Lean Quality Improvements in Government Demonstrate a Willingness to Be Better

ASQ's CEO is asking for examples of Lean and Quality applied in Government. Government agencies have found that Lean methods enable them to better understand how their processes work, to quickly identify and implement improvements, and to build a culture of continuous improvement.

Numerous government agencies, ranging from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to the States of Iowa and Minnesota, are using Lean to improve the quality, transparency, and speed of government processes. Lean government proponents generally believe that the government should cut out "waste" and "inefficiency" from government organizations, which will result in overall better services and more value for tax-supported programs and services. Proponents also generally see Lean government as a means to expand the capacity of government to provide more services per unit of investment.

I'd like to share an example from my neck of the woods. The Connecticut DEEP is using Lean and Green techniques to become more efficient. Here is a video describing their improvement in their own words:  



I like this video because of the application of Lean in government and the fact that it's in the state I work in. Also, the sensei in the video, Fred Shamburg, was one of my sensei's along my journey. In fact, Fred was my first introduction to combining Lean and Green for mutual benefit so it was great to see him in action.

It is wonderful to think that the positive thinking of Lean and Quality improvements that have proven so effective in manufacturing and service industries is now making en roads into the healthcare and government and military sectors.  They are in need of so much help and I couldn't think of a better means to do so.  I am looking forward to hearing other stories of Quality improvement in government.

I’m part of the ASQ Influential Voices program. While I receive an honorarium from ASQ for my commitment, the thoughts and opinions expressed on my blog are my own. 


      

Lean Quote: Listening is a Vital Skill for Managers

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them." — Ralph Nichols

It is important to be able to communicate clearly, to be able to convey information to others. As managers, we have to do this throughout the day. However, it is equally important to be able to receive information - from your employees as well as your superiors.

Here are 8 listening tips

•  Take notes – They aid retention.
•  Listen now, report later – Plan to tell someone what you heard.
•  Learn to want to listen – You must have desire, interest, self-discipline, and concentration to be a quality listener.
•  Be present – Watch the tendency to daydream.
•  Become a “whole-body” listener – Listen with your ears, your eyes, your heart, your intuition and your mind.
•  Build rapport – By pacing the speaker. Approximate the speaker’s gestures, expressions and voice patterns to create comfortable communication.
•  Control your emotional “hot-buttons” – Knowing what makes you react emotionally is your key to preventive maintenance.
•  Control distractions – Controlling internal and external distractions helps you manage your working environment more effectively.

Listen with your full attention directed toward understanding what your coworker or staff member needs from you. Many managers, especially, are so used to helping people solve problems that their first course of action is to begin brainstorming solutions and giving advice. Maybe the employee just needs a listening ear. Your best approach is to listen deeply, ask questions for clarification to make sure you understand the situation and then, only then, ask the person what they would like from you. Trust me. They usually know, and often, they breathe a sigh of relief and say, “Thanks for listening.”

 

Top 10 Principles of Employee Empowerment

Empowerment may not be a new concept to you, but many organizations experience problems because they don’t know how to ‘live it’. Empowerment is often described as “having the power to make decisions”.  However, this empowerment/decision making power is something that must be earned, not given, through a set of fundamental principles cultivated as follows:

• Empowerment
• Responsibility
• Ownership
• Accountability
• Information
• Trust

Think of empowerment as the process of an individual enabling himself to take action and control work and decision making in autonomous ways. Empowerment comes from the individual. An empowered employee exhibits the following:

• Taking responsibility for our job
• Flawless execution, doing the right things right, timely follow-up’s, etc.
• Taking ownership of problems
• Tending to problems; not ignoring them, do the necessary follow-up’s
• Holding oneself and others accountable
• Making and meeting commitments
• Being adequately informed and trained

Implementing principles of empowerment can be challenging because it involves a radical shift from our traditional way of operating. The following principles include the most important elements for creating an empowered organization:

1. Demonstrate That You Value People

Your goal is to demonstrate your appreciation for each person's unique value. No matter how an employee is performing on his or her current task, your value for the employee as a human being should never falter and always be visible.

2. Share Leadership Vision

Help people feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves and their individual job. Do this by making sure they know and have access to the organization's overall mission, vision, and strategic plans.

3. Share Goals and Direction

Share the most important goals and direction for your group. Where possible, either make progress on goals measurable and observable, or ascertain that you have shared your picture of a positive outcome with the people responsible for accomplishing the results.

4. Trust People

Trust the intentions of people to do the right thing, make the right decision, and make choices that, while maybe not exactly what you would decide, still work.

5. Provide Information for Decision Making

Make certain that you have given people, or made sure that they have access to, all of the information they need to make thoughtful decisions.

