Lean is hope, but not in the sense of ‘I hope things get better.’ That’s hope as powerlessness. Lean is powerful. I got thinking about this after writing last week’s post on improvement cultures. Different improvement approaches create different business cultures and these cultures accept change more or less. Without hope, it’s hard to accept change. Cultures of frustration, stagnation and anxiety are short on hope. They’re actually long on powerlessness to varying degrees. A Step Towards Perfection Every Day Lean creates hope because it’s continuous improvement. It’s a process of working together every day to make things better. It’s energizing to know that although things aren’t perfect today, you took a step towards perfection yesterday and you’re going to take another one (maybe two!) today. Every day is a chance to make things better. Even better, every day is a chance for you, the individual employee actually doing the work, to make things better. Lean engages people in improvement. How many of your employees have just given up; checked out from your organization? They show up physically, maybe mentally, but definitely not emotionally. They do the work and follow your company’s processes (no matter how convoluted and inane). But, they’ve stopped caring because all the times they’ve made suggestions and put themselves out there hasn’t made a difference. In fact, they may have gotten punished for it; been branded ‘not a team player’, ’difficult to work with’ or ‘a complainer.’ Worse, they may have received a poor performance review for their efforts. Dude, We Suck! Once, I complained to a store associate about something and he responded by shaking his head and saying "Dude, we suck." I am NOT making this up. Clearly, he was powerless and without hope. His only response was to commiserate with me, his customer, about the company’s poor performance. If the store manager heard him I imagine he’d have gotten a stern warning if not written up or fired. Lean gives employees like this a way to channel frustration and complaints into something positive. See something wrong? Fix it! Lean is Structured, Logical and Reliable Lean creates hope because the improvement process is structured, logical and reliable. It routinely delivers results; in some cases, amazing results. When a problem crops up, people don’t gnash their teeth and wail "What should we do now?" There are steps to follow, namely the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. Write a good problem statement. Walk the gemba. Get to the root cause by asking ‘Why?’ 5 times. Mistake-proof the process so it can’t happen again. Follow up and make sure the solution is effective. Where is your organization on the ‘Hope’ meter? Do people feel powerless or powerful? What behaviors do people exhibit and what do they say that let you know? If ‘low hope’ is a chronic symptom in your organization, Lean could be an answer. Let’s Ride! Todd Hudson, Head Maverick The post Lean is Hope (But Not Like This) appeared first on Maverick Institute.

Buying a house in Portland, Oregon, is a nightmare. Whatever crazy, outrageous stories you’ve heard, they’re true. Whatever unbelievable statistics you’ve read, they’re also true. Get ready to hear mine. There’s less than four weeks of inventory on the market; there’s normally six MONTHS available. Sellers are greedy and inflexible. Buyers (myself included) are desperate and foolish. But, it’s the inefficiency of service providers that makes the situation truly maddening. Lean has never been needed more than now. "Look, I’ve got hoops to jump through here." This was the actual response from the office manager at a remediation company when I complained about not receiving a promised, and desperately-needed, estimate to remediate mold we’d discovered in a house. Our inspection deadline was imminent and we needed time to revise our offer and negotiate with the seller. This response was MUCH worse than the "Dude, we suck." comment in my last post; at least that employee empathized with my situation. This one seemed to think she was the one suffering from the company’s wasteful practices. And, in truth, she was also suffering. She had to deal with people like me breathing down her neck and complaining to get what they needed. As you can tell, it’s been a real challenge demonstrating the Lean value ‘Respect for People’ these days. What hoops does your company make customers and employees jump through? How much empathy do you have for them? "We pride ourselves on providing accurate estimates." This was the reason she gave for the all the hoops they were jumping through. She seemed to think knowing this would make me feel better. But, I didn’t need an accurate estimate. I needed a conservative ballpark figure to bring to the negotiating table. Remember, the only value that matters is one that the customer will pay for. Are you creating value that your customers couldn’t care less about and driving them mad in the process? The Lean Waste ‘Delay’ is a Deal Killer How fast is the Portland market moving? Hours count. We had an offer accepted (5% above asking price), but in the three hours between the seller and us electronically signing all the sales agreement paperwork, they received and accepted an ALL CASH OFFER 13% above asking price. Those hours cost us a great house; it still stings to bring it up. And just this week, we lost another one. We were under contract and at the very end of the 10-day inspection period (it takes that long to get them all scheduled and done), another buyer came in with a better offer, so the seller wouldn’t grant any concessions to remediate the mold. If we had gotten those inspections and estimates earlier, we’d likely have come to an agreement and be packing right now. Hey, you entrepreneurs out there, there’s a market for a Lean-oriented, all-inclusive, super-fast buyer home services company in Portland. A team should descend on a house 24 hours after a sales agreement is signed and do a complete physical and financial workup on the house in one day. I’ll be your first customer. Thanks for listening; I feel much better. Let’s Ride! Todd Hudson, Head Maverick The post Portland House Hunting Horrors appeared first on Maverick Institute.

