Book Review: Anatomy of a Lean Leader

Are you looking for a Lean leadership model for your organization? In Anatomy of aLean Leader Jerry Bussell draws from his rich lifetime of learning and wealth of stories from the gemba to weave together important lessons from exemplary lean leaders.

In his book, Bussell identifies ten characteristics that he claims are essential for a leader to possess in order to successfully implement a “lean” culture within an organization, or an organization that consistently improves its operations and eliminates wasteful activities from its value streams. He illustrates those traits with stories about modern CEOs as well as past U.S. presidents, Abraham Lincoln.

Those ten essential characteristics are:

1. Purpose: “finding both the emotional and market definition of the group’s highest purpose, putting it in human terms, and turning everyone to face in that direction”
2. Respect: “knowing that our words and actions have a profound effect on others; striving toward positive outcomes for people”
3. Probity: “transparently honest… holding to the highest principles and ideals… integrity… telling the truth”
4. Influence: “guiding people to finding the right answers on their own, so that the right path becomes their natural inclination”
5. Continuous Learner: “always looking for new approaches”
6. Persistence: “keeping coming at a problem with energy and intelligence, working toward a better outcome”
7. Holistic Thinker: “keeping the entire system in mind”
8. Problem Solver: no definition offered
9. Results Driven: “focusing on the process instead of the outcomes”
10. Courageous: “embracing change that is substantive instead of incremental… being willing to stand up to those who are risk adverse, and it is always inclusive.”

A chapter is devoted to each one of these characteristics. Each of these is presented in concept and backed by examples taken from both our 16th President and noted lean practitioners who have embraced and implemented lean thinking within their organizations as CEOs or C-Suite executives. They share their insights, experiences, stories and lessons of these characteristics. Jerry even shares his own moments of truth, tough choices, and lessons learned.

Each chapter concludes with 5 questions to allow the reader to reflect on their own leadership characteristics and how they may apply them. Bussell invites the reader to follow him down a similar fulfilling lean journey in leadership.

Jerry hopes that if there is one thing that readers take away from his book, it is that purpose – the single compelling vision of what the organization is trying to achieve – is the key. Every other character trait is in support of the unifying sense of being purposeful.

My only complaint of this book is the small font which makes the book deceiving longer and hard to read.  Unfortunately, there are no pictures or graphics to accompany the writing within the book. While not necessary it would have been a plus.

If you are looking for a model for leadership in creating operational excellence then follow Jerry’s practical guide to leading a lean organization. The wealth of knowledge distilled from so many great leaders in one place is invaluable to all leaders from the front line to the corner office. Leadership is a journey in learning and this book will guide you along a proven path of excellence.

Anatomyof a Lean Leader written by Jerry Bussell has been selected as a recipient of an internationally recognized award from The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence, part of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. Bussell will receive the award at the 25th Annual Shingo Prize International Conference occurring May 6-10 in Provo, Utah.

Disclosure: The publisher sent me a copy of this book for my review.

Quality Trends: What Motivates You at Work?

This month on ASQ’s blog A View From The Q Julia McIntosh takes a look at several themes from ASQ’s World Conference on Quality and Improvement. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the conference this year but it appears from all the commentary online that is was a huge success. A topic that Julia highlighted that is of particular interest to me was in regards to workplace motivation: “What motivates you at work?”

Motivation is a core factor for a successful business and there have been many studies around it, yet there is no definitive answer or a one size fits all solution to motivation and employee engagement. The several elements of motivation differ from person to person as well as circumstances.

A well known motivational concept is the “Carrot and Stick” approach. This analogy is about using rewards and penalties in order to obtain desired results. It refers to the old story that in order to get a donkey to move forward and pull the cart you would dangle a carrot in front of him or hit him with a stick from behind. The result is the same; the horse moves forward.

So the stick represents fear, which can be a good motivator when used sparingly at the right time. It may produce immediate results that derive from prompt compliance. It is only useful in the short term though, as over time increasing levels of punishment would be necessary to obtain the same results and this can backfire in the form of mutiny and sabotage.