6. Delegate Authority and Impact Opportunities, not Just More Work

Don't just delegate the drudge work; delegate some of the fun stuff, too. You know, delegate the important meetings, the committee memberships that influence product development and decision making, and the projects that people and customers notice.

7. Provide Frequent Feedback

Provide frequent feedback so that people know how they are doing. Sometimes, the purpose of feedback is reward and recognition as well as improvement coaching.

8. Solve Problems: Don't Pinpoint Problem People

When a problem occurs, ask what is wrong with the work system that caused the people to fail, not what is wrong with the people.

9. Listen to Learn and Ask Questions to Provide Guidance

Provide a space in which people will communicate by listening to them and asking them questions. Guide by asking questions, not by telling grown up people what to do.

When an employee brings you a problem to solve, ask, "what do you think you should do to solve this problem?"

10. Help Employees Feel Rewarded and Recognized for Empowered Behavior

When employees feel under-compensated, under-titled for the responsibilities they take on, under-noticed, under-praised, and under-appreciated, don’t expect results from employee empowerment. The basic needs of employees must feel met for employees to give you their discretionary energy.

Empowerment is the practice of cultivating the core principles of trust, accountability, responsibility, ownership and information with employees so that they can take the initiative and make decisions to solve problems and improve service and performance to customers.

Improvement in Unexpected Places is A Lesson for All

In this month's ASQ post Paul Borawski asks the Quality community to share stories of improvement  in unexpected areas. I am reminded a recent trip to my eldest son's classroom which is full of lessons. Many of those we seem to forget or even think odd when we get to the corporate world. What seems so simple we tend to push aside as ineffective. 

I am not sure how many of you have elementary age kids but I have 3 lovely kids that age. Every time I visit their classrooms I notice all the visuals. They use visuals throughout their learning process. Whether it is learning the alphabet, weather, time, dates, reading or whatever else the topic it is visual. Elementary classrooms are run very much like or Lean factories with regard to visuals and organization. The use of labels help the kids learn new words but also keep the classroom organized. Everything in a classroom has a home and everything is in its place. All the children know this very well.

On this recent trip I was reminded  of the importance of establishing standard work. If you want people to behave in a certain way or do something in a particular manner than you need to use standard work. Here is an example of standard work at my son’s 2nd grade class.

It is mounted on their desk in the top right corner clearly visible. The kids don’t have to remember all the steps in the morning routine because it is right in front of them. It gets the kids organized and ready to start learning without wasting any time.

Standard work is highly effective at establishing a means to do something that everyone can follow. It also makes it easy to identify when someone is not following the process.  Standardized work is one of the most powerful but least used lean tools.

I can't but think if a school teacher can use this technique to establish a morning routine for their students why so many managers feel weird doing so for their employees. Perhaps we have forgotten what we learned.  This is why I feel this example of quality improvement in an unexpected classroom is worth sharing.


I’m part of the ASQ Influential Voices program. While I receive an honorarium from ASQ for my commitment, the thoughts and opinions expressed on my blog are my own. 


      

The Key Components of an Effective Coaching-Based Management Style

In a sports environment, a “coach” is someone who trains athletes or athletic teams to achieve their maximum physical performance. In the business world, a “coach” refers to a manager who leads a team of employees, actualizes the professional potential of his or her employees, and achieves a “winning” service or product with his or her team.

The collaborative and engaging style of a "Coach" enables leaders to be a "manager-coach". This approach focuses on developing employees in order to achieve business results rather than managing their every move. The mindset of the manager-coach is to create an environment that fosters learning, independent thinking and opportunities to contribute. The manager-coach doesn't want to be seen as a solution provider. Rather, they want to be seen as a facilitator, paving the way for the employee to achieve their results. Manager-Coaches are a role model for others. They are excellent listeners and communicators, providing perspective and encouragement while also setting high standards and expectations.

An effective coach-manager does the following:

•  Manages different personality styles effectively
•  Facilitates employee goal-setting
•  Creates a motivational environment
•  Adjusts leadership style to meet employee needs
•  Gives feedback that is positive and constructive, and seeks such feedback
•  Rewards and recognizes good performance
•  Listens with attention and empathy
•  Sets goals for the department that are short- and long-term
•  Develops employees
•  Delegates to improve productivity and employee development
•  Provides resources for employee success
•  Empowers employees to solve problems independently
•  Measures performance of the department and employees within it
•  Inspires trust and displays trust in others
•  Maintains confidentiality
•  Increases visibility of employees in the organization

Teams of emotionally engaged employees deliver customer growth and profitability along with cost-reductions through reduced turnover, absenteeism, theft and safety 2 ½ times greater than disengaged teams. Only teams of top talent can consistently deliver the results you must have in this challenging economy. A coach-based team leader is required to make that happen.

