More Learning from an Elementary School

Learning without fear of consequences is what lean thinkers expect from their environment.  At a traditional workplace, this does not happen a majority of the time.

When I spent time with my kids at their elementary school this was the foundation of how the school operated.  The school provided a very large learning zone.  The learning zone is the amount of room or flexibility a person has to try new things and learn without the fear of repercussions.  The larger the learning zone the more a person can stretch their ideas and try new things.

Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What impressed me about the school wasn’t the the learning zone for the academic part of learning but the size of the learning zone that is given for the behavioral aspects.  The librarian stuck out in my mind the most.  During the kids’ time in the library, she would gently correct the child if they weren’t following the rules.  At the end of their time in the library, the kids would line up and the librarian would then go through an exercise of evaluating their behavior.  She would give the kids a scale of 1 -5 and explain what each number meant for effort.  Then one-by-one she would ask each child to rate themselves.  The honestly that came from the kids was incredible.  Some saying they honestly gave a low effort  and rating themselves at a 1 or 2.

The librarian never criticized them.  She just asked if they would give a better effort next time and the kids always said yes.  She tracked the number the kids gave in a book to compare to each time to look for a pattern or trend.

The kids felt completely safe to be honest and by asking if they would give a better effort next time helped the kids become accountable for their behavior.

This does not mean they can do whatever they want.  This would be an infinite sized learning zone.  But the learning zone she provided was large enough for the kids to explore their own behavior during their time with her in the library.

When do we lose that learning zone?  When do we switch from learning being the most important to execution being the most important and forget all about learning?  How can we create safe learning zones at work as we ask people to change behaviors of a lean leader?

 

Importance of Kaizen Event Follow Up

An often glossed over part of a kaizen/improvement event is the follow up after the event.  Why is this?

Part of the reason is the plethora of information available on how to run a kaizen/improvement event.  I have even written blogs (here and here) about executing an event.  It is easy for people to focus on, because it’s a big deal to get so many people from cross functional areas in one room for a long period of time.  Facilitators want to make sure it is a valuable use of the people’s time and not wasted sitting around.  This is a reasonable expectation.

However, coming out of a kaizen/improvement event there usually are a few action items to still be completed.  If these are not completed, the full value of the event won’t be reached.  The event would have wasted some of the participant’s time.  This is a hidden waste.  The participants are busy during and after the event with work they are completing at the time.  If the full value of the event isn’t reached, it isn’t seen by everyone.  It is pretty obvious if people are sitting idle in a conference room.  It is frustrating to the participants as well.

renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The 30, 60, 90 day follow up is an important tool to help ensure none of the time participants’ time is wasted.

The 30, 60, 90 day follow up is used to drive accountability to complete the action items and verify the results are moving in the desired direction.  The follow up is valuable time to reflect on what is working so far and what is not.  The team can make adjustments if necessary and drive to the results that are desired.

The event is draining and hard work, but the real work begins once the team leaves the kaizen/improvement event and embarks on implementing their new process.

The hype is around the the event itself, but don’t forget the follow up or you may be wasting people’s time.

Go To Where They Are At

Leading change from a traditional way of working to the lean way of thinking can be very frustrating.  When you have seen how efficient and profitable an organization can be you want them to be there RIGHT NOW.  The problem with this thinking is we can’t get there right now.  The other organizations that have had great success did not get there instantly either.  It took time and hard work.

All of this can be frustrating if it is allowed to be.  As change leaders we can’t let it be.  We have to remember to go to where people are at mentally and emotionally with the change.  We have to bring them along one step at a time.  Before you know it, you will start to see the change to lean thinking and results will follow.

Unfortunately, the bigger the organization you are working with the more time and the harder work it will take.  Like steering a cruise ship, a large organization will not turn quickly.  Sometimes the organization is so large you are not seeing the change occur even though it is happening.

Remember to have patience.  Patience is not an excuse to go slow.  Patience is pushing to move forward as fast as they can stand without alienating them even though they may not be moving as fast as you believe they should or could.

From time to time, remember to step back and look at all the positive changes that have taken place.  Moving forward is something we should remember to celebrate to help keep the perspective.

