The Human Side of Lean

Just a quick reminder of our next
Human Side of Lean Conference Call !!!
…and you don’t need to say anything, you can just listen if you like…




Coming Wednesday August 12, 2009 & 7pm.
Call toll free 1-866-469-3239 and enter Pin Code 18874421#.
(see details below)



Here is the suggested topic for our call:

Does Group Size really matter?
You would think engagement is easier with smaller groups than with larger groups …?

Here are some thoughts:
• What impact has the team size on the approach of creating engagement within an improvement initiative.
• How to deal with small groups (up to 6), medium size groups (<20) and larger groups (>20)?
• What are the key-factors to achieve sustainability at different group sizes?
• What impact have different personalities on a group dynamic?
• How to compare our work with a lead actor, star or entertainer on stage?
• And this [********] is the space for your questions!!

Tell us your applications, cases, experiences, and lesions leaned in engaging a bunch of people in order to discuss it on our call and to possibly find THE common denominator for successful engagement.

Andreas Hug has volunteered to summarize the outcome into a one page whitepaper, documenting the major insights and lessons learned from this conference call. – Thanks Andreas !!!


ALL participants will receive a copy!
So, don’t miss this Human Side of Lean Call !!!!

If you haven’t been on the call recently …. you might be astonished…about what is going to happen, or not going to happen…. 

We are looking forward to having you on the call!

Thank you
Regards


Juergen Boenisch
(Co-Chair Human Side of Lean Tech Group)


+++++ Call Details +++++

Human Side of Lean Call
Call toll free 1-866-469-3239 and enter Pin Code 18874421#.
2nd Wednesday of each Month at 7 p.m. Eastern Time EST
Call toll free 1-866-469-3239 and enter Access Code 18874421#.
No advance registration required.
You don’t need to be a SME member, nor do you need a special invitation.
The only condition for you participating on THIS call:
Your sincere interest in Lean Implementation and especially in finding out what makes a Lean Implementation stick or what makes it sustainable.

Co-Chairs - Juergen Boenisch & Chuck Yorke

Juergen Boenisch, Ph.D., CMC, CSCM
Supply Chain Innovation Program SCIP™

JBEELINE CONSULTING
Achieve Measurable Results. Together.
2113 Falling Green Drive
Oakville, ON L6M 5B6
Canada
Phone: (905) 847-9298
Cell: (416) 839-7759
Skype: Juergen.Boenisch
Email: Juergen.Boenisch@jbeeline.ca

(JBEELINE, former Executive Management Consulting EMC)
SME - Society of Manufacturing Engineers
Chair of Human Side of Lean Tech Group
Past Chair & Executive Advisor Toronto Chapter 26

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GM: The bailout amounts go up, and up, and … yes, they will go up further!
Not long ago we learned about a $39billion tax write off, out of the blue? – These losses were accumulated and it was well known to GM that this will hit the bottom line. Now we are in the bailout bidding process, and it feels like being on an auction.

The reason lies in the fact that currently no one has any idea about the TRUE situation of GM. But from my perspective we will learn pretty soon about what really happens behind the financial GM scenes.

Pretty soon – probably next week - GM will file for bankruptcy protection and a few days later the public will be told about the true GM situation. We better take a comfortable seat and enjoy the bumpy ride, since these numbers won’t be even funny anymore and my best guess is that they will at least double the currently publicized financial situation of GM.

Filing for Bankruptcy protection is inevitable, and always was!

Around one year ago I was part of a discussion with senior automotive executives, government representatives and other experts. The common view was pretty stunning. Almost all of us clearly expressed the opinion that GM will file for bankruptcy protection no later than within the next 12 months – and here we are right now.

Why?

Let’s look at one other player out there: Toyota. While Toyota also lost money the first time in history this year, still Toyota has become the number one in global care production. Both, Toyota and GM are experts in state of the art assembly technology and in implementing Lean Manufacturing process improvement initiatives – one the expert in theory & practice and one the expert in only in theory.

Toyota has developed a unique and extremely successful enterprise philosophy over the last 50+! years. This so called “Toyota Production System TPS” is primarily based on Lean Manufacturing principals but most importantly TPS manages to address the “Human Factor” – we call it the Human Side of Lean - and consequently the company culture in a remarkable way. TPS flawlessly combines business and process improvement with engaging and truly respecting their employees leading to continuous improvement and more importantly to sustainability in every improvement step they take.

