should be told that perfection is the goal and we simply don’t know enough at the moment to reach it.

 

Daily Lean Tips Edition #80 (1201-1215)

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 #1201 - Don’t Automatically Blame the Tool.

It’s not the hammer’s fault if the person swinging it uses the wrong end. It just won’t work well. Most tools are decent enough, they’re just used incorrectly. Rushing to change a tool because things aren’t working well may be a mistake.

Lean Tip #1202 - Identify Changing Requirements.

Over time your needs will change. You need to stay aware of this, so you can change processes accordingly. Keep a list of your top requirements to help you make better decisions on tools to use.

Lean Tip #1203 - Share More, Not Less.

Even in a small company, silos emerge. A practice of more sharing will help everyone stay in touch with what others are doing, and create a collective expectation. Keeping everyone pointed in the same direction is hard; sharing more about what’s going on, how you’re doing things, reasoning behind decisions, etc. will help.

Lean Tip #1204 - Teach Others What You Learn.

One of the best ways to deepen and solidify your new knowledge is to teach it to others. Give a presentation, run a seminar, teach a class, or volunteer to run a small internal workshop to teach others in your organization what you are learning. Real learning occurs when you share it.

Lean Tip #1205 - Develop Exceptional People And Teams Who Follow Your Company’s Philosophy.

Exceptional people thrive in environments that promote Continuous Improvement; however, organizations that have a powerful culture of CI are not those that demand that employees practice CI. Instead exceptional people are “developed” within the “system dynamics of an organization” – in other words, they work in a place where Continuous Improvement is second-nature.

People must feel secure; feel as though they are part of a team; feel challenged in their job; have some degree of autonomy and feel like they have some control over their work.

Without a culture of respect, where each person is valued for what they contribute to an organization, the chances of developing exceptional people who strive to improve what they do and how they do it every day becomes nearly impossible.

Lean Tip #1206 - Develop Dashboards that Provide Insights to Improve Decision Making and Increase Success.

Decisions are based on information. The more accurate, timely, and relevant the information, the better the decisions. Today’s technology enables organizations to provide customized dashboards that present staff with KPIs critical to their success. When properly designed with business goals in mind, these dashboards can increase transparency by communicating performance to selected stakeholders throughout the organization and alerting decision makers to situations that need immediate attention.

Lean Tip #1207 - Use Collaboration Capabilities to Enhance Teamwork.

Workers are especially interested in collaborative environments where they can share their ideas and feel involved in their organization. Organizations with greater employee engagement realize significantly higher productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Additionally, they enjoy reduced turnover, lower absenteeism and fewer safety incidents. By providing technology that enables employees to participate in multi-way communication, organizations create stronger workforces more personally invested in their employers’ future and success.

Lean Tip #1208 - Employ Digital Teaching Aids to Increase Employee Knowledge and Advance Skills. 

Never before have so many people been connected with so much knowledge. And never before have they felt so motivated to utilize the available resources to improve their work lives. Employers who have realized this are reaping the rewards of computer-based staff training programs that engage and educate. Cost efficiencies are quickly realized as remote staff can learn online, and employee advancement improves through development of new skills.

Lean Tip #1209 - Demonstrate That You Value People

Your regard for people shines through in all of your actions and words. Your facial expression, your body language, and your words express what you are thinking about the people who report to you.

Your goal is to demonstrate your appreciation for each person's unique value. No matter how an employee is performing on his or her current task, your value for the employee as a human being should never falter and always be visible.

Lean Tip #1210 - Solve Problems: Don't Pinpoint Problem People

When a problem occurs, ask what is wrong with the work system that caused the people to fail, not what is wrong with the people. Worst case response to problems? Seek to identify and punish the guilty. (Thank you, Dr. Deming.)

Lean Tip #1211 - Listen to Learn and Ask Questions to Provide Guidance

Provide a space in which people will communicate by listening to them and asking them questions. Guide by asking questions, not by telling grown up people what to do. People generally know the right answers if they have the opportunity to produce them.

When an employee brings you a problem to solve, ask, "what do you think you should do to solve this problem?" Or, ask, "what action steps do you recommend?" Employees can demonstrate what they know and grow in the process.

Eventually, you will feel comfortable telling the employee that he or she need not ask you about similar situations. You trust their judgment.

Lean Tip #1212 - Encourage open communication.

Organizations that use a formal top-down communication hierarchy make it difficult for their employees to speak up. Even if they did gather enough guts to share their opinions, they may feel like their input won't matter much. After awhile, these people may give up on speaking up.

Create methods for direct communication. Acknowledge input. Foster an open exchange of ideas. Face facts — every idea isn’t good, but you won’t find the game-changers if you don’t explore new concepts.

Lean Tip #1213 - Provide Plenty of Context.

