Change Brings Opportunity

Change can be a difficult thing. People commonly resist change and I am no different however change is inevitable. It can be stressful especially when it is unknown and uncertain.

However, change is necessary for growth. While it may be very comfortable to stay in a place of familiarity, we will never grow into the person we would like to be if we are unwilling to move beyond what is comfortable.  Many people become complacent because the common notion is that change is bad. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Change can be very healthy and liberating. How we respond to change is a function of our mindset. Change your mind, change your outlook.

Change takes courage and commitment. Courage means trusting yourself to overcome your fears and doing what you are afraid to do. Courage increases conviction and inspires others to confront their fears.

After 4 years in a quality management role change is coming personally.  My telecom company is closing my factory and outsourcing manufacturing so I am moving on. I am excited and anxious to be starting a Lean Manufacturing role in well-known company.

This change brings new opportunities, new people, and a new perspective. It is a chance to rejuvenate my passion and purpose. This is an exciting opportunity to get back on the factory floor helping others improve their work to keep manufacturing in the US. After a period of time working from the customer value view point you can see the impact of our actions directly.

There won’t be many changes on the blog as a result. I will still continue to talk about leadership, continuous improvement, and quality. They remain vital aspects of all businesses and frankly a common source of opportunity.

Change is good. It leads to opportunities. Those opportunities represent progress. Keep moving forward.

Lean Quote: Success as Leader is All About Growing Others

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.

"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." — Jack Welch

One of the most important qualities of a good leader is the ability and desire to develop their employees. Taking an active role in the development of your team demonstrates confidence and concern for the future of the organization.

Unfortunately, many organizations do not plan properly for the development of their people and teams. People development without proper planning in place normally results in internal and external conflict, which leads to confusion, low productivity, less motivation, and therefore loss in various ways. When the right plan for development is designed based on the employees’ needs, desires, and potential the expected positive outcome will be achieved.

You can’t move forward if you don’t grow and you can’t grow if you never leave your comfort zone. When possible, give your employees challenging assignments. Help them prepare by providing them a safe environment to learn from the mistakes that they are bound to make.

Most people want to learn and grow their skills at work. Encourage experimentation and taking reasonable risk to develop employee skills. Get to know them personally. Ask what motivates them. Ask what career objectives they have and are aiming to achieve. You can make their career.

In order to get the most from your employees, you need to invest time and resources in their development. Annual performance reviews simply aren’t enough. Make a point to sit down with each employee on a monthly basis (or more frequently, if possible) and provide them with specific feedback and areas of improvement.

Creating a positive learning environment will encourage development and help your employees gain confidence in their position. Learning should be relaxed and clearly explain the reasoning behind every new exercise and lesson. Negativity will only inhibit the learning process, so it's important to be patient, allow for mistakes, and always reward new achievements. This positive feedback will reinforce and affirm the efforts of your employees, and encourage them to continue learning.

Remember, as a manager, one of your primary duties is to develop your people. Your employees are your most important resource.

 

A Better Way: Leadership, Development, and Engagement - Northeast Lean Conference Recap Day 2

Yesterday I shared a couple highlights from Day 1 of the 11^th Annual Northeast Lean Conference. Today we’ll continue with a recap of learnings from day 2. The morning kicked off with a presentation from Norman Bodek who discovered and published many of the original Toyota works and an initiator of the Shingo Prize in 1988. His presentation was about how to be a great leader/coach and how to have a wonderful life.

It is amazing what people are capable of doing if they can just believe in themselves and have a strong coach to support and guide them. The Harada Method teaches self-reliance, how to “stand on your own two feet." People pick a success goal, develop a time frame and plan out how to go about achieving the goal. This in itself is not easy, for most people are reluctant to pick a goal. They do not want to fail. But, using the Harada Method, people see the advantage of having a personal success goal that is linked to the corporation's vision. They then can see the purpose and value of their new goal and, with your help as coach/mentor, they work on a process to achieve it. Much like athletes striving to win a championship, employees write down their goals, write out a step-by-step plan to attain their goals, measure themselves against their goals and receive guidance and feedback. If people follow this plan, they will be absolutely successful.