Coach-based management is an organization-wide strategy for turning good managers into great team leaders who will turn your good people into top talent. 

Lean Quote: Sometime the Best Kaizen is No Kaizen at All

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Sometimes the best kaizen is no kaizen at all." — Jon Miller, Kaizen Institute

An essential element in Lean thinking is Kaizen.  Kaizen is the Japanese word for continuous improvement or change for the better.  As no process can ever be declared perfect, there is always room for improvement.  Kaizen involves building on gains by continuing experimentation and innovation.

Many think Kaizen is about some sort of 5 day event where you shut down and make improvement.  Maybe this idea is fed by consultants in some manner but Kaizen in fact is not this.  It is about small incremental change, the type of change that makes it easier to do your job.  A change in which the people doing the task are intimately involved in the improvement.

Kaizen involves every employee - from upper management to operators. Everyone is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions on a regular basis. This is not a once a month or once a year activity. It is continuous.

Real Kaizen thinking is based on making these little changes on a regular basis: always improving productivity, safety and effectiveness while reducing waste.  The western philosophy is often summarized as, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." However, the Kaizen philosophy is to "do it better, make it better, improve it even if it isn't broken, because if we don't, we can't compete with those who do."

Once we make this way of thinking normal the lack of any sort of event goes away. The ultimate goal is a culture of continuously looking at processes with an eye for improvement.  So I think Jon Miller is correct when he said, “sometimes the best Kaizen is no Kaizen at all.”

 

Principles of Lean from FastCap

Building a Lean culture should be personal and unique to your company and people. The important thing is that you are committed to growing your team on a daily basis and everything else will take care of itself. FastCap, an exemplary Lean organization, shared the principles that helped to develop, support and build their Lean culture.  This can serve as a lesson for all of us as we transform our businesses.

FastCap’s 21 Principles

1) The purpose of FastCap is to Grow People, uncover hidden potential and help people become the Best Problem solvers in the World.

2) FastCap is always looking for a way to make things Faster, Simpler and Safer.

3) Winston Churchill said these words: “Action This Day”.

4) Whenever we walk away from something, we should:
“Leave It Better Than You Found It”.

5) Our job title is Process Engineer. Your key responsibility is to Improve the Process.

6) Everything of value comes after much hard work.

7) Each of us have an immediate goal by the end of the day to: Make Two seconds worth of improvements in everything we do.

8) We always Use a Person’s Name when addressing each other in our facility and at least 2 times in the first minute of every phone conversation.

9) Enjoy your day to the fullest by doing the Hard thing First.

10) If we want to know what the real issue is, we must Ask why 5 times.

11) When there is a problem, we should always: Go and See, don’t just talk about the problem, experience and look at it: Action this Day!

12) What must we do if we want to understand our actions: Hansei, reflect on what we did and did we achieve the goal and how can we improve.

13) Real learning comes when you are proficient at asking questions and the answer is a well thought out question.

14) Life is all about people – how much success you have in life will be determined by your understanding this principle.

15) What did Bob Taylor say? Anytime someone takes responsible for more than just themselves, they are destined to be successful.

16) "I'll trade all the intelligence in the world for someone with vision". -Paul's Dad

17) Toyota never attempts to improve anything unless they can cut the waste in half.

18) Hold each other accountable.

19) Your success at FastCap will be determined by the fact that you are Never Satisfied with the state of your performance and are Relentless about Improvement.

20) We have learned that Toyota’s success is the result of the relentless pursuit of Building a Culture and that’s what applying these principles will achieve.

21) Andy Stanley – “Making a Vision”.

Everyday at FastCap they focus on an improvement that has been made. The concept of reviewing an improvement everyday comes from the idea that if you want to make a culture stick you must do the following 3 things:

• Create an expectation: FastCap's expectation is that everyone makes a 2 second improvement everyday.

• Inspect the expectation: This is done in the first hour of everyday during the Morning Improvement walk where they inspect the improvements that every team member has made.

• Reinforce the expectation: This is done by showing everyone videos of the improvements being made on a daily basis. Note: in the beginning thye reviewed improvements by walking from department to department. This method may be effective for smaller companies, however as they grew it was more effective to make videos of the improvements and show them in the morning meeting.

If you would like to learn more about FastCap and it's transformation into one of the best Lean examples in modern times you should read Paul Aker's book "2 Second Lean". Paul (CEO of FastCap) shares his personal Lean journey which serves as a recipe transforming your organization.