The Shingo Prize

“Curmudge, I’ve long suspected that you were an aficionado of the Lean culture and not a fan of Lean tools, but your most recent readings confirm it.”

“Right as (almost) always, Julie.  If I were teaching Lean Overview, you’d think it was a Sunday School class.  There are tons of books on Lean out there, but they say either how to do Lean or how we did Lean, i.e., their focus is on tools.  Amy Edmondson’s book, which we discussed in recent postings, is different.  She suggests that if you don’t properly frame your team’s task, which includes explaining ‘why,’ your journey to success is sunk before the ship leaves the dock.  Put most simply, how is tools, and why is culture.”

“As I understand it, the subject of your latest project, ‘The Shingo Prize,’ is also focused on why.  But this sounds like a simple binary issue; you either win the prize or you don’t.”

“Not so simple.  Of course there are only a few winners of ‘The Shingo Prize,’ but everyone wins by participating.  The more an organization puts into their effort to win, the greater their reward from the experience.”

“Explanation time, Professor.  This sounds interesting, and I want to learn more.  What is it that you have been studying?”

“It’s a 64-page booklet called ‘The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence, Model and Application Guidelines.’  The authors were a team from the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, and I’ve been reading Version 7.1, published in May 2012.   They have observed that Lean, Six Sigma, and their many predecessors have often failed to yield expected benefits.  The authors call these ‘programmatic or tool-oriented improvement initiatives,’ and they propose that these programs underperformed because they did not adequately focus on their underlying principles and key concepts.”

“I guess you’re saying that the older programs had too much ‘how’ and not enough ‘why.’  But I always thought that Liker’s ‘The Toyota Way’ was the bible for The Toyota Production System (TPS) and Lean.  It contains the 14 Toyota Way Principles with ideal behaviors under each one.”

  

“When I compared Liker and Shingo I found the guiding principles and supporting concepts to be complementary but, for the most part, not identical.  There appear to be a lot of ways to say ‘Do the right thing.’  Perhaps the Toyota way succeeded at Toyota because everyone in the company learned to live the TPS every day.” 

“Okay, Old Guy, how can an organization whose Lean journey went astray get back on the track by fully adopting Shingo?”

“You almost answered your own question, Julie.  Fully adopting Shingo is to do everything in their booklet that constitutes your best effort to win the Shingo Prize.  That means that everyone is working on continuous improvement and understanding why they are doing it.  This is much more than training part of the staff and doing Kaizen events here and there and now and then.  The organization transforms its culture by doing it.  It’s like trying to pass calculus without doing the homework problems and taking the exams or learning to swim by reading a book.”

“Gosh Curmudge, I see your point, but I hope Shingo is not as hard as calculus.”

“It’s like the familiar quotation, Julie, ‘It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting.’  In our next conversation we’ll say more about the guiding principles and supporting concepts of the Shingo model.”

Kaizen Curmudgeon                

    

Teaming and Lean--Execution-as-Learning

“I can feel it, Curmudge.  I can sense that we are nearing the end of our discussion of Amy Edmondson’s book on Teaming (1).”

“She is indeed thorough, Julie.  She starts by telling us what she is going to tell us; then she tells us; and finally she tells us what she told us.  Any reader who doesn’t ‘get it’ is just not interested.  So should we fulfill our promise to discuss execution-as-learning?”

“It seems to be another way of depicting continuous improvement, as in the Toyota production system.  Organizations learn as they go.  ‘They can adjust, improvise, or innovate while at the same time successfully delivering products or services to customers.’ ”

“Edmondson uses Intermountain Healthcare as an example.  We described this in our posting back on February 16, 2012.  A team of clinicians identifies the best practice for a particular procedure.  Everyone follows the defined practice unless a patient’s condition indicates otherwise.  If improvements are identified, they are incorporated in the practice.  Prof. Edmondson calls this iterative process execution-as-learning, and its individual steps are diagnose, design, act, and reflect.  We call it continuous improvement and term the steps plan, do, check, and act.”

“Curmudge, it seems to me that good ideas are contagious.”

“And speaking of contagion, here’s an example of teaming, Lean, and execution-as-learning in the construction industry.  It’s called Integrated Project Delivery or Integrated Lean Project Delivery (ILPD) and is used often in construction of health care facilities.  As described by Walker, ‘the building owner, architect, and general contractor are tied together in an interrelated contractual relationship.  The architect and contractor combine their respective contingencies together and are held jointly accountable for all construction errors and omissions.  This incentive means collaboration and united problem solving based on relationships, as opposed to adversarial teams found in traditional design-bid-build delivery.’  This process ‘demands regular meetings to communicate and discus issues, discover options, and find the best solution to optimize the project as a whole.’ “

“Wow, Curmudge, that certainly requires a lot of teaming across boundaries and execution-as-learning.  I understand that it has been used here in Appleton.”

