Holiday Greetings--2012

“Hey, Curmudge, what are we going to do for holiday greetings for our readers this year?  In past years we’ve been criticized for being either too inclusive or not inclusive enough, and last year we put our substitute for a greeting in Curmudgeon’s Wastebasket.  Should we just say ‘Joyeux Noël’ and be done with it?”

“Julie, last month neither Mack nor I had much opportunity to be thankful at Thanksgiving.  He helped out at the Salvation Army, and I volunteered in the Emergency Department at the hospital.  So I propose that we move Thanksgiving Into December and be thankful instead of joyful.  A lot of people in this world, from New York to the Middle East to Africa, don’t have many joys this year, but maybe they can scrounge up something for which to be thankful.  For example, you don’t see a lot of joy in my life, but I am thankful for having a warm apartment and a voice that can sing.”

“That’s pretty good thinking for an old grouch, although it’s a stretch to be thankful for your voice.  So how do we do this ‘thankful’ thing?”

“We can declare an end-of-the-year Do-It-Yourself Thankfulness.  Almost everyone can participate.  Even the homeless can be thankful for the Warming Shelter program in the local churches.  So what about you, Julie?  Can a fictional person be thankful?”

“You bet, Curmudge.  I’m grateful that we are still able to have these conversations.  And are you thankful for anything more than the roof over your head and your dubious voice?”

“To quote the renowned entertainer, Bob Hope, I can give ‘Thanks for the Memories.’  I have a lot of them.”

“I’m sure you do, Curmudge, and most of them are good; so let’s wish our readers ‘Thankful Holidays from all of us.’ ”

Kaizen Curmudgeon, Jaded Julie, Doc Mack, Al, and Liz

Emotional Intelligence 2

“Curmudge, how did you encounter Bradberry and Greaves’ book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0 (1)?”

“I stumbled on it, Julie, when we were studying habits, which we posted on 10/14/12.  As we’ll soon realize, this emotional intelligence stuff isn’t worth much until it becomes a habit.”

“It isn’t often that one finds something useful purely by chance.  Maybe it helps if one stumbles a lot.”

“Wrong, Julie.  At my age I can’t afford to stumble; I might break something.  So let’s get serious and resume our exploration of emotional intelligence.  We’d better remind the new reader that the four components of emotional intelligence and their definitions can be found in the posting that immediately precedes this one.”

“Self-awareness is the first of the four.  One must pause for a bit and think about what makes himself/herself tick.  The book lists 15 strategies for diagnosing yourself.  We can’t discuss them all, but a very important one is, ‘Know who and what pushes your buttons.’  Curmudge, as a curmudgeon I suspect that most everything pushes your buttons, but what would your buttons be if you were a real person?”

“Poor usage of the English language, ignorance of basic economics and history, use of questionable science for political purposes, and Lean proponents who forget to practice Lean.  And because I know that you will ask, the curmudgeon simply doesn’t practice self-management.   But if he were a real person, he’d be quick to forgive and slow to forget.  Your self-awareness, Julie, is spelled out in the About Me paragraph at the top right of every posting.  And your self-management is whatever the old man who writes this blog says it is.”

“I must admit, Curmudge, that being a fictional person has its advantages and disadvantages.  Now for a real person, the book lists 17 self-management strategies.  Of course, there are the golden oldies, ‘Count to ten,’ and ‘Sleep on it.’  This one is a bit longer, ‘Speak to someone who is not emotionally invested in your problem.’  Here’s one that is not in the book, ‘Think before you act,’ and another one from a departed friend, ‘Don’t cry before you are hurt.’ “

“Strategies for social awareness—looking outward to learn about and appreciate others—come next.  Julie, you’re not going to learn about what’s in someone’s head without paying close attention to the rest of their body, including facial expressions and body language.  And of course, one must listen intently to what the person is saying.”

“So, old geezer, if you are gawking at some sweet young thing, you are just practicing social awareness?”

“Exactly, Julie.  Here are some other strategies from the book’s list of 17, ‘Greet people by name,’ ‘Plan ahead for social gatherings,’ and ‘Go people watching.’  Actually, I tried people watching in an airport a few weeks ago, but everyone appeared to be as bored as I was.”

“Relationship management strategies make up the final part of emotional intelligence.  The book says that all relationships take work, and they propose 17 strategies for making it happen.  Here are a few, ‘Build trust,’ ‘Take feedback well,’ ‘Acknowledge the other person’s feelings,’ ‘Explain your decisions; don’t just make them,’ and ‘Offer a “fix-it” statement during a broken conversation.’  The book explains each of the authors’ proposed strategies in detail.”

