Having been a CEO implementing a Continuous Improvement initiative within an organization as well as a consultant helping other organizations establish their own CI initiatives – one of the first questions to answer is, “who should be a part of our CI team?”  Unfortunately there are no simple ways to answers this question.   However the following description by Peter Senge in his newest book – The Necessary Revolution best describes the type of leaders to look look for:

“One thing we have learned from working on organizational and systematic change is that the leaders are hard to identify in advance.  Sometimes they are CEO’s or presidents, but often they do not occupy positions of obvious power in a corporate hierarchy.  They are not the flag wavers, campaigning vocally for change, but rather passionate individuals working to transform their organizations from the bottom up.  They are most often open-minded pragmatists, people who care deeply about the future but who are suspicious of quick fixes, emotional nostrums, and superficial answers to complex problems.  They have a hard-earned sense of how their organizations work, tempered by humility concerning what any one person can do alone.  They often do not think of themselves as leaders, but time proves them wrong.”

In my own experience – the best champions where the ones who were the slowest to jump on board – but once they did the impact thay had on our overall progress was incredible.  Perhaps when you are starting to implement your own CI program you can use this as part of your selection criteria. There’s nothing easy about undertaking CI programs but the feeling of achievement when it works is more than worth it.

It always seemed that change never happens as quickly as we would like.  In fact, I would say that most of the people I know or associate with are all people I would consider to be open to change.  Yet, I would also say they struggle with how slowly change actually happens.  Does this mean we all, in fact, are not open to change?

Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years about change – specifically in the context of organizational change:

• Change is slow and tends to be frustrating for most people involved.
• It’s often hard to tell how “change” is going.
• There seems to always be more people against change than are for it.
• Factions in the organization try to kill change before it takes hold.
• Feedback frequently comes from why “change” won’t work.
• It always feels like the change is failing right up to the point when it starts to take hold.

I would imagine that this list seems quite familiar to many of you.  So, what?  Maybe these ideas will help everyone embrace change:

• It’s the journey not the destination that counts.  There will always be opportunities for change.
• We all are responsible for making improvements.
• Before coming up with solutions try asking “why” five or more times.  You are likely to be surprised as to what the root cause actually might be.
• Encourage involvement from everyone when brainstorming solutions.
• Don’t waste time explaining why an improvement won’t work.
• Focus on improving existing processes without “buying” solutions (if we just had this software, this tool, this…).
• Don’t waste time trying to implement “prefect” solutions, just make incremental improvements.
• Think immediate implementation – if it will take a year to implement it’s less likely to happen.

Now more than ever our orgainzations are in need of change.  In many cases it’s a matter of survival.  Share these ideas with the people you work with and start making improvements today.

Over the years, I’ve discovered that what makes LEAN so illusive isn’t that it’s a complex idea, but that it’s a simple idea that happens to be hard to implement.

LEAN – the name commonly used to describe the Toyota Production System -  is the systematic removal of waste from any system on a constant and never ending basis.   When I first started to study the Toyota philosophy, I struggled to see where I could find the kind of improvements that would generate the kinds of results I had read about.  That’s where I went wrong.  LEAN is about creating a rhythm where everyone in the organization is trained to see the small things.  Small things, when observed alone, seem insignificant – but when compounded over time and across many people — small things add up fast.

Here’s a a perfect “real world” example:

In my last company, we operated call centers where we conducted primary research studies for organizations.  On any given shift, an agent would work on an average of 3 different projects.  Because of how the software was originally developed, in order to change to another project, an agent would need to alert a floor supervisor to be “moved” to the next program.   This required the agent to get up and walk to the end of the floor to alert the supervisor.   For 12 years this was “standard procedure.”  No one ever stopped to think about what the cumulative “cost” of having the agent get up and request a change actually was.

When we started our LEAN journey, we began to look for small things that were simple to correct.  We started to measure everything we could.  Eventually someone decided to measure the average time it took an agent to “change” projects.   It was an average of 1.2 minutes.  Not all that significant, right?  But when seen in the context of the entire organization and over the entire year, the numbers began to add up very fast.

