Adizes was sharing a turnaround story about a company that previously had been a leader in its field but at that time was in a tailspin. He described his initial interaction with the management team, who was expecting him to reveal the new “big idea” and strategy that was going to return them to their former glory. Instead, they found themselves tasked with the odd job of identifying and then fixing minor repairs that needed to be made around the office for an entire day. He described the outcome of that exercise this way:

“At the end of the day we had beer and pizza brought in. You had to watch this group. Here they were, top executives at a once proud company sharing a pizza, relaxed and upbeat, almost giddy, as they discussed what had been happening that day. They were coming to terms with the realization that they had lost all faith in the ability to get anything done, to solve even the smallest problems. This one day didn’t change all that, but it was a beginning. And in the days and weeks that followed we built on this, from the simpler tasks to the complex and ambitious.”

I was reading this while returning from a project kick-off in South America where I had just spent three days with a group of client leaders discussing change and the beginnings of their Lean journey. While a large part of our time together focused on employee engagement and executive steering as the drivers and sustainers of change efforts, naturally the “bigger” issues facing their business loomed in the background.

No better was this illustrated than when we completed a process mapping and modified affinity exercise. In the midst of 100 pink post-it’s that included IT systems that don’t talk to each other, facility shortcomings, personnel and training constraints, and so on, was a lone sticky that said:

No tape measure in the maintenance workshop? The irony of this problem was that it seemed so small and so immediately fixable … and yet, there it was — a true roadblock to the person who needed it to do his day-to-day work. For that individual, the big picture prospect of playing a significant role in a culture change might have easily seemed a bridge too far at that moment.

The concepts of Lean are simple ― eliminate unnecessary distance, space and time from the work. However, changing the organizational mindset about operating each day with those principles front and center is hard. It requires behavioral changes, and, more importantly, it requires people to change what they value. That’s a tall order from anyone’s perspective which is why starting small is key. If we enable our people to solve their own basic problems, we build their confidence, and the organization begins to gain momentum from the capture of all those “small wins.” Then, thinking about how to contribute to the bigger picture becomes much easier.

Adizes went on to say, “If we had started with a new bold vision for the company, this turnaround would never have succeeded. We think it’s the big, bold vision that motivates people, and maybe it does, but only for a day or two. After that, it’s the smaller daily accomplishments that build and sustain us.”

“It’s the smaller daily accomplishments that build and sustain us.” There is great power in solving the small problems, especially when they are addressed by the people who encounter them every day. Fostering an environment where the workforce is truly engaged provides a competitive advantage that cannot be bought, and from where the hearts and minds of your people will be won.

Some of the best stories are the little “ah ha” moments that we get the privilege to bear witness to as we help our clients implement. What are some of the “small wins” that made a big difference to you, the people in your organization or teams you’ve coached as they advanced on their Lean journey?

The theme of this newsletter is RECOVERY. While the economy is still on the mend, signs of recession recovery are out there. Through direct work with our clients, discussions with our extended professional network and attendance at industry events, one of the most common challenges we are seeing is the re-launch of various programs and initiatives that have been left dormant as a result of the recession. Getting things “back to normal” has become a major focus.

>> Click here to read the April 2012 issue. Please be encouraged to forward it to a colleague or friend.

Whether it’s ramping up production or product launches in conjunction with renewed demand; rapidly hiring new personnel and instilling process discipline within that workforce; or dealing with the operational mentality of doing more with less, everyone’s racing to catch up to meet—and exceed—performance expectations. Sound like a daunting task? Learn how April’s Executive Trend Setter Suzanne Hoffman, Chief Operating Officer at the Oregon Health Authority, has risen to the challenge.

What specific areas is your organization struggling with as the economy makes its turn? Click here to provide your feedback through this issue’s polling question. Results and commentary on this topic will be shared within a future blog post.

One of several key topics to be covered at this year’s OTC is the Macondo oil spill tragedy. Throughout the event, attendees will have several opportunities to hear from industry experts on developments that are underway in the aftermath of the catastrophic event. Details will be shared on new processes being developed and / or implemented to support enhanced risk management precautions, industry spill response capabilities and overall management of offshore energy operations.

When new standards such as these are rolled out, it’s imperative―more than ever―to have a framework in place for process discipline.  While revised procedures provide a means for minimizing risks, improving safety and increasing revenue, organizations must understand that results will not be fully realized until day-to-day activities fundamentally change. Throughout the event, Kaufman Global’s Vice President of Business Development Michael Plageman will be on-hand to provide insights on how to instill a proven system of accountability throughout a business and / or work environment. The system involves a bottom-up approach that is directed, required, coached, and measured by leadership, who ultimately drive its value proposition.