The Harada Method is now recognized as one of the most systematic ways to enhance human resource development. With the Harada Method, you think of the purpose whenever you set a goal and you align these by setting target dates, measuring progress, sustaining efforts through written purpose and value statements, analyzing past successes and failures, establishing new routines to break past habits, preparing a daily journal to schedule your work life and keep you focused on your growth goals. You grow enormously and you learn how to be a great leader to coach others to improve both their lives and to their work performance.

The presentation was by Mike Martyn, a Shingo Award-Winning Author of “Own the Gap.”  At the heart of a leader's role in creating a CI culture is their ability to coach and develop their people. But the role management systems play in creating opportunities for leaders to connect with their people on a daily basis is frequently overlooked. He introduced principle-based management systems that create an environment of team-based problem solving and daily kaizen. He shared examples of how successful implementation of the “4-Key Systems" by leaders can bring about ideal behaviors, increased buy in and heightened engagement by their people in the change process to take their culture of daily kaizen to the next level.  

The four key systems of management that engage people to improve:

·        Strategy (Hoshin Kanri) – alignment is key

o   What does it mean to win?

·        Gaps – visual gaps, coaching for improvement

o   Are we winning?

·        Problem solving – system to solve problems routinely, improvement teams

o   What are we doing about it?

·        Standard follow-up – management support teams, make sure first 3 are working well

o   How can I help you win?

o    

It boils down to creating actionable gaps and systemically closing the gaps. The “experience” you create matters so engage everyone in the transformation.

The last presentation was team effort by Jamie Bonini, VP of Toyota Production System Support Center, and Bruce Watkins, GM of Karl Storz. They shared the story of transforming a complex endoscope production line to true single piece flow. The process not only involved a great deal of analysis and process improvement, but also a sea change in leadership at every level and department. A key to creating a problem-solving culture of continuous improvement at KARL STORZ Endovision (KSE) was the intense engagement of senior leaders under the guidance of coaches to learn and practice a new way of managing. Leaders should adopt TPS as a way to strengthen the quality, safety and productivity of their production system.

Bruce Hamilton closed the conference as he usually does by inspiring all of us to action.  He said we need to share within our community.  I took that to heart sharing my learning at the conference last week over these past 2 days.  I hope you’ll find some gold (value) in these nuggets that will help you put the pieces together.

Next year’s conference will be in Worcester, MA so get ready for another wonderful event by GBMP!

Skills, Habits, and Behaviors for Improvement - Northeast Lean Conference Day 1 Recap

Last week I spent a couple days at The 11th Annual Northeast Shingo Prize Conference in Springfield, MA.  The wonderful conference hosted by GBMP was an exhilarating learning experience for me so I thought I would share some of those nuggets with you.

The first presentation was from my friend Dan Markovitz about his new book Building a Fit Organization. Everyone knows that in order to reach optimum levels of health, you have to exercise―and that you have to keep at it, day after day after day. No big secret here.  It’s the same with process improvement, and, specifically, lean processes.

Key principles include of improving your organization along the fitness analogy:

1)              Committing to Fitness/ Improvement

a.     The coach/leader needs to how to drive out fear

b.     Spirit – i.e. Paul Akers 2 second lean, Improve yourself every day

2)              Don’t focus on weight loss (waste) focus on strength/power/ fitness (value creation).

a.     Don’t focus on cost cutting

3)              Think Horizontal not vertical (training for a specific event) (focus on end goal)

a.     Think of the end result, what does your customer need

b.     The value stream map is the tool that gets you there

4)              The Right way to do things (Standard work)

a.     There is a right way to train for the event, don’t get caught up in the chaos.

b.     Focus on what is important and not in adminastrivity of business.

5)              Real Time feedback (Visual Management)

a.     Fitness facilities have mirrors everywhere

b.     How can you see ahead or behind and when do you react

6)              Coaching

a.     The coach/trainer is always there.

b.     Coach must be involved, know what the team is doing

c.     It is vitally important for management to be present.

d.      

Another presentation on developing cultural habits for success by Tim Crocker was particularly interesting. Frequently well-executed process improvement rollouts are unsuccessful. Often this result is due to required skills and habits missing from the culture – not faults in the methodology of the implementation. The specific cultural habits are coaching, communication, service orientation, personal accountability, results orientation, and simplification.

