Good morning.
It’s Sunday. What did you learn this week?
On Monday, I got to share a story about using the idea of coupling in root cause analysis where we need to think through how things interact to cause other things. That way we can see potential solutions in the process, in materials, or in the environment rather than just blaming people for not following the work instructions.
I think the key lesson though was that leaders really need to focus first on a failure of the process rather than the failure of the person. And of course, leaders are responsible for the process. If we ask “how did I fail in designing the process or providing support” that will put us in the right frame of mind for finding the ultimate root cause.
Tuesday I shared some upcoming events. I hope you’ll listen to podcasts I’m on, register for online summits I’m speaking in, join me for an online problem solving workshop with Lean Frontiers, and register for my webinar series on culture change that starts in November.
On Wednesday, we focused on the team building nature of tiered leadership. Key Lesson: We need leaders to be team members and work together in teams to help the organization achieve its goals.
On Thursday, we got a little lesson in Japanese, learning about Genchi Genbutsu and the purposes of doing a Gemba walk. Key Lesson: Focus on relationship building in addition to whatever purpose you have behind your gemba walk.
Friday, I encouraged you to think differently about how we use Training Within Industry. The key lesson is that TWI is aimed at teaching supervisors how to be better supervisors, not just on how to teach a task to an employee.
Yesterday was a travel update, but what I learned yesterday involved a large ash tree in my backyard. It has a zillion little leaves that just get into everything including the dogs fur and therefore into the house. It’s driven my wife crazy every fall for 7 years now. It’s about 40 feet tall, and about as wide up top. The trunk is about 22 inches in diameter. It’s only 8 feet from the house and branches are constantly in contact with the roof, which my Terminix guy blames for some bugs he’s getting rid of.
Yesterday, after we took down the above ground pool for the winter, I grabbed the chainsaw and my courage and cut that tree down. I’m pretty good with a chainsaw, but this was pretty risky being so close to the house. I had to make if fall in just the right direction. But it didn’t fall on the house or on the fence so I’m glad those lessons I learned from my Grandfather, Father, Uncles, and older brothers paid off. It’ll take a couple of days to get it fully disposed of, so I’m learning about all this pain in my back, shoulders and arms from running the chainsaw and lifting and carrying all these branches and logs.
Coming up this week
- Problem-Solving Gemba Walks
- Executive Teams and Huddles
- Standardized work for fun
- Measuring productivity
- Critical thinking
Have a great day and I’ll see you tomorrow.
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