Month: October 2019

I have been on my lean journey for ten years now. While I still consider myself to be something of a novice, I have begun to ask some sharper questions of the body of knowledge that we all call lean.

One development in my understanding is the notion that organisational systems, such as lean, only begin to live when they populated by living, breathing people.

Without the organic input of people, these business systems are merely frameworks at best or abstract, potentially non-existent constructs at worst.

It seemed, to me at least, prudent to think more about the people. I began to get interested in psychology.

I must, at this stage, point out that my studies are only at a very preliminary standing. However, my enthusiasm for what I am learning is such that I would like to share some initial ideas with you now.

I hope that this will become a series of articles, perhaps that I will eventually pull together into a book. I am sure that other, more qualified thinkers are doing similar work, but here, at least is my own input into the debate.

During this series, I will be drawing almost exclusively from one text. I include the appropriate referencing throughout. The book in question was suggested at the end of an online Neuro-Linguistic-Programming (NLP) course that I did a year or so ago. It is the remarkable “A Road Less Travelled” by M.Scott Peck. Early on, Peck states:

“Life is difficult.” (p.3)

Such a quote is a wonderful starting point for our articles. How easy would it be to paraphrase and conclude that “lean is difficult?!”

Our job, in both cases, is to attempt to rise above that difficulty through constant examination and growth. As Peck says, “Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and failure.”(p.4) Successful lean systems are reliant upon how well we develop the people that give life to that system.

“It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually.” (p.4)

And herein lies the real meaning of lean. When we fundamentally respect the people that work around us, we create an environment where we all strive to learn, improve and solve problems. As we individually grow, the group grows, and the system and the business grow. But this requires real effort and commitment. Peck calls it out in one word, which is the title for the entire first section of the book – discipline.

“Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life’s problems.” (p.3)

Whether it be a waste that we see in our process, a quality or time issue that we are aware of, we must draw upon discipline. This discipline requires that we create the time and space to look the problem square in the eye. However, this is where the difficulty arises.

Without discipline, we will seek to delay the hard work of reflection and problem solving and settle with the instant gratification of continuing where we find comfort. Typically, this lies in continuing to deliver the work that we like to do, irrespective of outcome. We apply the sticking plaster, in the hope that we will never have to explore the real reason of why we got cut. Peck illustrates this paradox with a case study from a patient:

“The solution of the problem represented gratification to her, but she was unable to delay this gratification for more than a minute or two, with the result her problems were usually inappropriate.” (p.17)

The example sounds very much how we seem to work. We can lack the discipline to stop and solve our issues once, at their root cause. We keep going in the pursuit of a target, unwilling to delay our gratification in achieving that target. Let’s feel good today and solve the problem tomorrow. Maybe it will even go away by itself.

We reassure ourselves by stating that “this is business” that “the target must be reached.” But tomorrow, we will climb that mountain all over again, and find the same boulders on the way up.

When we were children, we learned that if we did our homework first, the joy of our play was all the greater. As a collective group, under the umbrella of the lean enterprise, we still find the notion of delaying gratification difficult. It is this difficulty that leads to a fire-fighting culture.

In this sense, lean becomes a people system charged with holding up the mirror and doing so in an environment of respect and constant learning. Where we work around problems, we are not showing ourselves respect, nor working in a way in which we will know the joy of improvement.

Discipline, both personal and organisational, it seems, is the necessary starting point.

This post is the first in a series. I hope you will join me for the others.

Bibliography:

PECK, M Scott: “The Road Less Travelled” Penguin Random House UK (1978.)

On 12th October 2019, in the Austrian capital of Vienna, Eliud Kipchoge ran the 26.2 miles of the marathon in 1:59.40. This was the first time that the distance had been completed in a time under two hours. It was a truly historic moment in athletics, sport and human history.

In my upcoming book, “First Time Lean for Small Businesses,” I discuss a similar event to help uncover some of the foundational elements of continuous improvement. In that instant it was the first four minute mile, run by Sir Roger Bannister on 6th May 1954.

That Kipchoge managed to run twenty-six consecutive miles at an average of four and a half minutes each, is nothing short of sensational, and he is to be rightly lauded for that remarkable achievement. But, like Bannister, his was not an individual achievement. It was the achievement of a focused enterprise.

