Howdy folks, thanks for dropping by my posting in the middle of the week. Today's topic I feel is one of utmost importance. It it safety. Something that we as leaders have a moral, legal, and ethical obligation to keep our people safe. This goes from issuing proper PPE, to having daily discussions in the huddle as I do, to having your safety record posted and using maps to track incidents, accidents and near misses.
It was during a twitter feed that I saw safety come abreast and decided to chime in. This reinforced my belief that those in the Lean world promote safety and lead from the front with this topic and not the rear. From an employers perspective it can be overlooked until the fines show up. From a shop floor employees perspective it could be overlooked until discipline is administered. BOTH of these perspectives are WRONG!!!!!!! Safety is the concern of everyone. Starting from the CFO/CEO all the way down the org chart. There is no compromise with this.
When we as leaders set standard work in place we do it for a reason. The same with safety protocol and training doctrine. This is standard work. I've written about a handful of topics thus far and never touched on this one as I felt that leaders had a good grasp on this. Well I was wrong. When asking other leaders the hows and whys of PPE usage, I'm talking front line leaders here, the answer defaulted to government regulation or company policy. I didn't hear anything pertaining to, "I do this to ensure that my people go home with all they came in with because it is the right thing to do." Nothing was ever said about continuing education on safety, or soliciting ideas from their respective teams.
Coming from my former careers, PPE was a way of life. It wasn't questioned and we were always looking for lighter more effective and durable equipment. When your life depends on PPE, it is taken rather serious. This is the same mindset that needs to be cultivated into your teams on the shop floor. Nothing less is to be accepted. Yeah cowpokes, this sounds like I'm pushing instead of pulling. Fear not, for the way we do this is thru education and sometimes show and tell.
I have a few souvenirs of where PPE has saved parts of me, one being my eyes during a rather unfortunate incident where my safety lenses shielded my eyes from some high velocity particulate matter that was unplanned and undesired. Yes, those lenses saved my eyes and performed just like the advertisements and torture tests demonstrated. I saved those lenses and have them to this day. Taking these lenses to work with me, I had a genuine and honest discussion with my team about our safety program, what safety means to them, what it means to me and our organization. By bringing in those lenses and telling the story of what happened coupled with passing them around and allowing a question and answer session, it provided context to the concept.
There we go with effective communication again, and engaging our people to improve our processes and advance our culture. Ahhh yes, people/process/culture where it all starts. There are some things that we as leaders can't compromise on, safety is one of them. Whether we be at the top of the org chart, somewhere in the middle, or the greenest greenhorn on the cattle drive. Safety is the responsibility of all.
I'd like to thank you for stopping by the campfire and reading this post. Hopefully it lands with you and can have the take away of collective mindset when going to work the next day and actively engaging your team and honestly looking at what you as a leader are doing to help promote a culture that values safety.
Cowboy
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Teaching the Team
Howdy folks, it's that time once again for another entry into the blog of the Lean Cowboy. This entry is going to cover the topic of education and how do I educate my team, better yet how do we sustain this education and pique their interest for more. So grab a cup of coffee and sit around the campfire for a while.
Every Wednesday morning it starts. We have 3 white boards near my desk, one is a 4x8 pick board in which we have divided up so that ideas can be solicited from the team. The other two are the Lean Term board where a Japanese term is written on the board with its definition. Since we clearly defined the word we have to use relevant examples in our environment. When doing this it makes the term relevant. If we were to use some example from say ohhh.. a Toyota factory yes it would still be a relevant example, though it wouldn't have direct context with the team. Something tangible where it is visible to the team and guess what? A lot of time I learn something, see something I'm not doing right as a leader, someone comes up while I'm writing on this board engages me in a conversation, etc... See where I'm going with this? It is a visible means in which to convey a term, define the term, keep it up there a week for all to see and engage with, see how it applies to us as a team and generally exposes everyone on the team to our term of the week.
