To our customers, suppliers, partners and friends,

For the last four months, GBMP, has of necessity, pivoted to predominantly virtual consulting, training and coaching.   Now, as the economy begins to reopen, I’d like to share with you two lessons that we have learned:

Office space adds limited value to our work.
We have discovered that physical distancing for our team does not necessarily reduce presence or alignment.  In fact, the need for very frequent communication during the pandemic has highlighted the advantages of virtual methods like Zoom and Slack.  The GBMP team has not been able to assemble physically since February, but we have met “face-to-face” virtually nearly every day, something that would not be practical in real space.  While do look forward to a time when can occasionally meet in person, we have come to realize that the “new normal” may not require the expense of an office. 

Virtual is here to stay, as a component of learning.
Like many of you, GBMP has adapted to the pandemic’s reality, and we have learned through this difficult process that there are aspects of virtual learning – particularly the explicit learning – that are actually advantageous to both teacher and learner. This is something I would not have subscribed to personally, had pandemic conditions not demanded it; but response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive.  We are anxious to be back on-site with our customers “in the Gemba” at some point, but we also anticipate that aspects of virtual learning will continue and develop as an improvement to Lean and Six Sigma learning and organizational transformation. 

While timing for recovery from Covid-19 is no less uncertain for me today than several months ago, life goes on, work continues and so does improvement to the work.

GBMP’s mission, to keep good jobs in our region, is stronger than ever and we will continue to adapt to provide value to our community.   We value our many relationships and look forward to bright outcomes for all of us. 

Bruce Hamilton,
June 25, 2020

Most Lean folks use “5-Whys” daily to problem solve; but, relatively few are familiar with a clever problem solving device developed 30 years ago by Deming Prize winner, Ryuji Fukuda, called the Why-Not Diagram. 
 
Because objection is a natural human response to new ideas, Dr. Fukuda created the Why-Not Diagram to afford every stakeholder an opportunity to put his or her concerns out on the table:   all the reasons why an idea won’t work.  Fukuda recommends that why-not reasons be recorded in silence so that no one is unduly influenced by anyone else.  We use a separate post-it note for each separate idea.    In my own experience, this technique generates a lot of post-it notes.  It seems to be easier for participants to fire off thoughts about why something won’t work than how it will work.  
 
Some time ago, my previous company was having an especially tough sales quarter and the level of frustration was high throughout the organization.     I posed this Why-Not question to my field sales force:

“Why Not Double Sales?”
 
In a cathartic burst, our sales people busily wrote all the reasons they could think of as why our sales were low: late delivery, billing issues, bad sales policies, too many reports, slow response to questions, long time to market for new products, etc.  Some had very specific causes, while others were more general, but all were recorded in silence over a period of about twenty minutes and passed to me.   Then we read the notes aloud, one-by-one, and organized them by category, creating an affinity diagram of why-nots.  Clear categories emerged as we continued reading; and there were many duplicates, which we piled on top of one another creating a visualization of consensus.  Finally, there were a couple of post-its that didn’t fit into any category. “Lone Wolves,” Dr. Fukuda calls them; things that most persons had not previously considered. One note turned out to be a brilliant and previously missed issue with our sales process.    As that Post-It was read, there was a quiet murmur in the room acknowledging that in the process of collecting our thoughts, something new and special had been discovered.
 
As the salesperson team was congratulating themselves for a concerted show of resistance to the idea of doubling sales, I challenged them: “So what I take from this exercise is that if we can address all of these objections, then we CAN double sales.”    A couple of startled participants protested. “Oh no, we didn’t mean to imply that.”   After a few moments of silence however, another participant thoughtfully replied, “Well . . . maybe.”   The seeds for change had been sewn.   
 
From this experience I take two lessons which, particularly in this chaotic and emotion-charged pandemic time are worth relating:
 
The first lesson is from one of my favorite stimulators, Alan Watkins.   creator of Crowdocracy, Watkins asks “Who is the smartest person in the room?”  The answer is...

ALL OF US.  The collective intelligence of everyone easily surpasses that of any single person.  This concept is not new to Lean (“The ideas of 10 are greater than the experience of 1.”), but it is not well practiced.  Fukuda’s Why-Not gets everyone involved; it’s a trick to surface objection and create dialogue.  If we have conflicting views about how to adapt to Covid-19, we should share them – maybe there will be lone wolf or two.
 
The second is from Shigeo Shingo who said “99% of objection is cautionary,” meaning that when persons express objections to an idea, they are often saying they don’t agree YET.  They need more information.   From my days in sales promotion I recall that every sale begins with “no.”  Getting these ‘no’s’ out into the open, rather than letting them privately fester, is the first step to responding to them.   Dialogue is the countermeasure to objection.  Let’s keep it going. 
 
Stay safe everyone.
O.L.D. 