Mark your calendar today and call +1 317 818 2430 to schedule a time to connect one-on-one  with Michael while you’re there.

It’s common for organizations to begin their Lean journeys focusing on production, operations and Lean tools. It’s only after toiling at it for a couple of years that they realize they should’ve focused sooner on the human capital aspects of creating lasting change. Commonalities between operational improvement and managing involvement are significant, particularly with regard to three critical work streams often overseen by the Human Resources (HR) arm of human capital, notably:

• Resource Management (People)
• Process Understanding and Documentation
• Internal / Employee Communications

Let’s discuss these.

Internal / Employee Communications | Throughout a transformational journey, you can’t do too much communicating. That’s right―you cannot over communicate. One of HR’s main responsibilities is to interact regularly with all talent, including leadership, management, staff and production. Strategic-minded organizations take advantage of the fact that HR is already a primary interface with people already inside the organization. HR can be a strong ally in getting the message out about what’s important to the organization. And, at the same time, they can evaluate how the message is being interpreted based on the feedback they receive.

HR plays an integral role in driving message consistency and feedback across the organization. Take advantage of this valuable resource by building them into your Lean plan.

Process Understanding and Documentation | The top three rules of HR (in order of priority) are to launch with documentation, continue to document and then close by documenting. As it turns out, factual documentation―especially process documentation―is a key ingredient in Lean transformation, as well. So, why not engage HR early on by doing some Lean projects and activities inside HR? This realizes several benefits, among them:

• Awareness: It involves HR staff in a tangible way so that they get and can convey insights that are only achievable through direct, first-hand experience
• Discipline: Those involved gain an understanding of and can better support process documentation requirements expected of the entire organization as Lean efforts accelerate
• Results: HR realizes meaningful improvement inside their own business process that enable the rest of the organization. For an example, see our case study on Time to Hire.

HR can be more effective when they are directly involved in the real work of waste elimination.

Resource Management (People) | Lean is a people system above all else. Sure, Lean’s improvement techniques are compelling. Yet, at the end of the day, Lean is even more about predictably engaging your people in effective, sustainable waste elimination inside processes that they can influence and control. One of HR’s tasks deals with helping develop your organization’s most important asset―its people. Thus, HR can help with three aspects of managing human capital that are paramount for success:

• Selecting the right people for key roles in the transformation effort: These are the change agents that will shape and guide your efforts. Initially, technical ability is less important than the ability to deal with people and manage change.
• Integrating individual performance measures and the organization’s Lean objectives:This key driver is often not recognized until very late in the game—sometimes years later. Ultimately, organizations come to realize and apply the understanding that what gets measured gets fixed, even at the level of personal performance. Be sure to integrate personal goals and objectives for Lean inside your performance review process.
• Understand when individuals are blocking the effort: Resistance is normal. Understanding and dealing with it directly will save you significant time and avoid resource-depleting false starts.

Select key people for attitude and train for ability. Keep objectives and measures in front of everyone. Lead change and don’t hesitate to quickly address uncertainty.

Remember the journey to creating a sustainable Lean culture starts and sustains with clear communication, process understanding and documentation, and, having the right resources onboard. It’s imperative to get your HR team involved upfront to accelerate your organization’s human capital performance, and with that, enjoy a more productive and harmonious Lean transformation.

A RIE can be quickly defined as a highly structured, coached and intense attack on waste within a process or work area by a small cross-functional team of employees. Considered a fundamental approach that must be part of any successful change initiative, Kaufman Global’s white paper explains how special considerations must be made when applying RIEs in functional areas, specifically with regard to the following business process opportunities:

• Scope
• Sponsorship
• Resource Allocation
• Measurement and Metrics
• Disciplined Follow-up

Successful transition from factory to office is essential for an enterprise-wide transformation; however, it is not a one-for-one translation.Recognizing and accounting for the differences is key for achieving significant, reliable and sustainable results.

To download this complimentary white paper, visit Kaufman Global’s Knowledge Center—where content is readily available on a variety of different topics.

• How is the work performed today? What’s working and where are improvements needed?
• What’s our real “book of business”? What should we improve because it’s what we do?