The carrot is then an incentive, which can work very well as long as the individual finds the incentive appealing. In this case, the donkey would have to like carrots, be hungry and/or have a manageable and movable load in order for the carrot to work. This is very important as the incentive must be perceived to be attractive enough.

Reward and punishment are significant motivators only if the reward is large enough or the punishment sufficiently severe. For example, management holds out a carrot, offering a week’s paid vacation to the person who has the highest production numbers. Employees will work hard to reach that target (if the vacation is really what they want), but once the contest is over, they will revert back to their previous level of effort. Or, management wields a stick, threatening some kind of punishment if employees don’t do their jobs. In those cases, people will do just enough to “stay under the radar” and avoid getting into trouble. While some carrots and sticks may work in crisis situations or as a stop-gap remedy, what they mostly do is promote nearsighted thinking, mistrust, cynicism, and a diminished capacity to innovate and create.

Typically, organizations tend to base their motivational schemes on tangible good such as money, in the form of pay and bonuses. The problem with this, like the carrot, is that its attractiveness decreases over time. Sometimes, a simple word of praise from your boss can mean more than a small pay rise. If organizations could find the perfect balance been tangible and intangible rewards, carrots and sticks, this would be the answer to the motivation question. Managers must not overlook these motivators if they want to retain staff and more importantly, have them working to the best of their ability.

If you’re looking for ways to create an environment where people are driven to do their best work, you’ll need to think beyond carrots and sticks. It’s a bit trickier, perhaps a little messier, but if you want to create a thriving organization, you’ll need to consider motivation from the inside out.

Just as you can't motivate a seed to grow (you can only provide an appropriate environment that will allow it to grow), you can't motivate people. They motivate themselves. They have it in their blood, or they don’t. Some people will kick it up a notch to earn a promotion, or a reward, or for recognition. But ultimately, it’s up them.

In my experience there are three things you need to learn about motivation:

1. First, you can’t motivate anybody to do anything they don’t want to do. Motivation is an internal thing, not an external thing.
2. The second thing is that all people are motivated. The person that stays in bed in the morning rather than getting up and going to work is more motivated to stay in bed than to work. They might be negatively motivated, but they are nonetheless motivated.
3. The third thing is that people do things for their reasons and not for yours. The trick is to find out what their reasons are.

External factors can help create an environment where self-motivation can occur, however. The surest way to improve performance is to create a secure, calm environment where your employees know they are important members of your team.

As a business you can help them by creating the best conditions under which people get motivated:

Sense of Purpose: What is it about your job that gets you out of bed in the morning? What contribution to the betterment of anything are you, personally, making every day? Most people want there to be some meaning in the work they do, something more than hours of labor that result in a paycheck.

Leadership: Competent, trustworthy, genuine, conscientious innovators who are glad to be on the job every day! (Well, okay, most days.) Effective leadership is not a result of the command-and-control approach. Instead, it’s more like navigating than commanding – using the ability to “turn confusion into understanding,” and “see a bigger picture.”

Organizational Character: The integrity and consistency of choices and decisions the organization makes. Organizational Character is not only “how we do things around here” (the culture) but also why we do things this way and what people expect when we do things. It’s an organization’s reputation with the people who work there. It’s the tone and the pace of the organization and it’s how people are treated. It’s a major reason people like, or don’t like, where they work and a key contributor to motivation.

Motivation comes from within. Individuals have the capacity to motivate themselves...or demotivate themselves. Leaders can help them see the way by creating and sustaining the kinds of conditions that help them bring their best selves to work every day. Respect, proactive and honest communications, capable and engaged leadership – these are the ingredients that add up to an engaged, energized workplace.

Motivated, committed, engaged employees care about what they do and why they do it. They get up and come to work every day because they care about it. It’s not a short-term energy surge; it’s a way of life.

I’m part of the ASQ Influential Voices program. While I receive an honorarium from ASQ for my commitment, the thoughts and opinions expressed on my blog are my own. 

