<![CDATA[BIRCH CONSULTING LLC - Blog]]>Fri, 22 Nov 2024 20:54:01 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Reliable Leading Indicators]]>Wed, 19 Jun 2024 18:51:04 GMThttp://birchconsultingllc.com/blog/the-most-reliable-leading-indicatorPicture
​If we want to reach our targeted, or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), we would be best able to intervene early, because once you have a result it is a metric from the past. Thus the relentless search for some kind of magical "leading indicator." What can we look at to reliably predict the results we are going to get? 

Much time, effort, and money has been put toward developing fancy algorithms and predictive models. I can't help but imagine lots of folks hunched over their computer worksheets figuring this out. If only they would look up from their work station and OBSERVE what people are actually doing throughout the process that leads to results. (known as the Gemba in Lean / Operational Excellence circles). 

The most reliable leading indicator of results are the behaviors of people who are doing the customer facing work, as well as the people doing the work all along the process (value stream) of the product and/or service being provided.

Here is a very simple but real example: When you enter a retail store, you may be welcomed with a cheery "Hello!" A warm welcome (the behavior) has a direct impact on results: lower rate of shoplifting, and a higher rate of sales. When stores don't have a practice of greeting customers, they experience the opposite results.
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How do we know what the ideal behaviors are for people doing the work all along the value stream? We can ground the behaviors in our understanding of the Guiding Lean Principles.
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Each of the principles is associated with a suite of behaviors, in this document you can consider the behaviors for the first two sets of "Engage" and "Align" principles.

​A deep understanding of the principles and their associated behaviors is the first step in a wholistic development of Operational Excellence that sustains over time. These also set up the systems and tools that are developed, topics I will cover in future blog posts.

Wishing you Joy at Work,
Jim Barker
]]><![CDATA[Sustaining Lean Tools (video)]]>Thu, 09 Nov 2023 21:58:04 GMThttp://birchconsultingllc.com/blog/free-video-making-it-stick-how-to-sustain-lean-toolsEnjoy this free video presentation offered at the 2023 Washington State Government Lean Transformation Conference. 
Have you ever experienced the deployment of a new tool across your organization in the hopes of dramatic improvements, but experienced limited results, and/or resistance to the helpful technique? You're not alone! In this provocative talk, Jim Barker will describe what it takes to create an environment where tools make sense, systems work, and results are aligned.
YouTube link> ​https://youtu.be/d8g0n6530H4?si=9FVIfzjxZTGtWqrs
]]><![CDATA[Where to Start?]]>Fri, 25 Oct 2019 17:30:23 GMThttp://birchconsultingllc.com/blog/where-to-startIt is often overwhelming to take on organizational transformation. So often we have an idea that transformations are time bound, goal oriented, and focused on success. This can be helpful when working on a project, but is less helpful with transformation of a business. 

I get asked where to start quite often. Here is the answer: with the CEO. (business owner, executive director, president - call them what you will). The vast majority of the data shows that sustaining an organizational transformation is a function of the "big-B" belief of the CEO. 

The ideal engagement of the business leader starts with a learning journey. This often includes a visit to other organizations who have experienced a Lean transformation, who have become "learning organizations." These visits (or study missions) are designed to challenge the thinking of executive leadership both in the way they lead, and in the way they look at their own company.

The learning journey also includes a personal and ongoing study of the Lean Principles, the ideal behaviors they imply, and the impact on the work when they are brought to life in an organization:
     Align
        • Constancy of purpose
        • Provide value to the customer
        • Systems thinking
     Enable
        • Lead with humility
        • Respect every individual
        • Learn continuously
     Improve
        • Focus on process
        • Provide quality at the source
        • Flow and pull value
        • Understand and manage variation
        • Embrace scientific thinking
        • Seek perfection

Once the CEO has an initial grasp of the principles, we can bring some of the other executives on board, and try a small experiment in applying the principles to solve a small problem. I have had success in coaching an executive team in solving problems of communication, teamwork, visibility, overburden of meetings, misalignment to goals, and more.

As the executive teams learn, they can support the work at each layer of management, and have an understanding of what it takes, and the investment required in learning and iterating. 

Soon, the executive team are true sponsors of the transformation, aligned to a set of principles, in support of the organization's values and beliefs.
]]><![CDATA[WA State Lean Conf. 2019]]>Wed, 09 Oct 2019 20:49:09 GMThttp://birchconsultingllc.com/blog/reflections-on-the-wa-state-lean-transformation-confOver the past two days I attended the Washington State Lean Transformation Conference in Tacoma, WA. The conference is fantastic, featuring speakers from across the country on lean topics, as expected, but also leadership, story telling, human-centered leadership, and culture. 

One of the things I love to do is learn, and conferences are a fantastic opportunity to do so. Here are some takeaways from the past two days:

Day One Keynote speaker August de los Reyes is a designer with great renown, pioneering design interfaces for Microsoft, Pinterest, and Google to name a few. His talk was about how design and play drive continuous improvement. My big takeaway was in a new way of perceiving disability.

