Lean Quote: Overcoming Resistance to Change

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.

"“In a fight between you and the world, bet on the world." — Franz Kafka

Some people cling desperately to the past. They hang on to what’s familiar, snuggling ever deeper into their comfortable routines to avoid the chilling thought that they might have to change. Someone said, “the organization is so screwed up that somebody doesn’t like it as it is.: Change always means giving up something, and the greater the personal sacrifice the more you feel like dragging your feet.

Another reason why people defend the old way of doing things is to maintain personal stability or feel more in control. They battle against change out of fear of the future, not because of love for the past. If uncertainty and ambiguity eat on your nerves, you can’t get very pumped up about “progress.” The more you dislike unpredictability, the more you’re likely to protect the status quo.

A third group of people resists change as a way of getting even. They play “punish the organization” in retaliation for changes they don’t like. We’re talking here about plain old revenge. And the fascinating thing is to watch how people are willing to damage themselves just to get back at the organization.

Finally, some change resisters are well-intentioned people who think they see their outfit about to make a mistake, and have the courage to try and stop it. They fight change because they (1) have the organization’s best interests at heart and (2) have enough nerve to take a stand. But frankly, these people with good intentions often happen to be wrong. In trying to save the organization they shoot it in the foot.

When an organization initiates changes – does it on purpose – you can bet there are compelling reasons. Almost always you can find a strong financial argument for what’s going on. Study the situation –

            Are outside events forcing the changes?

            Must the organization swallow some bitter medicine to stay alive?

            Will a tough exercise like this develop needed organizational muscle?

When the winds of change hit your organization, here’s the bottom line: Resisting does more harm than good. To begin with, you could get nailed for being oppositional – someone may accuse you of causing trouble, getting in the way of progress. That easily damages your career.

Second, resisting change takes effort, and you can find more productive ways to spend your energy.

Besides, you’re probably going to lose the battle anyway. Even if you do win a skirmish now and then, you’re going to lose the war.

Instead of trying to hang on to the past, grab hold of the future.

 

Lean Tips Edition #109 (#1636 - 1650)

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 #1636 - Share & Inspire a Compelling Mission

Great leaders regularly bring people closer to their purpose and the purpose of their work. If the vision for the organization is not inspiring—or is only to make a profit—it is pretty challenging to inspire others and get them to rally around it.

Employee engagement research states that for people to feel a connection with their work, they need to be able to envision themselves achieving purpose at work. An astute leader nurtures alignment among their workforce by linking the key performance indicators of each role in the organization to the overall key performance indicators and objectives of the business.  When people are able to “connect the dots” from what they do each day to how it impacts the customer—and maybe even the world at large—they are much more engaged and concerned for what they do and how well they deliver it.

Lean Tip #1637 - Institutionalize & Perpetuate Guiding Principles and Values

Building guiding principles and core values into the culture is a very powerful way to institutionalize and perpetuate the right behaviors throughout the organization. Leaders who are serious about their core values and guiding principles discipline themselves and their organization to only hire people who are aligned and have the ability to demonstrate those values and principles through the right on-the-job behavior. Behavioral and values-based interviewing is a key component of a values-driven organization’s hiring process. In these same types of companies, leadership development and succession planning programs are created and built on the foundation of the core values and guiding principles.

Lean Tip #1638 - Clearly Articulate Expectations and Intended Outcomes

Organizational objectives and desired outcomes are best achieved when clearly articulated and repeated often. Business leaders often voice frustration because their message in its true intent is not reaching all the ranks. The reality is, most people need to hear things seven times before committing it to memory. Therefore role requirements, goals, and objectives also need to be repeated frequently enough to ensure everyone involved is present to and aware of the game plan and what it looks like to win.  

Some leaders of larger organizations cascade their message to the workforce through their trusted and capable management team. Others design a communication strategy and deliver their message through a series of channels; like individualized emails, the company intranet, daily from the desk of “CEO” thoughts, weekly CEO talks, or monthly town hall meetings and newsletters. 

Lean Tip #1639 - Foster Excitement & Celebrate Forward Momentum

Alignment happens intrinsically when people are gathered together in service of a mission bigger than themselves. They are called forth by the purpose and the mission and then measure their success by milestones and accomplishments along the way. A leader that celebrates forward movement, learning from failures, taking risks, and working collaboratively to remove barriers and advance is a leader who teaches his troops to keep their eyes on the prize.