Commitment

As I’m sure a lot of self described “Lean Thinkers” have, I have had a bunch of discussions about where to start at with Lean.  My mostly philosophical point of view is that 5-S isn’t the best place to start because you can’t do the Sort step until you define what is really needed in a work area.  Taking that a step back, you can’t define what is needed in a work area until you have defined and somewhat smoothed your production/demand.  I have seen several points of view that 5S is a great place to start because “If you can’t do 5S you won’t be able to do anything else.”*

I have come face to face with the harsh reality again that what matters most is that you are committed to it, not where you start.  I realize that this isn’t news or even a question for most Lean folks.  Sometimes in our journey of preaching the Lean gospel, we are confronted with people who aren’t at all ready to change who they are to follow the Lean path.  They may want to overlay a few tools for show or toss terminology around as the latest buzzwords.  At most levels of the organization, people that think like that can be worked with, developed, or, at the very least, worked around for a while.  When the lack of commitment is at the top, it makes you wonder why they even pretend.

For the record, I don’t mean this as any sort of contempt for those that don’t want to do Lean.  I have no problem with people that aren’t interested in Lean and are honest about it.  My concern is for people that fake an interest and only want to toy around with Lean.  That type of activity does a great disservice to not only Lean as an effective way of doing business, but to the people that work under them and are forced to take part in things that are clearly unimportant to their managers.  The whole charade is a giant waste of resources.

In the situation that has brought this brush with reality, I could just simply back out and not “help” this person any more.  But, I do worry about how many extremely bright, talented, and capable future Lean leaders are stuck in situations that they can’t get out of as cleanly for whatever reason.  The concept of wasted human potential has long been a fundamental of true Lean.  I wonder how much potential has been wasted by the fake committed.

 

*I believe this quote or something really similar was in the book, “The Gold Mine”, but I can’t seem to find it. I try to not use unattributed quotes or statements, but I couldn’t find exactly where I first heard this.  I apologize if I incorrectly assigned credit for this.  If anyone remembers or can source the origin, please let me know and I’ll correct it.  Thanks.

Turning the Question Back on Ourselves

Part of the improvement process is to ask, “What problems, issues or opportunities are there?”

This seems like a very good question to ask.  A question that would get to the root of what can be done to improve.  People start to give answer after answer about problems and issues.  Notes are taken.  Work is assigned.

Not  until recently have I taken the time to look at the responses given to the question above.  Closer examination shows a large portion of the responses are pointing the finger outwardly.  We could do that if leadership does this.  We could have lower costs if our customers would let us design our relationship.  We could have a faster changeover if management would let us buy the newest equipment.

These are TRAPS!  Traps that I have fallen into myself. Traps that lead us to try and justify new equipment that may not be needed or spend energy convincing leadership or customers to do something different so we can stay the same.  In the end, the improvement isn’t made or it is not nearly as significant as it could have been.

We have to turn the question around on ourselves.  Ask what can we do to help leadership help us?  What can we do within the parameters of our relationship with the customer and still deliver on their needs?  How can we get the same effect of the new equipment without buying the new equipment?

We can’t always point the finger outward.  We have to point the finger inward and try everything we can to get where we want to go.  When we do this well, we get greater improvement and others will respect us more for solving the issue.

Counting Down the Top 10 Viewed Posts of 2011 – 5 Thru 1

2012 is now in full swing.  Before 2011 is too far in the rear view mirror, I thought I would recap the Top 10 most viewed posts on Beyond Lean for 2011.

New followers of the blog can use this as an opportunity to read posts they might have not seen in the past.  While, long time followers can use this as an opportunity to re-read some of the top viewed posts.

This post will count down the 10th thru 6th most viewed posts of 2011.  Enjoy!

5.  Comparing Lean Principles to the 14 Toyota Principles (July 2010) – Previous Year Ranked #2 – The first part of a three part series where I compared the lean principles I learned from the Lean Learning Center to the Toyota Principles.  This post covers the first five Toyota Principles.

4.  Seth Godin and Failing Better (April 2011) – This post dives into a post from Seth Godin talking about how to fail so you learn faster and use that to your advantage.

3.  Sportscenter Has Killed U.S. Manufacturing (June 2011) – Manufacturing is fundamental.  The U.S. has lost it’s sights on the fundamentals and is just worried about the flashy.  The U.s. needs to get back to the fundamentals in order to get back on top.

