“Actually it wasn’t funny at all, Jaded Julie. It was very sad. The Lean transformation got bogged down and didn’t occur. This happens elsewhere all too frequently, but we mustn’t allow it to occur at Affinity. So let’s look ahead at problems that we might face. Forewarned is forearmed.”
“Why tell me, Curmudge? It’s a long way from a nurses’ station to a corner office.”
“Health care desperately needs leaders who are dedicated, informed, change agents. You are already dedicated, you are learning about a Lean transformation, and we’ll talk later about how you can play a leadership role.”
“I appreciate your confidence. Please proceed to forewarn and forearm me.”
“In our last conversation on Hoshin Kanri, I pointed out that a Lean transformation is a major cultural change that must have the unwavering support of top management. So all one has to do is read and apply the principles described in John Kotter’s book, Leading Change.”
“Curmudge, you know that I don’t have time to read a whole book.”
“Of course. That’s why we do this blog. It provides an easy-reading page or two for people who are too busy to read a book cover-to-cover, no matter how good it is. If you’d like more detail, read Charles Hagood’s column at www.leanhealthcareexchange.com.”
“I prefer your version, Curmudge, but that’s because I’m part of the story.”
“There’s not much more we can say about the importance of the CEO, Julie, except to quote the advice to leaders given by Father Hesburgh of Notre Dame: ‘The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You cannot blow an uncertain trumpet’.”
“I really like that ‘uncertain trumpet’ part, Curmudge. It’s the sort of statement that will stick in one’s mind.”
“It’s only a figure of speech, but all CEO’s must know that their message has to be consistent. Additionally Julie, through the Affinity Executive Team, we already have the top management support required for our becoming a world-class Lean organization. Professor Kotter would call them our ‘guiding coalition’. Without a powerful guiding coalition, a Lean transformation is likely to founder.”
“What about middle management, Curmudge? Can they sink a Lean culture?”
“If they don’t ‘get with it’, they certainly can. Middle managers must change from being the boss to being leaders and facilitators. It’s up to them to see that top management’s message cascades down to the workers.”
“Everything about Lean sounds good for the workers in gemba. How can we be a part of making sure the Lean transformation is successful?”
“First Julie, keep an open mind to the benefits of Lean. Workers won’t even listen to management’s message if they distrust management or bear too many wounds from earlier failed programs. Corporate leadership, especially the CEO and their own manager, must convey the principle of respect for people in a manner that the workers will believe. If too many workers persist in believing that Lean is just another ‘program-of-the-month’, we will not have a Lean transformation.”
“I’m convinced, Curmudge. You taught me that a Lean culture is good for nurses and techs and others in the workplace. Now I understand that Lean is fragile and requires everyone’s buy-in to make it succeed. But if Lean is a culture, does that mean that it will be an ongoing way of life? Will we ever reach the end of our efforts to remove more and more waste?”
“It’s going to be a never-ending quest. Toyota’s been at it for 50 years, and they’re not there yet. Say, Julie, with your sagacity maybe you should write this blog.”
“My what? Well anyway, see you next time.”
“Bye, Julie.”
Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon
Monday, October 29, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
A Hoshin Kanri/Gemba Kaizen Transformation?
“Just to show you that I have been listening, Curmudge, may I start this session with a question?”
“You’ve got the floor, Jaded Julie.”
“Is Hoshin Kanri a part of Lean? The workplace, gemba, is the focus of Lean, but Hoshin Kanri is an initiative that goes from the top down.”
“Good observation, Julie. I see them as complementary, and here at Affinity Hoshin Kanri is an extremely important adjunct to Lean. A Lean cultural transformation is a major change, and change must have the vocal, enthusiastic, and unwavering support of the organization’s leadership. Without their involvement, the people farther down in the organization will ignore the change.”
“Curmudge, this sounds just like in medieval times when the knights would sound the charge and lead their followers from in front. If the leaders were not always there, the troops would lose heart and go home. They would probably say that this was just another conquest of the month.”
“Great analogy! At Affinity, Hoshin Kanri is the means by which top management provides their support for the Lean transformation. With Lean as a corporate strategy and Lean tools needed for many of the hoshins, Hoshin Kanri cascades the Lean transformation all the way down to gemba. So to answer your question, Julie, Lean and Hoshin Kanri go together like love and marriage.”
“You sound old fashioned, Curmudge, but what would I expect? So maybe we should call this whole thing the Hoshin Kanri/Gemba Kaizen Transformation.”
“That’s good Japanese, Julie, but it sounds like the name of the solution to a problem in advanced mathematics.”
“Well, can we just give it a home-grown name, like the Affinity Performance Excellence System?”