August is in a wheelchair, and has great interest in the topic. He looks at disability not as a problem with the disabled person; that is, not in a medical model, but in a cultural model: disability as a mis-match between the abilities of the person, and the environment the person is in. We can use good design to innovate and improve to overcome these mismatches. In fact, he cited many major inventions that were actually born out of a way to design around a disability: the keyboard as a way for a blind countess to communicate with her sighted, secret lover. Email as a way for a deaf father to communicate with his family. 

I reminds me of the old adage: necessity is the mother of invention. We can innovate and improve when we focus on our desire to achieve something, especially when what we are trying to achieve really matters.

Day two I was inspired by my friend and colleague, Jennifer Haury, CEO and Organizational Anthropologist at All Angles Consulting. Jennifer spoke about how storytelling supports getting results. When we structure things in the form of a story, we can teach, inspire, and embed learning in a lasting way. We were inspired to create a story using the acronym SOAR: describe the Situation, the Obstacle(s), the Actions taken, and the Results achieved. I also like to add the Learnings (SOAR-L). 

I'm so grateful for the State of Washington and Results Washington for hosting this fabulous conference every year. (Look for me as a speaker at future conferences!)

What conferences do you find inspiring? 
]]><![CDATA[Creating Joy at Work]]>Thu, 05 Sep 2019 21:58:03 GMThttp://birchconsultingllc.com/blog/creating-joy-in-the-workHave you ever experienced any of the following:
  • A well meaning leader (or colleague), hoping for dramatic improvement, dictating the use of a tool across the organization? Perhaps they are hot off the end of a conference or tour with wild and new-fangled ideas to try.
  • A series of "improvements" scattered about the organization without an overall strategy linking them together? (And in some cases, the improvements work against each other.)
  • Resistance to continuous improvement efforts due to past management programs that have not sustained? (Another 'flavor of the month' to contend with) 
If you answered "yes" to any of these, know that you are not alone! Most organizations, teams, and groups have attempted some sort of improvement effort. Most have achieved small wins, but few have achieved the types of enterprise-wide transformations promised in the myriad of books, whitepapers, and case studies that exist on Lean or enterprise excellence. 
Yet, there are organizations that have achieved something extraordinary. Those books, whitepapers, and case studies are telling real stories of achievement, often with real candor about the struggles it took to get there.  
What storytelling is unable to do is transmit the experience - the pain, anguish, struggle, compromise, failure, learning, and painstakingly slow process of achieving successes, only to find that they are fragile and hard to sustain. All of us are also looking for how to DO the thing, rather than deeply understanding the failures.
Just like what it takes to embrace a fitness goal, companies who have seen success have had perseverance, a long-term perspective, and an investment mindset.  

"Geez, Jim - I thought this post was about JOY. What's up?"

YES - this post is about joy. If we look at the definition of joy in Webster's, it reads: "the emotion evoked by wellbeing, good fortune or success, or by the prospect of expressing what one desires."
What I notice about this definition is three fold:
  • Joy is a result. The definition implies that joy is what happens as a result of success.
  • Joy does not mean happiness. Wellbeing, good fortune, or success - these things invariably take hard work and effort
  • Joy exists when there is possibility. The prospect of expressing what one desires means that when we can provide hope, joy can be present. 
That last point is an important one. The prospect of joy is what keeps me moving forward in this work. This is also what keeps my clients moving forward. There are few things that create as much joy as well-earned success.
]]><![CDATA[The Re-Org Myth]]>Thu, 15 Aug 2019 19:30:41 GMThttp://birchconsultingllc.com/blog/re-orgs-pause-improvementI am working with a technology group right now that is having trouble. While coaching one of the directors yesterday, I asked what was going on with his team that they were not projected to hit all of their goals. 

He lamented that that the team was trying to do Lean, as well as working on team cohesion, new leadership, and team culture. 

The group had recently re-organized — the sixth year in a row that this had happened. In fact, this director was on his seventh boss in that time.

I pondered this this state of affairs, and the eagerness to “solve problems” or “improve things” via re-orgs that seemed to be such a quick go-to for that groups senior leadership.

The re-org myth: you can’t re-org into improvement. You must to improve in order to re-org. 

Maybe this his is common knowledge among management consultants, but it doesn’t seem to be common knowledge among the leaders I’m working with. It is surprising that they are unaware of the impact of the re-org on the people. Maybe because they always work extra hard to meet their revenue goals, at the expense of employee engagement, morale, and retention goals. 

Not to mention not meeting goals for their Lean Management System, or improvement idea goals. 

I have noticed that it’s takes about a year for a team to go through the form, storm, norm stages before they have enough stability to start or resume Lean activities. 

What at are your thoughts about re-orgs? How have you seen them done well or poorly?]]><![CDATA[There's No ROI in Lean*]]>Sun, 04 Aug 2019 04:13:24 GMThttp://birchconsultingllc.com/blog/where-is-the-roi"Hey Jim: where is the return on investment for doing all this improvement work?"