Be transparent with your employees. Tell them why you make certain decisions and what direction you're planning on taking the company. If we can do a better job of sharing the core values and the important business goals, we can hope to draw out team members’ talents and energy.

Lean Tip #1214 - Require Accountability.

The best way to do this is by discussing setbacks and recognizing extra efforts among your people. Why would someone want to continuously work hard if they don't think that their efforts are appreciated?

Empowered people are confident, knowledgeable, and able to be more productive without being micromanaged or having excessive oversight. They demonstrate initiative and own their work. At the end of the day, this is better for you as their superior and better for the organization as a whole.

Lean Tip #1215 - Give Employee the Chance to Fail -- and a Safe Place to Land When They Do.

Not all employees are risk-takers. Fortunately, the willingness to take risks can be taught -- or at least modeled.

First, stomp out micromanagement in your organization. If your employees feel as if they have to seek approval before making every decision, or if their day-to-day routine is filled with monitoring and correction, they’ll never take initiative.

A manager shouldn’t be a babysitter. Encourage every manager to be a mentor, and give employees opportunities to push out of their comfort zone. If employees fail, train your managers to treat those mistakes as teachable moments. Train your managers to help employees try again -- and to give them the tools and motivation to do so.

The Six Elements of Success

How do you define success? For some business leaders, success is defined by monetary rewards, while others say success is having a positive impact on others.

The mundane definition of success is of course a company that provides "value" to its customers, owners, shareholders, society and employees. This encompasses the entire business cycle from generating profits, using capital efficiently to delivering superior customer service.

Sure, success in business and in life means different things to different people. Whether or not you are successful depends on how you define success, and on the tradeoffs you are willing to not just accept but embrace as you pursue that definition of success. We can have a lot but we can't have everything.

Success is every organization’s goal. But what is the key to success?

1. Clear Shared Vision

In today’s rapidly changing world, it’s not just enough to have a purpose for existing.

Identifying and communicating a clear vision is one of the most important functions a business leader can perform. Leaders have to focus the organization’s resources on the greatest opportunities. Not only does a clear, shared vision help define the values of your company and its employees, but it also helps guide the behavior of all employees.

2. Bias for Action

It is basic human psychology that people do not change the way they do things unless there is a pressure for change. If you do nothing, nothing changes. Things at rest have a tendency to remain at rest. High performance cultures are impatient to get things done. They are doers, not talkers, keeping an eye on where the value is to ensure their actions will enhance the business. Failure cannot be unduly punished. Unless people feel free to make mistakes, they will not feel free to take bold actions.

3. Engaged Staff

Without people being engaged in continuous improvement and wanting to participate you will simply encounter resistance. People today want some direction and structure, but they also want freedom and encouragement to develop their skills and knowledge. Effectively managing people requires balancing constraining forces (providing direction, structure, organization, some rules) with liberating forces (encourage personal growth, development and creativity).

4. Capability

The ability to be able to successfully deliver products and services to the customer base of a business is tied up with the maturity of its capabilities. These capabilities—the collective skills, abilities, and expertise of an organization—are the outcome of investments in staffing, training, compensation, communication, and other human resources areas. They represent the ways that people and resources are brought together to accomplish work. They form the identity and personality of the organization by defining what it is good at doing and, in the end, what it is.

5. Efficiency

Business operations should also see efficiency as a primary goal. The efficiency focus began with practices such as lean management and systems management used primarily in manufacturing circles, but the concepts soon found their way into other industries. How the business arranges its production chain physically, how many steps of the production process it can do at the same time and what the downtime of its equipment or process is are all vital factors in increasing efficiency. The goal is to produce as many goods in as short a time as possible.

6. Quality Control

While the steps of the operational process are important, the organization must also assess its work at the end of the process. Quality control examines the final product and looks for defects and ways it can be improved. Most businesses will only accept a certain level of defects or problems -- some prefer not to accept any at all. This improves product flow and solves minor problems that could become major issues later on.

Success in business is not by chance. Success does not find you. There is no shortcut. It takes hard work and a long time. And success would not exist without failure. Failure is not final. If you want to succeed where others fail, you have to step fight over the failure and keep walking. Success is a journey not a destination. Follow these keys to success and you will be on your way to success.

Lean Quote: Change It or Change Your Attitude

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.

"If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude." — - Maya Angelou

We are often not in control of the issues we face at work or home. Problems just present themselves. And chances are the issues you're facing aren't so cut and dry. The solution to the problem might just be your attitude. 

You can find at least two ways to look at virtually everything. A pessimist looks for difficulty in the opportunity, whereas an optimist looks for opportunity in the difficulty. Unfortunately, many people look only at the problem and not at the opportunity that lies within the problem.

