by Patrick Adams, Shingo Publication Award recipient
There are many ways to start a fire, but there are only three ingredients necessary to build a fire: fuel, oxygen, and heat. When even one component is absent the fire goes out. There are also three types of fuel needed to ignite and keep a fire lit. The order in which you add these types of fuel is very important. The first type of fuel is tinder. Tinder is the smallest and easiest burning material and is used to get fire started. Examples include wood shavings, crumpled paper, wax, and clothes dryer lint. The next type of fuel is kindling. Kindling is the next step up in size from tinder and includes twigs or small branches that are anywhere from 1/8 inch to 1/2 inch in diameter. The final type of fuel is firewood. Firewood can vary in size from 1 inch to 5 inches in diameter. It can be logs or split down from larger pieces. When following this proven approach, anyone can ignite a fire with even the smallest spark.
Similarly, there are ingredients necessary to fuel a mighty flame of continuous improvement in an organization. I often see leaders add “fuel” in the wrong order or miss certain ingredients, which results in a smoldering mess. We can build the most impressive fire structure, but without tinder or kindling, the fire will never really start and take off into a mighty flame. In other words, if I try to deploy tools and techniques as well as proven solutions before I have a stable process, the fire will not burn. If I try to empower my single team for success with no long-term vision or connection to mission, I will surely fail. Leaders cannot add firewood before applying tinder and kindling. The result will be a really good-looking log cabin that will never actually lite. So, what is the tinder, kindling, and firewood necessary to build a mighty flame?
The Tinder
The Kindling
The Firewood
Improvement is like a mighty fire. You must continue to add firewood to keep the fire burning. If you stop, the fire will surely burn out. Lots of repetition builds the fire of improvement capability and culture. It is much easier to get repetition on small, simple improvements than on large, complex improvements. Lean culture change requires continuous and frequent “touches” between people and processes. Although these touches can have different purposes, small improvements every day with frequent “touches” from leaders can have a huge impact. This is usually pretty simple in practice and only takes a few minutes, but it is hard work because it requires an enormous amount of diligence and, sometimes, a little bravery to have uncomfortable conversations.
In my best-selling book, Avoiding the Continuous Appearance Trap, I identify 12 strategic questions everyone can ask to understand what’s truly beneath their culture. These questions give everyone the ability to assess their operations and begin acting right away.
These 12 questions help weave together the stories of two companies that, on the surface, appear to be quite similar. Underneath, however, they couldn’t be more different. There is a devastating distinction between being a company dedicated to continuous improvement and one that’s dedicated to continuous appearance.
But why 12 questions? Why questions at all? Why not give everyone a roadmap for success based on my experience working at a company with a true culture of continuous experience?
John Shook was the first American employee at Toyota’s world headquarters. Beginning in 1983, he helped Toyota transfer production, engineering, and management systems from Japan to NUMMI and other operations around the world. John said, “Lean management is very much about asking questions and trying things or encouraging others to try things. Lean management itself is not much about providing the right answers but it is very much about asking the right questions.”
If I were to give you a roadmap of my answers, your first inclination would be to simply go implement it. You would want to implement the solutions I give you right away in the hope of creating a culture of continuous improvement. However, this can be detrimental to your organization. Trying to implement a roadmap of success from another organization will not work.
Rather, you must ask yourself and your organization the right questions. By asking the right questions, you will experience more of an evolutionary process of learning rather than an implementation process of correcting. This will be the beginning of scientific thinking for your organization.
So, what value will you find in hearing about these two companies that I worked for—one that was successful and one that was unsuccessful? Under scientific thinking, the goal is for you to think about where you need to be in your situation, set a vision, develop a challenge, and then break the challenge down into smaller targets and go after them one by one, experimenting to overcome each obstacle.
Case Study: Company Continuous Improvement vs. Company Continuous Appearance
I have been delivering bottom-line results through specialized process improvement solutions for more than twenty years. Through my work as a Six Sigma black belt and executive lean coach, I have trained thousands of successful change agents and have been actively involved with hundreds of organizations.
However, I have learned everything I know today through practical application, working in various companies in different industries. I have worked for all types of businesses including private, non-profit, government, and manufacturing that range from small businesses to billion-dollar corporations.
Early in my career, I had the opportunity to work for a few manufacturing companies in operations management. Working as a production supervisor, operations manager, and plant manager gave me the operations and people skills necessary to deploy successful continuous improvement activities with leaders of other organizations. It also gave me experience working in many different environments for leaders with varying leadership styles. Those leadership styles were not too different from those I experienced during the eight years I served in the United States Marine Corps. These experiences have allowed me to develop my skills in leadership and problem solving as well as my ability to adapt and overcome the obstacles I face in my life.
Two organizations stand out among those I have worked with all over the world. While both companies and the stories I share about them are true, I have changed some minor details and will refer to one company as “Company Continuous Improvement” and the other as “Company Continuous Appearance.” If you were to visit either of these companies, they would look very similar. However, beneath the surface they are very different.
The first company can be characterized by its amazing culture of continuous improvement. In my book, I call it, “Company Continuous Improvement.” Company Continuous Improvement provides motion control solutions for the automotive industry, specializing in assembly, stamping, and tier-one supplier applications.
The second company can be characterized by its culture of continuous appearance. “Company Continuous Appearance” is a full service, tier-one automotive and industrial component supplier.
Both Company Continuous Appearance and Company Continuous Improvement determine current performance and establish goals for success by using the following KPIs: Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, and Culture. Both have adopted Lean as their continuous improvement methodology. However, their approach, understanding, and deployment of Lean to their organization is completely different. One approach is very successful and has proven bottom-line results, and the other is very detrimental to the organization.
When reading about these 12 questions, I ask readers to assume that they don’t know what actions to take. In fact, I ask them to try to prevent themselves from having any knowledge of action. Human behaviors and culture are complex and very complicated. If you want to have a chance at being successful, you must have a direction, a purpose, and know why. You must break the problem down into smaller pieces and work on them one by one, overcoming obstacles and learning as you go.
Keep it simple. Keep it visual. And continue to improve.
Go to www.avoidcontinuousappearance.com to download a FREE assessment that includes all of these valuable questions!
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