“That name has already been taken. But perhaps we can consider it to have been kaizened and subjected to continuous improvement. Then we’ll call it Jaded Julie’s Affinity Performance Excellence System.”
“Wow! Does that mean that you regard me as somebody special?”
“As a nurse, Julie, you always were.”
Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon
“You’ve got the floor, Jaded Julie.”
“Is Hoshin Kanri a part of Lean? The workplace, gemba, is the focus of Lean, but Hoshin Kanri is an initiative that goes from the top down.”
“Good observation, Julie. I see them as complementary, and here at Affinity Hoshin Kanri is an extremely important adjunct to Lean. A Lean cultural transformation is a major change, and change must have the vocal, enthusiastic, and unwavering support of the organization’s leadership. Without their involvement, the people farther down in the organization will ignore the change.”
“Curmudge, this sounds just like in medieval times when the knights would sound the charge and lead their followers from in front. If the leaders were not always there, the troops would lose heart and go home. They would probably say that this was just another conquest of the month.”
“Great analogy! At Affinity, Hoshin Kanri is the means by which top management provides their support for the Lean transformation. With Lean as a corporate strategy and Lean tools needed for many of the hoshins, Hoshin Kanri cascades the Lean transformation all the way down to gemba. So to answer your question, Julie, Lean and Hoshin Kanri go together like love and marriage.”
“You sound old fashioned, Curmudge, but what would I expect? So maybe we should call this whole thing the Hoshin Kanri/Gemba Kaizen Transformation.”
“That’s good Japanese, Julie, but it sounds like the name of the solution to a problem in advanced mathematics.”
“Well, can we just give it a home-grown name, like the Affinity Performance Excellence System?”
“That name has already been taken. But perhaps we can consider it to have been kaizened and subjected to continuous improvement. Then we’ll call it Jaded Julie’s Affinity Performance Excellence System.”
“Wow! Does that mean that you regard me as somebody special?”
“As a nurse, Julie, you always were.”
Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon
Friday, October 12, 2007
Hoshin Kanri is More than Diagrams
“Jaded Julie, now that you have learned what PD and PM matrices look like, should we learn how they are used to guide our actions?”
“Well, Curmudge, what else can a captive audience say but ‘yes’?”
“I appreciate your enthusiasm. Did you know that in the world of Hoshin Kanri there are two kinds of time, Discretionary Time and Ready-to-Serve (RTS) Time?”
“At least I understand discretionary time. That’s the five minutes left in the day after I get home from work, feed the family, and put the kids to bed. Does ready-to-serve time apply to me? I’m a nurse, not a waitress.”
“It’s only a term, Julie. Remember that tackling isn’t the job of an offensive tackle. Actually, most of your shift would be considered ready-to-serve time. It’s the time you devote to your daily required processes like patient care and compliance-required recordkeeping. Duties performed during RTS time are those required for the hospital to stay in business; they can’t be put aside in favor of another activity. Two- or three-day process-improvement events that don’t require resources from outside your department would also be RTS.”
“So what does RTS time have to do with Hoshin Kanri?”
“RTS and discretionary time are complementary. They add up to one’s whole working day. People with significant discretionary time are managers, directors, and members of corporate departments like Information Systems, Marketing, and the Kaizen Promotion Office (KPO).”
“I presume, Curmudge, that those folks shouldn’t use their discretionary time standing around talking about the Badgers and the Packers.”
“They would do so at their peril, Julie. Their discretionary time, also called ‘deployable time,’ should be used to work on the projects shown on Hoshin Kanri PM and PD2 matrices. Ideally, everyone should try to make their RTS activities more efficient—perhaps using Lean tools—so that their RTS time decreases and their discretionary time expands.”
“These days, IS and KPO staff members must be in great demand for Hoshin Kanri projects. Seems as if they might need to have 20 hours per day of discretionary time.”
“Fortunately, prioritization and allocation of resources are central features of Hoshin Kanri. Corporate hoshins and the projects supporting them have highest priority; then business unit hoshins and finally department hoshins at the low end of the priority list. If a given person’s discretionary time is fully committed to a project supporting a corporate hoshin, he/she is not available to work on business unit or department projects.”
“But what if that person is absolutely essential for the lower-priority project?”
“In that case, Julie, the project—and possibly the hoshin if the project is essential to the hoshin’s success—is put in the ‘parking lot.’ In Hoshin Kanri language, the project is said to have been ‘deselected.’ It can be recovered from the parking lot and worked on after the higher priority project is completed.”
“And what if the staff person’s discretionary time is needed in two projects at the same priority level?”
“Then the appropriate directors negotiate the relative priorities of their projects. The Japanese call this process ‘playing catch ball’.”