I’m spending a lot of time lately thinking and writing about servant leadership. Although much has been said and written about the topic, I still run into people who don’t quite understand the concept. They tend to think it is about the inmates running the prison, or a leader who tries to please everyone, or some religious movement. But I’ve found servant leadership to be the most effective way to inspire great performance and to create great human satisfaction. If you take a look at the companies that embrace servant leadership, you’ll notice one thing they have in common—they are all leaders in their field. I’m talking about companies like Southwest Airlines, Chick-fil-A, Disney, Nordstrom, Wegmans, and Synovus, to name a few.  Leaders in these companies understand the two parts of servant leadership: The visionary/direction, or strategic, role—the leadership aspect of servant leadership; and The implementation, or operational, role—the servant aspect of servant leadership. All good leadership starts with a visionary role that establishes a compelling vision that tells you who you are (your purpose), where you’re going (your picture of the future), and what will guide your journey (your values). In other words, leadership starts with a sense of direction. Once leaders have shared the vision and people are clear on where they are going, their role shifts to a service mindset for the task of implementation—the second aspect of servant leadership. In this role, the leader does all they can to help their team members accomplish goals, solve problems, and live according to the vision. I have a great example of this.  My daughter, Debbie, who is now our company’s VP of Marketing, worked at Nordstrom when she was in college. After she was there a week or so, she came to me and said, "Dad, I have a strange boss."  When I asked what was strange about him, she said, "At least two or three times a day he comes to me and asks if there is anything he can do to help me.  He acts like he works for me."  And I said, "That’s exactly what he does. He sounds like a servant leader." Nordstrom understands that their number one customer is their people—that’s why Debbie’s boss was acting as if he worked for Debbie. He was giving her the responsibility to serve their number two customer—people who shop in the store. Servant leaders know if they take care of their people and empower them, their people will go out of their way to take care of the customers. At Nordstrom, the vision is clear—they want to create a memorable experience for their customers so they will keep coming back. Leaders and employees alike understand their role in implementing this vision. That is why they are comfortable with going to great lengths to keep customers happy. One of my favorite stories about Nordstrom came from a friend of mine who wanted to buy some perfume for his wife. He approached the counter and asked for the perfume.  The woman behind the counter said, "I’m sorry, we don’t sell that particular brand—but I know another store here in the mall that does. How long will you be in the store?"  My friend said he would be there about 45 minutes, so she told him she would take care of it and to come back. She left the store, purchased the product, gift-wrapped it, and had it ready for him when he returned. She charged the same amount of money she spent at the other store. So even though Nordstrom didn’t make any money on that sale, they created a loyal customer who—along with his friends—would tell that story for years. And how do you think the salesperson felt about herself that day?  I’ll bet she was proud to be able to serve her customer so well. I hope these stories help you understand how servant leaders create an environment that gives their companies a competitive edge. Remember, the key to being a servant leader is to start with a clear vision, then shift into the service mindset with your team to help them perform at their highest levels. You’ll improve engagement and morale, build a loyal customer base, and create a secure future for your company.