Average # of Agents per Day – 250

Average # of Study Changes – 3

Number of Working Days per Year – 350

Average Time per Study Change – 1.2 min

Average Cost per Agent ($11.20 loaded) – $0.1867/min

Total Cost to Change Studies each Year = 250 X 3 X 350 X 1.2 X $0.1867 = $58,810.50

The solution was simple.  We made cardboard “signals” that agents would raise when ready to change studies.  These “signals” alerted the floor supervisor, who then changed them over on the system.   In 24 hours, we were able to reduce the average change over time from 1.2 minutes to just .23 minutes.   That simple solution resulted in a net savings of $47,538 a year.  It only cost us a few dollars in card stock and a 15 minute training for every employee.

LEAN is not about BIG improvements.  LEAN is about seeing the business in a different way and constantly making small changes that overtime create significant savings for the business.   Now more than ever, we all should be thinking LEAN.

Now I want to walk you through the process we used to document our value stream, and what we were interested in measuring.

Generally it’s good to start your process mapping by looking at the job function level.  Depending on the complexity of your business, you may want to do this by individual department.  You will know if you need to break it down.  Map the current state first.

Use post-its to define each discrete job function in order.  You can use swimming lanes if there are concurrent processes you’d like to map.  Ideally, you’d also be gathering accurate information on the following metrics – to start you may just want to use your best estimates:

• Cycle Time – this is the average time it takes to do the task.
• Process Time – this is the average time it takes including any waiting before or after the task.
• Percent Complete & Accurate - an estimate of what % of the time the task is received complete & accurate.
• Percent Exceptions – this is a measure of how frequently there are exceptions which require special handling.
• Number of Hand-offs – how many times does the work change hands (don’t forget figuratively, if information is emailed around the company).

Now you can start to see how much time is spent on activities other than doing the necessary work.  Be sure to include documents or reports that are built into certain job functions.  For those who are more detailed oriented, you may continue to break job functions down into discrete tasks.

I would start broad until you get a feel for how this works.  If possible, remember to include people from every job function and department.

Now you can add up each type of time.  The total Cycle Time is the actual time spent doing the work to produce your product or service.  The total Process Time is how long it takes you to get the product or service out the door and into the hands of the customer.  Usually the Cycle to Process ratio is VERY low.  But now you should start to see where there’s opportunity to take waste out.

Now that the layoffs have happened – you’ve re-organized the work as best you can, you’ve cut all non-essential expenses from your business, and it’s clear that your remaining work force is working harder than ever.  Now what?

Ironically, I’ve discovered that the best time to implement a Continuous Improvement (CI) Program is during a time of crisis.  A significant amount of time and energy is usually spent demonstrating why CI Programs are important and why everyone needs to be on board.  During a time of crisis the need is already clear to everyone.

When you begin to implement your own CI Program, you will not just be developing habits that will reap benefits for years and years to come – you will provide your staff with what might be a new found sense of control and hope.  It’s already clear to everyone in your organization that what has worked before may not necessarily work in the future.

For the purposes of this blog – I am defining a CI Program as any formal performance improvement initiative that is being led by a team of people in your organization to identify and remove unneeded waste.  Think of it more as a way of thinking rather than a state you are trying to achieve.

The first step will be to start to “see” together.  By this I mean that it’s important that everyone recognizes the types of waste that exist in your organizations (don’t worry — it’s in every organization) and be able to remove the waste and re-establish the standard of work from that point on.

Now, the word waste is where it gets a little difficult.  Waste refers to any activity that does not add value to the customer.  In other words, if it’s a task that the customer is NOT willing to pay for, then it’s a possible source of waste.  This includes things like overproduction, wasted movement, transportation of information or material, repair or rejects, inventory, over processing, and missed opportunities.