Hey, here’s a “why-not” question for you:  Why not accelerate your continuous improvement process right now, taking advantage of the non-value-added time you might be spending cooped up in some socially distanced environment.  Any time is a good time learn, develop, improve and problem-solve.   

For over 25 years, my orginization's mission has been to help others develop their most valuable resource: their employees.  Given the right training and inspiration, every employee – from the front lines to the corner office - can be a Lean thinker and problem solver.  While we may not be able to march forward arm in arm now, thanks to technology, we still can learn together – face-to-face – in the Gemba remotely.  And there is no better time or burning platform than at this moment to engage and inspire all of our employees to become innovators and problem solvers.  Whether your workforce is presently at home or in the workplace, local or dispersed, GBMP consultants can help with interactive Lean and Six Sigma training, consulting and coaching targeted exactly to your needs and time-frame.  While we may not be able join you at your site, we are all still as close as your nearest computer or smart device.  Whether you are an existing GBMP partner or are just beginning with continuous improvement, we encourage you to take a few moments to peruse the many interactive Lean learning opportunities available to you from GBMP.  Let us help you turn downtime into learning time.

​​On a contemporary note, I’ve been reminded daily in the last month that objection to new ideas is a normal human response.  ​

For those not into 17th century English poets,  this final line from John Milton’s, On His Blindness, had particular significance in 1665 at a time when denominations of the Christian world were debating whether we sinners were saved by faith alone or by a combination of faith and good works.  This question was the cause of the Reformation, the split between the Protestant churches and Catholic Church.  Milton was siding with those who felt that faith alone was the way to salvation. Being a good person was nice but not necessary in the eyes of God.   John Wesley, founder of Methodism, was among those who disagreed, however.  Faith alone was not enough.  Good works, things like charity and kindness, were equally parts of the road to salvation.  It was simply not enough to “only stand and wait” as John Milton suggested. 

In the summer of 1665, debates over the path to salvation would have been in context of the deadly epidemic, Black Death.  This wave of the bubonic plague started slowly in a London neighborhood,  but by May of 1665, 43 had died. In June 6137 succumbed and then in July, 17036.   Finally, at its peak in August, 31159 people perished.  In all, 15% of the London population perished during that terrible summer. There was little recourse beyond prayer and primitive forms of protection like the avian-like “gas mask” worn by physicians to damp foul smells. Filled with lavender and  camphor to ward off the invisible pestilence, this protective gear was 17th century state of the art – the best that science and medicine had to offer.   

We can all take heart that science has advanced remarkably since Milton.   While we justifiably worry about the elapsed weeks of time needed to properly garb our pandemic frontlines  and months of time to a vaccine or other therapies, we should consider, as a frame of reference, that the Black Plague lasted more than three centuries in Asia and Europe without remedy.  As an optimist by nature, I still find myself  fighting off angry thoughts and wondering how we ever got into this mess.  Better to focus on the moment.  Seize the day.    What can we do to help the frontlines?   Where is our salvation? 

Perhaps, as in the 17th century, there is power in faith.  I would not disparage it. As an aphorism from the Second World War maintains, “There are no atheists in a foxhole.” Beyond this, however,  what about “good works”?   With regard to our current dilemma, it seems for most us who are not on the front line – not clinicians, not public servants, not essential service workers – there are just two things we can do:
​

1. Support the front lines.  Give them everything they need immediately and let them feel our gratitude. 
2. For the rest of us, oddly, doing  nothing is our good work. As Milton said “They also serve who only stand and wait.”  We need to stay at home for now to protect each other AND the front line. Give them the gift of time to heal the sick and find ways to remediate this scourge.    
   ​ 

Stay well everyone. 
O.L.D. 
​
P.S. Well, perhaps not nothing. My organization, GBMP, is assisting companies who wish to turn downtime into learning and improvement time through virtual Lean, Six Sigma and Shingo Model workshops, training, coaching and project assistance. The remote platforms are robust and interactive learning and sharing are possible whether your workforce is presently at home or in the workplace, local or dispersed, in one state, multiple states or spread across countries. Contact us to learn how we can assist your team or peruse some of our scheduled Lean learning opportunities.

For over 25 years, the GBMP’s mission has been to help organizations large and small develop their most valuable resource: their employees.  Our abiding belief, connoted in our slogan, EVERYBODY EVERYDAY, is that given the right training and inspiration, every employee – from the front lines to the corner office can be a Lean thinker and problem solver.  My personal learning first as an operating manager has been, that continuous improvement requires an army of problem-solvers, a culture that embraces tough challenges collaboratively and confidently. 

Presently, we are all faced with a challenge that absolutely requires that confidence and collaboration.  While we may not be able to march forward arm in arm at this point, thanks to the facility available from the Internet we still can learn together – face-to-face – in the Gemba, if only remotely.  And there is no better time or burning platform than at this moment to engage and inspire all of our employees to become an army of innovators and problem solvers in face of COVID19. 