Lean Quote: Leadership Takes Away Excuses

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.

"The coach’s (leaders) job is to take excuses away from the player – no travel problems, no equipment problems, no bad practices, no bad game plans – so that there is nowhere for the player to look but in the mirror." — Former Hockey Coach Barry Melrose

Many businesses will face immense challenges on the road to success. They will also be presented with opportunities to overcome these challenges. Don’t squander your potential with self-imposed limitations. Don’t make excuses for why you cannot engage more fully. Capitalizing on your chances is a matter of empowering employees by removing roadblocks for the greater good of the business.

Leaders are leaders because they break down the barriers inhibiting performance and motivate to achieve results. Even if not the experts, they learn to coordinate with the key people who can accomplish the task.

When you hear lots of excuses from your employees, it means they’re under the impression that you’re blaming them or about to blame them. The simple resolve is to say, “I’m not interested in fixing any blame, I’m only interested in fixing the problem.”

The moment you hear an excuse, your concern has to be fixing the issue.

Effective coaching is about identifying ways to overcome the true barriers to performance; these are often deep seated value-based limiting factors, which cannot be underestimated. The most effective leaders "take away excuses"--creating accountability and high performance, instead of just talking about it.

So, have you created a Lean environment free of excuses? I’d like to hear how you have addressed excuses.

 

SME’s 2013 #EASTEC Conference Review - Human Ingenuity

Yesterday, I got a chance to get out the office and partake in EASTEC. The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) organizes EASTEC, one of the largest manufacturingshows on the East Coast highlighting the latest technologies and management strategies for operational excellence.  The theme this year was “Human Ingenuity” meaning to envision a new product, it takes human ingenuity. This was a great opportunity to see some old friends and listen to a couple of Lean presentations.  I thought I would share some of my thoughts and learning from this event with all of you.

First up was Bruce Hamilton, from Old Lean Dude Blog and GBMP, to Lean Manufacturing Plateaus. Since the mid-1990's many US manufacturers have benefited from implementation of Lean manufacturing methods. Most of these implementations, however, have plateaued far below their potentials, producing only modest and sometimes transient gains, and failing to capture the passion and engagement of true Lean transformations.

Bruce says companies naturally plateau because they get too happy too soon.  The earliest plateau occurs after some initial stability from attacking low hanging fruit. In actuality if you are focused on developing people it is all low hanging fruit. These plateaus along the journey to true north can be counteracted by not only teaching the know-how but teaching the know-why.

Plateaus are going to happen and management must anticipate them.  They are a temporary place to solidify concepts and learning. Leaders must take the next step to move past their comfort zone. It is management kaizen that gets you past plateaus. Companies who break through realize that employee development leads to business (and Lean) success.

Next on the agenda was Ron Pujalte, a Lean Consultant from GBMP, who discussed How to Leverage the Power of the Lean Triangle. For those who are not familiar with the Lean Triangle it is made up of Philosophy, Technical, and Management factors at the center of Human Development. Strategy must come before Philosophy. Management must lead with commitment from everyone.  On the technical side, tools are the means, not the ends.

The 3 sides of the Lean triangle make a unique contribution to the overall triangle. The component parts work together to encourage a strong culture that centers on customers, leverages employee knowledge and creativity and continues to drive organizational experimentation and learning year over year. Systems run the business but it is people who the system. Management must provide the means of connecting the dots. True North is always on the horizon.  Getting there is the challenge.

Finally good friend Tony Manos, from 5S Supply and sponsor here, gave a presentation titled A3 Problem Solving Deep Dive. Many organizations are using the A3 methodology to help solve problems and create better target conditions. The A3 is a way of simplifying and filtering information to an 11x17 sheet. The form itself is not a solution; it is the thinking and process that brings results. It is a working document that is best done with a pencil and eraser than digital formats.

The basic structure of the A3 follows the PDCA methodology which encourages Kaizen (small experimentation continuously checking your hypothesis) that leads developing people. The A3 is really about your personal learning and growth. It provides great coaching moments along the process. To be effective people need to know some basic problem solving tools before using an A3. A3’s are effective and efficient closed looped system of problem solving.

EASTEC proved to be another success for me. I was able to see many of manufacturing’s greatest innovations on display first hand. There was an opportunity to network with many leaders, practitioners, developers, manufacturers, and consultants in my area. And of course I had the opportunity to learn from a number of great Lean Leaders. Hopefully, you can take advantage of similar activities in your area and share the learning as I have.

Daily Lean Tip Edition #47

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 #691 - Nail Down Project Details First

Before you ever start the project, make sure that it is based on a solid foundation and that you have the buy-in from all key stakeholders. Understand their interests and expectations and be aware of how they will determine whether or not the project is successful. You will also need to ensure that the project scope is distinctly identified, including the roles and responsibilities of the various project team members. Develop the project plan and verify that the goals of the key elements are clearly defined and closely aligned. You should also establish measurable and trackable success criteria, including accomplishing tasks on schedule, achieving budget targets, confirming product functionality is satisfactory to the customer, and ensuring government and/or industry regulations are met. Take care of all the details to lay the groundwork for your project’s success.

Lean Tip #692 - Define Critical Project Milestones

Identify defining moments throughout the project. You can provide a life cycle of the project by including the four main phases: initiation, planning, execution and closure. Perform a real evaluation at the end of each phase. Make sure to examine every deliverable. From parts of the product to the technical documents to the project plan, you will need all of the elements involved to ensure the product is meeting the project specifications. The product needs to be aligned with the quality your customers are expecting. These milestones will not only help you to eliminate project risk and monitor project change, but will also alert you to any continuing problems and ensure that each piece is correctly completed.

Lean Tip #693 - Keep the Communication Lines Open

One of the most critical steps in the project management process is to ensure that the communication lines are open. As the project manager, you will need to be the operator of this communications system. Keep a communications plan and stick with it. Throughout the entire project, communication should be consistent, open, honest and clear. Make sure you keep in touch with all key stakeholders and team members during the project process. Ensure that everyone has the information necessary to make decisions and proceed with the project. You can also keep everyone on the same page by creating status reports based upon the project information and updates.

Lean Tip #694 - Test Deliverables Until They Meet or Exceed Customer Expectations

Deliverables should be tested at every critical milestone and the final product must meet the project requirements. Before moving on to the next phase of the project, you need to be sure that the product is coming along as planned. At the end of the project, the deliverable must meet or exceed the customer expectations to be considered a success. The final phase of the project is closure. This grand finale is a sign of achievement for you as a project manager, as well as the rest of your team and stakeholders. Once the project is complete and the customer is happy, your mission is complete.

Lean Tip #695 - Each Project Can Be A Valuable Learning Tool

What lessons have you learned along your project management process? Each project can be a valuable learning tool. You will want to review the project as a whole, as well as analyze various project components. What were the project victories? Where were there project disappointments? Make informed conclusions about the project’s quality and the product’s performance. Compare the planned return on investment (ROI) to the actual ROI as one way to understand the level of your success. You can use the lessons learned from each project to minimize future failures and maximize future successes.

Lean Tip #696 - Empower Your Employees by Giving Them Guidelines for Making Decisions.

Far from relinquishing control of your business, empowering those who are closest to the action to make decisions, can lead to the right result. Here's one example of how this can be achieved. Laurie Benson, CEO of Inacom Information Systems, implemented what she calls an "empowerment triangle" whereby each employee is allowed to make any decision, as long as they consider the impact of their decision on three things - the customer, the employee, and profitability (hence the "triangle").

Lean Tip #697 - Acknowledging Employees for What They Bring to the Table Will Help Integrate Individualists into the Team.

A team is only as good as the sum of its parts, but sometimes egos get in the way and disrupt the delicate balance of the team. But by recognizing and acknowledging the intrinsic value of individual contributions, trust can follow and egos can be checked.

Lean Tip #698 - Form Common Skills Among Employees. 

