Don’t be a “Jack of all Trades”

Don’t be a “Jack of all Trades”

How many times in your professional career has someone asked you what your strengths and weaknesses are? If you are like most people, you gloss over what you are really good at and explain what actions you are taking to mitigate your weaknesses. After all, the concept of being first, the compelling force to win at everything is ingrained in us from a very early age. Being first in the class to master your multiplication tables (thank you Mrs. Manwarren), first to learn cursive writing, first place on the ball field and first in line for the queue to go to lunch. For most people the embarrassment from not winning is a stronger motivator then actually receiving the trophy. This basic human tendency helps drive us to improve and can be a great inspiration. However, it is also one of the principle reasons why we tend to place our efforts on improving our deficiencies rather then magnifying our strengths.

Translating this concept to the business world; employees, managers, and leaders that only focus on improving their weaknesses does help increase the average organizational intelligence, but only slightly. The result unfortunately is the organization becomes pretty good at everything but not exemplary or tremendous at anything. In essence, your company is filled with a number of “Jack of all Trades” but as the saying goes, “Masters of None.”

It is difficult to be innovative, creative and continue to delight your customers if everybody has the same knowledge level and skill set. Although cross training is important, if everyone is completely interchangeable you lose the ability to leverage the diversity of the group and gain insight from different perspectives. Average companies can not differentiate themselves in the marketplace and therefore have a diminished capacity for developing value for the their customers.

By switching the paradigm and having your employees focus on their strengths, you elevate the top rung of the organizational intelligence ladder. This concept allows for faster and higher levels of knowledge attainment. The key to success for this business model is through the careful and intelligent selection of teams. Through the appropriate selection of complimentary team members you can create several super groups. Matching people together with different strengths helps offset individual weakness while maximizing the groups potential.

One of the easiest and most effective ways to exploit this concept is through the creation of cross-functional A3 & Kaizen teams. Allowing experts from different areas of the company to collaborate facilitates a higher level of thinking and more creative solutions. While increasing the knowledge of the entire organization should always be an ongoing corporate goal, allowing people to excel at their strengths drives loftier results. This differentiation drives value while making it more difficult for your competition to emulate.

Fight the urge to be a “Jack of All Trades”. Understand your strengths and focus the majority of your resources on becoming the best of the best. Then, collaborate with an expert on your weakness. After all, two heads are better then one and many heads are better then a few. Imagine what you could accomplish if all the heads on your A3 were luminaries in the specific areas.

How We Learn, Needs to Determines How We Teach.

How We Learn, Needs to Determines How We Teach.

The ability to collect information from our environment and subsequently organize, integrate and combine it into new concepts is a fundamental part of the learning process and an indispensable part of the human condition. Although we all perform this rudimentary process, the mechanisms and the paths we take along our learning journey are often uniquely our own. As leaders and educators we need to understand how the human brain learns in order to maximize the knowledge transfer process as well as to create a foundation to build tomorrows innovators.

A critical part of this concept is to identify the learning style of your audience. There are seven primary styles of learning that are commonly recognized and presenting the information in a format that matches the students’ style provides the best chance of success.  

 

               7 Learning Styles:

1.      Visual (Spatial) – prefers pictures, images, and spatial understanding

2.      Aural (Auditory/Musical)  - prefers using sound and music

3.      Verbal (Linguistic) - prefers using words, both in speech and writing

4.      Solitary (Intrapersonal) – prefers to work alone and use self-study

5.      Social (Interpersonal) – prefer to learn in groups or with other people

6.      Logical (Mathematical) – prefer to use logic, reasoning and systems

7.      Physical (Kinesthetic) – prefers using your body, hands and sense of touch.

Understanding your audiences learning tendencies is an excellent first step, however the human brain is too complicated to conveniently fit in one of seven buckets.  People learn in a variety of different manors often deploying several of these different styles simultaneously. Additionally, when instructing a group, the likelihood that all the students have the same learning style is very improbable. Therefore it is important to remember that when trying to convey knowledge, a single tactic is usually not sufficient.

 

According to Paul Bruno, pH.D. student at USC, there are six additional scientific principles that teachers should understand to increase the effectiveness of training.

1.      People learn new ideas by relating them to concepts that they already know.

2.      People remember information better when they are given many opportunities to practice.

3.      Problem-solving and critical thinking skills are developed through feedback and depend heavily upon background knowledge.

4.      For people to transfer their abilities to new situations, they need to deeply understand both the problem's structure and context.