The continuing education component of the term of the week comes in where I as the leader, circle back to everyone, yes thats right, everyone. When circling back engaging everyone in conversation. This does a few things, it affords me direct personal interface with the team to know how things are going with that individual, see if they understand what I was scribbling on our board, and most of all I get input back from what I was doing right or wrong in the course of the week and give them an opportunity to critique me and upwardly evaluate what I'm doing. See cowpokes a Lean culture is a learning culture. We are a collective learning unit that pull each other forward with simple things such as boards, 10 at 10 Ohno circles, the Wednesday morning huddle with the team. These are the elements of Lean that we are mastering. The basics are the key. My team knows that I've had a couple different careers before coming into manufacturing and that I bring a unique perspective and teaching style. They will tell you that a mastery of the basics is a mastery of the art, we train until we can't get it wrong. Hence we PDCA all the time. For you Demming purists, yeah we PDSA for we do not like reworking the improvement due to the fact we didn't think it out in the planning stages.
These sustainment component and continuing education modules come in the work. It is required of me as a leader to actively engage my people respectfully, even when the idea is unsound or my idea would be better served at the bottom of a campfire. The active engagement facilitates the learning processes and pulls us all forward. Though I may be the trail boss at this organization, I learn just as much from my team as they learn from me. This is the beauty of it all, the beauty of Lean. A learning collective coupled with implementation and improvement with active engagement from the team. For if it were not for those hardy souls that ride the trail with me on these 60 plus hours a week thru thick and thin, disagreements and victories, we wouldn't go anywhere. We would all be stuck back at the stable bickering about which horse we would get.
The continuing themes are prevalent here once again, People/Process/Culture, *head nod and smile to yoda*. We must engage our people to improve the process and change the culture. You'll notice I've only written about the first board and did so for a reason, I'm going to revisit this in a second entry discussing my second board where I discuss the concept board and how theory and application merge into what we do everyday. See as an engineering student I've got the hands on of manufacturing supervision first, my other careers where life and death were a daily and very real issue, and the cowboy code and lifestyle I lead are very unique to our Lean journey.
I'd like to thank you for stopping by my campfire this week and sharing in this entry. I'd also like to thank yoda, for without her, my journey to find true north would have never started and would have stayed the course a solitary man. Until next time buckaroos, keep your head up and keep smiling. Simple words and concepts, yet powerful when applied.
Cowboy
Every Wednesday morning it starts. We have 3 white boards near my desk, one is a 4x8 pick board in which we have divided up so that ideas can be solicited from the team. The other two are the Lean Term board where a Japanese term is written on the board with its definition. Since we clearly defined the word we have to use relevant examples in our environment. When doing this it makes the term relevant. If we were to use some example from say ohhh.. a Toyota factory yes it would still be a relevant example, though it wouldn't have direct context with the team. Something tangible where it is visible to the team and guess what? A lot of time I learn something, see something I'm not doing right as a leader, someone comes up while I'm writing on this board engages me in a conversation, etc... See where I'm going with this? It is a visible means in which to convey a term, define the term, keep it up there a week for all to see and engage with, see how it applies to us as a team and generally exposes everyone on the team to our term of the week.
The continuing education component of the term of the week comes in where I as the leader, circle back to everyone, yes thats right, everyone. When circling back engaging everyone in conversation. This does a few things, it affords me direct personal interface with the team to know how things are going with that individual, see if they understand what I was scribbling on our board, and most of all I get input back from what I was doing right or wrong in the course of the week and give them an opportunity to critique me and upwardly evaluate what I'm doing. See cowpokes a Lean culture is a learning culture. We are a collective learning unit that pull each other forward with simple things such as boards, 10 at 10 Ohno circles, the Wednesday morning huddle with the team. These are the elements of Lean that we are mastering. The basics are the key. My team knows that I've had a couple different careers before coming into manufacturing and that I bring a unique perspective and teaching style. They will tell you that a mastery of the basics is a mastery of the art, we train until we can't get it wrong. Hence we PDCA all the time. For you Demming purists, yeah we PDSA for we do not like reworking the improvement due to the fact we didn't think it out in the planning stages.
These sustainment component and continuing education modules come in the work. It is required of me as a leader to actively engage my people respectfully, even when the idea is unsound or my idea would be better served at the bottom of a campfire. The active engagement facilitates the learning processes and pulls us all forward. Though I may be the trail boss at this organization, I learn just as much from my team as they learn from me. This is the beauty of it all, the beauty of Lean. A learning collective coupled with implementation and improvement with active engagement from the team. For if it were not for those hardy souls that ride the trail with me on these 60 plus hours a week thru thick and thin, disagreements and victories, we wouldn't go anywhere. We would all be stuck back at the stable bickering about which horse we would get.