Lean Tip #1640 - Build Trust Through Open Communication & Clarity

One of the most important components necessary to nurture and grow workforce alignment is for the leader and management to have a strong relationship with their word. Trusting senior leaders and management is a critical driver of employee engagement.  Integrity and open communication is one of the most crucial behaviors of highly effective leaders. People do not trust a leader of an organization who does not follow through on promises or has a reputation as someone who re-negotiates agreements after the fact.  Creating boundaries and agreements as well as honoring those agreements and boundaries is where the rubber meets the road with honoring one’s word. 

Trust is not about being perfect and certainly not about keeping things static and steady. It is about clearly communicating when and why things need to change, and giving people advance notice of those changes and how they can best adapt.

Lean Tip #1641 - Establish an Impeccable Standard of Excellence.

The best way to establish a standard is by modeling the expected behavior yourself. Set high expectations at the outset and raise the bar on any crucial factors. Showcase excellence. When your actions have the potential to affect everyone around you and the bottom line, don't dabble in mediocrity. Reflecting excellence is critical to exercising effective leadership. This is ground zero for establishing influence.

Lean Tip #1642 - Value People and Nurture Relationships. 

Top-notch people skills are vital to sound leadership. Develop premium listening, communication and decision-making skill sets. Demonstrate integrity by being open, honest and fair.

Your transparency will reap clear rewards. If you treat people well, most will be encouraged to return the favor. By elevating the importance of people and relationships, you enhance your ability to relate to others in an authentic and meaningful way.

Lean Tip #1643 - Promote Strategic Cooperation.

People often produce higher quality, more efficient work products when collaborating. Commit to this by actively embracing opportunities for healthy cooperation. Make teamwork an attractive aspect of workplace culture. Less burnout, increased trust among peers and enhanced interpersonal relationships will result.

Lean Tip #1644 - Freely Develop and Support Others.

Professional development is an extraordinary mechanism for facilitating growth. Demonstrate your commitment to expanding your reach and your team's by prioritizing opportunities for enrichment. Allot time and resources to make the process stress free. Challenge yourself and your team to overcome shortcomings at regular intervals throughout the year. Then acknowledge and reward proactive participation to build enthusiasm and encourage continued progress.

Lean Tip #1645 - Listen to Your Team.

As leaders, sometimes we are so consumed with providing directive, giving orders, and, well, talking that we forget to stop and listen. If the recruitment and training engine is functioning well, you should have a whole team of experts to turn to for advice. One sign of good leadership is knowing that you don’t know everything. Listen and get feedback from your team regularly.

Lean Tip #1646 - Praise Improvement, Even Minor Improvements.

Psychologists discovered long ago that when you positively reinforce a desired behavior, people are far more likely to repeat that behavior. Most people want to do the right thing, which means you will find far more success in leading a team if you focus on using positive reinforcement rather than negative actions like threats and fear tactics.

Lean Tip #1647 - Give Honest and Sincere Praise and Appreciation.

All people deeply desire significance. One of the easiest ways you can help fulfill desire that is by offering honest and sincere praise and appreciation whenever possible. This is probably one of the greatest motivational methods you can ever employ.

Lean Tip #1648 - Get Your Hands Dirty.

Do the work and know your trade. You don’t have to be the most advanced technician on the team, but you must have an in-depth understanding of your industry and your business. Leaders have many responsibilities, but it is important to work alongside your team. This is a great way to build trust and continue to develop your own knowledge and skills.

Lean Tip #1649 - Let the Team Do Their Thing.

Stop micromanaging. Communicate the mission, vision, values, and goals. Then step back and let the team innovate. Setting this example for the team will encourage your other managers to do the same.  Always show support for all team members. If someone needs extra guidance, provide it behind closed doors.

Lean Tip #1650 – Inspire and Guide People Toward the Goal

If you wish to be a great leader, make it your focus to serve those whom you would lead. There are a lot of people that want the power, prestige and pay that comes along with leadership positions, but few want to do what it takes to actually be a good and effective leader. Great leadership isn’t about bossing people around; it’s about inspiring and guiding people towards a common goal for everyone’s benefit. Build your team up, give them credit for their work, praise their efforts and reward them when they succeed. There is a saying that states “Be the change that you want to see”, we can adapt that to this discussion by saying “Be the leader that you would want to lead you”.

