Category Archives: Development
Introverts or Extroverts as Continuous Improvement Leaders
Today’s post is from a guest blogger. Connie Tolman has a career that has spanned the aerospace, military, medical device and biotechnology industries in Southern California. Her career has been in Manufacturing Engineering until last year. She implemented lean manufacturing practices in the 80’s, moved to Six Sigma with GE Healthcare in the 90’s, Lean Sigma in the early 2000’s and was introduced to Toyota Production System Lean in 2007 which is her current passion. Connie is currently working as a Continuous Improvement Manager at a biotechnology company in San Diego.
A friend of mind just got a job at Simpler, a very well thought of Lean Consultant Company. To get the job he had to go through a very thorough and intense process which included Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment personality tests, giving a speech to a group of professionals and review of his technical knowledge.
A brief summary of Myers-Briggs personality test is that it looks at these different aspects of the personality:
- Extraverted (E) vs. Introverted (I),
- Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N),
- Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)
- Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)
He scored high on the extrovert aspect. She said “if you had scored as an introvert, I don’t think you’d be good at continuous improvement”. This struck me hard since right now I’m in the middle of evaluating those qualities in myself which started with reading the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. She now has a revolution on her hands after her TED talk by the same name – here is her website if interested http://www.quietrev.com/. To determine where you are in the continuum, the most basic question is “How do you get energized? From being alone in nature/reading a book or being with a group of people at a party?”
It turns out that there is a bias towards extroverts in our society. I have found that I am mixed between the two – that is what my Meyers Briggs score says and my astrology chart also (if that means anything to any of you science types). So, I felt inferior right off the bat. If I can’t go in there and be aggressive and forward with people, maybe I’m not good at continuous improvement, operations excellence, whatever you call it. If I can’t lead a kaizen with flair and good old fashioned pushiness, maybe I’m not good at lean.
Susan Cain says we are all a combination of both, but those who take a little time and think things through have great value. It is important to be able to be the big, noticeable person but as or maybe more important to listen to others, to think things through and come up with the brainstorm that changes the way things are looked at. We emphasize empowerment in lean which requires listening and giving away power, not taking the spotlight all to yourself. All of these things are the qualities of an introvert.
So I think that both are needed and it is our goal as lean professionals to stretch the side that isn’t our natural strength. Extraverts need to listen more. Introverts need to be more of a cheerleader and be able to energize groups.
What the Silver Lean Certification Means to Me
Today’s post is from a guest blogger. Connie Tolman has a career that has spanned the aerospace, military, medical device and biotechnology industries in Southern California. Her career has been in Manufacturing Engineering until last year. She implemented lean manufacturing practices in the 80’s, moved to Six Sigma with GE Healthcare in the 90’s, Lean Sigma in the early 2000’s and was introduced to Toyota Production System Lean in 2007 which is her current passion. Connie is currently working as a Continuous Improvement Manager at a biotechnology company in San Diego. Connie continues to talk about certification.
At the time of renewal for the Lean Bronze Certificate from SME/AME, I thought, I’ll just go for the silver – how hard could it be. Two and a half years later, I finally accomplished the goal.
In 2007, my retiring boss was being generous, so I took advantage and had him buy the entire suite of books for all the lean levels (bronze, silver and gold). I even gave them as Christmas presents to my entire staff. They all acted excited but in truth there aren’t many people who get excited about lean books. They claimed they would go for the lean certification but nobody did.
However, I was stoked. I love books, I love lean, and so what is there not to love?
The Lean Bronze Certification Package consists of:
• Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense Approach to a Continuous Improvement Strategy, Second Edition
• Lean Production Simplified: Plain-Language Guide to the World’s Most Powerful Production System
• Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation
• Learning to See: Value Stream Mapping to Create Value and Eliminate MUDA
The Lean Silver Certification Package consists of the following six books:
• The Lean Design Guidebook
• Office Kaizen: Transforming Office Operations into a Strategic Competitive Advantage
• Practical Lean Accounting: A Proven System for Measuring and Managing the Lean Enterprise
• Real Numbers: Management Accounting in a Lean Organization
• The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles From the World’s Greatest Manufacturer
• Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production
The Lean Gold Certification Package contains these five books:
• Creating a Lean Culture: Tools to Sustain Lean Conversions, Third Edition
• Lean Solutions: How Companies and Customers Can Create Value and Wealth
• Lean Transformation: How to Change Your Business into a Lean Enterprise
• Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
• Today & Tomorrow: Commemorative Edition of Ford’s 1926 Classic
I read the books, I took the test and passed and then the portfolio had to be written. That is a long boring story which resulted in working with the certification team and updating their entire system including the portfolio, scoring and results.
