Month: March 2011

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Why before What

In this TED video, Simon Sinek summarizes a key thing that differentiates an idea that catches on vs. one that plops.

This is relevant to us at a couple of levels.

First, as Sinek points out, truly great companies succeed because they stand for something higher. They have a “why” that drives what they do and how they do it.

Companies that cannot articulate what they stand for are at a competitive disadvantage vs. those who can.

But these concepts are also critical to those of us who are trying to sell the concept of changing the way our own organizations run. Watch the video – then continue below.

In spite of what is taught in the business schools, business decisions are rarely made based on financial analysis and rates of return. Those things are carefully constructed, but often after the fact to justify what someone wants to do already (i.e. has already decided to do).

When we try to sell our changes, we often try to address the “what’s in it for me?” but still continue to try to make logical “what” type arguments.

That doesn’t work. It has to feel right.

Think about your own organization. When or where do things feel like they are going really well, what is aligning? What values are being realized? How do those moments differ from times or places where things are not going so well?

What makes people say “OH Yeah!” ?

As you try to make the case for “lean” or continuous improvement in your organization, are you crystal clear what you believe in? Can you articulate it? Do others in the company want to believe in the same things?

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The Report-Out

The classic one-week kaizen event ends with a report-out by the team that outlines the improvements they have made, and the results they have achieved.

Actual results, though, are notorious for falling short of what was reported. Action items are left over, and things frequently peter out unless there is a huge effort to force sustainment.

Let’s look at this a little differently.

Typically what happens during the kaizen week is that a new process is designed, and some things are put into place to enable it – point of use, rearranging things for flow, etc.

The report out is describing expected results, and how the process must operate to deliver them.

In other words, a very common outcome of a kaizen event is a pretty well thought out target condition. This is how we want the process to operate, this is the result we are going to strive to achieve. It is all future tense.

What happens next will make or break things.

The next question that should be asked is “Great! When are you going to try it, and what do you expect to learn?” If the report-out does not directly address this question, then you can expect the typical result – steady erosion.

In fact, the process of seeing and addressing those problems must be embedded into the daily management process itself.

The report-out is the beginning of kaizen, not the end. The next phase is not “follow-up.” It is a natural continuation, if less intense, of the kaizen process. The report-out is describing an engineering prototype. Now it is time to test it and discover what we didn’t know during the design process.