The continuing themes are prevalent here once again, People/Process/Culture, *head nod and smile to yoda*. We must engage our people to improve the process and change the culture. You'll notice I've only written about the first board and did so for a reason, I'm going to revisit this in a second entry discussing my second board where I discuss the concept board and how theory and application merge into what we do everyday. See as an engineering student I've got the hands on of manufacturing supervision first, my other careers where life and death were a daily and very real issue, and the cowboy code and lifestyle I lead are very unique to our Lean journey.
I'd like to thank you for stopping by my campfire this week and sharing in this entry. I'd also like to thank yoda, for without her, my journey to find true north would have never started and would have stayed the course a solitary man. Until next time buckaroos, keep your head up and keep smiling. Simple words and concepts, yet powerful when applied.
Cowboy
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Who is your customer?
Howdy folks, I'm on the plane to work and it is a Sunday night. So fetch a cup of coffee and grab a seat around the campfire. I'm here tonight to talk about who is my customer and how do I serve them.
We all have customers internal and external, yet do we know who they really are? Do these customers have a voice or do we as suppliers push our solutions and goods to our customer? Oh yes, the push vs. pull concept is rearing its head once again just like an angry rattle snake ready to strike.
My direct customers are my guys and gals that report to me. Yes those 42 hardy souls who have watched our transformation from a push to a pull and all the continuous improvement we have done, along with all the improvement we have to go. These are my customers. Yes I know what you are thinking, "Cowboy what about the individuals downstream and your external customer?" I'll have to admit you are correct and that I am mindful of what we are doing. Note here buckaroo's, I said "WE" that is my team and I, not a push but a pull system of thoughts and actions. We are mindful of our internal customer in the value stream and our external customer who pays our bills. What I'm talking about is the day to day structure of what I do listening to my team.
There have been times in the past when I listened to an idea generated from a pick board, and discussed it with the individual who supplied the knowledge and experience along with the effort to write it on the board. The problem with before is that I shut the idea down based on my opinion. I was not listening to my customer. This is true when organizations don't listen to their internal customers and disconnects occur. Shop floor will not respond to a supplier that is unwilling to give them what they need. They disconnect and continue to struggle with their current problems while we, the supplier thinks that "we know better". That is far from the truth, the supplier may know the needs of his or her customer, but the customer more than likely will have a general scope of the issue and a list of resolutions at hand. Only if you are willing to listen.
I thought I had the answer to the worlds problems and how to cure boredom with this cart I designed and constructed for one of my guys. Boy was I proud of myself. Here is the catch, he didn't need that cart, the cart didn't fit the parts he was generally manufacturing, it didn't have a way for the individual to push the cart, etc... This was just a handful of items to this solution in search of a problem. If I would have only gone to gemba, spoken with my guys, LISTENED TO THEIR NEEDS, and collectively constructed a cart which would provide them a viable solution. I didn't listen nor understand who the customer was in this instance. I thought the customer was the paint department not the fabrication department. I failed to see or ask who my customer was and induced waste into the value stream. Ooops, you can say I left the barn door open and all the horses got out on that matter.
In all seriousness though we as Lean leaders and managers have to understand who our customer is, and ask the questions as to their needs and desires. Be they internal or external customers. When we figure out what problem it is we are trying to solve with our customer vs shoving answers and solutions at them we grow as Lean leaders. Growing also builds respect and bridges along with friendships
I'd like to thank you for stopping by once again to hear my frontline experience in leading and implementing Lean.
Cowboy
We all have customers internal and external, yet do we know who they really are? Do these customers have a voice or do we as suppliers push our solutions and goods to our customer? Oh yes, the push vs. pull concept is rearing its head once again just like an angry rattle snake ready to strike.
My direct customers are my guys and gals that report to me. Yes those 42 hardy souls who have watched our transformation from a push to a pull and all the continuous improvement we have done, along with all the improvement we have to go. These are my customers. Yes I know what you are thinking, "Cowboy what about the individuals downstream and your external customer?" I'll have to admit you are correct and that I am mindful of what we are doing. Note here buckaroo's, I said "WE" that is my team and I, not a push but a pull system of thoughts and actions. We are mindful of our internal customer in the value stream and our external customer who pays our bills. What I'm talking about is the day to day structure of what I do listening to my team.