2.  Why Are Lean People Seen As Lean People? (February 2011) – Exploring the question as to why lean people are not seen as more than just lean experts.  Looking at a process from end-to-end seems like a good business practice no matter what the role.

AND……

1.  5S in the Office (September 2010) – Previous Year Ranked #1 – Most viewed post for two straight years now.  A look at using 5S in the office.  What is going too far and how to use 5S in the office properly.

I look forward to more posts in 2012!

Top 6 – 10 of 2011

Dilbert Animated Cartoons

I hope everyone had a great Christmas yesterday.  A little Dilbert treat for the holidays.

The Pointy-Haired Boss makes it so hard to get clear objectives and Dilbert is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

Does any of this sound familiar?  Clear objectives and misaligned values can cause a lot of confusion in an organization.  The confusion can lead to nobody taking action.  No action means no improvement.  I hope your objectives for 2012 are clear.

Article Roundup

In the spirit of other blog sites, especially the Management Carnival, I thought I would share some links to a few blogs that found very interesting over the last month or so.  I hope you enjoy them.

A Tough Obituary to Write by Bill Waddell – This is a different perspective on the passing of Steve Jobs.  This is a point of view I had thought about writing but Bill beat me to the punch and I didn’t want to redo something he had written so well.

Building Your Personal Value Proposition by Bill Barnett – A great post about understanding yourself and what you are interested in.  Use that knowledge to know where you fit in a company and build your personal value.

Encourage Talent If You Want It To Grow by Steve Roesler – Steve hits on some great points to help grow talent through encouragement.  Even when you feel an employee is doing what they should be doing it is good to encourage them.

Building Manager Standard Work by Jamie Flinchbaugh – This blog will link to his full article at Industry Week.  Don’t but a process in place for something that already has a process like check email every day at lunch.

Planning On Not Knowing by David Kasprzak – We won’t always know what do to next but that shouldn’t stop us from planning.  Plan in spots to review and determine what to do next.

Manufacturing Skills Gap or Management Skills Gap by John Hunter – If the people don’t have the manufacturing skills they need is that their fault?  Or do we have a gap in our management skills?

Assembly Mag Thinks Whirlpool is Lean. Really. by Kevin Meyer – This is about Whirlpool and the fake lean.  It hit home because I grew up in Evansville and watch the decline of Whirpool.

Black Friday Has Arrived

Today is Black Friday in the U.S.  It is the day after Thanksgiving and the largest shopping day of the year.  Every retailer will have great sales and deals to lure people into their store.

While this may be fun for some people who enjoy bargain shopping and getting a great deal, it is a day that everyone seems to lose respect for other people around them.

There will be stories of people being trampled as doors open to stores where crowds have been waiting outside.  People will shove, bump, slam into and elbow other people to hurry to get to a item before the store runs out of that particular deal.  It truly is amazing to me how everyone forgets common courtesy and manners.  If you were in a work place that showed this little respect for people you would quit in a heartbeat and not even think about it.

I understand that not everyone is like that on Black Friday but the number grows exponentially.  In fact, there are news stories every single year about some crazy incident that happened.

So, if you are a Black Friday shopper please remember how to respect others as you shop.

Happy Shopping!

Throwing Out Old Files

The company where I work uses the phrase, “Throw out old files” to mean something other than throwing away old papers.  The phrase is used to refer to eliminating perceptions of others we may have from past dealings with them.

How many times have you worked with someone that didn’t work out well?  The person may have been difficult to accept new ideas or rude in meetings.  Whatever the case, you have perceptions about this person and now you don’t look forward to working with them.

A second phrase jumps out, “Self fulfilling prophecy.”  If a person goes into a working relationship with thoughts of not wanting to work with another person and it will be troublesome, it usually ends up troublesome.

To combat this, people should try to “throw out old files” they have on a person.  Start new and give the person a chance.  The person may behave in the same manner as you have seen in the past, but giving them a chance gives everyone a chance to succeed.  Many times people do behave differently.  Maybe circumstances outside of work have changed for the person or circumstances at work, putting them in a better state of mind.

Throwing out old files is not an easy thing to do.  Especially, if the person keeps behaving in the same manner over and over again.  But you may be surprised as to how many people you can get a long with and even become friends with once old files are thrown out.