Lean Quote: Don’t Just Posture Excellence – Be Excellent

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 are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." — Will Durant’s summation of Aristotle’s ideas

What does this quote really mean? Many focus on the words repeatedly and act. In this context, I read the words as follow:

Act to be an action: a single response in a single situation.

Habit to be something done as part of a routine; the acts we do on a daily basis.

The implication of the above is that it doesn’t matter what we do on occasion, in one-off encounters; rather excellence is defined as a habit through your repeated actions.

However what if that is incorrect. What if excellence is not defined by repetition?  Looking at it this way, we could rewrite the quote, taking the word repeatedly out altogether:

“We are what we do.

Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”

Get it?  Excellence as a habit manifests itself as excellence in all we do – we can posture and pretend to others that we have things under control, but only by actually doing things in conjunction with a consistent motivation deep inside us does excellence become a habit.

Continuous improvement is a journey, not a destination. It is more than a set of steps to follow - it is a culture that, when embraced by the entire company, results in significant business value.

So my challenge to you is this:  Don’t just act.  Do. Don’t just posture excellence – Be Excellent.

 

Digital Leader Standard Work With HabitHub

Several months ago I talked about the importance of leader standard work. There is no such thing as self-sustainability, it requires ongoing effort. Organizations need to follow a disciplined process of on-going activity by all.  Leader Standard Work is the system that provides a structure and routine for leaders.  It set standards for expected behaviors of leaders and drive accountability.

In simplest terms, Leadership Standard Work is a check-list of leadership activities to be performed on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. What makes this tool exceptionally effective is that, when well defined, Leadership Standard Work drives process definition and daily accountability.

I've been using a paper version like this one shown below for a long time. It is effective but with travel and frankly the digital age I've been looking for a automated handheld solution.

I've been experimenting with an app called HabitHub. It is an app that can track your habits, remind you to stay on top of them, and provide some great charts showing your progress.

You can see from this picture I was able to create a couple of color coded categories for blog activity (green), work activity (blue), and exercise (yellow).  

It works by making items visible, organized, portable, and tracked. So in this sense you make a habit out of the items.  Where is falls a little short is with the frequency of tasks. It is really designed to daily habits. Habithub is based on Seinfeld's productivity secret - Don't break the chain! Every time you do a habit, your chain grows longer. This makes it difficult to keep track of monthly or even less frequent tasks.

Do you have experience with this app or others?  Do you have a digital way you're managing Leader Standard Work?  I'd like to hear more.

Four Essential Elements for Creating a Lean Culture or Management System

Culture is the sum of people’s habits in doing their work. Changing culture should not be targeted per se, instead target the management system and the culture change will follow. 20% of a Lean transformation is covered by physical changes and the other 80% is more difficult because it involves deeply ingrained work habits. A robust Lean culture grows from a Lean Management System, which describes a way of working for Lean Managers and must replace the old management approach.

So if we really want to create a truly Lean culture we need to tackle the culture change problem head on. A basic outline for creating a Lean culture or management system is quite simple. But, keep in mind that, even simple systems require close attention and maintenance to run smoothly. You should build your Lean culture on the following essential elements: make the customer everyone’s business, standardize work for managers, have daily accountability and require discipline.

1. Make the customer everyone’s business: The customer is the very reason for an organization to exist. There is no need for Lean process management without customers, because there would not be any processes to manage, right? So, make the customer everyone’s business, because if their wage is paid by the customer, they should think how what they do contributes to successful customer outcomes that their organization should be producing. Getting rid of useless processes is more effective than tweaking them.

2. Standardize work for managers: People are not machines, so it is impossible to standardize everything. Managers and especially leaders should have sensitive ears and eyes for what is going on around them. However, it is possible to standardize some aspects of managers’ work to make sure that everyone delivers within same levels. Standardized work (for example task list) presents a clearly stated recipe for management, making it easier to evaluate managers’ effectiveness. That standard should not be solely build on internal tasks; it should also include evaluating processes from an Outside-In perspective.

3. Have daily accountability: Having brief accountability meetings every day is a great way to concentrate your efforts on active improvement (for example compare to daily Scrum meetings). In these meetings you can go through shortly what happened yesterday and what you can do today to make things better. Do not hold accountability meetings to share information of low relevance, or to have long discussions. While having these meetings remember to assign responsibility for the necessary tasks. And it is not forbidden to have customers join the meeting if that serves the purpose.