“Julie, the only way to acquire and apply these strategies is to practice them until they become habits.  One must be like an athlete, a musician, or any other performer; practice your moves until they are automatic.”

“So, Curmudge, what if one doesn’t have the time or inclination to become a practitioner of social intelligence?  Are there some rules he or she can live by?”

“Of course, Julie.  They can be found in the Bible, the Boy Scout Oath and Law, and in the following Four-Way Test, ‘Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?’ (2).”

“Hey, Curmudge, if there are so many ways to do the right thing, why do people persist in doing so many things wrong?”

“We said it years ago, Julie.  Doing things wrong often comes naturally.  Doing the right thing requires character.”

Kaizen Curmudgeon

(1) Bradberry, T. and Greaves, J.  Emotional Intelligence 2.0  (2009, available from Amazon).

(2) Rotary International               

Emotional Intelligence--Introduction

“Curmudge, you’re reading Emotional Intelligence 2.0 (1)?  That’s psychology!  When did you stop being a chemist?”

“Eight years ago Julie, when they stopped paying me.”

“Well if pay is a measure of value, you must not be worth very much.”

“There’s an element of truth there, Julie.  Our society tends to feel that senior citizens are useless.  Not only would it be impossible for me to find a paying job at my age, it’s also difficult to find something that I can do for free.”

“Then why should you study anything, especially psychology?”

“It’s interesting and potentially of value.  Let’s look at the book together.  The principal topics are self-awareness and self-management strategies and social awareness and relationship management strategies.  Basically, it’s about getting along with yourself and with other people.”

“Great!  That’s just what a curmudgeon needs.”

“Oh, it’s not for me.  If I were to practice what the book preaches, I would lose my curmudgeon’s license.  It’s for everyone else, and especially for managers serving as coaches.  After they acquire all of the other skills we’ve been talking about, this should be the frosting on their cake.”

“I can’t wait to learn more, Curmudge.  May I start with a question?  Several months ago we mentioned a typical physician’s paradigm, or window through which he views the world.  Does one’s paradigm relate to his or her emotional intelligence?”

“It appears that way, Julie.  Here’s another definition of paradigm, ’the models our minds use to filter information.’  Emotional intelligence goes a bit farther; it pertains to what our minds do with the information that comes in through that ‘window on the world.’ “

“I hope your ‘window’ is not turning into frosted glass, Old Man.”

“Contrary to popular belief, it is not.  Now let’s more properly introduce our topic with some definitions quoted from Bradberry and Greaves’ book.  ‘Emotional intelligence is your ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and others, and your ability to use this awareness to manage your behavior and relationships.’ “

“Gosh, Curmudge.  That sounds as if it impacts most everything we do and say every day.”

“To continue, we’ll quote the authors’ definitions of the four components of emotional intelligence that we mentioned at the start of our discussion:

‘Self-awareness is your ability to accurately perceive your own emotions at the moment and understand your tendencies across situations.’

‘Self-management is what happens when you react—or do not react.’

‘Social awareness is your ability to a accurately pick up on emotions of other people and understand what is really going on with them.’

‘Relationship management is your ability to use your awareness of your own emotions and those of others to manage interactions successfully.’ “

“Wow, Curmudge.  Are you sure this isn’t the textbook for Mind-Reading 101?  Does it come with a crystal ball and tea leaves?”

“It sounds that way, Julie.  But I’m sure you’ll agree that having these talents would be a great help in a leader’s efforts to establish rapport with her team in gemba.”

“You’ve got that right, Curmudge, and I’ll bet that we’ll say more about this topic in our next discussion.”

Kaizen Curmudgeon     

(1) Bradberry, T. and Greaves, J.  Emotional Intelligence 2.0  (2009, available from Amazon) 

Leader-Manager-Teacher-Coach 2

"Curmudge, don’t you think we should bring our readers up to date on where we’re ‘at’ in advising the folks at Generic General Hospital on winning a Shingo Prize?”

“Fictional characters can’t advise, Julie.  We can only speculate on what they might do.  Real people have to be accountable.  Although you and I must practice good manners, spelling, and punctuation, our actions end when we click on ‘Publish’ in Blogger.”