·       Communication

o   Core competency, meeting structures, relationships & emotional intelligence

o   Determine cultural norms for communication – face to face, phones before email, meetings with agendas, silence cell phone, never reply all

o   Use a Tier meeting system – daily to monthly at specific levels of business – map out your structure

·       Coaching

o   Routine (1on1), mentoring, focus on habits and behaviors not results, foster a mindset that craves feedback, use worksheet

o   Understand the change denial curve,

·       Service Orientation

o   Servant leadership, doing more than required, a belief that you can make a difference, do better for the team.

o   Share power and empower your team, be goals focused, people development, not results focused

·       Personal Accountability

o   Defined responsibilities, clear expectations, and clear ownership

·       Results Orientated

o   Practice and recognize habits, develop shared mental models, reward the right habits

·       Simplification

o   Habit or practice to use, visualize information

Changing your organizations culture and implementing a major project concurrently makes the difficult nearly impossible. Developing these habits in advance of the roll out, or any major effort, increases the chance of success. The habits can be developed and codified through drafting community of practice guide that sets methods and expectations. There are specific techniques, training, and workshops to improve and align each of these foundational cultural habits. These are all skills that can be learned and developed at all levels of the organization.

The last presentation of the first day was from Ariens President and CEO Dan Ariens. Dan shared his experience and lean journey over the last 15 years leading the company’s Lean transformation. He believes Lean initiatives are the heart of American business and the core of its future. The Ariens Company opened it’s doors to Thedacare to start the Lean Healthcare revolution.

A Lean journey at its best represents disciplined chaos and those who work at implementing long-term change understand this contradiction well. But Dan Ariens credits this chaos for providing an opportunity for everyone in an organization to become a Lean leader.

The 7 behaviors of a Lean Leader from Ariens perspective:

1)     Servant Leaders – are you masters of people or a person of masters

a.     Be honest

b.     Be fair

c.     Keep our commitments

d.     Respect the individual

e.     Encourage intellectual curiosity

2)     Relentless Change

a.     Leaders must be comfortable in environment of relentless change

3)     Disciplined Chaos – You must be disciplined in the chaos

a.     15 Principles of Ariens

4)     Benevolent Dictator

a.     Be very disciplined about how things are dealt with in company, rules

5)     Fearless Anxiety

a.     Lots of pressure on a leader – you have to face the anxiety, be fearless

6)     Cultural Revolution

a.     Leadership commitment – need to have great leadership to transform

7)     Confident Humility

a.     When you start to feel good about yourself you lose passion – you lose steam

b.     Continuous drive for improvement, it’s a journey, that’s what is important

c.     “Constant pursuit for perfection but along the way knowing you never reach it but finding success along the way” – Vince Lombardi.

Stay tuned tomorrow I’ll share some highlights from the second day of the conference.

Happiness Formula In Three Simple Steps

Most people believe that happiness arises from suitable conditions, and that to be happy requires one to find, for example: a good job, a nice house, a new car, etc. However, it is actually more effective to rely on intrinsic ways of finding happiness, rather than through these extrinsic, object-oriented ones. Being happy is actually achieved mostly through one’s behavior and outlook rather than material, situational means. This is why it’s important to start cultivating healthy habits.



Google engineer Chade-Meng Tan is on a mission to make the world more peaceful and people happier. The secret to happiness, he says, is in doing three things every day.

Step one is to “calm your mind” by pausing during the day and paying attention to your breath. Meditation and mindfulness have been shown to offer numerous benefits.

Step two is to “log moments of joy.” All too often we focus on the negative and ignore or overlook the positive moments. Acknowledge more of the good things to counterbalance the negatives.

Step three is to “wish other people to be happy.” Being altruistic can turn around a bad mood and empathy is a very valuable skill. Remind yourself to wish for others’ happiness could, in turn, boost yours.


The video above is Meng talking about some of these concepts at Google’s “Search Inside Yourself” course. Although these three simple steps might not work for everyone, it’s worth a try if it means experiencing more joy.

Lean Quote: Creating A No Blame Environment

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.

"Don’t find fault, find a remedy." — Henry Ford

Our greatest fear is the fear of being humiliated. So it’s not surprising that folks hide their mistakes and avoid saying and doing unusual things so they won’t be ridiculed. And yet, these unusual things – and what we can learn from our mistakes – may be just what’s needed to solve a problem.