I love the saying "A river without banks is a large puddle." The banks permit the river to flow and give it direction. In my last post I explained that the visionary part of servant leadership is about providing clear direction. If people don’t have a compelling vision to serve, they can’t work toward a common goal. They can’t keep organizational energy flowing in a consistent direction. Walt Disney provided a great example of this when he started his theme parks with a significant purpose. He said "We’re in the happiness business." That is very different from being in the theme park business. Being in the happiness business helps cast members (employees) understand their primary role in the company. Walt Disney’s picture of the future was expressed in the charge he gave every cast member: "Keep the same smile on people’s faces when they leave the park as when they entered." Disney didn’t care whether a guest was in the park two hours or ten hours. He just wanted to keep them smiling. After all, they were in the happiness business. A picture of the future should focus on the end result, not the process of getting there. The Disney theme parks have four clear, rank ordered values: safety, courtesy, the show, and efficiency. Why is safety the highest ranked value? Walt Disney knew that if a guest was carried out of one of his parks on a stretcher, they would not have the same smile on their face leaving the park as they had when they entered. The second ranked value, courtesy, is all about the friendly attitude you expect at a Disney park. Why is it important to know that it’s the number two value? Suppose one of the Disney cast members is answering a guest question in a friendly, courteous manner, and he hears a scream that’s not coming from a roller coaster. If that cast member wants to act according to the park’s rank ordered values, he will excuse himself as quickly and politely as possible and race toward the scream. Why? Because the number one value just called. If the values were not rank ordered and the cast member was enjoying his interaction with the guest, he might say, "They’re always yelling at the park," and not move in the direction of the scream. Later, somebody could come to that cast member and say, "You were the closest to the scream. Why didn’t you move?" The response could be, "I was dealing with our courtesy value." Life is a series of value conflicts. There will be times when you can’t act on two values at the same time. Every organization should have a compelling vision that includes a significant purpose, a picture of the future, and clear values. These three elements will provide the strategic direction people need on a daily basis to perform at the highest level and secure organizational success.

Continuing with the servant leader theme, I want to share a real-life example that I experienced. To help you realize that servant leadership can occur in any organization, consider what happened when I visited the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). When you mention the DMV, most people would say it’s a government bureaucracy that often treats them as a number instead of a human being. I felt the same way at the time—but like we all do every few years; I had to go there in person to renew my driver’s license.  I hadn’t been to the DMV in years and headed to the office with low expectations. In fact, I asked my assistant to schedule three hours for my visit. That’s how long it normally takes them to beat you up. I knew immediately something had changed when I walked in the front door and was greeted by a smiling woman. "Welcome to the Department of Motor Vehicles! Do you speak English or Spanish?" "English," I replied. She pointed to a nearby counter and said, "Right over there." The guy behind the counter cheerfully said, "Welcome to the Department of Motor Vehicles! How may I help you today?" It took me only nine minutes to get my replacement license, including having my picture taken. I asked the woman who took my picture, "What are you all smoking here? This isn’t the same old DMV I used to know and love." She asked, "Haven’t you met our new director?" and pointed to a man sitting at a desk right in the middle of everything—no private office for him. I walked over to him, introduced myself, and asked, "What’s your job as the director of this branch of the DMV?" The man gave me the best definition of management I had ever heard: "My job is to reorganize the department on a moment-to-moment basis, depending on citizen (customer) need." The director obviously had a compelling vision for his department. The point of their business was to serve the needs of the citizens (their customers), and to serve them well. What did this director do? Since he had philosophically turned the traditional hierarchical pyramid upside down, his main role was being responsive to his people and cheering them on—that’s why he was out in the middle of the action. He also cross-trained everyone in every job—even those who normally weren’t out front, like bookkeepers and secretaries. Why? Because if a flood of citizens came in suddenly, they would be able to respond. And no one went to lunch between 11:30 and 2:00, because that was the busiest time of day for customers to come in. Everyone’s energy was focused on the citizens and their needs. This director created a motivating environment for his people. His team members were really committed. Even employees I recognized from past visits—who at the time had seemed stiff and jaded—were now excited about serving. When leaders are servants first and leaders second, they make a positive difference in everyone around them. Would you like to work for this kind of leader? You’d better believe it. Why? Because he’s a servant leader who treats his people as his business partners in implementing the service vision and solving problems. Think about what you can do to bring servant leadership alive in your organization.