Having the right attitude can make the difference between success and failure. A positive attitude can motivate other people to change their negative thinking and come over to your side. Everything is possible with right attitude behind you to push you forward. And since you do have a choice, most of the time you'll be better off if you choose to react in a positive rather than a negative way.

Here are 3 critical ways your attitude as a leader impacts your team, for better or for worse:
1. Your Attitudes Determines Their Attitude.
As a leader, your mood is contagious. Over time, your attitude will set the tone for your entire team and organization.

Be a goof and you will have an organization filled with goofs (and all the good people will leave).
Be stern and you will have a stern organization.
Be angry…
Be critical…
Be negative…
Be unpredictable…
Be encouraging…
Be hopeful…
Be fair…
Be generous…

The fact that you don’t want your attitude to impact the organization is irrelevant. It simply does.

2. You Determine the Level of Passion and Enthusiasm in Your Organization.
If you think the organization you lead lacks passion and enthusiasm, take a hard look in the mirror.

3. Your Attitude Determines What Is And Isn’t Possible.
As a result, if you’re a leader, please realize:

If you believe it is possible, it is. And if you don’t, it’s not.

That’s right. You’re the vision bottleneck. You’re the broker and the killer of dreams.

If you are consistently the negative voice around the table, you will stifle the imagination of your team for what’s possible. Conversely, when you dare to dream, dare to imagine, and dare to hope, and persevere, then the impossible becomes the possible.

The attitude of the leader has a huge impact on the culture, environment, and mood of the department or organization. The leader’s attitude tends to spread and affect others dramatically. A good leader has the attitude of serving his employees at all times, often at the expense of his own morale or personal needs. A good leader truly cares about the morale of the team, pushes and motivates his team with respect, a relentlessly positive attitude and with a genuine heart.

 

Hierarchy is Killing Your Business

Most organizations still have a hierarchical, command-and-control organizational structure, sometimes called “smoke stacks” or “silos.”  A hierarchical organization has more defined roles, procedures, and lines of communication. Typically, there is a chain of command which needs to be followed. The functional specialists in charge of each smoke stack tend to focus on optimizing their own functional area, often to the detriment of the organization as a whole. In addition, the hierarchy gives these managers a monopoly on the authority to act on matters related to their functional specialty.  The combined effect is both a desire to resist change and the authority to resist change, which often creates insurmountable roadblocks to Lean improvement projects.

A hierarchical organization can be compared to a totem pole. The least important employees, generally those who earn the least with little responsibility and little input into company decision making, are at the bottom of the pole. The top of the pole includes the owner of the business, CEO, or other major players in the decision making process of the company. In between the low men on the totem pole and the top men is everyone else in order from the least responsible to the most responsible. Each step upwards on the totem pole generally offers higher pay and more responsibility.

Too many levels of hierarchy have disadvantages:

1. Too Rigid. Organizations need to be able to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. Put simply, a hierarchy can’t handle speed well. Rules and procedures that inevitably accompany hierarchies almost never change fast even if they are now irrelevant, overly burdensome, and the like. Hierarchies can’t jump to the left or the right easily, and over time it’s easy to keep adding levels and rules, to keep making silo walls thicker.
2. Stifle Innovation. In a hierarchy, there’s a process for everything, and usually these processes are followed to the letter. Innovative organizations, however, are always questioning the status quo. They ask: “How can we do this better?” which often results in a sudden change in direction. Hierarchies simply aren’t built this way. If action is going to be taken, it has to be built into the plan a year ahead of time.
3. Poor Communication. People in hierarchical structures tend to want to approve communications as they pass up and down the hierarchy. This can cause delays and confusion. A manager may not get to an email for several days and may then offer an opinion or place a restriction that kills the communication altogether. The sheer amount of time a directive can take to reach employees from the head office can cause costly delays.
4. Slow Decision Making. Decision-making is usually slower in hierarchical structures because responsibility and authority are concentrated in a few people at the top. The hierarchical system places limits on the responsibility and authority of individual employees, which reduces an organization's ability to adapt to dynamic business conditions. Although a command-and-control hierarchical system might work well in a crisis, it is of limited help after the crisis is over.
5. Little Empowerment. In a rigid hierarchy, the people who deal directly with customer problems may have the least authority to solve them. The higher on the rung the manager is, the more distance she may have from the customer. The rules of a hierarchy require that higher-ups approve decisions, and this can mean that people in the field or at the front counter may not be able to move quickly to respond to customer needs.

The more layers and levels of management, team leaders division heads, etc., that you have in your company, the more challenging it becomes for information to travel throughout the organization, and the more people are likely to become territorial. By keeping the layers of information to minimal we can empower people to provide solutions and to be directly attached to all of our company goals.

Every employee should be empowered to act independently in the best interests of the company and our customers. Teams should be trusted to work together to find the best possible solutions to problems – and to put them straight into action.