A great place to start is to hold a company meeting.  Identify a group of “subject matter experts” who can clearly define the current method for doing all major parts of the job – from the beginning of the customer stream (Marketing and Sales), to Operations, through Customer Service, to Billing or cash collections.  Have the “experts” walk through each step of the process – to identify when something needs to happen, who would interact with the task, and how long it takes to complete.  All you need is a big blank wall, and some post-its.

This is a picture of the first value mapping session I was part of.  As the founder and CEO, it was a painful experience.  But, I would say that it only made visible what everyone already knew – we had some pretty screwed up processes that were causing us to be incredibly inefficient.  When you put it all down and try to measure how much time you actually spend adding value along the way, it’s a very sobering experience.  It isn’t until you can see together that you can start to improve together.

In my next installment, I will walk you through in more detail how we documented our work and what we were interested in seeing.

In a recent Nielsen study, “member communities” like Linked in are now used more (67%) than email (65%).  The social network landscape is changing quickly.

In my former survey research business, we were fighting the fact that American households were cutting off their phones in droves.  At last count, 17% of households have no land-line telephone.  Technology is re-shaping our world right in front of our eyes.

How is your organization using new tools to better connect your employees, and customers to increase collaboration — and ultimately performance?  I’ve heard a number of entrepreneurs complain that applications like Facebook are a time sink and have limited access by employees from their network.

I would propose that social networks and other cutting edge applications are merely tools that, if used in the right way, can help your organization better compete by providing your people with better access to information.

Social Networks – using applications within your company can help increase visibility among your staff around critical functions such as product expertise, specialized knowledge or special interests.  Using these applications increases collaboration and communication — particularly if your organization has locations across multiple geographic areas.  In addition, if you have virtual staff - this is the perfect application to keep everyone connected.

Wiki- using wikis is a great way to share standards and knowledge across the organization.  By building wiki platforms around problem identification and problem solving, you will increase your organization’s ability to adapt to the ever changing business environment.

Podcast – when you place training programs online, you insure that when a staffer is trained on a procedure or standard that everyone gets the same information, delivered in the same manner.  This results in more consistency.

Organizations can either resist the changes that are happening around us or embrace the new technology and find the best way to use it for every one’s benefit.  Please share your examples of how you’ve used web 2.0 technology in your business successfully.

We are beings driven by our conscious and sub-conscious minds.  Our behaviors are directly linked to our thoughts.  We control more than we realize.

I’ve been a huge fan of R. Buckminster Fuller for many years.  In his first book “Nine Chains to the Moon” Fuller coined the term ephemeralization – which refers to the ability of people to use technology advances to continuously do more with less.  His vision was that ephemeralization will result in an ever-increasing standard of living for an ever-growing population despite finite resources.

Here’s a simple illustration of this idea.  In 1520 Magellan spent 2 years sailing in a wooden boat around the globe.  350 years later steam ships could navigate the earth in just 2 months time.  75 years later an airplane, made of alloys, took  2 weeks to fly around the world.  35 years later a space capsule, made from exotic alloys, needed one hour to circle the earth.  The rate of advancement is increasing at an exponential rate.  

How has ephemeralization affected what is possible?  Talking and thinking about what is possible starts with you, and it starts with me.  We define how and what we can do to make our world different.  Maybe it’s simply spending 1 hour a day thinking about what’s possible for your life, dreaming of what will make your life better for you, your family, and your fellow humans without any limitations.  I do know that we cannot turn back time and change the place we find ourselves living in today.  We’re being carried to the doorstep of “necessity” – as it becomes increasingly clear that our past and current ways of dealing with our crisis won’t yield the desired results.  Today we have the opportunity to elevate our culture, our society, and ourselves beyond our primal urges.  We can exchange greed and fear for collaboration and acceptance.   And, we do this simply by our actions right now.  Perhaps a starting place would be to think about one small thing you can do today – now — that will begin to make your dream a reality.   Inaction is our only means of failure.

What does your employee feedback program look like?  Do you have one of these boxes in your office?  How do you gauge the mood of the employees in your organization?  Do you know what’s getting in the way of your people’s performance?  How do you know?   Let’s start over – why should you care? 