“The words are English, Curmudge, but I bet they are pronounced with a Japanese accent.”
“That’s okay. Hoshin Kanri is their game; perhaps they anticipated that we would be using it. Now, Julie, I believe that we have covered most of the organizational elements of Hoshin Kanri, but we need to spend a moment discussing Hoshin Kanri management.”
“If you say so, Curmudge. This part is going to be easier, right?”
“Right. The PM’s and PD2’s that we have learned about are Hoshin Kanri’s visual management tools. They are posted in each team area and reviewed weekly by the hoshin leader. Problems are marked in red and are addressed immediately. This process will soon be possible electronically using QuickBase®”
“It seems that there are no hiding places in Hoshin Kanri.”
“There sure aren’t. Hoshin Kanri provides transparency, which is an essential feature of good modern management. Then every month or every other week the business unit leadership does a walk-around review of the status of local and corporate hoshins. Finally, every quarter the top management devotes a meeting to hoshin reporting and coordination. This provides company-wide accountability for all initiatives and how they drive strategies leading to achievement of organizational goals.”
“What happens if a hoshin leader’s planning matrix shows a lot of red? I understand that hoshins are described as ‘must-do, can’t-fail’ initiatives.”
“That’s true, Julie, but that means that the organization can’t fail to accomplish the hoshin. Red in the PM simply signals the need for assistance as soon as the need is apparent. That’s the beauty of Hoshin Kanri’s real-time visual management.”
“Curmudge, it also signals the need to take a break from filling my brain with Hoshin Kanri.”
“See you soon, Julie.”
Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon
“Well, Curmudge, what else can a captive audience say but ‘yes’?”
“I appreciate your enthusiasm. Did you know that in the world of Hoshin Kanri there are two kinds of time, Discretionary Time and Ready-to-Serve (RTS) Time?”
“At least I understand discretionary time. That’s the five minutes left in the day after I get home from work, feed the family, and put the kids to bed. Does ready-to-serve time apply to me? I’m a nurse, not a waitress.”
“It’s only a term, Julie. Remember that tackling isn’t the job of an offensive tackle. Actually, most of your shift would be considered ready-to-serve time. It’s the time you devote to your daily required processes like patient care and compliance-required recordkeeping. Duties performed during RTS time are those required for the hospital to stay in business; they can’t be put aside in favor of another activity. Two- or three-day process-improvement events that don’t require resources from outside your department would also be RTS.”
“So what does RTS time have to do with Hoshin Kanri?”
“RTS and discretionary time are complementary. They add up to one’s whole working day. People with significant discretionary time are managers, directors, and members of corporate departments like Information Systems, Marketing, and the Kaizen Promotion Office (KPO).”
“I presume, Curmudge, that those folks shouldn’t use their discretionary time standing around talking about the Badgers and the Packers.”
“They would do so at their peril, Julie. Their discretionary time, also called ‘deployable time,’ should be used to work on the projects shown on Hoshin Kanri PM and PD2 matrices. Ideally, everyone should try to make their RTS activities more efficient—perhaps using Lean tools—so that their RTS time decreases and their discretionary time expands.”
“These days, IS and KPO staff members must be in great demand for Hoshin Kanri projects. Seems as if they might need to have 20 hours per day of discretionary time.”
“Fortunately, prioritization and allocation of resources are central features of Hoshin Kanri. Corporate hoshins and the projects supporting them have highest priority; then business unit hoshins and finally department hoshins at the low end of the priority list. If a given person’s discretionary time is fully committed to a project supporting a corporate hoshin, he/she is not available to work on business unit or department projects.”
“But what if that person is absolutely essential for the lower-priority project?”
“In that case, Julie, the project—and possibly the hoshin if the project is essential to the hoshin’s success—is put in the ‘parking lot.’ In Hoshin Kanri language, the project is said to have been ‘deselected.’ It can be recovered from the parking lot and worked on after the higher priority project is completed.”
“And what if the staff person’s discretionary time is needed in two projects at the same priority level?”
“Then the appropriate directors negotiate the relative priorities of their projects. The Japanese call this process ‘playing catch ball’.”
“The words are English, Curmudge, but I bet they are pronounced with a Japanese accent.”
“That’s okay. Hoshin Kanri is their game; perhaps they anticipated that we would be using it. Now, Julie, I believe that we have covered most of the organizational elements of Hoshin Kanri, but we need to spend a moment discussing Hoshin Kanri management.”
“If you say so, Curmudge. This part is going to be easier, right?”
“Right. The PM’s and PD2’s that we have learned about are Hoshin Kanri’s visual management tools. They are posted in each team area and reviewed weekly by the hoshin leader. Problems are marked in red and are addressed immediately. This process will soon be possible electronically using QuickBase®”
“It seems that there are no hiding places in Hoshin Kanri.”