According to the certification leaders at SME “Lean Certification candidates will now encounter an improved program and more streamlined process in achieving certification. The hierarchical requirements – Bronze, then Silver, then Gold – have been eliminated. This allows candidates to obtain certification at the rank that is most appropriate to their career, knowledge, and experience. For more information go to Lean Certification Program Process Improvements Webpage.”
But back to the books – at the silver level, the books take you to another level of lean that none of us may ever see in our lifetimes but it is good to know it is out there. The subject some of us dread – Accounting. There were two books (see above – Practical Lean Accounting and Real Numbers) that dealt with how to lean out the accounting system. And this is the real revolutionary, transformational aspect to lean. Get rid of accounts payable, accounts receivable, all the systems that require us to do stupid things that aren’t lean, – that stop the flow of ideas from concept through to realization. The value stream is expanded to include EVERYTHING. The value stream has the material delivered to the location of the work, the material is reordered by the value stream, invoices are paid as material is consumed, and customers are billed as product is shipped.
So much of what we do in corporate life is related to how financials are measured and is our biggest roadblock. These ideas are what really cuts the costs and increases quality. This is what makes it transformational in my mind.
The Value of Certifications in Our Industry
Today’s post is from a guest blogger. Connie Tolman has a career that has spanned the aerospace, military, medical device and biotechnology industries in Southern California. Her career has been in Manufacturing Engineering until last year. She implemented lean manufacturing practices in the 80’s, moved to Six Sigma with GE Healthcare in the 90’s, Lean Sigma in the early 2000’s and was introduced to Toyota Production System Lean in 2007 which is her current passion. Connie is currently working as a Continuous Improvement Manager at a biotechnology company in San Diego.
What is the value of certification in general? There are lots of people, old and young alike, who think that if they get a certification, they’ll get a job!
First of all, this is wrong. It might get your resume looked at, if it is a prerequisite to get through the screening process, but you have to know what you are doing. At this point with all of the certifications floating around, it is fairly easy to get a certificate by not telling the truth about the projects you have completed and just studying and passing the test.
On the other hand, if you know what you are doing and do it well and nobody outside of yourself has recognized that, then a certificate can help get you recognized.
I have a project management professional (PMP), Six Sigma Black Belt from ASQ and have just gotten my Silver Lean Certification from AME/SME. I am most proud of the Lean certificate. It was really hard – no cake walk. They dug deep to find out if I knew what I was talking about.
At first I got my PMP so that I could get a better job. I found that it did get me past the first gate of keyword search by the computer. Then I got my Black Belt through ASQ but I had the backing of the GE Healthcare University to help me with the projects and studying the material. The test was harrowing. I had a pile of books 3 feet high with sticky notes attached to the pages where I could flip to different sections as needed. I did study questions for hours and hours on the weekend. I spent much of my personal time to prepare. I did this mid-career and this is what I found.
It was very helpful for me to get back into the practice of test taking – to read carefully and slow down before answering the questions. I actually learned a lot in both the PMP and the Black belt literature. Did I use it in my work? Some of it. To be honest, not very much. But I had the foundation and the backbone to know when I could use something and when it didn’t apply. Unless you are working in construction or defense, the project management professional roadmap doesn’t apply. Hardly anybody uses Earned Value System. Six Sigma is useful if you work in a company that has lots of data and ability to affect the variability.
However, lean is another story. I find it applies to everything I do both personally and professionally. Who can’t apply 5S to the cabinets and drawers in the bathroom? Who can’t use visual systems to allow others to see the progress of their work?
But AME/SME (the certification is actually backed by SME, AME, ASQ and Shingo prize – so it has prestigious companies behind it) lean certifications are very different. The books that you have to read really give you the picture of how revolutionary lean can be. Based on the Toyota Production System and authors like Womack, Liker and Dennis, you are getting exposed to the very difficult path of transformation. It has led me to Mike Rother and Toyota Kata which I think is needed to change the way we think. Liker has teamed with Rother in his Kata Summit to explain that without a way to learn new behavior we are forever stuck in using tools and not having success in implementing lean.
In the end, what is the value of a certification? For me, it meant reaching a personal milestone, having the ability to get the agreement from others in the business that I know the material and have proven it in the workplace and maybe it will help me to get a job that is satisfying and rewarding.
Lean Culture Change
Recently, I had the opportunity to tour a local company that does sheet metal work. The company does not advertise being lean, although they are a part of our lean consortium. When you walk in the manufacturing facility you would be surprised at what you DON’T see. There aren’t 5S markings or visual production boards or kanban levels anywhere to be seen.
What the company is doing is the hard work. The are working to change their culture. They are focusing on it everyday from the leadership down to the floor.
The company is Webco Manufacturing.
What they have done is come up with The Webco Way. Thirty-one fundamentals for everyone to focus on improving. Here are just a few:
- Do the right thing
- Check your ego at the door
- Take ownership
- Practice blameless problem solving
- Be process oriented
- Continuously improve everything you do
- Embrace change
These are just a few. I encourage you to visit Webco’s website to see the complete list and a description of each.
