Leadership part 1

     Here we are once again out riding the range in the world of Lean Manufacturing, from a Cowboy's perspectivve.  This week I was not at work per se, but doing work.  I was in Broomfield, CO at the Wisdom Disciplines of Leadership workshop.   What on earth would I be doing at a coaching seminar?  Well pour a cup of your favorite coffee, and light the fire.  This is going to be rather interesting.
     Looking at what I've been trying to do with culture transformation by building a Lean Culture from the bottom up, Yoda instructed me that going to a coaching seminar, held by Burke Miller and Sam House, would be just the thing to inspire my "inner coach" and hone my soft skills needed to take good to great.  How could I refuse?  Yoda is not only a Lean guru, she is also a coach among many other things.
     The first day of the seminar was an overview of the class material coupled with a great dynamic between the instructors.  Not being the extrovert by nature, I at first was wondering what I was going to be taught that would allow me to increase thru-put and productivity.  As the seminar progressed on throughout the week, my eyes were opening.  I was learning that I too am a coach.  Teaching, mentoring, asking the right questions and learning new methods of how to bring others into alignment are what I am finding out.  Yes that is right folks, I'm learning how to coach.  A vital and necessary skill that we as change agents must use to get our clients or direct reports to see things in an alternative light.
     Courage and Integrity are two things I find most lacking in an organization desiring to change and travel the path of a Lean journey.  Everyone wants to become Lean, implement Lean, proclaim Lean, yet so many of us and that includes myself fall short.  My current rivers that I'm crossing are going to require Courage and Integrity as cornerstones in my Lean journey.  The courage to do the right thing when doing the right thing isn't right.  Support that with  demonstrating that my team and I have the integrity to follow through with our standard work, even when nobody is watching.
    I'm going to break this up into 3 parts.  The depth of this topic could span from Texas Hill Country all the way to Maricopa County in the great state of Arizona.  Being as this is a holiday week of Thanksgiving I'd like to wish all that read this blog a happy Thanksgiving, and to the brilliant minds who participated at the Wisdom Disciplines Leadership Course, a true and heartfelt thank you for helping me open up rivers of flow that I didn't know were accessible to me.  Then there is my personal Yoda, and without her this here slice of one cowboy's Lean journey would have never started.

Thanks for sittn' around the campfire for this post, until our wagon trains meet again out on the range of PDCA

Cowboy

Lean Life Lessons

Here is something that has been yanking at me today.  How many of us are actually Lean practioners?  Let's be honest with ourselves.  We may preach from the mountain top at work, teach the kata, bring down the rules on stone tablets from the book Lean for Dummies, yet do we as individuals actually implement a lifestyle kata of Lean?

Here is a story that is a testemant of how Lean thinking actually transforms our minds into a thought pattern of logical progression.  Picture this, you go out for you daily 6.2 mile run where you are thinking about the best John Wayne quotes to use and just how do you implement that into a morning meeting, you arrive home and BOOM!!! an ant invasion.  Where on earth did these rascals come from?  Why did they decide to come into our home?  Why are they doing a line dance into the kitchen that reminds me of ealy 90's country music videos?  Why are they moving is such an orderly fashion?  Where did they come from?

Yes folks these ants invaded the homestead and I wasn't going to stand idly by.  Unknowingly I did an Ohno circle taking mental notes and asking questions.  No by no means did I pull out an A3 and get out my purple pen of truth writing down 5 why's etc.... Yet this was a perfect chance to implement containment, activate countermeasures, GO TO GEMBA.

My significant other was right on time with proper containment measures, furiously searching what to throw down to prevent those onry varmits from coming in, *cinnamon*, eliminate the phermone trail, etc.  We were working as a Team, a driven cohesive unit implementing a standard work protocol that each of us has used in the past for house chores.  Yes standard work, works.  Yoda is a bright and beautiful person, I believe that is the reason the ants decided to descend upon our homestead.

When all was said and done, we eliminated the problem, found the source, implemented corrective actions, and restored a current state continuing towards our desired state.  What I'm getting at here cowpokes is this,  Lean thinking and proper execution afforded us the chance to actually reduce the time of the "invasion" and prevent a return to a non-desired state.  So the next time life throws you a curveball, STOP!!!! Yes, we must sometimes slow down to speed up.  Put forth some mindful thought and action before you take to the knee jerk reaction route.

That's about it for now buckaroos, I thought a true story from the front line of life was fitting for this week demonstrating to others that Lean just isn't for work.  Lean is a lifestyle that can be fufilling and rewarding.

Until next time Happy Trails and remember "slow is smooth and smooth is fast".  Thanks for stopping by and spending some time,

Cowboy

Mura Part #2

So yes ladies and gents it has been another spell since my last post.  My time has been spent with 60 hour work weeks, academic pursuits, professional development with Yoda and the leaders of the Lean world, coupled with extensive travel in my every other weekend off modicum of a work cycle that has been prevelant the past 6 months or so.

Let's get to the meaty part of Part #2.  Since my last post my team has effectively reigned in the late orders within a certain area of my operation.  Yes, the heijunka table worked.  Though it may not have been a heijunka in the true sense of the word, it suited the purpose of "manufacturing triage".  I took the triage scenario from prior careers and implemented it in manufacturing.   Do the best, for the greatest good.  Aligning steel to be cut/lasered/formed by standard blank sizes, minimized movement, maximized thru-put, reducing late shop orders, etc. worked with the modified heijunka.

Yoda will always ask me, "So... what did you learn?  What will you do different next time?  What results were repeatable?  What didn't work? Why didn't it work?  Were you driving out waste?  Why did you get in the state you were in to begin with?"  I believe I have answers to those questions.  Where do those answers lay you may ask.  In the results.  Life is a PDCA cycle, heck I'm learning life is an engineering problem that can be navigated with Lean thinking.  If what you are doing works, record your results and try to repeat with better results.  This is where engaging your team really comes into focus.  That is exactly how we drove down our late shop orders,  I engaged my team and challenged them and myself to do things better using Lean principals.  Yes, educating your team does go a LONG way.  Some of you manager "senior team" types need to take note.  Listening to the guys and gals on the floor will save you a ton of headaches.

I'd also like to credit my Ohno circles for allowing myself to ask the multitude of questions needed to goto the right people to actually have a starting point.  Without questions, we as leaders are left with nothing but giving orders and direction to individuals who may already have the answers, yet haven't been tapped.  This can be an issue with those of us who are Alpha's and our CVI is Builder/Banker using the Taylor protocol.

I'll leave you buckaroos with something I stated on twitter, I used to have all the answers to lifes problems, now I have questions and mindful action.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back to a weekly post as Yoda has tasked me to MAKE TIME

Happy Trails,
Cowboy