Why Are the Basics Neglected? | Many believe taking time to map as-is through to-be isn’t worth it. We often hear things like “an assessment sounds resource intensive,” or “it’s hard to value work that doesn’t appear change-oriented.”

Yet, it’s vital to analyze where an organization’s at and then create a robust change plan from that point-of-view. Crafting that roadmap never fails to deliver greater ROI and yield a sustainable improvement framework. Why? Because it:

• Ensures an understanding of the starting line, sets targets to close gaps and creates progress expectations
• Details a visible, potent and predictable implementation sequence to achieve the objectives, and,
• Defines organizational mobilization with ample buy-in, as the organization actively helps build the plan

Model it Right | Neglecting the proper planning efforts can often diminish a transformation investment. As an example, one of our clients, a well-known global manufacturer, sought to apply 100% of what it learned about improvement in one location to all of its sites. The assumption was that an improvement anywhere should be the entitlement everywhere. However, in actuality, local reality must influence implementation design. HQ-sponsors overlooked the fact that their facilities:

• made different products
• had different customers
• were in different locations
• were made up of a highly diverse workforce with embedded local cultures

They would soon understand that these particulars make a world of difference.

Off and Running | In its initial location (the model site)—arguably their best facility—the company pursued a deep-dive to understand the “as-is” and envision the “to be.” Our joint team worked to:

• Establish a clear performance baseline contrasted against industry benchmarks
• Capture / assess ongoing improvements and rationalize the existing improvement portfolio
• Target objectives and seize them through a structured implementation project led by active steering and employee involvement

As a result of this effort, model site results were impressive, with double-digit percentage gains in most quality, cost and delivery metrics. Thorny problems disappeared, as workers now had a voice and role in improvement.

The Beat Goes On | The next wave was at several complex, dispersed facilities, where HQ hoped to duplicate the success of its first location. To accelerate progress, leadership specified compact “delta-assessments” at each site and moved quickly to implementation. In spite of different customers, geography, products and cultural factors impacting the results, there was some success. However, when compared to the model site, advances fell short in number and velocity. Improvements were less culturally embedded and required far more energy to sustain.

One Size Does Not Fit All | In order to further speed company-wide change, the next site deployment wave demanded only a “coaching model,” where they merely informed additional locations about prior achievements via an extensive action list. There was no local baseline, no detailed plan and an underprepared steering team. You can probably guess the outcome—underwhelming. A defective project premise was in play:

You can achieve equal / greater performance transformation results in more challenging locations without facts, adequate preparation and informed involvement.

The assessment and planning activities often omitted in order to “speed results” are in fact the same factors that assure beneficial implementation outcomes and reduce its overall cost. So, what’s the lesson to be learned? Don’t rush to one-size-fits-all implementation without completing a fact-based plan. Use a system, yes. But, embrace a change approach that is agile enough to reflect your organizational diversity. You’ll then execute predictably and reap possibly the greatest reward of all—a sustainable culture of ongoing performance improvement.

Answer: always

Everyone’s attention is riveted when lives are lost—and for obvious reason. Unfortunately at this point, the bulk of the energy (visible energy at least) is spent on public relations. If something really does change at the process-level, there is hope that it will have a halo effect and address other existing―or soon to be discovered—problems of non-adherence to documented “standard” processes. Time goes on and after awhile, it’s easy to slump back into business as usual.

Catastrophic failures illuminate the outcomes and perhaps even the underlying issues, but really do little to solve the ongoing problems related to process discipline. In the same way that the cost of large failures are so immediately visible, longer term costs of everyday process non-compliance can add up to just as much, bit-by-bit.

Defining Real Process Discipline | Real work gets done at the coalface, where, until something fundamentally changes, nothing has changed. Businesses go to great lengths to compute the cost of failure, cost of “right first time,” and cost of quality in different ways. It often boils down to things like rework, lower productivity, lost revenue, lost customers, non-productive time, and diminished competitiveness. No matter how you measure it, it’s all waste. Achieving real process discipline with best demonstrated practices is the key to improving outcomes.

There are two major hurdles associated with process discipline:

• Define the process = easy
• Follow the process = hard

It’s a fact that the most accurate process definition (also known as Standard Work) is derived from those who work inside the process. For large organizations, it’s not feasible for everyone to re-invent every procedure at every location. So let’s assume that organizations have a process for propagating best known procedures and a process for updating and improving them. That leaves us with the issue of following the process (process discipline).