“I don’t know which came first, ILPD or Teaming, but they are certainly interrelated.”

“Back in our first discussion on this topic you promised to report on what the book said to you.  What, Old Guy, was the main message?”

“First of all, the book wasn’t filled with hand-waving platitudes, like having respect for people.  It gave specifics such as why and how a leader must develop psychological safety.  Second, Edmondson’s teaming team might be viewed as a metaphor for a whole organization.  If everyone performed as she proposes for a team, wouldn’t it truly be a learning organization?  Then we all would be ‘doing the right thing.’ “

“That’s all, Curmudge?  You have nothing more profound to say?”

“What do you expect, Julie?  This was written in my bedroom.  At my age, the only profound thing I do there is sleep.”

Kaizen Curmudgeon    

               

1.  Edmondson, Amy C.  Teaming.  How organizations learn, innovate, and compete in the knowledge economy.  (2012, John Wiley & Sons).    

Teaming and Lean--Psychological Safety

“Let me be the lead-off batter, Curmudge.  Amy Edmondson (1) defines psychological safety as, ‘a social construct that describes a work climate characterized by interpersonal trust and mutual respect.’  She also descries it as, ‘individual perceptions regarding the consequences of interpersonal risks in one’s work environment.’  Although her interest was in encouraging people to speak freely as members of a team, psychological safety can be a concern for a whole organization.”

“Right again, Julie.  It’s even essential in establishing the ‘just culture’ that is needed to encourage reporting of medication errors and near misses.  In fact, psychological safety puts the Lean tenet of ‘respect for people’ on a personal basis.  ‘The most important influence on (personal) psychological safety is the nearest manager, supervisor, or boss.’  Psychological safety can’t be decreed from above.  It—like a Lean culture—must permeate an organization.  As practiced in the Toyota Production System, psychological safety requires hansei (after-action reviews with rank left at the door), and nemawashi (discussing changes with everyone involved).”

“Back to the hospital problem that we introduced last time...the tortuous path taken by the outpatient between departments.  Do you expect that psychological safety will help the team come up with some countermeasures?”

“It’s hard to predict, Julie, but here’s what Prof. Edmondson said. ‘Because coordinating and integrating complex tasks requires people to share thoughts openly and act without excessive concern about what others think, teaming flourishes with psychological safety and diminishes without it.’ “

“Any final observations, Myopic Mystic?”

“Of course, chère étudiante.  In times of stress—as in mergers and acquisitions and changes in leadership—the good things we have been studying, such as Lean, Servant Leadership, teaming, and psychological safety may be put to the test.  Beware and be steadfast.”

Kaizen Curmudgeon 

 1.  Edmondson, Amy C.  Teaming.  How organizations learn, innovate, and compete in the knowledge economy.  (2012, John Wiley & Sons).    

Teaming and Lean--Framing and Leadership

“I presume, Curmudge, that your apartment-office is finally getting organized.”

“Julie, at least the tsunami of files is receding from my living room.  It’s still not clear whether it’s best described as an office in my apartment or a bed and microwave in my office.”

“Nevertheless, Old Guy, we still have some lessons to share from Amy Edmondson’s book, Teaming (1).  We’d better do it before the neuropathy in your fingers makes them useless.  And as before, quoted statements are from her book.”

“Let’s start with a familiar example of a situation that requires teaming.  Here’s the scenario: An outpatient arrives at the hospital for several tests.  Her day becomes a series of long waits interspersed with brief periods in radiology, the laboratory, and other departments.  It’s clearly not the patient-centered experience that the patient and the hospital want.  So what is the hospital’s path forward?”

“That’s a tough but understandable problem, Curmudge.  Its value stream map is a disaster, and a chipmunk could comprehend its difficulties.  Are you sure that it needs this teaming approach?”

“You’ll see, Julie.  We’ll begin by discussing framing and leadership.  Edmondson defines frames as, ‘interpretations that individuals rely on to sense and understand their environment.’  Sort of like the paradigms we’ve discussed before.  In framing his role, the team leader must accept and express his and the team members’ interdependence, fallibility, and need for collaboration.  He must emphasize to team members that they have been picked for their skills and that they are vital to the project’s success.”

“Back in the hospital, I can see why team members would be picked to represent the various departments along the value stream; the team would also need schedulers and patient advocates.  Most people would have a different outlook and want to protect their silo.”