This is a frequent question I get from clients. Where is the ROI? When will I start seeing results? Show me the money.

Many consultants will reply to this question with examples of companies who, through application of clever tools, were able to quantify the savings and results. In fact, I just looked at a consultant website that had enumerated the dollar savings from the improvement work they lead to be in the several-hundred-thousand range. 

Here is what my sensei said to me, and what I will say here - even though it will likely be unpopular: There is no ROI in Lean*

Note the asterisk. What that really means is this - most who ask the question about ROI are approaching Lean and Operational Excellence with a short-term, "what's in it for me" mindset. This mindset is not compatible with what Lean truly is. So, the response from to the supposition of the question is accurate: If you are looking for a short-term quick fix, Lean is the wrong approach. There are other cost-cutting measures that will be more helpful if that is what is actually needed, such as layoffs, labor cost interventions, and financial restructuring. 

Lean based Operational Excellence is a long-term investment in your company. It has extraordinary results when implemented in a consistent, systemic, and leader-led way.

Lean can be very fast - in fact, it can be the fastest transformation a company has ever done. The limitation on the speed of Lean is really based on the engagement of the CEO/Owner.

I love responding to the questions at the start of this post with this snarky answer: "There is no ROI."  The response is almost always, "Well then why the hell should we do it???!!" 

Now THAT is an excellent question! That is the question I love to dig into. Why are you doing Lean? Why is Lean a good idea? What DOES Lean provide a company? What is Lean anyway?

With this question, and some curiosity, we can explore what really matters, and start to craft a plan to bring your business dreams into reality.]]><![CDATA[Lean: Fitness for Business]]>Tue, 02 Jul 2019 14:11:58 GMThttp://birchconsultingllc.com/blog/getting-religion-on-leanI was attending a social event recently, and chatting with some other consultant colleagues about approaches to deploying a philosophy of improvement into the culture of an organization.  

One of the consultants, in an attempt to coach another who was sharing their struggles, said, "Ya know, that CEO of yours just needs to get Lean as his religion!" We all cheered this idea (including me), but after thinking about it, I realized that this isn't quite right. What follows is a distillation of the weeks of thought since then, and what I wish I could have said that day.

Lean as religion? No - I don't agree. In an organization, the "religion" would be the values and beliefs. Things that offer meaning and purpose to the work that they do. Some companies do this really well with awesome "North Star" type of purpose statements: Autoliv airbag manufacturer: "We Save Lives," Southwest Airlines, "THE low cost airline." It also shows up in the values statements of companies, things like, "Balance in Work and Life" or "We Get Further Together." These are things that, as one executive client said, "I'd go down with the ship for." These are things we believe, we fight for; things that make the org unique, give it meaning, and are subjective to each institution. 

Lean is NOT religion. Lean is based on observational science, and the best data we have to date on what makes companies successful. Lean is always improving based on the latest evidence, whereas a companies purpose is most likely to remain constant (if it is a good one). 

So, what is Lean if not religion? I see Lean as "fitness for business." In many ways, this isn't even a metaphor, but a literal explanation of Lean. (...also makes many of the words in Lean have a double meaning that is awesome: waste/waist, lean/Lean, etc) 

What does Lean do for an organization? The goal of Lean is to provide maximum value to the customer with the minimum amount of resources in the most human centered way possible by eliminating waste. 
  • Value: defined by the customer - it is what the customer is coming to you for, and (generally) is paying for.
  • Resources: time, effort, space, money, systems, steps.
  • Human centered: making the easy stuff as simple and straightforward as possible, saving ourselves for the hard stuff that we need to figure out, and make easy.
  • Waste: overburden on people, over-processing, re-dos, fixes, over-ordering, wait time, search time, errors, defects, excess movement and transportation of people, products and information, under-utilization of people, to name a few.

Just like a fitness program, many people might say something like this, "You just need to move more and eat less!" Raise your hand if that advice has ever helped anyone lose weight. No? Exactly. Likewise, Lean is an easy concept to grasp - "Just eliminate the waste and focus on the value!" but very hard to implement. 

Just like a fitness program, Lean requires a change in mindset. Lean is NOT a quick-fix. It is a cultural transformation over a long-term that changes how an organization operates. 

Lean is done in little steps, sometimes a millimeter at a time, and these steps are designed to sustain. Lean is designed to facilitate rapid learning and iteration over time, so that a culture of innovation forms that slowly accelerates performance.

At first, Lean is a huge investment, and requires a LOT of coaching. Companies usually resist, preferring to go back to their old ways quite often. In the thick of the struggle of improving, not everyone has the right coach, right approach, or perseverance to succeed.  But for those that do, and have a breakthrough - wow - their transformation is remarkable. 

Just like a fitness program, taking this on can be overwhelming. That is why the right consultant is so important - someone committed to JOY, and who has seen success, and is a stand for the future right along with you. 

Have you ever embarked on a program? How has it gone? What were the factors that contributed to it's success or failure?]]>