5.      People’s motivation depends on a variety of social and physical factors

6.      Misconceptions about learning shouldn’t determine how curricula are designed or how instruction is provided.

These additional six concepts are critical to success when embarking on your organizations lean journey.  For measurable results, you need the entire company pulling the rope in the same direction. For this to happen, relating the concepts of lean and six sigma to things the employees already know, dramatically improves retention. This requires a level set and base understanding of lean, enterprise wide. Having isolated pockets or only a few individuals with lean/six sigma knowledge does not provide a common language or foundation to leverage. This background knowledge or organizational intelligence is also a vital part of the problem solving process. The higher the company’s collective IQ, the better continuous improvement activities involving innovative concepts become.  Another critical component of successful lean implementations is the concept of practice makes perfect or learning by doing. Studies have shown that information is better retained when practice and repetition are part of the process. Similar to a golf swing, repetitive practice entrenches the knowledge into muscle memory resulting in better scores.

Many organizations struggle with generating tangible results with their lean initiatives because they don’t provide curriculum that matches how people really learn. Sending a select few employees through an on-line Green/Black Belt class is a good start but does not engage more than the simple Visual learner and does nothing to provide practical, real world, issues to solve.  On-site programs, training with company specific processes and incorporating multiple learning styles has demonstrated to deliver better results.

Understanding how people learn needs to determine how we teach. Mr. Bruno and others have demonstrated that people learn in different ways and for different reasons. Understanding these factors and modifying the teaching tactics accordingly are the best way to achieve a sustainable knowledge transfer. After all, if the student didn’t learn, the teacher didn’t teach. This concept is just as true in the classroom as it is in the boardroom or in a Kaizen event.

Don't be a Tool

Don’t be a tool!

 Six Sigma as a business management methodology has been around since the mid-80’s. Famously, under Jack Welch’s tutelage, GE saved $12 billion over its first five years and added $1 to its earnings per share. Similarly, Motorola has reported $15 Billion in savings over the last 11 years attributed to Six Sigma. It is obvious that when executed properly, Six Sigma can have a profound and proven impact on reducing cost and increasing sales. However, if this is the case, then why do about 60% of all corporate Six Sigma initiatives fail to yield the desired results?

In my opinion, the reason is because organizations usually treat Six Sigma only as a tool, lying next to the screwdriver on the maintenance cart. Need to drive a nail, grab the hammer, 2x4 too long, pick up the saw, process variance large, hand me the “Six Sigma”. Although this approach can be beneficial for specific projects, organizations that follow this tactic are missing the big picture. Six sigma is more than a tool, it’s a philosophy, a mindset, a way of thinking, a mechanism for winning i.e. for it to achieve its potential it must be part of the corporate culture.

Change comes hard for most people and incorporating the learning’s of Six Sigma is no different. 

The implementation of any new process follows the typical change management curve. The process begins with an event that triggers a change. Next is a period of inflated, usually unrealistic expectations. As the reality of the magnitude of the event and the necessary effort required to achieve the goal is understood, the moral plummets. As understanding and acceptance of the new process becomes familiar the company climes the slope of enlightenment and finally as adoption is realized the plateau of productivity is achieved. 

Unfortunately, this is where most organizations stop their change management process. They do not address what comes next, what happens in the red box. Will the organization continue to innovate, evolve and prosper building on the their past successes or will they fall back to the previous state. 

History tells us that the majority of the time, 60% of six sigma initiatives slide backward. This is because tools become dull, fall out of favor, or regularly get replaced with the latest “flavor of the month.” On the other hand, culture is sustainable; culture is resilient to management changes, employee turnover and can embrace the challenges of a constantly evolving economic landscape. Successful organizations understand that six sigma is more than just a tool; it needs to be a fundamental part of the organization’s culture. Weaving the six sigma philosophy into the company’s DNA creates a robust and sustainable foundation where future successes can springboard from.

The House on the Rock

…"And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. "The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell-- and great was its fall." Matthew 7:25

As I embarked on my lean journey several years ago, this story reminded me of how critical it is to establish a solid foundation. Ensuring the first stones laid are solid and plumb is critical to success, whether you are trying to construct a building, a team or a business.

Building a lean enterprise is no different; Toyota built their house on the foundation of the “Toyota Way” philosophy. Laying the footings of standardized and stable processes on top of their core values of customer first, respect for people and continuous improvement. These solid footholds provide the base where the tools of the Toyota Production System can rest.

Although implied in Toyota’s philosophy but not explicitly stated is a concept that I believe needs to be part of the fundamental building blocks of any viable organization. The concept is education; by creating an environment where learning is part of the corporate DNA it acts as rebar in the concrete. It strengthens the base, increases the robustness and when challenged provides additional resilience to sustain all challenges.

Successful lean enterprises are not defined by a single lean champion, or a select group of engineers that are well versed in tools like Kaizen, VSM, A3, etc. Successful lean enterprises are defined by their learning cultures, aligning their values with the beliefs. This ensures that everyone shares the same language, vision and philosophy. When this occurs you create a learning organization. These entities are skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights.

