People hold Kaizen events to move a particular problem along quickly. As I had mentioned in a previous post, I had mentioned the importance of having a good project management scheme intact to accelerate the implementation and/or execution. However, what makes certain types of companies good at implementation or for that matter, even certain individuals? Franklin Covey in their 4 Disciplines of Execution course does a great outline of the basic structure need for execution.\
Discipline 1: Focus on the Wildly Important (Their Thinking – A goal that makes all the difference. Failure to achieve this goal renders any of our other achievements inconsequential.)
Discipline 2: Create a Compelling Scorecard (Their thinking – You are not really serious about the goal until we start keeping score.)
Discipline 3: Translate Lofty Goals into Specific Actions (Their Thinking – Goals will never be achieved until everyone on the team knows exactly what they’re supposed to do about them.)
Discipline 4: Hold Each other Accountable – All the time. (Maintaining commitment to the goal requires frequent team engagement and accountability.)
This is one of the best descriptions of how an execution system should be developed that I have come across. However, the one quality that I have found in successful organizations that can implement a new process is a company that is already committed to continuous improvement.
Continuous improvement companies understand that not everything is right to begin with, it is just the beginning. They realize market conditions, new information that is uncovered, external and internal conditions will all affect the process of implementation. They are not looking for perfection. They know that it will come in time. These types of companies are very adaptable and seek to improve the process in small loops or in mini-PDCA cycles.
As you develop, your Kaizen plan, make sure that you look at two deliverables. One of course is the project or the problem that you defined. The other is the process. If you look and separate the process from the product, it will be much easier to make decisions. It also will allow you to continuously improve the process you use for future Kaizen events.
When holding a Kaizen Event have you ever really taken the time to think thru the event and how you will hold people’s interest and more importantly how you will get them engaged? Managers may think that everyone has the same level of interest and are willing to participate and share openly. I think that is what separates the professional facilitator from the average manager; the ability to engage in conversation with the entire team. Without doing this you may leave the best idea lying on the table, never to surface and be implemented.
I believe the best way to get the team engaged is by delivering a “Holy Shit” moment. That’s right, don’t try to loosen them up with small talk or a joke but go right for the throat and bring importance to why they are there. If you can, wheel in the issue, show why the improvement has to be made but do it in a visual manner. Maybe, even start the event at Gemba or maybe even downstream from that. Add some realism to the problem by bringing in several customers to describe how they interpret or how the problem affected them. You need to set the stage, before Act 1 is over, you want everyone on the team to be muttering; “Holy Shit.”
The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience
Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations
The Back of the Napkin (Expanded Edition): Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
Another great resource I would recommend is Patrick Lencioni Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable…About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business and 
Michael Ballé is the co-author of, The Gold Mine, a bestselling business novel of a Lean Turnaround, and recently, The Lean Manager, a novel of a Lean Transformation both published by the Lean Enterprise Institute. For the past 15 years, he has studied lean transformations, helping companies develop a lean culture. This e-book is a transcription of our recent podcast. Even if you listened to the podcast, I believe you will enjoy the written version. I listen to the podcast several times, the subtlety of Michael’s statements were simply amazing. Great copy!
The past few weeks I have been heavily immersed into Kaizen, Kanban, Agile Project Development and as a result Scrum. I have found it quite interesting but somewhat overwhelming along with a few other things I am doing. I have taxed my learning absorption level to say the least.
What did I do? I took a little time off and sat back with a good book and a little Jackson Browne(Just like Bach to me). The book; Innovate the Pixar Way: Business Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Corporate Playground
It wasn’t long into the book that they discussed stories and development that my mind drifted to agile and scrum comparisons. What they really brought home was the importance of collaboration and building a team. They even discussed the great lengths they go to hire people who are interested in working in a “network” type environment in solving problems, building and supporting each other. Here is a short excerpt from the book; the definitions of a set of proficiencies by Bill Nelson of Pixlar:
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- Depth – demonstrating mastery in a subject or a principal skill; having the discipline to chase dreams all the way to the finish line.
- Breadth – possessing a vast array of experiences and interests having empathy for others; having the ability to explore insights from many different perspectives; and being able to effectively generate new ideas by collaborating with the entire team.
- Communications – focusing on the receiver; receiving feedback to ascertain whether the message sent was truly understood. Realizing only the receiver can say, “I understand!”
- Collaboration – bringing together the skills(depth, breadth, and communications), ideas, and personality styles of an entire team to achieve a shared vision. Fostering an attitude to say, “Yes, and…”, rather than “No, this is better.”
Collaboration is critical to the process of generating ideas and problems in any organization. When you review the principles of Kaizen and Agile, your ability to succeed really comes down to how good of a team you put together. Very few times in an initial read of a book, I started reading this for pleasure, have I ever stopped so soon in a book and reread an entire chapter.
The rest of the book proved to be just as valuable and I think the authors did a very nice job of displaying the brilliance and the imagination that is taking place at Pixlar. I encourage you to read the book before you put together your next team.
At first I was going to put a picture of the book with an Amazon link into the blog post. Sounds pretty boring. Lets figure out how to make Toys.