“It is essential that the leader develops an emotional and intellectual commitment in each team member.  In our example, they should be able to empathize with the patient and develop a shared sense of purpose despite their diverse duties in the hospital.”

“Do I understand, Curmudge, that a collective learning process is at the heart of teaming?”

“You’ve got it, Julie.  Edmondson calls this a learning frame as contrasted against an execution frame.  In the execution frame, what needs to be done is evident so one just does it, like in Lean.  In the learning frame, team members exchange ideas, learn from one another, test the new concepts, and reflect on the results.  It’s an iterative process, sort of like the familiar sequence, plan, do, check, act.”

“Curmudge, are we there yet?  My guess is that we aren’t.  There is more to be said about psychological safety and execution-as-learning, and you are not one to let interesting concepts go unblogged.”

“Right, as always, Julie.”

Kaizen Curmudgeon

1.  Edmondson, Amy C.  Teaming.  How organizations learn, innovate, and compete in the knowledge economy.  (2012, John Wiley & Sons).   

             

         

Teaming and Lean--Overview

“Hey Curmudge, it’s been awhile since we talked.  Have you been on vacation?”

“I’ve been bringing home the files from my now-defunct cube.  Finding room for them in my apartment is turning a slight case of clutter into a raging epidemic of chaos.”

“Does that mean that you are finally getting settled in the old folks’ home?”

“C’mon, Julie!  It’s just like any other apartment only it’s roomier and is quiet at night.  And despite all the externalities mucking up my life, I’ve finally found time to read a book.  It’s Teaming by Amy Edmondson (1).  Without saying so (she used the word ‘Lean’ only once), Prof. Edmondson has provided the psychological basis for what we have been promoting as the ‘Lean culture.’  Because the book’s author is on the faculty of Harvard Business School, it appears to give the academicians’ imprimatur to the Toyota Production System.”

“Impri…what?  Well, as long as Harvard gives its approval, it should make old academicians like you feel better.  So you are writing a book review?”

“More than that, Julie.  A book review describes what a book will say to most readers.  What we will discuss—and it may take more than one posting—is what the book says to me.”

“Let’s have at it, Old Guy.  The book had to be good for you to have read it cover to cover.  Of course, I skimmed it so I can ask pertinent questions.  And as in our earlier discussions, any quoted material may be attributed to the book’s author.”

“Historically, a team was a group with little variation in makeup working in concert for a fairly long period.  However, it is more common today for a team to be ad hoc and comprised of members that vary in background, profession, and outlook.  Prof. Edmondson tells us how these new teams can be assembled and can perform effectively despite their diversity.  She calls this process teaming, which she defines as ‘a dynamic way of working that provides the necessary coordination and collaboration without the luxury (or rigidity) of stable team structures.’ “

“The author recognizes that a one-size-fits-all approach to teaming won’t work for all enterprises, so she has divided organizations along a process knowledge spectrum into those with routine operations, complex operations, and innovation operations.  Most of the hospitals she studied were teaching hospitals, which probably influenced her to put them in the complex category.”

“New words and expressions abound in Teaming.  They are neither esoteric nor psychological jargon, and the reader will immediately have some degree of their understanding.  Full chapters with corporate examples then develop our appreciation of the new concepts.  Examples are framing, psychological safety, and execution-as-learning.”

“You said the book had features in common with Lean.  What about respect for people, one of Lean’s most a basic tenets?”

“Julie, respect for people is so essential in teaming that it is addressed repeatedly—but not as ‘respect for people’—in terms of its development and use.  In fact, it and communication might be regarded as the overarching themes for the whole book.  Communication arising from mutual respect is basic to the four behaviors required for successful teaming: speaking up, collaboration, experimentation, and reflection.  And an essential for good communication—especially for speaking up in a meeting—is psychological safety.”  

“I recall, Curmudge, that we had two postings on Trust back on May 29, 2009 and June 4, 2009.  I suspect that trust within a team is an essential factor in psychological safety.”

“You’ve got that right, Julie.  Edmondson says that ‘leaders must trust those they lead,’ and I’ll add that team members must trust their leaders.  If a leader loses the trust of any member of his team, the whole teaming effort goes in the tank.  This is so important that we’ll devote our next conversation to leadership and psychological safety in teaming.”

“Meanwhile, Curmudge, go back to the old folks home and 5S your chaotic room.”

“Julie, it’s not the old folks home!”

Kaizen Curmudgeon

1.  Edmondson, Amy C.  Teaming.  How organizations learn, innovate, and compete in the knowledge economy.  (2012, John Wiley & Sons).