By aligning the core values that include education with the beliefs of the organization, the corporate culture can have a remarkable strategic advantage over its competition. Like the house on the rock, a solid foundation rooted in education allows your organization to grow higher and more stable then the house on the sand.

RESPECT

What drives employee engagement?

In a word…RESPECT! 

Towers Watson, a leading human resource-consulting firm, recently compiled a top 10 list to specifically explore this question. The top answer on the board; “Senior management is sincerely interested in employee well-being”. In fact, the concept of respect for people was embedded in every single response in the survey. Including:

“Staff feels they have input into decision making in their work unit”,

“Organization encourages innovative thinking” and

“Good relationships with supervisors are reported”.

Employees are engaged when they feel valued. When their efforts are recognized and when they are encouraged to thrive. Engaged workers are natural innovators driving efficiency and continuous improvement. They demonstrate consistent levels of high performance and challenge others to work with mission and purpose.

So why is having an engaged workforce important, outside of the touchy-feely, Kum-Ba-Ya stuff? Employee engagement levels have a significant impact on an organization in three primary ways.

1. Culture. The corporate culture and core values shape the beliefs and behaviors of your organization. It defines the way in which you interact internally as well as with external customers and suppliers. Culture is a driving force in attracting and retaining top talent. Actively disengaged employees have an enormous negative impact on an organization’s current and potential talent pool. They are not only personally disenfranchised but they spread their poison to teammates and drive down overall moral.

2. Brand. An organizations brand is its bread and butter and often, the best ambassadors are its employees. Engaged staff members are brand advocates, actively and passively recruiting with pride and passion. What better why to differentiate your organization from the competition? Disengaged employees do just they opposite, often making off-hand comments to friends and family or express their discontentment on anonymous social media outlets. With a company’s reputation vital in attracting top talent, understanding the factors that influence your corporate brand is vital.

3. Finances. Gallup reported study findings were fully engaged employees return 120 percent of their salary in value where in contrast, disengaged employees costs organizations $3,400 in lost productivity for every $10,000 in paid salary. This costs the American economy up to $350 billion per year in lost productivity. These startling numbers should bring the finical aspects of employee engagement to the forefront. Imagine the financial windfall you could achieve by accomplishing with “4” what it takes your competitor “5” to do. Better yet, how much more value could you bring to your customer because you could do it better, faster, and cheaper. All because your leaders and organization put an emphasis on respect for people.

One of the best ways I have found to build trust and drive a high level of employee engagement is through the teaching and implementation of lean tools like A3, VSM, & Kaizen. These elements help empower the workforce while creating a robust framework to build trusting relationships. Referencing back to one of the core pillars of TPS, “respect, challenge and grow your people and partners” helps institute the foundation of engagement. Lean helps facilitate communication, ensures goal alignment and actively encourages, teaches and grows your employees.

Thinking, learning, growing, successful, organizations have one thing in common, at their core they have a solid foundation of engaged employees. Based on the findings of this survey, it is easy to conclude that employee engagement is directly linked to the element of respect, a concept that was not lost on the Queen of Soul.

How do you know your process is "IN Control"?

How do you know the process is  “In Control”?

This is a question frequently asked by managers, auditors and engineers.  After all, there are huge implications to the bottom line not to mention customer satisfaction when a process has a probability of producing defects. And yes, all processes have a probability of producing defects.

Unfortunately in many organizations, there are two common answers to this question: “We know the process is in control because we do not have any customer complaints” or “The process is doing the same as it always has and it passed quality control tests”.

Not receiving a corrective action request from a customer is helpful secondary evidence. However, it does not ensure that the process is in control, it simple means that the customer has not complained. Perhaps they have already moved on to your competitor and the issue is not worth the hassle. Maybe they don’t value your relationship enough to waste their resources to call and try to determine the root cause. Or perhaps their process is not robust enough to catch the error. Therefore they are propagating the error out to their customers, further exacerbating the issue. All of these scenarios put the company’s continued revenue stream at risk as well as erode the brand reputation.

The second common response, “The process is doing the same as it always has”, again is helpful secondary information but does not conclude that the process is in control. It also provides no insight to ensure the QC processes are in control or even appropriate. It simple means that a defect was not detected by the current measurement system. Further it provides no mechanism as how to make improvements.

There is an old Mark Twain quote:

“If you always do, what you always did,

You’ll always get, what you always got.”

Anybody that knows me will tell you this is my favorite quote. Organizations with this mentality, never adapt, never improve, and never innovate. Organizations that practice this philosophy shrivel and die.

