One of my friends just returned from six weeks training in a Toyota manufacturing plant in Japan. He said the Japanese will kill for a savings of a nanosecond. He went on to elaborate that his team was charged with watching an assembly line to look for ways that work efficiency could be improved. When they had an idea they explained it to the foreman in the affected area. The foreman would then discuss it with one of the line workers. After some discussion between the line worker and the foreman, the idea would or wouldn't be tried depending primarily on the judgment of the line worker. Most of the ideas that were rejected were done so because of ergonomic reasons.
In any case, when the new ideas were tried on a pilot basis if there was any improvement in efficiency, something very special took place. The plant manager and numerous other important people would gather around the work station. The person who came up with the idea was called upon to take a bull horn and, while the factory is still running , explain to everyone what the idea was and share the data showing the savings in time. My friend said his team was able to come up with one idea that saved one second at a work station. This was truly worthy of a celebration. The new best way was immediately adopted throughout the plant. When asked why anyone would get excited about saving a second, it was explained that in one month the output of the plant would increase by three parts.
Recently, I have also been in some other places like banks, social agencies, warehouses, restaurants and construction sites. I didn't see anything remotely like the situation described above. I'm curious about how long it will be until that kind of efficiency will be routine in places other than the auto industry. Will it ever? Should it ever?
1. What improvements have been made in your organization within the last two years to benefit the customer or the business?
2. What improvements have been attempted but failed?
The responses to the questions as discussed in the coffee shop, on the bulletin board, or, heaven forbid, in the board room will vary from nothing in many cases to a substantial list for some organizations. My hunch is that most organizations will be toward the low end of the success curve.
If you want to improve or at least improve your odds of improving, here is something to try. By now most everyone has heard of the PDSA cycle, i.e., PLAN, DO, STUDY, ACT. This was made famous by W. Edwards Deming. Theoretically you can enter the cycle at any point. However I have found that by asking a few questions before you enter the PLAN step and by evaluating the outcome against those same questions you can learn faster.
The questions are:
1. What are we trying to accomplish?
2. How will we know that a change will be an improvement?
3. What changes can we make that will result in improvement?
It is as simple as that! Here are a few more hints to insure success. Make sure you try this approach within 48 hours of reading this article. Work on a problem that has a fast cycle time - no more than seven days. Run as many cycles as fast as you can. Remember that you are only running a test. You don't have to have the ultimate solution the first time. Set ambitious goals.
Here is an example. We want to cut the time spent reading the mail by 50%. We will write down the time spent on a daily basis for one week. We will not open any mail that looks like junk mail. Remember the operative word here is ACTION! You can be sure nothing will be learned if you don't develop a theory and try it.
I would like to ask those of you who try this technique to share your experience. Send a letter to the editor. We will publish it in the next IPE. For more information on this technique, please see the book, The Improvement Guide by Gerald J. Langley, et al.
Did you ever think about how an employee knows exactly what to do on the job? Or for that matter, have you pondered lately what your organization is really in business for or how it is really doing?
Well, yes, most employees have job descriptions that may cover the basics. And we do get monthly and annual financial statements. But how do we really know we are accomplishing what our organization is in business for? What do we rely on to guide us when the boss isn't around? Furthermore, do we know where our organization is going and how we are doing in getting there?
I believe these are some of the most basic questions that must be answered before an organization can truly become successful. And everyone in the organization must know the answers to these basic questions. By everyone, I mean everyone - salesmen, secretaries, engineers, members of the board, stock holders, janitors, supervisors, etc.
In other words, all the elements in an organization must be aligned - going in the same direction - if the organization is to be successful. The best way to accomplish this is to develop what I call a Constancy of Purpose Statement . This living document is composed of a mission or purpose statement, a vision statement, a values or principles statement and a set of over arching measurements. Generally, with some hard work, the Constancy of Purpose Statement can and should be distilled down to one or two pages.
I am curious if any of the readers of the Indiana Professional Engineer have such a document. If any one does and you would be willing to share it, please send a copy to ISPE headquarters or to my email listed below. In my experience it is uncommon for small companies like engineering consulting firms, and small manufacturing firms to have even a written mission statement. This is because of how they came into existence. One or two people got together, hung out a shingle or started making a product to fill a niche. But over time the business grows and evolves, principals depart, opportunities arise. And everyone is too busy getting the work out to think about these issues.
I think this is a big mistake. This matter is too important to ignore. Even if you do have a mission statement. When is the last time you took a hard look at what it says and compared it to what you are actually doing? Do this today.
In future articles I will share my understanding of the individual elements of a Constancy of Purpose Statement.