Like any focused enterprise, it began with a goal. This goal was embodied in the Ineos 1:59 Challenge and a project team was assembled to work on the attempt. With the goal in place, all of the actions could be identified to achieve success in the shared vision.

As of 2014, Kipchoge’s compatriot held the World Marathon Record, with a time of 2:02.57. This meant that 177 seconds needed to be shaved off the time. Over 26.2 miles, this meant that each mile needed to be run, on average, 6.76 seconds quicker. The team had their goal and initial measures in place.

Next came selecting the runners. As the pre-eminent marathon runner in the world, and current Olympic champion, Kipchoge was the obvious candidate to spearhead the campaign. However, on the 12th October, he was joined by an incredible forty-one pacemakers. These included World and Olympic champions from many distance running disciplines. The right people had been selected for the team.

In a previous attempt, the pacemakers had run around three participants in a diamond formation. This time, they ran around one participant in a “V” formation. The Ineos group were applying the PDCA cycle. Having failed in 2017, they used the learning to try out another experiment and hypothesis. Furthermore, they employed sophisticated Visual Management techniques. The pacemakers were laser guided. At any time, there was clear information as to whether the runners were ahead, behind, or on target. The enterprise knew were they were at any given time.

In true 5S spirit, the surroundings were carefully planned and chosen to maximise Kipchoge’s potential to meet his target. Vienna was a city at the optimum temperature and sea-level. It could also offer a relatively flat course that was in the same time-zone in which Kipchoge trained. Therefore the runner would be able to work comfortably and achieve the standard splits required to stay on track.

Further support from the environment came in the shape of spectators. It was reasoned that this would further motivate Kipchoge when the going inevitably got tough. Effectively, Kipchoge had hundreds of managers offering him support in his workplace. Whilst it is difficult to measure the overall effectiveness of this measure, it certainly didn’t do any harm.

In Kipchoge, the team effectively had a running machine. This machine needed to be looked after to prevent breakdown and sub-optimal performance. As part of the planned maintenance, Kipchoge was given fluids at frequent intervals, which were delivered to him by a colleague on a bicycle. Kipchoge’s running shoes were also of the very latest technological design – and were thought to be 4% more efficient than their predecessors.

With all this co-ordinated and focused activity, the enterprise gave themselves the best chance possible to reach their goal. True, they needed an exceptionally talented individual to deliver the triumph, but Kipchoge was able to produce his best only with the support of a team of individuals aligned in totality to the task of beating the two-hour mark. Rightly, it will be Eliud Kipchoge’s name that enters the history books, but his colleagues will have a remarkable story to tell.

In the businesses in which we all work, we are gifted to work with whole teams of talented individuals. Like the collective behind the Kipchoge success, we need to align our efforts to the goals that the customer sets for these teams. How can we support our value-added colleagues to do the best that they can, at all times? If we know where we are and where we would like to be, the rest is just about pulling on our trainers and joining the points – even if they are twenty-six miles apart.

Have you ever been to a beach and written your name in the sand? Then, have you relaxed back, in the sun, and watched as the waves gently lapped the impression away and returned the sand to its smooth, original state?

That is what reading the non-fiction title “Results,” by Jamie Smart, is like.

It could be that this book will become part of a canon of classics in a generation’s time. One of those works that has helped to future-proof the way we interact with the world.

Jamie uses the phrase VUCA to describe that world. It means “Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous,” which aptly describes the environment in which many of us survive. “Results” is a wonderfully soothing piece of work in the face of this outlook. And, best of all, you don’t have to do anything special to enjoy that release.

“Results” is a difficult book to describe without hinting at the message. So, in that sense, I will not try. What I can say is that the book is written in a wonderfully straight-forward and friendly style. If you have ever encountered any audio or video of Jamie Smart, you will find that it is impossible to read the words without hearing the soft hug of his voice. It is, simply, a wonderful piece of work.

To summarise, would I recommend this book? Yes. Without hesitation. I would not put the reader off its predecessor either, the classic “Clarity,” on which this work builds. In my experience, both books have a knack of finding you, at the moment when you are ready, so, if you are reading this, there is really only one decision to make. Please buy this book and thank yourself later for making such a great investment!

An easy 5 out of 5!

Please find a link to purchase this book here.