In order to understand if your process is in control, you must first measure it. This comment goes beyond the obvious, but in my experience most companies don’t truly understand if their measurement systems generate data that is statistically equivalent or not.  In order to make a determination of control, an understanding of the sources and amount of variance that the system produces are necessary. This concept of understanding and then reducing process variance is at the heart of the Six Sigma philosophy.

Six Sigma often suffers from the perception that it is used only by large companies, on expensive projects or by engineers that need to perform higher-level math functions.  This is simply not the case; Six Sigma is just a set of tools and techniques employed to measure process variance therefore providing a roadmap as to where to best implement improvements. Similar to Batman’s Utility belt, the Six Sigma methodology has several different “tools” at it disposal to measure and reduce process variance. This trick is to use the right tool for the job.

To answer the question, “How do you know the process is “In Control”, the easiest solution is to implement a Six Sigma philosophy. Like every other methodology, Six Sigma tools vary in complexity from the very simple, like control charts and standard deviation calculations, to the slightly more sophisticated mathematical tools like ANOVA or  T-Test. However, no matter the tool, you first have to put aside perceptions and bias and measure the process to determine how repeatable and reproducible your system is. Using a Six Sigma approach will allow an organization to focus on the right opportunities to achieve maximum benefit.  GE realized $12billion in savings in their first 5 years of use, imaging what it could do for your company.

First you need to “See it.”

First you need to “See it.”

Anyone familiar with the book “The Oz Principle”, has heard the tag line “See it, Own it, Solve it, Do it.” The authors coined this phrase and use the whimsical tale of the Wizard of Oz to help illustrate the path to individual and organizational accountability.  Following the analogy, as you travel down the yellow brick road to personal accountability, like the Lion, you first need to muster the courage to “See it”. Second, as the Tin Man did, you need to find the heart to “Own it”, followed by the Scarecrow’s lesson and obtain the wisdom to “Solve it”. Finally, as Dorothy did, exercise the means to “Do it”.

The Concept of “See it, Own it, Solve it, Do it” translates very well to the world of continuous improvement and six sigma. In fact it sounds a lot like the familiar acronyms, DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) and PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act).

As with Dorothy’s journey to find the wizard, the first step along the path to enlightenment is to “See it”. After all you can’t improve a process until you define a problem, i.e. You can’t fix what you can’t see. A fundamental driver to the philosophy of continuous improvement is following the Lion’s example and having the courage to question the current state. Not to except the status quo but to constantly ask, how do I make this process better, faster, cheaper and safer! This concept is difficult for many people, as it requires a level of humility. It is human nature to take pride in your job, and contemplating that there might be a better way often impacts ones ego. One of the most useful mechanisms to help “See it” is to leverage your organizations diversity and use the tactic of “Outside Eyes”. Similar to the difficultly one encounters trying to spell check their own essay, having a team member from a different department review the process often produces several constructive insights.

Another successful tactic and one of the fundamentals of lean thinking is to make things visual. Graphs and charts help the brain see patterns and tendencies that can often be difficult to perceive when only looking at a column of numbers. One of the most useful tools in the Six Sigma toolbox that greatly facilitates seeing trends is the control chart.

In early 2014, I was helping a very large client try to determine why their process was taking longer then expected to gain the desired result. In the world of high-speed manufacturing, time equals money and every second wasted had an enormous associated cost. The customer insisted that they had not modified their process in any way but had noticed a slight decline in productivity over the past couple months. According to their SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), an intensity measurement was taken every day to demonstrate that the equipment met the necessary requirements. If the measurement was between the predetermined acceptance limits the equipment passed and therefore could be used. In essence they utilized a simple pass/fail test. Since their measurement system returned passing results they had ruled out the equipment as a possible source for the increased production time and where beginning to look at alternative explanations, including moving away from my organizations product.

Upon visiting their facility and providing “Outside eyes”, I saw that their current system provided some useful information but did not incorporate a time element.   

When we created a simple control chart using their historic measurements, a downward trend became immediately obvious. This concept helped the customer “See It”. In this particular example, the graph illustrated a normal degradation of the intensity of their light source over time. The customer was not aware of this normal bulb characteristic, but rather was under the assumption that as long as the bulb lit, a stable intensity would be produced. In addition to making the trend visible, we incorporated warning limits. This helped proactively determine when to replace the light source, therefore eliminating process time delays, costly scrap and rework. Through the implementation of this very simple Six Sigma tool, it helped the customer see the true root cause of their issue.

The first challenge in many cases is the ability or the willingness to challenge the status quo, especially when we own the process. After all, nobody like hearing your baby is ugly. However, like the Lion we need to muster the courage to suppress our ego, utilize outside eyes and make the process very visual.  In order to complete your journey to the Emerald City, you need to take the first step and “See It”.