As I mentioned in the last issue of the IPE, a Constancy of Purpose Statement consists of the following elements: mission, vision, values, and measures. Usually the mission statement is the best and easiest place to start when developing a Constancy of Purpose Statement.
Simply put, the mission of an organization is the reason for its existence . Now you would think it is a given that everyone working for an organization would know why it exists. But I can tell you this is not the case. Try this experiment. Tomorrow stand at the front door and hand 3x5 cards to everyone as they come through the door. Ask them to write the mission of the organization on the card. You will be amazed at the answers you will get. The results of this experiment will give you a clue as to how to proceed from here. Generally, the mission of an organization is the purview of the owners or the board representing the owners. Other times the operations people have great input into the mission statement. Certainly the more folks who have input, and therefore buy-in into the purpose, the better.
All organizations need written mission statements. Writing them is not a trivial matter from two perspectives. First it is difficult to get the thinking of many people coalesced around the core purpose. And you can reach the wrong answer. The buggy whip manufacturer thought its purpose was to make buggy whips. When in fact, it was in the business of providing acceleration. Writing a mission statement is serious business!
The mission statement is a statement of purpose for an organization. It describes the organization's business - how it impacts the outside world. The mission states: who you are, what you do, what you are in business to accomplish, how you plan to move toward realization of your vision. It is your reason for being. The mission should define: what is your driving force and distinctive competence.
Here are a few mission statements for you to consider.
I have included these examples for you to get a sense of what mission statements look like. You can see there is no magic formula, no right or wrong. What is important is for you and your organization to have the dialog, to truly hammer out why you exist.
There are many ways to approach this task. I have found that using an Affinity Diagram is very productive. If you are unfamiliar with this technique, search out some quality improvement books at the library or local book store.
The most important thing is to get started on this. You have to "make" time. You will be well rewarded!
As I mentioned in the last issue of the IPE, a Constancy of Purpose Statement consists of the following elements: mission, vision, values, and measures. The most enjoyable section of the Constancy of Purpose Statement for me to develop is the vision. This is not true for everyone. I haven't helped develop any vision statements in pure engineering firms. Engineers may be different. My experience has been, however, that some people take to thinking about what could be and others have real difficulty doing this. In any case it is a very important element in planning for your future.
"When there is no vision the people perish." Proverbs
"Some believe that a vision is just a dream, a flight from reality, wishful
thinking, naive idealism, or merely idle fancy. Visions are powerful
images of what we want to create in the future. They reflect what we care
about most, and are harmonious with our values and our sense of purpose."
This is from Creating Shared Vision by Marjorie Parker.
I would venture to say that anyone or any group of people who start an organization have a vision for it's future. They may not verbalize it or write it down, but in their minds they have a picture of what they aspire to. They may even have the journey toward that vision mapped out in their minds. This image is realistic, credible, and attractive enough to cause them to work extremely hard. Unfortunately, unless the story of this vision is told over and over again and told to new employees, it begins to fade. And before long, work becomes a job not a joy, and people don't really know where they are going. An organization that finds itself in this situation needs to clarify its vision for the future.
These days many organizations are realizing the need for a vision statement. Unfortunately most vision statements are very general, non-operational descriptions of what an organization hopes to be sometime in the future - perhaps five or ten years from now. This approach is based on the false assumption that the people who wrote the vision statement could predict what they want and need to be five or ten years from now. A better way to develop a vision statement is to formulate a vision of what the organization could be today. Russell Ackoff in his book, Creating the Corporate Future, describes an approach he calls idealized redesign. You start by asking where you want to be right now. Then you plan backwards from where you want to be to where you are - not from where you are to where you want to be.
You can begin this process by pretending that everything your organization owns was destroyed last night, but its environment remains the same.` The assumption that the organization's environment remains the same eliminates the need to forecast the future. Then you can begin designing the ideal organization unimpaired by the present situation. There are three constraints, however, which must be met. 1. The organization designed must be technologically feasible. 2. The organization designed must be operationally viable. 3. The design must be one that is subject to continuous improvement from within and without.
This approach should be done with as much participation as possible. For a small organization everyone can participate. For larger organizations this will have to be done in stages, probably from the top down. But it is important to have as many people as possible provide meaningful input into the idealized design. In doing so you can create the shared vision characteristic of really top notch organizations.
As I mentioned in the last issue of the IPE, a Constancy of Purpose Statement consists of the following elements: mission, vision, values, and measures. In this article we will consider the issue of values.
Values are the principles or standards which individuals or organizations deem important and agree to abide by. Some people go further and refer to core values - the ideals that a given culture chooses not to compromise or violate. I have heard values described as the compass with which to steer the ship in new and uncharted waters. I like to describe them as the white lines on the side of the road. They are the concepts that, if adhered to, will keep you out of trouble. They cause or at least allow a predictable set of behaviors within an organization.