You might think 31 is a lot to remember. I did too, but it is working for them. They focus on one fundamental every single day.
A fundamental is chosen for the week. A member of the leadership team sends out their perspective of the fundamental for the week every Sunday night to everyone with e-mail in the company. During the week, every meeting consisting of more than 2 people is started by reading the quick description of the fundamental and giving an example of how it is brought to life.
This includes meetings with supplier and customers. The meeting could be 1 Webco employee and 5 suppliers but they will start the meeting with the fundamental of the week. This is to let customers and suppliers know what they are trying to do and helps to drive the same expectations from their customers and suppliers.
Webco may not claim to be lean, but the culture they are driving and the way they are going about it sure seems like a lean culture to me.
What are your thoughts?
Reflection Types
During my work, I have seen people learn and reflect in two different ways. One is to learn something through reading, doing, listening or any other way and spend time reflecting on it right then and there. They take the time to deeply understand what they learned and how it applies to them before they move on to something else.
A second way of reflection I have seen I call the information gatherer. It is learning something new in all the ways I listed above and just letting it sit. The person moves on and gathers more information on many other things. They just let the information simmer in their mind and an hour, a day, a week or even a month later BAM! It hits. They understand how it applies to them and their situation. They understand the learning deeply and can apply it anywhere.
Neither way is right. Neither way is wrong.
In fact, a person may be a combination of both depending on the situation and what they are learning.
I am a combination of both. If it is a situation where I need to learn and apply something now, I will be very intentional about reflecting and trying to figure out how what I learned applies to what I am working on.
If it is just learning for my learning, I will take in as much information as possible and keep gathering it. Eventually, sometime down the road it will click and a huge learning will occur.
What type of reflection do you most often apply?
True Coaching Takes Investment
The term coach is thrown around a lot in a business setting. Too much in my opinion. Any time spent with someone giving advice or direction is called coaching nowadays. It sounds great when you say you spent time “coaching” someone.
Coaching is more than giving advice. Coaching is an investment in time to really help them along.
Think of any athletic coach you may have had. Basketball, football, tennis, golf, swimming, etc.. Did you ever spend 30 minutes with that person in a café getting advice on a rare occasion and end up calling them coach? Of course not.
Why? Because coaching takes time. You have to spend time in the with the person in the environment you are coaching on and observe and make suggestions as you go along.
Anything else is advice. There is a big difference between giving advice and coaching.
Because of the time investment, a person can’t coach many people in the business environment. The best thing to do is focus on coaching a person or two. Don’t spread yourself thin as a coach because then no one wins. The learner doesn’t get your full attention and does not learn and grow nearly as much. The coach will never see the fruit of their labor come to fruition because the learner never reaches their full potential.
Think about this before taking someone on as their coach. Are you going to be able to devote the time truly necessary to help them along?
Counting Down the Top 10 Viewed Posts of 2013 – 10 Thru 6
2014 is now in full swing. Before 2013 is too far in the rear view mirror, I thought I would recap the Top 10 most viewed posts on Beyond Lean for 2013.
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 2013. Enjoy!
10. Comparing Lean Principles to the 14 Toyota Principles (July 2010) – Previous Year Ranked #6 – 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.
9. True Mentoring (May 2012) – Previous Year Ranked #7 – This is my take on true mentoring versus fake mentoring that goes on in business today.
8. Strategy A3 Downloadable Template (April 2012) – A quick description of a strategy A3 with a link to a template that can be downloaded.
7. Guest Post: Selling Lean to People That Don’t Want It (July 2011) – Previous Year Ranked #10 – This is a post from Joe Wilson before he became a full-time author at Beyond Lean. Joe talks about ways to sell lean to people who are not bought into the benefits of lean.
6. Why Are Lean People Seen As Lean People? (February 2011) – Previous Year Ranked #1 – 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.
My next post will count down the Top 5 viewed posts of 2013.
Leading Lean – Apply Lean to Your Work
Last week, I mentioned that I would talk more about the lean forum I attended. The theme of the forum was leading lean. Several speakers presented and they all did a fantastic job. One of the speakers was Jamie Flinchbaugh of the Lean Learning Center. Jamie outlined five leadership moves that demonstrate lean leadership.
- Apply Lean to Your Work
Over the next few posts, I thought I would share the message and how I personally have exhibited the behavior positively and negatively, because we all must learn from our mistakes.
Apply Lean to Your Work
As leaders it isn’t good enough to just talk about lean and how it can apply elsewhere. Leaders apply lean thinking to their own work in order to help themselves improve continuously. Structuring the day or week using standard work and learning ways to eliminate waste from their own work show a commitment to lean and how it can apply to anyone doing any kind of work.