There have been times in the past when I listened to an idea generated from a pick board, and discussed it with the individual who supplied the knowledge and experience along with the effort to write it on the board. The problem with before is that I shut the idea down based on my opinion. I was not listening to my customer. This is true when organizations don't listen to their internal customers and disconnects occur. Shop floor will not respond to a supplier that is unwilling to give them what they need. They disconnect and continue to struggle with their current problems while we, the supplier thinks that "we know better". That is far from the truth, the supplier may know the needs of his or her customer, but the customer more than likely will have a general scope of the issue and a list of resolutions at hand. Only if you are willing to listen.
I thought I had the answer to the worlds problems and how to cure boredom with this cart I designed and constructed for one of my guys. Boy was I proud of myself. Here is the catch, he didn't need that cart, the cart didn't fit the parts he was generally manufacturing, it didn't have a way for the individual to push the cart, etc... This was just a handful of items to this solution in search of a problem. If I would have only gone to gemba, spoken with my guys, LISTENED TO THEIR NEEDS, and collectively constructed a cart which would provide them a viable solution. I didn't listen nor understand who the customer was in this instance. I thought the customer was the paint department not the fabrication department. I failed to see or ask who my customer was and induced waste into the value stream. Ooops, you can say I left the barn door open and all the horses got out on that matter.
In all seriousness though we as Lean leaders and managers have to understand who our customer is, and ask the questions as to their needs and desires. Be they internal or external customers. When we figure out what problem it is we are trying to solve with our customer vs shoving answers and solutions at them we grow as Lean leaders. Growing also builds respect and bridges along with friendships
I'd like to thank you for stopping by once again to hear my frontline experience in leading and implementing Lean.
Cowboy
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Difficulty in Sustainment
Howdy folks, yes it has been awhile hasn't it? Sixty hour plus weeks are still the norm, yes I still am known by name at the airport, my favorite baristas at Starbucks in my town in AZ still shout my name when I show up, and yes I still am a Lean zealot and implementer. This cowboy has not given up. My focus has been on implementation and driving out waste this past month. Once again what a month it has been.
Grab that hammered copper cup and fill it with coffee while I discuss difficulty in sustainment in this blog posting. Yes that is right I'm talking about difficulty here. The nuts and bolts of our job as leaders teaching our team and following up with the plans we have implemented.
We all read of stories of win. Why? Well, wins make us feel good. Feeling good about something usually will reinforce a repeat of that behavior or performance. I'm not going to give out a win today. Let's look at the sustainment of a win.
I have a team of +/- 45 individuals. Yes, I have a bonafide team complete with early adopters, superstars, those who do the job great, and finally a few who would tell you the sky is purple just to be contrary. The best part of my job, I get to work with people. The most challenging part of my job, I get to work with people.
The area I'm going to discuss today has been one to cause this old cowboy to have a conniption fit of hopping mad proportions. So as the engineering student in me asks, "What problem are we trying to solve here cowboy?" I scope the problem. The area in question has poor 6S habits, the individual is disengaged, his work is of marginal quality, his adherence to standard work is something one would see mending a fence without tools circa 1885. So what do I do? I do what I do best and that is solve the problem on my own, implement the solution, issue an individual audit sheet, and wait for magic to happen. Wow, was I wrong.
Becoming frustrated with this I had to bring the problem to Yoda. She is my rock, and all knowing eye in the sky when it comes to the People, Process, Culture of Lean. She sat me down and within fifteen minutes I felt sheepish for I knew what the problem was. Yup, you guessed it folks. The problems wasn't with the individual the problem was with me. Though my process control was solid, the audit sheet and visual management of the area good, I pushed the solution onto this individual. He was not allowed any input into the solution, hence he took it as an invasion upon his work area. Yoda asked me to put myself in this individuals shoes. How would I feel? Then she hit me with her barrage of questions which all led back to, "What are you going to do to solve the root cause cowboy?" That is something I could answer and knew what to do.
I approached the individual about ten days later, and had to apologize for intruding into his area and forcing ideas and solutions upon him in which he had no input. Yeah, I started to feel his frustration as I too have been in this individuals situation before and here I was doing something that I so much despised.
Once I whipped out the A3 form, I carry those with me at work as I am quite passionate about teaching Lean to my team as they can attest, involved everyone pertinent to the situation. BOOM!!!! It happened, my individuals started to solve their own problem and implement their sustainment methods based on the requirement set forth. Yeah buddy, this is what Lean is about. Teaching, People, Process, Culture, Leading with Respect, Improvement. Yes this could be called a win, yet it is a teaching tool in sustainment.