Defining values involves making evaluations of what is believed to be good and desirable, and perhaps what is believed to be bad and undesirable. The values that organizations adhere to, when clarified, provide them with criteria for choosing among alternative ways of behaving. Sometimes we think of values as having motivational qualities, because we strive for values we cherish, and we are often repelled by those we despise. Values are mental constructs. They cannot be seen. They are inferred by what people say or do, the judgments people make and their expressions of preferences. When an organization clarifies its values, then it has a set of constructs by which it can evaluate and regulate the management actions of the group.
An organization that has established a set of shared core values can in fact predict and expect that its employees will act and make decisions based on those core values. The employees will know how to work together. Individually and collectively they will be empowered to make decisions that will be accepted by everyone, and those decisions can be made rapidly, without a lot of pondering and discussion. Core values that have been made explicit are very valuable when hiring new employees. Potential employees can be evaluated based on the organization's core values, and the potential employees can know coming in what is expected of them and if their personal values match or conflict with those of the organization.
When the people in an organization can truly identify and live their shared core values, they can do away with policies. To accomplish this in an established and in particular in a large organization is difficult. But this does not mean it can't be done or is not worth the effort.
One way to begin such an effort is for a group of people in the organization, perhaps 10-15 upper level management people, to write down a recent, significant business-related decision each has had to make. Then each person should consider what principles or values were brought into play in making that decision. All the values or principles from everyone should be shared and posted on a flip chart or black board. There will develop a pattern to what was important in making all these decisions. Most times all the words can be distilled down to three to five or so key values. In the process of distilling down, it is important not to lose the richness that was shared. In fact, it is best if someone is invited to be an observer/note taker to capture this discussion. Because the next step requires sharing the results of this work with others in the organization. The sharing and further refinement can be accomplished in many ways. It could be done in the form of a survey to see if the rest of the employees agree with the values identified and whether or not the organization lives by these values. Or it could be done in a series of meetings where everyone gets a chance to challenge and amend the first draft of the core values. In any case, everyone must learn about and get comfortable with these now explicit values.
When everyone has become reasonably comfortable with the values, the values should be officially adopted. They should find their way onto pocket cards, advertisements, and posters in the board room. They are now the way decisions and actions are made and judged. Employees, managers and customers can and must expect it!
As I mentioned in the last issue of the IPE, a Constancy of Purpose Statement consists of the following elements: mission, vision, values, and measures. In this article we will consider the issue of measures.
When your organization has established its mission, vision, and values, you now know where you are going. But how do you know if you are progressing, standing still, or even going backward? You have to gather some data. You must take some measurements. That is easy to say, but many times hard to do.
Well it isn't usually hard to take the measurements or to gather the data. Rather it is sometimes difficult to decide what to measure. To get some clues as to what to measure, look at your mission, vision, and values statements. Pull out key words, phrases, or concepts which are strong or suggest something that is particularly important. Consider the ideas you come up with, and think about how you might measure them. I suggest that three or four high level report card type measures may be enough if you choose them well.
Some ideas to consider when choosing parameters to measure should include:
The power of measurements should not be under estimated. As the sayings go, what gets measured gets managed, and what gets measured gets done. This should not be taken lightly because if the wrong thing(s) get(s) measured, bad things can happen. The results of concentrating on certain measurements can bring unintended results. So think carefully about the consequences of the measurements you choose.
Once what to measure is chosen, you must decide who, where, when, and how the measurement will be taken. These questions must be answered, and the decisions followed strictly. If a strict regime is not followed, you won't know if the data is changing or the measurement is changing.
The data gathered should be plotted on a run chart (graph), i.e. the parameter measured should be placed on the y-axis and time on the x-axis. These graphs should be shared - made visible around the organization. This is a very powerful way to communicate - to inform and to persuade. Everyone will know at a glance how the organization is doing in relation to its high-level aspirations. Showing these graphs sends a signal that measuring processes within the organization is desired.
This will be the last article dealing with generating a Constancy of Purpose Statement for an organization. I am convinced that this is vital to the success of any organization. Within the last two weeks I have been invited to help two organizations revisit why they are in business. These are organizations that have been in business several years. Both of these groups have lost their way. It is only by closely examining their mission, vision, values, and measures will the leadership in these organizations be able to regain the enthusiasm and momentum that was there at their founding.
Unfortunately, my personal observation is that fewer than five percent of organizations have the equivalency of a Constancy of Purpose Statement. As a result, the owners, employees, and customers are not well served.
I can give the following guarantee. If your organization will carefully build a Constancy of Purpose Statement, the following will occur: