As we approach the end of the calendar year, many companies are starting to work on their Annual Operating Plans Wishes for next year. Why do I say wish? Because all too often these plans dictate what they wish would happen. Throughout the year, performance is “measured” against the plan. Positive variances are rewarded. Negative [...]
In Chapter 2 of The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership, Jeff Liker and Gary Convis describe one of the most important, and least emphasized, aspect of developing leaders – the necessity for intrinsic motivation. In simple terms, the desire has to come from within. This theme ties together everything else in the chapter, and I [...]
It must be that time of the year. I see traffic in the online forums asking about how to set key performance indicators for lean staff people so their performance incentives can be set. If anyone were to ask my advice here, it comes down to one word: Don’t. Two reasons. First, we have overwhelming [...]
How many “If-Then” steps do your team members have to deal with in the course of their routine work? Every one of those branch points is a decision. It is a point where the team member must memorize decision criteria and the correct choice(s). Each “If-Then” in the process flow potentially doubles the number of [...]
Today’s Dilbert strip highlights a situation that is only funny because it happens so often: The idea that a company can focus on 25 key areas, or 125 key performance indicators (yes, I said 125 because I have seen it myself) is obviously ludicrous. Of course a manager has a legitimate concern to ensure people [...]
Chapter 1 of The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership is titled “Leading in the Toyota Way: A Lifelong Journey.” It seeks to draw a sharp contrast between Toyota’s leadership model and the model that is taught and practiced in a more “traditional” Western company. Where the “teaching” process in a traditional company tends to be [...]
The introduction of The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership covers ground that: Has been covered before – we know all of this. Needs to be covered again, because most people act as though we don’t know it. Simply put, Liker and Convis (legitimately) feel the need, once again, to let us know the things which [...]
One of the graphics in Bill Costantino’s presentation really struck me, but my thought was out of context so I wanted to make a separate post about it. It was the concept of the “current knowledge threshold” illustrated here: As I interpret it, the red line depicts the “we know how to do this” area. [...]
I am starting to read a review copy (courtesy of McGraw-Hill) of Jeff Liker and Gary Convis’ new book, The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership. (The hot link goes to my Amazon page.) In the spirit of one-piece-flow, I am to share key thoughts as I go rather than save everything for a thousand word [...]
Mike Rother and Bill Costantino have shared a presentation titled “Toyota Kata Unified Field Theory.” I think it nicely packages a number of concepts in an easy-to-understand flow. I want to expand on a couple of points but first listen to the presentation. (Yes, it has a sound track, to be sure to hit the “Play” [...]