Many attempt to ensure process discipline through a series of audit procedures. An audit focuses on recorded information logs and data, and sometimes actual work product.  The problem is that most of these are lagging indicators. If the audit looks at activities and results in real time, there is a good chance outcomes are skewed because of the immediacy of the attention. This is known as the Hawthorn Effect.  In this case, little is accomplished toward true, ongoing process discipline.

Enforcing Workgroup Engagement | The only way to accomplish effective adherence to procedures is to have the workgroup monitor itself. The timeframe for self-audit is that which is relevant to the workgroup—perhaps hourly, daily or event-based as in:

“We only do this maintenance job once a month, but we always do it this way. Here’s how we validate ourselves against the standard.”

 Or,

“We only do month-end close 12 times a year, but each time we do we always do it this way. Here’s how we validate ourselves against the standard.”

Because the frequency is significant and meaningful to the tasks at hand and because we want to promote peer performance, the information needs to be visible. When the measure of process discipline is visible, the organization “at the coalface” places greater significance on it and adherence to standards. This is where true change begins.

With greater self awareness the broader organization can begin to think about whether or not workgroups are, in fact, monitoring themselves effectively. The questions (and audits) for management start to turn toward workgroup engagement, where a whole different set of questions become important and powerful:

• Are your work procedures easy to find and follow? Can I see them?
• How do you know when something isn’t working?
• When you find a problem, what do you do?
• How do you communicate when things are or are not working?
• What does “good” look like in your process?

Monitoring Success | To be successful, our  thinking must shift away from the idea that process discipline is even remotely related to top down control and externally propagated oversight. This is about bottom-up engagement and control that is bounded, directed, required, coached, measured, and―most of all―valued, from the top.

If you are now thinking: “This would require us to completely shift how we think about and operate our business.” You’re right.

Michael will be onsite throughout the event to provide insight on how Lean practices can be leveraged to enhance and accelerate technology implementations. When considering the roll out of any technology solution, it’s important to understand the explicit effort that has to be directed towards “Bridging the Gap” between the technology and the underlying processes that it is meant to enable. Whether someone is involved in drilling or information technology, understanding how the adoption of such solutions will affect and integrate with your value streams is a critical success factor for any business.

Kaufman Global’s philosophy is that technology can be a powerful enabling tool when it is applied to processes that have been decomposed to eliminate the waste within them.  It is the leveraging of Lean tools and techniques, applied within a structured implementation approach, that ensures the successful application of exciting new technologies and avoids the common mistake of automating sub-optimized processes.

Be sure to schedule some time with Michael during the event to learn more about Kaufman Global’s structured implementation approach. See you in San Diego?

The lodge at the camp served as a main gathering place and mess hall for breakfast, lunch and dinner. After each meal, each cabin left two boys behind to clean the table and surrounding area. I remember the clean-up process as being precise and efficient. No chair was left unwiped, no corn kernel was left unfound, and no floor left unswept. Everything was washed, dried and put away spotless! Each table was inspected after every meal and subsequent cleaning. Cleanliness was scored and the crew was released.

At the end of each week, there was a big announcement to the entire camp about who had the cleanest table. By extrapolation, that meant to us that the winner had served the entire camp and all the goodness it stood for—the cleanest, the most untarnished, the best! I don’t remember much difference between the best and the worst tables. What I do remember was the fierce competition to complete the job fast and well, and how much satisfaction the Shoshone got by winning the competition occasionally.

I’ve thought about that experience often over the years. We weren’t competing for anything except recognition by our peers and counselors. Years later and in my current profession, I know that there have been thousands of studies that prove the fact that “people are motivated by recognition more than anything else.” The Ten Ironies of Motivation by Bob Nelson is an excellent article on the subject. He describes the following 10 ironies in a few short paragraphs:

1. Most managers think money is the top motivator, but it’s not
2. “You get what your reward” is common sense, but not common practice in most organization
3. Things that are the most motivating to employees tend to be relatively easy to do and cost the least
4. What motivates others is often different from what motivates oneself
5. Simple, fun, and creative rewards work best to motivate employees
6. Recognizing performance will result in more of that behavior – and that’s also when it means the most to employees
7. The greatest impact in using formal awards comes from their symbolic value
8. Managers don’t tend to focus on employee motivation until its lost
9. It takes less effort to sustain desired behavior and performance than it initially does to create it
10. The more you help employees develop marketable skills, the more likely they are to stay with your organization

All of these make sense in the context of my camp experience. They also make sense based on my  experience working with organizations and companies aimed at sustaining performance. I have found that the skills of motivating others are rarely taught and not so much valued. The results are valued, but the actual skills and techniques aren’t so well understood.

Perhaps most of all, the issue of performance recognition by both peers and bosses is the one that seems the simplest to understand but the most difficult for organizations to broadly implement (see #6 above). Technically this means measuring and visually displaying workgroup performance as an automatic part of everyone’s job. When this happens, it’s easy for peers, bosses and visitors to recognize a job well done. At the same time, it also allows everyone to recognize and mutually address issues when things aren’t going so well.

When information about performance is buried in the computer, it makes it almost impossible to easily and immediately recognize small steps and short-term gains that are fundamental to long-term improvement and a contributor’s sense of accomplishment.

This doesn’t mean that information shouldn’t be captured in the computer for further analysis, reporting and trend understanding. What it does mean is that fundamental, small-step continuous improvement and employee motivation are so tightly connected that to try to separate them in thinking and in practice is wrong.

Next time you find yourself wondering about how to improve workgroup performance and also how to solve that nagging problem of motivation and employee morale, think about making the performance that you can measure—that is important to the workgroup—visible. This makes recognition and subsequent motivation a lot easier. And one more thing, performance will improve.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

What strategies have you used to successfully motivate your team(s)? Let me know what’s working for you and/or your organization.

“Idea darlings” are aggressively pursued by the Leadership Team and move to the front of the queue. The rest of the projects languish … or worse. Sure, as time permits they’re continually worked on. Yet they’re not predictably getting done. And perhaps worse, execution effectiveness drops off as expected organizational learning is lost and then repeatedly must be regained.

It is not uncommon for organizations to underperform on project intent. Many times there are simply too many things being worked on at once, consuming attention and resources, and giving rise to increasing conflicts and bottlenecks. Perhaps some of these situations sound familiar to you?

• When the business plan was being developed no consideration was given to projects and initiatives already active in the organization
• The year progressed, things changed. New projects were launched at multiple levels in the organization but there was no reliable process to terminate old projects and free up people and resources to work on the new one
• The same core group of people is called on over and over again
• There is no such thing as a “not to do” list to maintain organizational sanity

For a moment, let’s assume that most organizational projects arise from an important business need. If the project is successfully completed, the organization receives the benefit right?  Well, let’s see…

Company Alpha has an idea for a hot new invention. Faster product development = faster time to market and recognition of a new profit stream. Given the opportunity, it makes sense to commit a focused team to complete the work. BUT…  many organizations run numerous projects at a time, perhaps more than they are aware of, with their people and resources diluted across a broad spectrum. Think about your bottom line. Is it better to execute ten good projects and start delivering benefits as quickly as possible or run 4x of them  concurrently — with all achieving various stages of completion and few reaching closure?

Given that choice, the better path forward is clear. So, even though at times it may seem counterintuitive, the better answer is invariably to work on fewer projects in order to get more done. So, what’s a way to simplify and clarify the project portfolio you ask?

Conduct an Initiatives Inventory.

This is a structured and eye-opening activity that enables the organization to learn what’s really being worked on, see the decisions they need to keep momentum, and, gain insight into leadership’s role in making project teams more effective. How does it work? Simple…

• The Leadership Team and functional managers (two to three levels down in the organization) identify all of the projects and initiatives consuming time and resources.
• A project and required resource list is created, and we ensure we dig deep enough into the organization to capture all of the projects as told by the people who are leading and working on them.
• We establish a scoring system to rank the amount of time people are involved in the project. For example, A= over a month, B= two weeks, C = supervision and meetings, etc.

When the inventory is summarized in this way it offers insights into a common hazard revealing those who may be overloaded and can bottleneck progress.  Now we can rationalize based on current priorities!

Leaders are facilitated through the thorny decisions to rank the highest value projects while terminating or deferring those of lesser value. Additional screens are created as needed to thin the list. From this point the  Leadership Team can now assess the organization’s internal capability and decide on a small list of critical projects that can be active concurrently.

Finally, we put into a place a process to control new project starts (and the intended or unintended commitment of resources) at all levels. This allows the Leadership Team to rationally manage projects to closure while introducing new work when active projects are completed and resources are freed up for reassignment.

So, working on a fewer projects at a time enables you to get high impact projects completed timely and effectively. This accelerates the start of the benefit streams and drives your bottom line.