“Nevertheless, readers should know that we described the Shingo Prize on 9/30/12 and 10/08/12, and on 10/21/12 we discussed some of the rigorous Shingo Prize requirements.   Meeting those Shingo criteria will be a real bear, Curmudge.”

“Thanks for using ‘bear,’ Julie, instead of a more earthy expression.  And recall that in our most recent posting we discussed middle managers’ need to practice servant leadership and Goldsmith’s ‘good manners.’  Now, as promised last time, we must tackle teaching and coaching.  ‘Teaching,’ sometimes known as ‘death by PowerPoint,’ can occur anywhere but is usually envisioned as happening in a classroom.  Regrettably, only 5% on the material presented in a lecture is retained (1).  In contrast, retention is 90% when the material is presented in one-to-one teaching, i.e., coaching.”

“Although coaching can also occur anywhere, it is most often done in gemba.  I recall your telling me about Mrs. Curmudgeon’s spending a month in Paris being coached by a world-class organist.  In that case, gemba was very large churches with very large pipe organs.  Nothing could have been further from the venue most associated with coaching, an athletic playing field.”

“Here is a pretty good definition of coaching: ‘The art of inspiring, energizing, and facilitating performance, learning, and development of the person being coached.’  Coaching does not usually start at square one.  The person being coached already knows the task, and the purpose of coaching is to help him or her become better at it.  And in addition to the task itself, for Shingo the ‘associate’ must add proficiency in continuous improvement, metrics, and compliance with Shingo Principles.”

“So, Curmudge, let’s consider some characteristics of coaching, especially when middle managers are the coaches and gemba is any department of a hospital, clinic, and any of their back office or business functions.  Remember, all must be included when an organization is contending for a Shingo Prize.”

“A ‘must-have’ quality of a coach is presence.  He or she must be there in gemba.  Here’s an extreme historical example. Lou Boudreau was the shortstop and player-manager of the Cleveland Indians baseball team in the 1940’s.  Cleveland Stadium was gemba, and Boudreau was there on the field. He also exemplified another coaching essential—proficiency in the process.  Boudreau was an excellent shortstop and the American League MVP in 1948.”

“Not only must the coach be present and proficient, he/she must be there in sufficient numbers to guide the workers, called ‘associates’ in Shingo-speak.  At Toyota there is one leader/coach on the assembly line for every five workers.  Achieving that ratio with fully-trained coaches in a hospital won’t be easy.”

“Right as usual, Julie.  And in addition, the leader/coach must be a good communicator—both sending and receiving.  A coach is an intent, active listener and suggests with verbal ‘nudges’ and Socratic questions.  Queries like ‘What metric can we use to show that this is an improvement?’ or ‘What do you think about…?’.  That approach will help develop a good rapport with the associate and lead her to solving her problems and improving the process.”

“As you have taught me, Curmudge, ‘rapport (silent t)’ is one of those words of foreign origin that says it all.  ‘A relationship in which people understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well.’  It’s a word we don’t use enough, and it represents a condition that we don’t achieve often enough.  So, Old Guy, how does coaching fit into the big Shingo picture?”

“In Generic General’s quest for a Shingo Prize, coaching is an essential part of the educational cascade from top leadership through middle management to the associates.  At each level there will need to be training/coaching on the overall Shingo Prize program, the elements of continuous process improvement, e.g., Lean, and the development of meaningful metrics to demonstrate improvements.”

“You know, Curmudge, earlier in our conversation I described meeting the requirements for a Shingo Prize as being as tough as a bear.  I was too gentle.  It will be as tough as a mother grizzly bear with cubs.”

Kaizen Curmudgeon     

(1) Some of the material on coaching was presented by Cindy Jimmerson in May 2007.        

Leader-Manager-Teacher-Coach

“Julie, can you envision one thousand people all doing something perfectly at the same time?”

“Well Curmudge, if the Mormon Tabernacle Choir had 1,000 members, they would approach perfection with every song they sang.”

“No Julie, I don’t mean 1,000 people doing the same thing.  I mean 1,000 people in an organization each doing his or her job almost perfectly with a little room for continuous improvement.”

“It sounds to me as if they would be a strong contender for a Shingo Prize.  Of course, as we discussed in recent postings, they would also have to do a lot of other things extremely well.  And if the organization were a hospital, achieving Shingo-level perfection would be the ultimate challenge.  Let’s face it Curmudge, a hospital is vastly different from a manufacturer with a five-step process for making little widgets.”

“Bear with me, Skeptical Suzie, while we return to our fictional Generic General Hospital and consider how they might tackle at least one aspect of their quest for a Shingo Prize.  Our focus will be the middle levels of management and the qualities they must possess to bring about this modern medical miracle.  We’ll assume that they are experts at the technical aspects of their job and are well acquainted with all appropriate Lean tools.”

“Have at it, Magical Merlin.  Where do we start?”

“Let’s start with the obvious stuff.  At least it’s obvious to me, but others don’t always agree.  There has been an abundance of info on leadership in this blog, so we’ll just mention some of the high points of those earlier postings.”

“Good idea, Curmudge.  Even those people who read the original postings could use some reinforcement.  Our postings on Servant Leadership would be a good place to start.  Servant Leadership is based on character, one’s moral maturity and commitment to doing the right thing regardless of personal costs.  And respect for people is the leader’s character in action.  As stated by Hunter (1), ‘people will not care what you know until they know that you care, and they won’t believe the message until they believe the messenger.’ “ 

“Goldsmith (2) describes these concepts even more simply.  ‘Good manners is good management.’  Here are a few examples of good manners that are often overlooked:

·      Recognize and utilize the gifts and talents of other team members.

·      Give and receive honest and constructive feedback.

·      Include all team members when making a decision.

·      Base your actions on facts, not assumptions.

·      Respond to email and voicemail in a timely fashion.

·      Assure that people can express concerns without fear of reprisal.

·      Promptly communicate your concerns with necessary individuals and groups."

“Golly Curmudge, if a middle manager isn’t already using Servant Leadership and the other concepts that we’ve discussed, he or she had better get on the stick.   I trust that there is more that we want to share with the people at Generic General?”

“There is, Julie.  Let’s tackle coaching next—something that we don’t know much about.”

“We’ll learn as we write.  Been there; done that.  At least it should be easier for us to tackle coaching than to coach tackling.”

Kaizen Curmudgeon

(1)  Hunter, James C. The World’s Most Powerful Leadership Principle (Crown Business, 2004)

(2)  Goldsmith, Marshall. What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. (2007, available from Amazon)            

Habits, Cultures, and the Shingo Prize

“It would appear from the title, Curmudge, that we are going to brew up a mixture from the topics that we’ve discussed for the past several weeks.”

“That’s the plan, Julie.  Remember Generic General Hospital that we used as a model several years ago?  Well, that’s where we are going this week.”

“Will we be guiding the hospital in their quest for a Shingo Prize?”

“No way.  That’s not a job for fictional characters, even in a fictional hospital.  You and I will be like the Greek chorus in ancient Greek drama; our task will be to observe and comment on the action.”

“What, Ancient Scholar, will you think of next?  Oh well, raise the curtain…oops, they didn’t have theater curtains back then.”

“Generic General had begun its Lean journey a few years ago, but its progress had seemingly reached a plateau.  Perhaps having a new goal, the Shingo Prize, would inspire everyone.”

“Golly Curmudge, we’ve already discussed how demanding the Shingo requirements are.  The whole hospital will have to become oriented toward a Shingo culture, and everyone will need to think about Shingo all the time.”

“Obviously, Julie, they can’t do that while caring for patients.  Shingo will have to permeate everyone’s habits.  Recall that culture is the product of one’s habits, and habits are those actions that we do automatically without thinking in response to a cue.  As we said last week, the habit loop is cue-routine-reward.”

“Everyone in the hospital has one big habit.  The cue is the alarm clock waking us in the morning (or before our shift), and the routine action is practicing our profession.  For those caring for patients, it’s meeting the standard of care.  Then the reward at the end of the day or shift is going home to our family, if we have one.”

“The ‘family’ part does make a difference.  The reward in this example is almost universal.  Getting home on time is valued by everyone from housekeepers to physicians.  This may be a key to encourage people to continuously improve the efficiency of their work.”

“Now Curmudge, let’s consider the role of habits in patient-care gemba.  Most of the procedures that we nurses do become habits.  We learned them in training and perfected our techniques under the guidance of our prefector during orientation.  Improvements might occur due to technology or changes in professional standards, but individual improvements are likely to be minor.”

“In a long-ago posting we defined procedures as involving one person, and said that processes are linked procedures often requiring more than one.  Although processes may seem habitual, they may present more opportunities than procedures for participants to think critically about improvements.  Higher on the complexity scale are the hospital’s value streams.  They would commonly be the subjects of continuous improvement efforts.”

