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

How do you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you are? These are busy times. We are all trying to do more with less and feeling overwhelmed. Amid all that, you are considering launching a Lean initiative, your new Lean implementation isn’t getting any buy-in or your existing Lean program is failing.

This is the perfect time to consider a thorough Lean Operational Assessment from an experienced Lean Practitioner. Making the time to assess your current Lean efforts and results is not optional; it is critically necessary to mapping out the future success of Lean in your organization.

Have you ever uttered the words “that’s how we have always done things”? Continuous improvement is all about changing the status quo. Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” But you need to know how and where to start. An operational assessment will tell you just that.

A Lean Operational Assessment can be an eye-opening experience, one that you should welcome. It’s about taking the time to evaluate how your organization is operating and how Lean is driving behavior and results. A Lean Operational Assessment by GBMP provides you with valuable insight into your strengths and opportunities and is an important step on your Lean journey - whether you’re just starting out or ready to take your Lean program to the next level.

It is a tool which can aid you in:

1. Assessing the current condition of Lean
2. Determining your current and potential future states
3. Differentiating between short- and long-term Lean goals
4. Creating a roadmap for improvement
5. Comparing actual performance with potential or desired performance
6. Determining what steps should be taken to achieve desired performance metrics
7. Identifying steps to take to realize everyone’s potential to contribute to your organization’s overall success
   
   

Sure, you can try to assess your own Lean improvement efforts, but the input from an experienced Continuous Improvement Manager and Coach from GBMP will provide perspectives you’ve never considered.  As they say, “You don’t know what you don’t know”. GBMP can help with a complementary* Lean Operational Assessment. Give us a few hours of your time and we’ll give you a fresh outlook for the new decade with a clear picture of where your Lean initiative stands, where it could go, and a map of how to get there. Get started by contacting GBMP today.
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* Fees apply outside of New England; Assessment is complementary in the US states of MA, ME, NH, RI, CT, RI & VT.

Reflecting on McGregor’s  X and Y Theories of human motivation,  Shigeo Shingo took the position that each of us by nature has a dual  tendency: sometimes lazy and self-interested, and other times motivated and generous.  Which of these behaviors dominates is directly related to the environment in which we find ourselves – call it culture.   
My personal experience as a manager, and as an employee, has surely confirmed Shingo’s opinion for me.  Dropped into a manufacturing management role in 1986 with NO manufacturing experience, I had the opportunity to experience a quintessential Type X culture.  My predecessor, a man of considerable personal knowledge of the business, had ruled for decades with an iron fist, intolerant of opinions other than his own.   I remember commenting to a friend when I first took over the manufacturing VP job,  “it seems like employees are children and production employees are bad children.”   Transferring from an IT role in a different building to this new world of distrust and muted dissatisfaction was indeed a culture shock for me.   After a short time on the job, my general foreman presented me with a list of employees to “keep an eye on.”  He thought he was being helpful.  “Troublemakers,” he  whispered to me. 

It turns out that a few of the troublemakers became early adopters of a different kind of culture, one where employees would be seen as “the most valuable resource.”  What distinguished these rabble-rousers was that they had refused to be beaten down by the previous regime.  My role as a manager was, in the words of Mr. Shingo, to turn their dissatisfaction (Theory X) into “constructive dissatisfaction” (Theory Y.)  At the time I described the experience as akin to freeing prisoners.  I wasn’t making them participate; I was just asking for their help.   That seemingly simple shift ruffled more than a few feathers in management, a humbling experience I documented in a 2012 post jokingly entitled Lead with Humiliation.  Lean transformation,  I discovered, while difficult for everyone, is hardest for managers. 

So, what does this story have to do with the words “accountability” and “authority”?   In 2006, I had the pleasure of listening to David Mann, author of “Creating a Lean Culture“, deliver a presentation at the Shingo Conference on Leader Standard Work (LSW.)  “A novel concept,” I thought to myself.  “Why not clarify the manager’s role in developing a Lean culture?”    So much effort had already been put into transforming front-line systems, but very little in transforming the management systems for folks who were steering the ship.  In fact, the concept to engage managers by check-listing key culture-changing management activities, caught on in a big way.  Many an organization I visit today has attempted to add LSW to its Lean transformation.  Unfortunately, fifteen years and millions of white boards later, what seemed like a good concept is failing in execution.  Here are my observations. 
   