Whether your workforce is presently at home or in the workplace, local or dispersed, GBMP consultants can help with interactive Lean and Six Sigma training, consulting and coaching targeted exactly to your needs and timeframe.  While we may not be able join you at this time at your site, we are all still as close as your nearest computer or smart device. 

We’re all facing a tough and unprecedented situation right now.  But the best of human spirit dictates that we nevertheless find ways to do our jobs and improve our jobs.  Whether are an existing GBMP partner or are just beginning with continuous improvement, I encourage to take a few moments to peruse the interactive opportunities available to you from GBMP.  Let us help you turn downtime into learning time.
​
– O.L.D. 

​Written by Bruce Hamilton 
President, GBMP

In the 1980's an astoundingly competitive system for production emerged from an unlikely source. Toyota, a Japanese car manufacturer with a previously poor reputation and customer value, began producing exceptionally reliable cars at very competitive prices. Borrowing a management philosophy from American quality guru, W. Edwards Deming, and production techniques from Henry Ford and others, Toyota evolved its own unique system for driving waste out of every process in order to produce products with high customer value.  They dubbed it the Toyota Production System (TPS). Over the last several decades, Toyota's incredible success in the marketplace has been all the more striking in contrast to its major competitors whose fortunes have plummeted. In the 1950's, a Ford production employee could produce 8 cars for every one made by Toyota. Today the tables have turned. A small Japanese company facing extinction fifty years ago is now officially the world's largest auto manufacturer. In the 1990's a new term "Lean Manufacturing" was dubbed to replace the negative connotations of TPS (namely that it was a Japanese method and that it was only good for production). In a nutshell, Lean is a philosophical and methodological approach that strives to provide ever-increasing value to the customer through total employee involvement in the reduction of non-value-added activities and their associated costs.

We believe that US manufacturers and service providers can successfully apply the Toyota system and receive its full competitive and financial benefits, if they take time to understand more than just its technical aspects (the "know how" without the "know why"). Copying Toyota's methods without careful consideration to their whole system will produce short-lived, or worse negative, outcomes. We also believe that the hidden power of TPS is based not on tools and techniques but on unlocking human intellect and creativity at every point in the process and on establishing collaborative relationships between management and workers, between departments, and between customers and suppliers.

If you think of the different aspects of TPS/Lean Manufacturing as the three legs on a tripod, consider what would happen if you took away any one of them. The tripod collapses.

If you are interested in a brief history of time savings (from the early innovators Eli Whitney and Frederick Winslow Taylor to Henry Ford, the Gilbreths and W. Edwards Deming) along with the ultimate learning approach for a whole system, learn-and-do, deployment and implementation, we suggest the e2 Continuous Improvement System - Managing & Sustaining your Lean Transformation through the "Everybody, Everyday" Approach to Lean workbook.  

Philosophy before strategy
"If you practice a bad golf swing long enough, you'll get very good at swinging the club poorly." - Ryuji Fukuda

The foundations of Lean Manufacturing provide a  shared understanding for management & employees of the philosophical basis that separates successful Lean Manufacturing implementations from failures. If you do not understand the "know why" (philosophy), none of the rest will make any sense. Practicing the philosophy of Lean manufacturing, developing tacit learning, engaging all employees in Kaizen and understanding what is meant by improvement.

1. Customer First Thinking
2. Employees = Most Important Resource
3. Direct Observation
4. Kaizen is for everybody, everyday

What is Lean management?
​True North is a term used by Toyota to indicate the right direction of improvement - based upon providing perfect products, just-in-time, according the customers exact demand. It should be visual, self-managing and continuously striving for higher quality, lower cost, shorter lead-times and greater selection for the customer.

To undergo a Lean Manufacturing transformation, ultimately every aspect of a business requires reconsideration. The current condition was not built overnight. Management must align policy to support Lean, must lead in a new way, must develop positive relationships with all stakeholders. Kaizen - the means to realign resources - represents small changes for the better in their daily work. For management, kaizen means to re-think strategy, organization and policy, and to implement incremental changes to the status-quo management system that is contradictory to True North.

How do we improve?
By applying the technical aspects of Continuous Improvement - proven tools, techniques and countermeasures - people  reduce or eliminate one or more of the 7 wastes* while going about their daily work.  But a tool is only a tool when used correctly, and used to assist in a situation where it makes sense (you wouldn't use a wrench to hang a picture). If we do not understand the purpose of the tools and the conditions under which a tool makes sense, we are sure to struggle in our journey.  When tools are understood to be a means to an end, a series of aids to assist us in establishing a system made up of processes that flow value according to customer need, then the chances of success are much greater.  Encouraging managers and employees to learn and, more importantly, practice with them regularly, the technical "leg" of our tripod can significantly accelerate improvement efforts as well as highlight additional improvement opportunities.​
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