“What about Lean and Shingo training, Curmudge?  I suspect that it would become more intense as one moves up the professional and management scale.”

“I agree.  Continuously scanning for the eight wastes of health care should be habitual for all RNs and above.  Lean leadership, as we discussed in our posting on 10/28/11 and the two preceding postings, should become an imperative habit for all in management.  And holding middle managers accountable must become a habit of those at higher levels.”

“And how will middle managers learn their role in the world of Shingo?”

“Think about our own education, Julie.  Although we went to class to get difficult concepts clarified, we always had to sit down with the textbook and grind the material into our brain.  In the quest for a Shingo Prize, our supervisors will be our teacher/coaches, and the textbook will be the parts of the Shingo booklet that are pertinent to our work.  Because Shingo is essentially a testing regimen for an organization’s Lean transformation, one might also need to study parts of the currently available Lean textbooks and attend workshops on Lean management systems.  People will find time to study, and they’ll build upon what they already learned in Lean training.”

“From reading the Shingo booklet I learned that the Shingo examiners will demand that the hospital select and maintain at least three years’ worth of meaningful metrics that demonstrate their progress.  Length of stay (LOS) would be commonly used, but more metrics will be needed.  It’s hard to forecast what those metrics will be, but people might follow the old laboratory guidance, ’say what you do, do what you say, and prove (with data) that you have done it.’ ”

“Every major program in any organization needs an overarching goal.  In a hospital, ‘Winning a Shingo Prize‘ won’t be meaningful to most people, especially patients.  The folks in top management and Marketing will have to concoct a ‘keystone’ goal that is patient focused.  In a faith-based hospital, it might be based on the organization’s mission and values.”

“Hey Curmudge, I hope there’s more to be said about the reward part of the habit loop.  Going home at the end of the day is generally assumed and not given much thought.  Perhaps we need a sort-of perverse reward that will shake people out of their lethargy, like your turning on your headlights whenever you start your car.  Your reward is to not get run down by a bigger car.”

“It’s alarming, Julie, that some writers predict hard times for some hospitals in the near future (1).  If that should come to pass, the ultimate personal reward would be to become a surviving person in a surviving hospital, i.e., to not be let go.  The very thought of the writers’ forecast should gain everyone’s attention.  It should be the cue that fires up habits needed to win a Shingo Prize.“

“I shudder at the gloomy forecast.  If it really happens, it will trash all efforts at achieving a Lean transformation.”

“It would be an absolute last resort.  But remember, Julie, if fictional characters like us can be sacked, it could happen to real people.”

“Enough of this conjecture.  Let’s return to your carpeted gulag.  The granite blocks in this ancient Greek amphitheater are hard on the feet and the seat.” 

Kaizen Curmudgeon 

(1) Becker’s Hospital Review, September 26, 2012.  PPACA Could Directly Eliminate 400K Hospital Jobs in 2013, Average Hospital Would Shed Over 100 Positions.                

Habits

“Curmudge, in our conversation a couple of weeks ago we noted that the Shingo Prize people felt that organizations whose Lean transformation efforts failed had focused too much on tools (how) and not enough on culture (why).  Do you agree with their assertion?”

“Not entirely, Julie.”

“What!  When you see all the world-renown Lean leaders listed as members of the Shingo Academy, how dare you not agree fully?  You are just an old geezer working in his gulag…er…bedroom.”

“Pardon the disrespect, m’lady, but I think that many of those organizations whose Lean journeys got lost in the woods just didn‘t work hard enough.  Specifically, too few people hardwired the Shingo guiding principles, supporting concepts, systems, and tools, i.e., they didn’t become habits.”

“Well, it’s not because you and I didn’t talk enough about hardwiring. Five years

ago we listed some ways a Lean program could fail, and we tackled hardwiring on 8/12/11 and 8/18/11.  People either don’t read our postings, or they are as forgetful as you are.”

“That being the case, Julie, we’d better return to the fundamentals.  When something is hardwired, it becomes a habit.  A habit is something that we do automatically, without thinking, in response to a cue.  Following the cue is the routine followed by a reward.  There are good habits like brushing your teeth after breakfast and bad habits like smoking.  With smoking, the cue might be second-hand smoke, the routine is smoking the cigarette, and the reward is the effect of the nicotine and its metabolic products in one’s nervous system.”

“It seems to me, Curmudge, that someone whose organization aspires to win a Shingo Prize or achieve a Lean transformation would want to learn about habits.  Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit (1) would be a good place to start.”