Everyone’s contribution is needed. We can’t tolerate the old thinking of looking for someone to blame. No-blame environments produce decreased problems, fewer defects, increased productivity, higher profits – and – more genuine employee involvement and ownership. In short, work becomes a more fun place as the focus switches to satisfying the customer by achieving results. A no-blame environment does not mean people aren’t accountable – far from it . . . they are more so. And proud of it!

Follow these key points to build and grow a no-blame environment:

• You build a “no-blame” environment every day – one conversation at a time. Use every conversation as an opportunity to build another’s self-esteem.
• Managers and workers are partners in the improvement process. They share facts daily through straight talk and generous listening.
• Mistakes are part of the “facts” in everyone’s work life. Use mistakes as opportunities for improvement – not vehicles for discipline.
• Emphasize fact finding, not fault finding. Fact-finders observe, listen, ask questions, reserve judgement, analyze and conclude the facts. They replace the words “I think …” with, “Here is what the data tells us …”
• Point fingers only at processes – not people.
• Managers are responsible for creating a safe-from-ridicule, no-blame environment of trust & integrity. Their role is to coach & lead by example.
• Workers are responsible for supporting & reinforcing the positive behaviors of fellow workers & management.

You start the process by beginning to live it. Remember, real change takes place through the conversations we have every day with each other. It is in your own best interest to make every conversation an opportunity to build another person’s self-esteem. This approach can work wonders in your company.

 

5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Conference

In a few days, I will be attending one of the best Lean Thinking conferences in New England, The Northeast Lean Conference. As I prepare for the conference this year I thought I would share some advice on making the most out of your conference experience.

Sharing with like-minded people who have various experiences can create a support network for continuous improvement and learning. Professional groups that share your interest in a particular topic, offer a great forum to learn and share. Special interest groups within these groups can offer further topic specialization and can be a tremendous way to learn or be mentored.

Industry associations and trade organizations offer a variety of training options, including conferences, seminars, certifications and more. There may be a cost associated with some of this training, and access to some of the resources may require membership.

By attending conferences, trade shows, and workshops you can find quality teachings. Guest speakers entertain, educate and inspire their audiences through motivational and informational presentations. They are particularly good for networking with others that you can learn from and share with.

There are some tips you should consider to make the most out of your conference experience.

1. Before the conference.

As Dr. Stephen R. Covey (author of the international bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) would advise: “Start with the end in mind.” Make concrete connections between the value the conference represents and your personal and professional goals. Outline several detailed goals that you are committed to and keep them in mind throughout this process. Explore the conference schedule. Be selective and strategic about your planning schedule. Begin by focusing on areas relevant to your interests.

2. Attend the sessions, listen, and learn.

Remember the focus of the conference. Whether it’s to meet new people with common interests or take advantage of being in a learning environment. Come prepared to learn. Listen to peers in conversations. Attend and participate in sessions. Soak up what you hear and learn to improve your business or yourself.

3. Network, Network, Network.

Conferences are a great opportunity to meet new people who have your similar interests, new and different ideas and great feedback for your business. Have a positive attitude, a stack of business cards ready to mingle, strike up conversations and start meaningful relationships.

4. Distill every talk down to one key takeaway.

Every presenter at a conference has his or her own style. Some people tell a story, sometimes there is a video or set of images, and sometimes there is a full slide presentation. Given our short memories and the great amount of stimuli, it is important to distill each presentation down to a central point. After each presentation, ask yourself what struck you, what did you learn? Perhaps there was a specific tip that you could adapt in your own work - or some piece of counter intuitive advice that really resonated.

5. Follow-up.

Organize any materials that you collected at the conference. Make a list of the new things you learned at the conference and write down one strategy for each idea that outlines how you’ll incorporate what you learned in your daily work. Write up a summary of what you learned at the conference and share it with your supervisor. Offer to present a session or workshop on a particular topic to your co-workers. Follow up with any new contacts you made at the conference to continue the discussion.

Lastly, you should review the conference. While it is fresh in your mind, consider what worked well and what didn’t. Think about what you’d do differently if you attended again. Make a few notes for yourself that you can refer to when planning to attend again.