Archive for Kaizen
Successful Lean teams are iTeams
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I use this term, it is based on a simple theory that Teamwork Is an Individual Skill
Paraphrased from the book:
Your ability to create high quality, productive relationships is fast becoming the most important factor in getting your work done. It once was management’s job to hand out individual jobs and then integrate them. Now, organizations are giving the work to teams in larger chinks and expecting teams to divide the work in an effective and efficient manner.
In Lean Engagement Teams the individual must come first and the reason there must be an I at the beginning of team, hence the iTeam.
Avery goes on to state:
- Every individual at work can be far more productive if they will take complete responsibility for the quality and productivity of each team or relationship of which they are part of. It means that..
- You may have individual accountabilities, but accomplishing these will almost always depend on successful relationships with others and their work.
- You can better attend to you own accountabilities when you assume responsibility for a larger, share task or deliverable.
- You success depends on teams. Teamwork is an individual – not –group – skill and should be treated as such.
- Individuals make a huge difference in teams, for better or worse. You can easily earn what kind of difference you make and how to build and rebuild a team.
The team concept in Lean thinking is very much individual driven. The individuals that form the team are the reason for the failures and the successes. Dr, Michael Balle and I discussed Individual Kaizen in this video:
As we start engaging our customers in the spirit of collaboration, co-producing and co-creation we must remember that are internal actions will mimic our external actions. The importance of the iTeam will become intensified and transparent in all of our external engagements. We must be willing to accept that as individuals and organizations as we move forward.
Are you willing to take that challenge?
A similar blog that was published after I had written this one: There IS an “I” in Team
Related Information:
The use of Hansei in Lean Sales and Marketing
Developing a winning Culture the Zappos way!
Lean Sales and Marketing and the iCustomer
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the main reasons that I have attached marketing to the Lean methodology is the simple approach that is used and termed “Learn by Doing.” The Toyota Production System is known for Kaizen/PDCA that is explicitly built upon learning-by-doing effects.
Kaizen is a daily process, the purpose of which goes beyond simple productivity improvement. It is a process that, when done correctly, humanizes the workplace, eliminates overly hard work, and teaches people how to perform experiments on their work using the scientific method – Wikpedia.
The use of “Learn by Doing” techniques is what drives my adaption of Lean in the Sales and Marketing efforts. The basic premise of marketing today has become the interaction with the customer; the more humanistic, the better. Learn by Doing technique simply breaks the marketing process down into a series of validating loops with the customer.
If there is only one thing that you take away from the Lean Startup movement, it is the message that is sent about getting out of the office and validating whatever you are working on with the customer. It is a similar principle that is reinforced in Service Design and Design Thinking processes.
Going back to the The Lean Startup
No matter, what brilliant marketing efforts you may create or how automated your marketing funnel may become, it will fail against authentic and human touch. I think this customer interaction is the most important marketing tool you can have. I will term this customer interaction: the iCustomer.
In Lean Sales and Marketing the “Learn by Doing” concept is the iCustomer. It is not about sending another email, it is about the iCustomer. It is not another Voice Shout or tweet or even blog post, it is the iCustomer. If you want to know how effective your marketing efforts are? Measure how many iCustomers it creates. You have only one customer, the person that buys and uses your product. This is the person you must learn from. “Learn by Doing” must be done at the iCustomer.
Marketing and medicine seem to be relying more and more on technology. This Ted video demonstrates some strikingly parallel concepts to marketing. See how modern medicine is in danger of losing a powerful, old-fashioned tool: human touch. Physician and writer Abraham Verghese describes our strange new world where patients are merely data points, and calls for a return to the traditional one-on-one physical exam.
Related Information:
When Efficiencies and Innovation no longer work, is Customer Centricity the answer?
Service Innovation – Rethinking Customer Needs
Why the Lean SALES PDCA Cycle was Created!
Lean needs Marketing, more than Marketing needs Lean!
Is Continuous Improvement Continuous?
Posted by: | CommentsIn the LinkedIn, Association for Manufacturing Excellence Group there has been a discussion started about this presentation where they suggest that a standard is more like a target condition, and that the only way to maintain gains is to keep improvement moving forward. Their thoughts, hence the slideshow is that PDCA is better served by retiring the Wedge practice of standardizing to hold the gains in place.
My question though is continuous improvement really continuous? I found as a trainer that it was important to stop and take a breath. I never used the incline and the wedge but a staircase approach sometimes even with landings. Having that dwell time for everyone to catch up and before moving on was always important not only for the team (group) but for me as a trainer to evaluate things. It was also a good time to celebrate along the way.
An example is the Toyota Supplier hierarchy depicted by Liker and Meier in the (The Toyota Way Fieldbook. Viewing the stages such as described in the blog post, The 7 step Lean Process of Marketing to Toyota we would see a natural progression through the stages of the supplier. A supplier starts working with Toyota at the stage of developing Mutual Understanding. They base this on the key elements of Trust, Mutual prosperity, Respect for People and Genchi gembutsu (actual part, actual place). It ultimately ends in Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) and Learning through PDCA. I am leaving out a significant portion of development in the five other steps but it suffices to say that there is a continued progression through the stages based on an increase of knowledge and sharing between the two parties.
I adhere to the Toyota principle of setting audacious goals and striving for them. Becoming a top supplier as depicted in the Supplier hierarchy is one. I try to do this with showing a large PDCA as my overall vision and incorporating the staircase. The individual steps of the staircase are just an individual mini-pdca. We could go into a greater discussion of Hoshin, Lean Culture and transformation but I like to keep things pretty simple. So, I simply view PDCA or continuous improvement as the culture of Lean. Is my reasoning in line with the “new thoughts” or am I stuck in the mud with a wedge holding me in place?
I encourage you to join the conversation at this LinkedIn group: Association for Manufacturing Excellence Group! The authors of the presentation will be making presentations about the improvement kata at the upcoming AME Conference in Dallas. Conference information: http://bit.ly/pgeszj
Related Information:
Marketing with PDCA.
Why the Lean SALES PDCA Cycle was Created!
Lean needs Marketing, more than Marketing needs Lean!
Scaling the Customer Decision Making Process
