When Process Trumps Results

Focusing on the process of improvement at the expense of achieving results

The Emperor’s New Huddle BoardsSources of information to support BPM:Quality Digest is a magazine published for quality professionals.

BA 553: Business Process Management 2

The Emperor’s New Huddle BoardsTop managers must clothe themselves in honesty

By Bruce Hamilton Published: 03/30/2015

After a one-day observation at a local company, I participated in a wrap-up meeting with the general manager and his team.

“We’ve been at this for five years,” the general manager said to me, proudly referring to his division’s lean implementation. “Our 5S rating is over 85 percent, and every department spends one hour per week on problem solving.” He continued on for several more minutes, extolling the vibrancy of their transformation, citing numbers of A3s, kaizen events, and gemba walks. “I visit team huddle boards every month to monitor adherence. And our corporate maturity score is 3.5 out of 4!” Finally, in an attempt at humility, he glanced over at the other managers in the room and concluded, “Of course, there’s always room for improvement. What did you see when you visited our site today?”

I took a long pause before answering his question. My tour of the facility had come at his request to provide a rough idea of how the site would fare in a Shingo Prize challenge. I had spent a half-day in the factory with the factory manager and several hours in support departments trying to understand the current condition of their improvement process.

BA 553: Business Process Management 3

Emperor’s New Huddle Boards (Cont’d.)

My observation bore out the appearance of various activities he described, but there seemed to be no associated outcomes. Employees were going through the motions, but not creating change. A3s posted on the factory wall had grown stale. Huddle boards, notable for their abundance, were updated inconsistently.

“Where’s the problem solving?” I asked a supervisor at one of the factory huddle boards.

“We get to it when we can, but it’s been pretty busy lately,” she said, in a tone that sounded like an apology.

I continued, “How often do you get a visit from management?”

“Once in a while,” she chuckled, “but that’s OK. We have enough problems as it is.”

The factory manager standing next to me looked on disapprovingly at his supervisor’s quip. Later in the tour, he said to me, “We need to change our culture. They are not on board.”

“Who are they?” I asked.

“The front line,” he responded.

BA 553: Business Process Management 4

Emperor’s New Huddle Boards (Cont’d.)

As we continued into the office spaces, I commented, “It looks like you have a lot of lean props, like A3s, huddle boards, and color-coding, but I don’t see much happening.”“That’s why you’re here,” he replied. “We made some big changes—cut costs and reduced lead times—at the start of our lean journey, but we have had difficulty getting employees engaged.”“What have you done previously to promote lean?” I asked.The factory manager responded, “We had consultants swarming the place for a couple years, and spent a small fortune on huddle boards. We provided lean training for everyone. Our first wave of improvements seemed to go well, but then we stalled.”I agreed. “Yes, the process appears to have stagnated. Why are you interested in challenging for the Shingo Prize?”After a moment, the factory manager replied, “Our GM has an interest.”Back at the boardroom debrief, I responded to the general manager’s question. “You have a very successful, traditionally managed business,” I began, tempering my comments. “But I don’t sense an environment that supports improvement and problem solving.”

BA 553: Business Process Management 5

Emperor’s New Huddle Boards (Cont’d.)

The president frowned a bit. I continued, “Use of lean tools like visual boards and problem solving are inconsistent and not purposeful. From a distance, it looks like something’s happening, but closer inspection suggests that problems are not being addressed, and resources for improvement are scarce. Most of the activity is being generated by a few supervisors.” I continued a bit longer, amplifying my observations with specific details from the floor.As I spoke, I noted that several of the president’s staff glancing to him for a response. I concluded, “Several times today I heard that employees don’t have the right culture. The responsibility for changing that culture resides in this room. My recommendation is that your management team reevaluate your roles and participation to create a culture that’s more favorable to improvement.”After a short, deafening silence, a manager responded nervously, addressing the president as much as me. “I don’t agree that our process is broken as Mr. Hamilton suggests. We’ve made a lot of progress.” Other managers nodded in agreement. “Bobbleheads,” I thought to myself.Bolstered by this support, the president addressed me. “Well, everyone is welcome to their opinions. We’d like to thank you for coming in today.” The meeting was over. Call me a bad salesman, but the emperor had no lean.

BA 553: Business Process Management 6

Terms Used in the Article

BA 553: Business Process Management 7

5S: a philosophy designed to help build a quality work environment, both physically and mentally. The 5S elements are sort, straighten, shine, standardize, sustain.

A3: a structured problem solving and continuous improve- ment approach, first employed at Toyota and typically used by lean manufacturing practition-ers. A3 is a simple approach based on PDCA, where the problem and solution usually fit on a single sheet of A3 paper.

http://en.wikipedia.org

Terms Used in the Article (Cont’d.)

BA 553: Business Process Management 8

Kaizen event: Any action whose output is intended to be an improvement to an existing process. Kaizen Events are an extremely efficient way to quickly improve a process. It is commonly referred to as a tool that:1) Gathers operators, managers, and owners of a process in one place2) Maps the existing process (using a deployment flowchart, in most cases)3) Improves on the existing process4) Solicits buy-in from all parties related to the process

Gemba walk: The term used to describe personal observation of work – where the work is happening. This concept stresses: Observation: In-person observation, the core principle of the tool Value-add location: Observing where the work is being done (as

opposed to discussing a warehouse problem in a conference room) Teaming: Interacting with the people and process in a spirit of Kaizen

(“change for the better”)

http://www.isixsigma.com/dictionary/kaizen-event/

Terms Used in the Article (Cont’d.)

BA 553: Business Process Management 9

Huddle board: standardized visual boards used to display improvement opportunities within a work area. It normally consists of four sections: New improvement opportunities PICK chart to rank opportunities:

Possible, Implement, Challenge, Kibosh (stop, end)

Work in progress Improvement ideas implemented

http://www.leanblog.org/2013/03/kaizen-idea-boards-spotted-at-society-for-health-systems-conference/http://www.leanhealthcareexchange.com/?p=5033

Shingo Prize: recognizes organizations in the United States that achieved world-class manu-facturing. The award was named in honor of Japanese Industrial engineer Shigeo Shingo. Dubbed the “Nobel Prize of Manufacturing” by Business Week magazine.