“Creating a Lean Culture” depicts the Lean management system as comprised of three parts:

1. Visual Controls.  Mann describes a wide variety of devices such as hour-by-hour charts intended to make each process obvious on a real-time basis.  Are we on schedule?  Are there defects?   But very few organizations that I visit have a robust standardized work system for specifying and improving work.   More common is “standard work,” which describes only the sequence of the work, often in generalities.   Whether in a factory or office or operating room, the failure to understand cadence and precise composition of the work creates a very shaky foundation for accountability.   
2. Standard Accountability.  This, for most sites I visit, is the centerpiece of the Lean management system.  Operational status for a work group is summarized periodically and discussed at a brief stand-up meeting.   Impediments to flow are noted and countermeasures are reviewed.  The supervisor of the front line is the owner of the “Tier 1” board and is accountable meet specific KPI’s.   The Tier 1 board is tied  to goals and targets set at a higher-level Tier 2 board, which is owned by the manager.  He or she is accountable for Tier 2.  Finally, at the global level is the Tier 3 board owned by the executive.  This is the principle that enables oversight and alignment of goals and measures.  
   
   Several issues frustrate the effectiveness of Standard Accountability. 

• First, as noted above, workers are often not given a stable, repeatable process to run.  Says Mann, “until you demonstrate an improvement in stability of a process by applying the tools of Lean production, leader standard work comes across as a waste of time, a bureaucratic abstraction without real meaning.”
• Second, inadequate attention is given to actual Kaizen.  Referring to the role of leader standard work, Mann notes, “the journey truly begins in earnest after the production floor has been rearranged, or procedures redefined.” But, if front-line capability to deploy countermeasures to problems has not first been established, then what system is there to manage?   It’s a bit like coaching a baseball team where the players themselves have never played.  We can measure the balls and strikes, but nobody has learned how to bat.  Before accountability, there must be ability. 
• Third, there’s that word “accountability.”  Check out Roget’s Thesaurus for the synonyms:   blame, fault, liability, answerability, responsibility, culpability, chargeability.  Or just listen to the evening news for the connotation of the word.   It’s the equivalent of referring to mistake-proofing as fool-proofing.   In this sense, accountability is more like finger-pointing.  Mr. Shingo condemned the word fool-proofing because it was a Theory X word.  I think if he were alive today, he would also ban the use of word accountability for the same reason.   When our words imply that we must make people do something, we’re perpetuating an archaic Theory X view.  As managers, we should be enabling our employees to develop their capabilities.  We should be authorizing them to master their crafts.  Words mean something.  We should choose them carefully. 
• Finally, the concept of tiered accountability can provide an empowering line of sight to all employees and managers, IF it is sincerely followed by all – and when I see the occasional effective tiered accountability process it underscores the power of true alignment.   More commonly, however, engagement at higher tiers is spotty; accountability in that case flows downhill.   The message at Tier 1 is “S.O.S.”  

3. Leader Standard Work (LSW).  This is the management checklist that keeps everyone practiced with the new way, a thoughtfully constructed list of periodic tasks for executives, managers and supervisors, designed to show visible commitment and support for the new way.  This is the concept that first intrigued me when I listened to David Mann’s presentation in 2006: a reminder to managers to be leaders for change.  My observation over the last decade is that managers who use LSW well soon become practiced and no longer need a checklist.   Unfortunately, many managers create a checklist, but then don’t follow it.  “My day is too unpredictable to use leader standard work,” one manager tells me.  An all too common refrain.  We are asking our employees to embrace change, but we are excused.  It is perhaps no accident that the third edition of Mann’s book, released a decade after the original, adds a full chapter dealing with the challenge to engage management. 

From the foregoing rant, it may seem that I don’t subscribe to concepts put forth in “Creating a Lean Culture”; but in fact, fifteen years after its publication, I continue to believe that if employees have both ability and authority, then the guidance and alignment provided by a Lean management system is imperative. That is Theory Y.  As David Mann reminds us, “Execution is the key to lean management.”   The authority to execute, today as in 2006, rests squarely on the shoulders of executives. 

What is your experience creating a Lean management system?  Can you share a story or observation?  

O.L.D.

Hope to see you all at our 15th annual Northeast LEAN Conference in Hartford, October 23-24.  The topic of engagement – employees and execs – will be a main focus.  Our theme this year, Total Employee Involvement, combines the knowledge and experience of leading practitioners and experts.  Want more information?  Click here.

​A daisy rising from my brick walkway reminded me this morning, that even in the worst environment, there is a chance for growth.  But this kind of individual heroism does not portend success for Lean transformation.  As an organization with the slogan “Everybody Everyday,” GBMP places high value on Total Employee Involvement as an essential piece of continuous improvement.