As Stephen Hawking ones said:
“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

It’s all about change and the speed in which companies can mobilize their workforce to adjust to the ever faster changing world, environment and customer demands. The time of economy of scale is coming to an end, small lot sizes, fast response times and highly dynamic and innovative companies will make the race of the future. In short, it’s all about Leadership and Company Culture to sustainable infiltrate the required change in a fast and dynamic enough way.

Unfortunately, GM will not be one of them … because it’s too late now!

A change in GM top AND middle management was avoided for far too long. Under everybody’s eyes, management was allowed to drive GM completely in to the ground which now makes it very difficult to find a shuffle long enough to dig them back out.

GM missed the chance to find a way to re-brand itself in order for their employees to even being willing to mentally join in. GM missed the chance to change its company environment since a culture cannot be changed directly! The culture will follow if the environment in which people work is changed first. The people will make the change to the new culture – if only somebody would have gotten them involved.

The sad part: Nobody listened to all the dedicated and hard working employees at GM and their great ideas and willingness to help. So stop blaming the employees and unions and legacy cost and high health obligations for the GM mess!

These are just consequences and effects of the root cause: Management. It is the fault of management and the fault of the system of how management is brought in and how management’s incentive system is set up (to name only a few). In the 50’s Dr. Edward Deming (you might remember this guy who taught the Japanese quality since nobody in North America wanted to listen to him)brought up “The System of Profound Knowledge” that already at that time highlighted the need to understand psychology and working with your people instead of against them.

Let’s keep one think in mind: Ford that was in a worse financial shape than GM. There is one difference: Alan Mulally, a true leader with his head at the right place. Since he came in as president and CEO things did start to change to the good. As prior executive and president for The Boeing Company, Mulally follows the Toyota Way and he knows how crucial a healthy company culture really is. He started to align and engage the minds and hearts of his team nicely and Ford is the only D-Three automaker at this time not asking for bailout money.

Dr. Juergen Boenisch, Ph.D., CMC
JBeeline Consulting, Toronto Canada

Group discussion on dealing with management by expediting.

The notes from the call in map/pdf form are here. The notes in document form are here. If you have MindManager software, the original map is here.

Key topics:

Differences between consulting and managing.

If you would like to join the Human Side of Lean calls in the future, typically every Tuesday evening, the details are here.

Group discussion on dealing with performance issues on the team.

The notes from the call in map/pdf form are here. If you have MindManager software, the original map is here.

Key topics:

Being a change agent can be frustrating.
Like any management task, helping people see how their behavior is impacting others is difficult. But, this topic resonates with this year's discussion about personality and behavior.

If you would like to join the Human Side of Lean calls in the future, typically every Tuesday evening, the details are here.

We were joined by Erik Herman for a discussion and example of the Predictive Index (PI) tool. He was kind enought to let us take the PI questionaire (about a 5 minute exercise) and then discuss the results.

Very interesting discussion as a follow-on to our DISC and MB phone sessions.

The notes from the call in map/pdf form are here. If you have MindManager software, the original map is here.

If you would like to join the Human Side of Lean calls in the future, typically every Tuesday evening, the details are here. Playback instructions for this call are here.

I've read the Inc. Magazine article on DDI. It is a good profile of the company as well as other competitors in the hiring/consulting field.

Toyota and BMW only get a passing reference. So I wonder if there are actually multiple ways that Toyota screens candidates? Maybe someone can comment.

Adam Hanft wrote the article for the March 2003 issue. It has a number of interesting quotes. The major emphasis seems to be the behavior can be measured/detected and those behaviors are key to hiring success.

If you read the article, check out the do's & don'ts at the end of the piece.

Short follow on discussion from last week's DISC session. We also looked at possible future topics for the Summer. One to pursue is to find someone to talk about DDI Assessments.

The notes from the call in map/pdf form are here. If you have MindManager software, the original map is here.

If you would like to join the Human Side of Lean calls in the future, typically every Tuesday evening, the details are here. Playback instructions for the call are here.

UPDATE: Andreas found an article in Inc. Magazine during the conference call. It discussed DDI (The consulting firm). It is an interesting, but somewhat lengthy article.

Pam Butterfield helped walk the group through a DISC assessment. This was a follow-up to the original discussion on February 21st.

The notes from the call in map/pdf form are here. If you have MindManager software, the original map is here.

Some of the group had taken the assessment. [Thanks for the opportunity, Pam.]  So, this was a debriefing of sorts. The information in the notes is interesting, but may appear disjoint at times, since you won't have the detailed assessment reports.

Key take away:

DISC measures behaviors, both natural (at home) and adapted (at work). Communication style and influence varies with each dominant behavior.

If you would like to join the Human Side of Lean calls in the future, typically every Tuesday evening, the details are here.