Be sure everyone has a common skill base for communication, problem solving, giving and receiving peer feedback. I find that teams who have these common skill sets are much more productive than teams that don't. Technical expertise is only half of the success quotient.

Lean Tip #699 - Encourage Each Person to Do Better.

If someone is not doing well, you need to take the time to retrain them or help them overcome their obstacles. These situations should be viewed as an opportunity to grow, as opposed to points where you assign blame.

Lean Tip #700 - Let Team Members Solve Problems Together.

If a problem develops, there is always an instinct to jump and try to give orders. This will not give your team a chance to work together in a harmonious way. Take a step back and allow each member to be part of the solution.

Lean Tip #701 - Tell Staff What to Do, Not How to Do It

Effective delegation is an important part of becoming a good leader. Understand that employees are looking to develop their skills, so when you delegate, give them an important task to accomplish. Then stand back and let them figure out how to do it. When you tell employees how to do the task, they feel mistrusted and perhaps worthless. It is difficult to trust a leader who can't let go.

Lean Tip #702 - Be Available and Offer Help to Employees

Don't just have an open-door policy; make time to talk with employees and ask their opinions. Employees want to think they have the boss's ear and can come to you when they have issues. No matter how busy you are, when you walk through your work area and notice an employee who needs assistance, offer some. Step in and get your hands dirty. It won't go unnoticed.

Lean Tip #703 - Create a Welcoming and Positive Office Environment

Company culture is the essence of your business and will determine how your employees will act in the workplace. If your company culture is firm but fair, you can expect your employees to work hard and respect the company.

Lean Tip #704 – The Best Approach to Take With Your Staff is That of a ‘Coach’.

This means that you give your employees the power and autonomy to perform the duties of their job whilst providing them with the necessary support to achieve their goals. Micromanaging your staff will make them feel like you don’t trust them, or that you undermine their value.

Lean Tip #705 - Practice Transparency and Encourage Honesty

Be honest and open with your staff on matters that affect them and could ultimately put their mind at ease. It is important that you involve employees where you can with decision making to make them feel valued. As a manager, your aim is to have an open and honest working environment where your staff feel confident in coming to you with the truth about matters, whether they are big or small.

15 Tell-Tale Signs of Eventual Quality Failure Looming in Your Business

The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Explosion

Product quality problems don’t happen overnight, nor are they the result of a crippled procedure or one poorly conceived policy. The problems have brewed over time, sending out signals that risks to product quality are growing.

A breakdown of quality is not an event. It is a process. Long before a quality failure explodes on the front page of the paper, a company’s quality system has been in trouble because of corporate decisions, policies and programs.

The following are 15 tell-tale signs of eventual quality failure looming in your business:

1. Quality management efforts not connected to competitive strategy or business results.
2. Focus solely on cleaning up messes rather than delivering superior products and customer service.
3. Failure to spread responsibility across the entire organization.
4. Focusing on the external results rather than the internal processes that produce them.
5. Fragmented, partial approaches yielding to "empowerment, without a clear strategy is chaos."
6. Defining quality based on minimum standards.
7. Repetitive and recurring crisis situations. 
8. The external quality message doesn’t match internal practices.
9. Failing to use a corrective action process effectively to eliminate defects.
10. An internal focus that is not aimed at the customer.
11. Performance measures that reinforce quantity over quality.
12. Assuming everyone knows what “nonconforming” looks like.
13. Thinking a common cause to problems is operator error and relying on retraining as a corrective action.
14. Focus on speeding up the customer response to issues instead of reducing the occurrence of issues.
15. Quality management effort not aligned within the company resulting in silos of execution.

Although quality management practices have been implemented by many organizations all over the world, such implementations have often failed. This failure rate is largely attributed to the lack of integration between quality management practices and business strategy.

In a world of increased competitiveness and demanding customers who expect to have the highest quality products at the lowest possible prices, quality is widely recognized as a source of competitive advantage and is increasingly elevated to strategic importance as an essential determinant of success. Hence, the relationship between quality management and strategy is of great interest to practitioners.