4. Require discipline: you can think of your Lean management system using a motorcycle metaphor. Standardized work is its ‘engine’ and your daily accountability process represents its ‘gas throttle and steering rod’.  Discipline is the ‘fuel’ that keeps the motorcycle running and the customer is ‘the driver’. Having all the elements of your Lean management system in place is not enough, because each has to be observed individually for the system as a whole to work.

The Lean culture is critical for sustainability; and to change it, you have to change your management system. If you stop following through Lean practices because things seem stable and in control, it is certain that you will soon face unstable and out-of-control processes. Lean management culture is crucial to the success of Lean production, because it both sustains and extends the gains from establishing Lean procedures.

Lean Quote: Be a Role Model, Lead by Example

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.

"A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not." — Anonymous

"A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not” means that even a leader’s flaws (something not intended to be seen) are examples of leadership. The popular saying is usually attributed to “anonymous.” 

“The leader sets the example whether he intends to or not!” is from Donald G. Krause’s book, The Way of the Leader (1997).

Whether you realize it or not, if you're a leader, your employees are watching every move you make. Good leaders must lead by example. By walking your talk, you become a person others want to follow. When leaders say one thing, but do another, they erode trust--a critical element of productive leadership.

Leading by example sounds easy, but few leaders are consistent with this one. Successful leaders practice what they preach and are mindful of their actions. They know everyone is watching them and therefore are incredibly intuitive about detecting those who are observing their every move, waiting to detect a performance shortfall.

All managers are teachers, and their actions determine company capability. Whether consciously or not, with their everyday words and actions all managers are teaching their people a mindset and approach.

Leaders must lead with their actions as well as their words. Leaders can effectively translate intention into reality by acting on the concepts and messages they teach and the things they say to those around them. Leadership is the act of setting the right example for those who follow. Leadership is about actively demonstrating your belief, not just talking about it. People who say one thing but do another eventually lose credibility.

Be a role model, be the kind of person that everyone else looks up to and wants to be like. You must do this at all times, even when no one is watching, if you want everyone to follow.

 

What Makes a Boss Great?

Being a boss is hard. People don't naturally wish to have one. And not everyone aspires to be one. But most people are anxious to follow a good leader, and most organizations live and die on the quality of the leaders who run them. Bosses are often the primary reason for people either loving or leaving their jobs. If you are one of the lucky employees who has a great boss, don’t take that relationship for granted.

Here’s what makes a boss great:

Set Clear Expectations: A great boss sits down with a new employee right from the beginning and identifies priorities. They discuss the performance review, and how they define “excellent performance.” They hold discussions regularly in regards to expectations from that point on.

Passionate: Few things are more demotivating than a boss who is bored with his or her life and job. If the boss doesn’t care, why should anybody else? Unforgettable bosses are passionate about what they do. They believe in what they’re trying to accomplish, and they have fun doing it. This makes everyone else want to join the ride.

Communication: A great boss is a communicator who has the ability to relate deeply to others, someone who is able to empathize and recognize the talents in their employees and peers. They have strong emotional intelligence and self-awareness, and speak and act with integrity.

Active Listener: Many bosses make the mistake of talking far too much and stifling staff contributions. Employees sit still and are sullen. A great boss will defend her stance when they know they are right but will also be able to listen when they think they may be in the wrong.

Delegation: Great leaders know when and how to delegate and, for the most part, remain removed from the project, trusting their employees to be professional and produce results. They know that being involved in the granular details of these projects is a waste of their time, and inhibits their employees from feeling free to do great work. They know that they should trust their employees and don’t micromanage to the point of distraction.

Recognize Effort: Employees need to feel appreciated. Research shows that human beings thrive on recognition. They just never get tired of it. Nothing works like positive reinforcement, and a great boss is very aware of this. A great boss mentions the things they like that their employees are doing; it’s no surprise that they get more of those things.

Invite Creative Thinking: A great boss knows how to integrate creativity into daily conversation and procedures so that every employee feels natural about being creative and facilitating productive creativity when interacting with others in the company. Creates an environment where people are empowered to make change on their own to improve product, process, and procedures.

Maybe the things I mentioned above do not make any sense for you now, but eventually, you will experience the difference and garner a greater understanding of which manager you prefer for your own professional life. If you cultivate these characteristics, you’ll become the unforgettable boss that your people will remember for the rest of their careers.

Who’s your greatest boss? What made they so great?