My wish is that someday, every leader will be a servant leader. Unfortunately, the human ego can make it difficult. There are two ways we let our ego get in the way of leading with a serving heart and mindset. One is false pride—thinking more of yourself than you should. You push and shove for credit and think leadership is about you rather than those you lead. Leaders who operate with false pride spend time doing a lot of self promotion. Another way the ego gets in the way is through self doubt or fear—thinking less of yourself than you should. You become consumed with your own shortcomings and are hard on yourself. Leaders who operate with fear spend time protecting themselves because they don’t really believe in their own talents. Managers with either of these ego afflictions are not effective leaders. Let me explain what false pride and self doubt look like in action. Managers dominated by false pride are often seen as controlling. Even when they don’t know what they are doing, they have a high need for power and control. When it’s clear to everyone they are wrong, they keep insisting they are right. In addition, they don’t support their staff members very well. When things are going well and people are feeling upbeat and confident, controllers tend to throw a wet blanket over everything. They support their bosses over their people because they want to climb the hierarchy and gain more control and power. On the other side of the spectrum, fear-driven managers are often characterized as do-nothing bosses. They are described as never being around, always avoiding conflict, and not very helpful. They tend to undermanage even when people are insecure and need support and direction from a leader. This is because do-nothing bosses don’t believe in themselves or trust their own judgment. They value the opinions of others more than their own—especially the opinions of people they report to. As a result, they rarely speak up to support their own people. Under pressure, they tend to defer to whoever has the most power. If any of this sounds a bit too close for comfort, don’t be alarmed. Most people have traces of both false pride and self doubt. The good news is that there is an antidote for both. The antidote for false pride is humility. According to Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, there are two main characteristics that describe great leaders: will and humility. Will is the determination to follow through on a vision, mission, or goal. Humility is the capacity to realize that leadership is not about the leader—it’s about the people and what they need to be successful. The antidote for self doubt is unconditional love. If you have kids or are very close with other family members or friends, you know that your love for them doesn’t depend on their success. You love them unconditionally whether they are successful or not. Loving yourself as a leader will help you operate with confidence and put self doubt to rest. The best way to start serving others is to be open to the concepts of humility and unconditional love and practice them until they become habit. When that happens, you are well on your way to becoming a servant leader.

I've been often asked in my workshops:See more on must-learn and learn-on-need.Read more about references.Two Types of References: Must-Learn Support and DetailsThere are two types of references: (a) must-learn support and (b) detailed references. Must-learn support contains information that enhances the learning of the must-learn content. Since the goal of the must-learn lesson is to make it short, succinct and focused, inserting the must-learn support references may interrupt the succinctness of the must-learn lesson. So, we move it on top as an optional link.  An illustrationTopic - Toxic Waste Drum LabelingMust-Learn Lesson:John says:"I'm confused. This drum is intended for XXX waste. But I was told by Darren, that the content of the drum just came from YYY plant. Shouldn't we use the YYY label and not this drum for XXX waste? Mary responds:"You have done this before. You can figure it out."  Question to participant: "How should John proceed? How can he really be sure which label and drum to use? Should he find the exact label code to ensure that XXX waste matches the YYY drum.Must-Learn Support References:If you position a list of "Guide to Drum Labels" on top of the screen, what is the likelihood of the participant clicking this link to learn more about drum labels? The probability is definitely high. Why? Because we added a Story Question in the must-learn, that prompts the learner to go and seek the answers. Detailed References: The detailed references is more of an over-all type of reference that may contain a long list of labels, resources for labels, how to procure and find them, etc. The must-learn references may also be part of this detailed reference.Build Curiosity and Continuation of the Story Lesson In the Story-Based eLearning Design, we use stories to deliver the must-learn content. To make it natural and engaging for learners, the must-learn lesson and the must-learn support references should continue the flow of the story. What prompts the learner to open the references is the conflict and challenge to answer the questions posed in the story.Learners do not think of the references as readings. They look at the references as a continuation of the story.ReferencesCase Study- Reducing eLearning Cost to 50% by Using Must-Learn Lessons and Micro-Learning.Why Simple Rules Produce Instant Learning and Application.Provoking Learners with Story Questions. Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Do you find it arduous and very challenging to identify stories that produce engaging content?  Have you heard the saying, "the answer is just under your nose?" Believe me, stories abound.  Abundance of Facts, Scarcity of StoriesFactual and data content are easy to find. They are abundantly spoonfed to us by SMEs (subject matter experts) or expert technical teams.  We are never short of data. There is an abundance of these. Remember the slide decks that our SMEs provided us? (Phew!). Unfortunately, many designers and writers find it gruelling to pinpoint thought-provoking stories to accompany the data or factual content. They say "they are scarce." Not at all! The answer is really right under our noses.  Where do data and fact originate?Data does not come from thin air. It does not come from computers churning them out into great infographics. I once saw this placard from a science lab: Most content, if not all, come from events in our lives - nature, laboratories, situations - in or from living things. So any form of data, information or statistics reflect what is happening or what we observed in our environments.  