First, I’ll start with why some  employee feedback programs don’t work:

• Feedback systems are black boxes.  Ideas and suggestions either never get seen or fall on deaf ears.    If you aren’t willing to take action, then DON’T ASK FOR SUGGESTIONS.
• Feedback isn’t timely.  If the system is designed to gather information, but it’s not noticed or acted on immediately, then the problem either already did its damage or has grown into a bigger problem. 
• Suggestions are poorly defined.  Too often, employee feedback systems are only used to vent personal issues about peers, managers and customers and don’t identify the core operation or process that is broken.  
• Lack of accountability.  Most systems don’t provide any feedback loops to ensure corrective measures are identified, implemented and standardized.
• Feedback is ad hoc, not systematic.  If you don’t make it a priority everyday, or every week – then feedback systems won’t stick long-term.

If you’re still unsure as to the benefit of good feedback systems – then perhaps you can read a bit more about world-class organizations that implement feedback systems that produce results (Thanks, Verne!).  

Now the good news.  This doesn’t have to be rocket science – here are  a few tips to get you started:

• Make it a habit.
• Keep it anonymous.
• Make it about what, not about who.
• Good systems ask for feedback on corrective measures that will work; good systems are not just looking for complaints.
• Don’t shoot the messenger – if you aren’t ready to hear the brutal facts, then go to another website.
• Make sure the issues are visible so EVERYONE can weigh-in on what issues need addressing first.
• Never, ever stop!  It’s continuous improvement.
• Offer rewards when improvements save the company time, energy and money.  It only works if everyone has a stake in the outcome.
• When you listen – don’t defend but keep an open ear and mind to what your people have to say.

Today more than ever we all need to work together to identify and solve the issues that are holding our performance back.   Employees and owners can no longer look to the other for the answers - we need to work together to make our organizations and ourselves stronger, better and more effective.

Hill wrote this in 1937 – Think and Grow Rich.   As much as we may want to believe that we’ve made progress as a society I can’t help but think we really haven’t.  We seem to be struggling with the same problems, and if we really believe that using the same solutions will result in different outcomes, we’re just kidding ourselves.  Maybe it’s time to use a different approach.  Maybe it’s time to use a different model. 

Teamwork is when someone must subordinate personal aspirations and the leader wins.

Teamwork is a joint action by 2 or more persons or a group, in which each subordinates his or her individual interests and opinions to the unity and efficiency of the group.  This does not mean that the individual is no longer important; however, it does mean that effective and efficient teamwork goes beyond individual accomplishments.  The most effective teamwork is produced when all the individuals involved harmonize their contributions and work towards a common goal.  In order for teamwork to succeed, one must be a team-player.  A team-player is one who subordinates personal aspirations and works in a coordinated effort with other members of a group, or a team, to strive for a common goal.   Businesses and other organizations often go to the effort of coordinating team building events in an attempt to get people to work as a team rather than as individuals.

Collaboration – there are no leaders.  Everyone wins.

Collaboration is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together toward an intersection of common goals — e.g., sharing knowledge, learning, and building consensus is an intellectual endeavor that is creative in nature.  Collaboration does not require leadership, and can sometimes bring better results through decentralization and egalitarism. 

This is an image of a structure that was used to create a philanthropic organization based on the idea of collaboration.  Project Red Dot (www.projectreddot.org) was established in 2008 as a way for individuals to work towards a common goal – in this case, to help people in Ghana, Africa connect to the world.  It has produced incredible results while using a minimal amount of resources because the model is based on collaboration.

I’ve recently reconnected with Doug Mendel and I’m attempting to set up a similar structure to help his orgainzation (www.dougmendel.com).  By combining the right combination of talented, motivated and resourceful people, a tremendous amount of progress can be made while using little or no resources.  In the case of Project Red Dot, they’ve been able to re-deploy laptops that would have ended up in a landfill.  In Doug Mendel’s case, he moved a fire truck from Colorado to Cambodia.  Both used the same model.  Both yielded amazing results.

My question is – how can YOU use this model to reach your goals and aspirations?