Issue 6 – Sept 2011

Issue 6 • Sept 2011

The Three Types of Visual Management

The principle of visual management is commonly thought to be a system that shows normal conditions from abnormal conditions. This is generally true. However, visual management is much more than that. Visual management is the system that provides the staff the knowledge and motivation to succeed. Succeed at what? Succeed at satisfying the customer; succeed at developing oneself and one's team; succeed at meeting organizational targets, and succeed at improvement. Taken all together, this visual management system is a pretty powerful tool.

The first area of visual management is the management of outcomes. This system is a collection of trend charts showing results and targets, as well as the corresponding action plans to deliver on these targets and the status of these plans.

The second area of visual management is the system of managing process. This system shows hour by hour status of the process and highlights when the system is not operating as designed. Variations from the standard are identified and, if possible, fixed in real-time. If the issues cannot be resolved in real-time, then the sources of variation need to be identified through a histogram/Pareto diagram so they can be prioritized for problem solving. Problem solving is best done using a 5W and 2H approach that gets to root cause, where the direct cause can be identified and the problem can be counter measured for a permanent solution. The final piece of the visual management for process involves the action plan for resolution.

In summary, visual management of process involves seeing normal operations from abnormal operations, capturing the frequency of deviations from standard, and documenting the corrective actions for resolution. All posted in a transparent manner for everyone to be able to see.

The third area of visual management involves management of the workplace. What I am talking about here is a robust 5S system; a management system that visually creates a high performing work area. Many wastes are eliminated through 5S, and I consider 5S to be a basic staple of any improvement system that everyone should begin with.

A world class organization has all three elements of visual management in place, current, and followed. These elements include visual management of outcomes, visual management of process, and visual management of the workspace. Once you have satisfied these three conditions, you are in a position to excel with staff engagement. Giving staff access to management information provides them with the knowledge and motivation to succeed!

These three discoveries were great inventions for the 21st century manager to capitalize upon. How is your organization doing?

Lean Healthcare – Available in October 2011

After nine months of work, “Taking Improvement from the Assembly Line to Healthcare“ will be available for purchase in early October 2011.

The chapters include:

• Reason Change is Needed now
• Fundamentals of Improvement
• Common tools to See and Eliminate Waste
• Case studies on improvement ( both US and Canada)
• How to get started
• Leadership Behaviors for Success

Happy to receive comments from anyone who reviews the content!

Lean Blessings, Ron

The Scientific Method – the Heart of Improvement

The Shingo Prize for Excellence in Operations describes Scientific Thinking as “a natural method for learning and the most effective approach to improvement.”  Scientific Thinking goes hand-in-hand with an organization’s effort to transform beginning with cultural enablers. Teaching people how to improve and helping them embark on a journey of learning is a key part of scientific thinking. At the end of the day, we are trying to create a culture of improvement. Learning that occurs through improvement is a key part of transforming your organization.

In the scientific method, improvement begins with science itself; hypotheses are formed, experiments are conducted and findings discovered. The scientific method was developed and has been refined over the last six centuries.

• Galileo is provementknown as the father of the scientific method; he followed a standard structure for all of his experiments.
• Frederick W. Taylor is given the primary credit for developing the basic ideas on which scientific management is founded.
• Walter Shewhart created the PDCA (plan, do, check, act) cycle, the scientific method for learning through action as well as observation.
• Quality expert, JE Deming showed further application of the scientific method expounding on the goal of transforming. The individual, once transformed, will set the example, be a good listener and teach others.

A couple of key points in using the scientific method include:

1. Understanding the power behind the idea of the “hypothesis” or more simply put, knowing what to expect. Stopping to think what you “expect” to find awakens you to further thought when you find or better yet don’t find what you expected.
2. Clearly establish your target. Knowing you have a problem is one thing, but having a problem, quantifying it and setting a target can be quite difficult.
3. Reflect on learning. Each event and experience offers us many useful lessons; capture them!

Thanks to Toyota, applying the scientific method to our improvements is made easier for us today with the introduction of the A3. We need to approach each part of the A3 with humility, acknowledging that our understanding of the particular section and the relationship of sections is limited. As we use the model, we’ll gain understanding of interactions between parts of systems both in processes and the method of scientific thinking.

Additional Lean Training – Facilitator’s Work Shop!

Breakthrough Horizons is pleased to offer a public workshop on Lean facilitation. This course is designed to teach the audience the skills to prepare, facilitate, and sustain lean improvement in your organization.

Covered in the workshop:

• Roles in Improvement
• Preparing to Improve
• Facilitating the Improvement
• Sustaining the Improvement
• Panel discussions devoted to questions and answers

This lean facilitation training is integral to generating and sustaining improvement and is being offered as is a 2-day program on 12-13 December, 2011 in partnership with Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. The session will be limited to ~30 participants and will be filled on a first-come first-served basis.

• Eligible individuals: novice or intermediate individuals who want to learn the soft and hard skills needed to lead your organization in quality improvement. This course will apply to clinical, medical, and administrative associates.

• The training will be provided by Ron Bercaw, President, and Heidi Naperala, Master Sensei, with Breakthrough Horizons, Ltd.

• Included in the cost of the training will be training hand-outs, lunch and snacks. Training fees for the curriculum will be $595 CAD per participant. Participants are responsible for travel and for their own lodging, if required.