The gold nugget of information here I'd like people to walk away with is this. To sustain true change, I'm talking about a lasting testament of PDCA and culture shift. We as leaders must lead from the inside out. We must know how to "show up" at various situations and not force our solutions or alter the creativity of our workforce. Yes it sounds easy and at times it is. Then there are times that we as leaders become myopic and ultra focused scoping the specific issue and not addressing the actual problem or root cause thereof. Give the vision and work WITH your people, TEACH your people, and LISTEN to your people. When you stick with these guidelines, I'm sure you will achieve a more desired outcome.
Wait, am I just issuing orders again without consulting my customer to scope their needs? I'll be traveling this week, and I am going to make an honest attempt to post from the aircraft and effectively utilize my time instead of reading the latest issue of Western Horseman. Thank you for dropping by and as always may the sun warm your face and may you never loose sight of what true north is.
Cowboy
Grab that hammered copper cup and fill it with coffee while I discuss difficulty in sustainment in this blog posting. Yes that is right I'm talking about difficulty here. The nuts and bolts of our job as leaders teaching our team and following up with the plans we have implemented.
We all read of stories of win. Why? Well, wins make us feel good. Feeling good about something usually will reinforce a repeat of that behavior or performance. I'm not going to give out a win today. Let's look at the sustainment of a win.
I have a team of +/- 45 individuals. Yes, I have a bonafide team complete with early adopters, superstars, those who do the job great, and finally a few who would tell you the sky is purple just to be contrary. The best part of my job, I get to work with people. The most challenging part of my job, I get to work with people.
The area I'm going to discuss today has been one to cause this old cowboy to have a conniption fit of hopping mad proportions. So as the engineering student in me asks, "What problem are we trying to solve here cowboy?" I scope the problem. The area in question has poor 6S habits, the individual is disengaged, his work is of marginal quality, his adherence to standard work is something one would see mending a fence without tools circa 1885. So what do I do? I do what I do best and that is solve the problem on my own, implement the solution, issue an individual audit sheet, and wait for magic to happen. Wow, was I wrong.
Becoming frustrated with this I had to bring the problem to Yoda. She is my rock, and all knowing eye in the sky when it comes to the People, Process, Culture of Lean. She sat me down and within fifteen minutes I felt sheepish for I knew what the problem was. Yup, you guessed it folks. The problems wasn't with the individual the problem was with me. Though my process control was solid, the audit sheet and visual management of the area good, I pushed the solution onto this individual. He was not allowed any input into the solution, hence he took it as an invasion upon his work area. Yoda asked me to put myself in this individuals shoes. How would I feel? Then she hit me with her barrage of questions which all led back to, "What are you going to do to solve the root cause cowboy?" That is something I could answer and knew what to do.
I approached the individual about ten days later, and had to apologize for intruding into his area and forcing ideas and solutions upon him in which he had no input. Yeah, I started to feel his frustration as I too have been in this individuals situation before and here I was doing something that I so much despised.
Once I whipped out the A3 form, I carry those with me at work as I am quite passionate about teaching Lean to my team as they can attest, involved everyone pertinent to the situation. BOOM!!!! It happened, my individuals started to solve their own problem and implement their sustainment methods based on the requirement set forth. Yeah buddy, this is what Lean is about. Teaching, People, Process, Culture, Leading with Respect, Improvement. Yes this could be called a win, yet it is a teaching tool in sustainment.
The gold nugget of information here I'd like people to walk away with is this. To sustain true change, I'm talking about a lasting testament of PDCA and culture shift. We as leaders must lead from the inside out. We must know how to "show up" at various situations and not force our solutions or alter the creativity of our workforce. Yes it sounds easy and at times it is. Then there are times that we as leaders become myopic and ultra focused scoping the specific issue and not addressing the actual problem or root cause thereof. Give the vision and work WITH your people, TEACH your people, and LISTEN to your people. When you stick with these guidelines, I'm sure you will achieve a more desired outcome.
Wait, am I just issuing orders again without consulting my customer to scope their needs? I'll be traveling this week, and I am going to make an honest attempt to post from the aircraft and effectively utilize my time instead of reading the latest issue of Western Horseman. Thank you for dropping by and as always may the sun warm your face and may you never loose sight of what true north is.
Cowboy
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