Applying lean to my own work has helped me grow as a lean leader and gain credibility over the years. I had standard work that I followed when I was working in the manufacturing facilities that called for dedicated observation or waste walk time. This really allowed me to understand what work I was falling short in and make corrections.
Also, I have standard work for how I conduct lean improvement (kaizen) events. I have it down to the minute for each section. Because of this, I have been able to try new techniques to see if they allow me to reduce the time for a given section without sacrificing the quality of the event.
The biggest change was seven years ago when I added 45 minutes every Friday morning to reflect on my week. This has helped me better understand things I have tried and why they worked or didn’t work. Adding planned reflection time every week is probably the single most important thing I have done to learn.
With all the positives, I still don’t have standard work that I use for the week in an office environment. This has caused me to not be as effective in high work volume times. I have gotten so busy at times that I haven’t taken the time to reflect and improve. We should always create time to reflect and improve so during the next heavy workload maybe it isn’t so stressful.
There are plenty of opportunities to apply lean to our own work. We just have to take the time to do it as leaders.
How are you applying lean to your work?
Leading Lean – Actively Engage, Don’t Just Delegate
Last week, I mentioned that I would talk more about the lean forum I attended. The theme of the forum was leading lean. Several speakers presented and they all did a fantastic job. One of the speakers was Jamie Flinchbaugh of the Lean Learning Center. Jamie outlined five leadership moves that demonstrate lean leadership.
- Actively Engage, Don’t Just Delegate
- Apply Lean to Your Work
Over the next few posts, I thought I would share the message and how I personally have exhibited the behavior positively and negatively, because we all must learn from our mistakes.
Actively Engage, Don’t Just Delegate
This is about actually being out front and engaging in the change. Engage with people and with lean. Transforming an organization to a lean thinking culture is not something a leader delegates to others. Be involved.
I have had to be the first to design and analyze an improvement. Then go sell it to leadership. In one instance, it took almost two years to get the idea approved. It was something that had never been done in industry at the time. In order to reduce inventory and quicken lead time, I worked to have 2200 Ton injection molding presses directly tied to a massive electroplating line. It took time but as it started to take shape others took notice and came forward with new ideas that would change the way production was handled at the facility.
I haven’t always been actively engaged though. I have tried to design changes and then hand them off under the guise of “they need to learn like I did.”
WRONG ANSWER.
I needed to actively engage the team to help get the idea through. Instead, the improvement died on the vine and nothing changed. I was a poor leader because I kept mentioning that it could be better but didn’t engage and get and help to make it better.
When leading a transformation the leader needs to be actively engaged throughout the process and show everyone it will be alright.
How are you actively engaged in your lean transformation?
Leading Lean – Eliminate Both Fear and Comfort
Last week, I mentioned that I would talk more about the lean forum I attended. The theme of the forum was leading lean. Several speakers presented and they all did a fantastic job. One of the speakers was Jamie Flinchbaugh of the Lean Learning Center. Jamie outlined five leadership moves that demonstrate lean leadership.
- Eliminate Both Fear and Comfort
- Actively Engage, Don’t Just Delegate
- Apply Lean to Your Work
Over the next few posts, I thought I would share the message and how I personally have exhibited the behavior positively and negatively, because we all must learn from our mistakes.
Eliminate Both Fear and Comfort
Jamie talked about leaders not only eliminating the fear of trying something new, but also forcing people outside their comfort zone so they are forced to learn.
People generally don’t try new things because of the fear of repercussions. If they make a mistake or get something wrong, they are afraid of being fired or demoted or having a bad review. Leaders must eliminate the fear and show people it is alright to try new things.
At the same time, leaders must shrink the comfort zone for people. Force them to have to try new things.
By doing these two things, a leader is creating a bigger learning zone for the people. In this learning zone, is where improvements are made.
I had a improvement group one time that had given me a list of 15 items to improve the process they worked on. They were sanctioned to go and make the changes, but they didn’t believe it. The feared that if any change didn’t work out their direct manager would reprimand them. Of course, this was not the case because I had already discussed the work with the manager. The group actually refused to go make changes because of the fear. I had to call a timeout and bring their manager in. He told them directly this was a learning experience and the department would try anything the group wanted to try. Finally, that got the group to take action and work on their improvements to the process.
As easy as that was for me to help the other group, from time to time I still find myself making excuses and becoming paralyzed by fear to approach a leader to try something new. Ironic, right? I can help others but still get paralyzed myself. Not pushing and presenting ideas that I believe will help move the organization forward. I can’t let that stop me. I have to re-gather myself from time to time and take another approach. Use the learning of what didn’t work to find what might work.
Eliminating fear and pushing people out of their comfort zones isn’t easy, but when done well creates great learning for the organization.
How are you helping your people feel comfortable with learning? Are you shrinking comfort zones? Are you pushing out the fear zone?
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