“I agree.  Here are a few quotations (exact or paraphrased) from the book:

‘When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision making.’

‘To change an old habit, you must keep the old cue and deliver the old reward, and insert a new routine.’

‘New habits are created by putting together a cue, a routine, and a reward, and then cultivating a craving that drives the loop.’

‘Keystone habits are those that when they change, other habits also change.’  Continuous improvement is an example of a keystone habit.

‘Keystone habits encourage widespread change by creating cultures where new values become ingrained.’

‘During turmoil, organizational habits become malleable.’

‘Peer pressure promotes social habits that encourage people to conform to group expectations.’ “

“It’s evident that habits are essential in our everyday lives, including one’s work in health care.  Although you don’t know diddly about health care, Old Guy, perhaps together we might conjure up some examples.”

“I promise that next week we’ll talk about habits, health care, and the Shingo Prize.  But before we wrap things up today, I’d like to share a personal observation.”

“Although most habits develop over time, I understand, Curmudge, that a significant emotional event, which you experienced, can create a habit instantaneously.”

“A young woman driving a big piece of ‘Detroit iron’ made a left turn and hit my Mazda head-on.  I would have been killed if I had not been wearing my seat belt.  Although it was mid-afternoon, she could have seen me more easily if my headlights had been on.  Now, day or night, as soon as I turn the key in the ignition, I turn on the headlights.  The memory of that single, traumatic event triggers my habit.”

“So what does your personal anecdote have to do with the world of commerce and health care?”

“It suggests, Julie, that if someone has sufficient authority and can issue a command forcefully enough, he can instill a habit in a direct report in an instant.”

Kaizen Curmudgeon

(1) Duhigg, Charles.  The Power of Habit.  (2012, Random House)

The Shingo Prize 2

"Julie, in our last posting we laid the foundation for the Shingo House.  Now let’s go inside and learn more.” 

“The TPS has a triangle and Shingo has a house.  The Japanese seem to be big on figures.  Maybe that’s because their written language is based on little figures called kanji.”

“The Shingo house has four levels or Dimensions; they are, from bottom to top, Cultural Enablers, Continuous Process Improvement, Enterprise Alignment, and Results.  Also, the house is divided vertically down the middle with Guiding Principles on one side and Supporting Concepts on the other.”

“Hey Curmudge, I was once in a church like that, with one side for men and the other side for women.  In that church, I’ll bet that the Principles were the men and the Supporting Concepts were the women, but that would have never occurred to the developers of the Shingo Prize.”

“Then on the Principles side of the house, ten Principles are distributed among the four Dimensions.  Some of the more familiar ones are Respect Every Individual, Focus on Process, and Think Systemically.  Familiar exhortations are also on the Supporting Concepts side, such as Identify and Eliminate Waste, and Standardize Processes.  Following the Supporting Concepts are lists of systems and tools that relate to each of the four Dimensions.  Finally there are typical open-ended questions that might be asked by an examiner. ”

“I doubt that there’s room in the blog to talk about the systems and tools.”

“You’ll have to read the Shingo booklet to find the details, Julie.  As we’ve said before, a blog isn’t a textbook; we can only provide a taste of the subject.  Unfortunately, if a person can’t set aside five minutes per week to read a blog posting, they are unlikely to tackle the whole booklet.”

“Okay, so what did you find in the booklet that is really new?”

“In two words, not much.  The Dimensions, Guiding Principles, Supporting Concepts, Systems, and Tools seem to be a collection of everything I’ve ever read about Lean, Six Sigma, Gemba Kaizen, and Total Quality Management.  It’s all there, and it would make very good sense to one who is interested in improving processes.  The sample reviewer questions are the kind that I would ask if I were an examiner.”

“Well, Mr. Inspector, where in the booklet does it help the person in gemba to understand why he is doing what he is doing?”

“I didn’t see it spelled out.  I believe that a person learns the why of what he is doing by doing it under the guidance of a good coach.  In fact that’s the essence of the Shingo Prize…dedicated management leading the people in gemba in doing the right things.”

“In a single sentence, what’s the lesson from all this that I can take home to the kids?”

“Not to disparage the Shingo principles, Julie, but success might result from the sheer magnitude of effort required for an organization to be a serious contender for the Shingo Prize.”

“I guess, Curmudge, that you are saying that many programs have comparable administrative sticks, but Shingo has a bigger carrot.”

“You’ve got it right again, Julie.”

Kaizen Curmudgeon  

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).