I have a long-standing practice of asking managers “What percent of your employees come to work every day, excited about a potential solution to a problem or an idea for improvement?”   
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After 20 years in Lean consulting, the answers I receive to that question have not changed much.  Here are a few:
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• “We had a good run for a few months when maybe a third of our workforce was engaged, but we’re probably at about 5% now.”
• “The only serious work on improvement or problem solving comes from our dedicated Kaizen team.” 
• “One company owner, call him John Smith, actually told me during a sales call, “Our employees are morons, so that wouldn’t work here,” a comment sufficiently offensive that I politely excused myself from the meeting: “If that’s how you feel, Mr. Smith, then you’re right, Lean is not an option for you.” 

Fortunately, most responses to my question are kinder than Smith’s, but the percentage estimate for employee involvement is still almost always less than 25%.  If less than one fourth of employees are participating in problem solving or improvement, no wonder so many organizations report lukewarm outcomes from Lean.  You can debate the exact percentages for employee involvement, but all of the estimates and expectations are resignedly low.  

So, what’s missing?  Do we need  better employees as Mr. Smith suggests?  Or are employees like the daisy in my walkway?    Even an awful environment will grow an occasional daisy.   We call those few, the "self-starters", the "A-team", persons who rise above every obstacle to achieve.  And how do we reward them?  We give more challenges to them until they are overwhelmed.  That’s the predominant system. 

So, how do some organizations break through to generate broad employee involvement?   A manager from one Shingo Prize-winning factory related:

 “When we first subscribed to the Shingo insight that systems drive behavior, we realized if employees were not engaged, then perhaps the means by which we encouraged involvement needed to be revised.  That was a humbling eye-opener.  For example, we discovered that our idea system was literally losing employee ideas in the evaluation process.  Employees took this as rejection and just stopped submitting ideas.  They felt disrespected.”

At a deeper level, the willingness of this factory's managers to question the systems that they themselves had created exemplified a couple of fundamental Shingo Principles:

• Lead with humility
• Respect every individual  
  
  

According to the manager from that factory, “the biggest lesson for me personally was how much my behavior affected all of my employees.  These principles have been guideposts for us to create an army of problem solvers.”  Call it a field of daisies.

Are you relying on a few self-starters to create improvement or are you developing an army of involved employees?   Please share your thoughts.    

O.L.D.

BTW – Want to learn more about creating a culture of Total Employee Involvement?  We’ve got a twofer for you. 
First, on October 21-22, we’ll be at Legrand (Wiremold) in Hartford teaching the Shingo Institute’s CULTURAL ENABLERS workshop that describes the fundamental principles of Lead with Humility and Respect Every Individual.  Read more about it here.

Then on October 23-24, the 15th Annual Northeast LEAN Conference will be held at  The Connecticut Convention Center, also in Hartford. The event features 50+ sessions to engage the hearts and minds of our most valuable asset, out employees. Learn about GBMP's biggest event of the year here and register your team today! I sincerely hope to see you there.

It is management’s role to continuously assess the current condition of the Lean implementation and provide appropriate support and motivation to raise the bar. Failure to keep a watchful eye on True North has caused many a Lean effort to fail. Perhaps management has invested in classroom training, but no time for action (and therefore no tacit learning.) In other instances, the effort may be treated as a “crash program” which will indeed end with a crash and gradual return to the status quo aka “business as usual”. In many cases however, companies do achieve early benefits but are challenged to sustain and accelerate their improvements. Assessments can be used on an on-going basis to challenge and re-invigorate your efforts.
 
There are 16 categories for evaluation through direct observation. Each describes a key business function as a work in progress, advancing from traditional practice to Lean thinking. Don’t be discouraged if your initial scores are low. That would be normal.
 
Ultimately every aspect of a business requires reconsideration. The current condition was not built up over night. It represents decades or more of practice and development. Kaizen is the means to re-align resources to TPS philosophy. For employees it represents small changes for the better in their daily work. For management, kaizen is the means to re-think strategy, organization and policy, and to implement incremental changes to the management system.

Here's a brief description of each of the 16 categories:

12. 5S - Is the workplace cluttered or well-organized? Is 5S considered an on-going process? Are all employees engaged?
13. Visual Management & Control -  Are operating conditions clear at a glance? Does management receive and respond to visual communications? Is it frequent and reflective of changing conditions?
14. Information Flow - Are problems hidden from management or “made ugly”? Is management on the floor regularly to “go see”?
15. Favorable Environment - Does the environment encourage employee participation with teams or suggestions? Is there enthusiasm for improvement?
16. Management System - What is the current condition of policies and measures? Is it “status quo”, and contradictory to True North? ​

​For the full description of each of the 16 categories to measure on your journey from “status quo” to “world class”, get your digital copy of the “e2 Continuous Improvement System” here. Includes an example Assessment Matrix and suggestions on how to score each category.