“There sure aren’t. Hoshin Kanri provides transparency, which is an essential feature of good modern management. Then every month or every other week the business unit leadership does a walk-around review of the status of local and corporate hoshins. Finally, every quarter the top management devotes a meeting to hoshin reporting and coordination. This provides company-wide accountability for all initiatives and how they drive strategies leading to achievement of organizational goals.”
“What happens if a hoshin leader’s planning matrix shows a lot of red? I understand that hoshins are described as ‘must-do, can’t-fail’ initiatives.”
“That’s true, Julie, but that means that the organization can’t fail to accomplish the hoshin. Red in the PM simply signals the need for assistance as soon as the need is apparent. That’s the beauty of Hoshin Kanri’s real-time visual management.”
“Curmudge, it also signals the need to take a break from filling my brain with Hoshin Kanri.”
“See you soon, Julie.”
Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Jaded Julie Learns about Policy Deployment Matrices
“Okay, Julie, sometimes one has to grab the bull by the tail and look the problem right in the eye. So here’s the policy deployment (PD1) matrix for the Curmudgeon Company.”
.JPG)
“Wow, Curmudge! That’s an information-filled matrix. Where do I start?”
“First, let’s read it like a map, with north at the top. Start at the west with Goals, then Strategies in the north, and Hoshins in the east. Strategies are linked to goals by the big dots, called ‘meatballs’, in the northwest; Hoshins are linked to Strategies by the meatballs in the northeast. The Team Support and the meatballs in the southeast show the organizations that are going to accomplish the hoshins.”
“If I look at the PD1 matrix long enough—maybe for a week—it will all soak in. I fear, however, that you already have another type matrix to dump on me.”
“I do have another one, Julie, but its concept is a lot simpler than its sticker shock. It’s just a PD1 rolled onto its side, that is, rotated a quarter turn counterclockwise. Here it is.”
.JPG)
“Hey, the goals went away!”
“No, they’re still there, Julie, but they are hidden from view and hopefully imbedded in your mind. Unless, of course, you want us to make this thing three-dimensional.”
“No thanks. I see now that the Strategies are in the west, and the Hoshins in the north. But you’ve added Projects in the east. I remember those from the planning matrix (PM). At least the projects supporting the ‘Improve yard’ hoshin were on the planning matrix we looked at.”
“That’s right, Julie. The ‘Remodel bathroom’ hoshin would have its own PM. If the Curmudgeon Company were bigger, like Affinity, each department would have a PD2 showing its projects; and individual people assigned to the projects would be shown under Support on the south side of the matrix.”
“These matrices are informative, Curmudge; they do require concentration. My head is spinning, but it has only gone a quarter turn counterclockwise. Is there more to Hoshin Kanri than diagrams that have to be read sideways?”
“There certainly is, Julie, and we’ll talk about that next time.”
“Bye, Curmudge.”
Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon
.JPG)
“Wow, Curmudge! That’s an information-filled matrix. Where do I start?”“First, let’s read it like a map, with north at the top. Start at the west with Goals, then Strategies in the north, and Hoshins in the east. Strategies are linked to goals by the big dots, called ‘meatballs’, in the northwest; Hoshins are linked to Strategies by the meatballs in the northeast. The Team Support and the meatballs in the southeast show the organizations that are going to accomplish the hoshins.”
“If I look at the PD1 matrix long enough—maybe for a week—it will all soak in. I fear, however, that you already have another type matrix to dump on me.”
“I do have another one, Julie, but its concept is a lot simpler than its sticker shock. It’s just a PD1 rolled onto its side, that is, rotated a quarter turn counterclockwise. Here it is.”
.JPG)
“Hey, the goals went away!”“No, they’re still there, Julie, but they are hidden from view and hopefully imbedded in your mind. Unless, of course, you want us to make this thing three-dimensional.”
“No thanks. I see now that the Strategies are in the west, and the Hoshins in the north. But you’ve added Projects in the east. I remember those from the planning matrix (PM). At least the projects supporting the ‘Improve yard’ hoshin were on the planning matrix we looked at.”
“That’s right, Julie. The ‘Remodel bathroom’ hoshin would have its own PM. If the Curmudgeon Company were bigger, like Affinity, each department would have a PD2 showing its projects; and individual people assigned to the projects would be shown under Support on the south side of the matrix.”
“These matrices are informative, Curmudge; they do require concentration. My head is spinning, but it has only gone a quarter turn counterclockwise. Is there more to Hoshin Kanri than diagrams that have to be read sideways?”
“There certainly is, Julie, and we’ll talk about that next time.”
“Bye, Curmudge.”
Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon
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