I also call these organic items. One might also argue that content is the form while stories are their substance. Taking a closer look at your factual or data content, you’d be pleasantly surprised to find stories which are built-in or inseparable elements of said content. Stories are native and innate in the content. How to Extract the StoriesTo extricate the stories, we need to use "extraction tools" or "refining tools." The tools are called Story Questions.From the data on hand, you may derive real-life events, situations, narratives, stories, characters, emotions, conflicts, resolutions, anecdotes - the elements of the story. Statistical anomalies: "What’s the cause of the anomalies? What brought about the incidents? What is the impact, negatively or positively? How is the anomaly easily described? Deviations from targets: "What drove the deviations? Who and how was this received? How are people adjusting the strategies or actions to address deviations?  Disconnect in assumptions: "What are the differences in assumptions and their origins? What are the sentiments and feelings about the differences? How are these likely resolved and what happens if they are unresolved?Fatal flaws: "What is the accident or error? What are the consequences? What was missed or omitted? What costs or benefits were derived? Exemplar results: "Why was this unexpected? How was this inspiring others? What was the contrasting, below-par results and what was the value realized? Who benefited?  Go Beyond the Numbers I learned this thought from a Harvard professor:  ReferencesRemove the Sting of Compliance Courses: Make Them Short, Succinct, Easy to LearnProvoking Learners with Story QuestionsEmploying Story Structure and Dynamics to Engage Different LearnersRay Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Learners learn by trial and error.Which is better - trial and error or scientific learning? Why?Have you experienced learning quickly by committing an error or mistake? View the recording session to shed more insights on learning through trial and error.Click here to download the PDF handout.Tips:Start objectives by asking them what they hope to learn within the confines of the topics.Ask what errors they experienced and discovered, and what have they learned from them.Encourage them to share how they would handle a difficult situation.Request them to search in company records the cases and incidents that taught people the lessons.Cite current practices that were introduced because of a complaint or incident.An example : In one company, all meetings now start with a few minutes on safety policies and procedures in case of fire or related accident.Focus on highest value, errors, workarounds and solution.Use workarounds as a learning approach. Translated positively this means problem solving, troubleshooting, tricks, maneuvers, shortcuts, best solutions, etc.Identify high impact work and business performance areas.Simplify content: deliberate reduction.Discover immediately useful content to solve problems. Teach learners to ask 5 questions. Select a topic then ask:     a. What/why do I want?  - Objectives     b. What do I know now? - Draw out experience and knowledge     c. What is fun to discover? -  Find the fun part     d. What do I want to try? - Encourage exploration/adventure     e. How do I feel? - Appeal to emotionsFacilitate learning by introducing hints.People learn best by trial error and not following organized content. They are more inclined to explore and discover. They get excited as they learn from their own insights.So... always leave room for trial and error, even if you have pretty good-looking  lessons created as your labor of love.  Don't clip your learners' wings, cut off their imagination or frustrate their need to play.  Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

   In the workshops that I conducted on Story-based eLearning Design, participants constantly ask: How do we implement Story-Based Learning in our entire company or in various forms of our learning?  There is no one sure-fire answer to accomplish this. However, there are concerted strategies that help your organization apply the Story-Based Learning Design. Reputation of Stories and StorytellingAn advantage is that most employees and leaders are very familiar with the concept of stories and storytelling. The use of stories is fun, engaging and entertaining -- not boring. The downside is that there is an inertia in most organizations to push "telling" and "data dump" as a method of learning. This is linear design which is a huge hurdle. Fighting the Momentum of Linear Design The power and thrust of linear design is so strong, that sometimes, it seems so difficult to make a change.Over the past few years I have been meeting clients, both large and small-size companies, wanting to inject, energize or revitalize their learning and training programs using principles from the Story-Based Design. Some of these companies want all their designers to embrace and always include some form of story and story-design and context design into their programs.This is well and good, but how do we implement the ideas? Always follow up by asking the participants certain questions.What is Story-Based Learning? The focus of the Story-Based Learning is getting learners involved with the stories and experiences related with the content. The immediate thrust is adding context, helping learners find meaning and applications of the content. Story-Based Learning is not a specific method and technique. Many methods we use today are Story-Based  though we use different labels. Examples are: discovery, troubleshooting, problem solving, critical incidents, case studies, scenarios, branching, social conversations and sharing, diagnostics, and many others. The Starting Point is Content DeliveryMost of the opportunities when making a change in Learning Design is through delivery of content. Hence, this is where we focus our strategies. Other types of learning thrusts may need other strategies.Implementation Tips Small Lesson Changes - Easier to ImplementUsing a small or micro Story-Based Lesson  like the "My Declined Credit Card", provide opportunities to change small sections of your content. There is a temptation amongst learning specialists and leaders to be carried away by their enthusiasm. When they find a new model, like Story-based Learning, they want to immediately make a total change to the courses and projects. Resist this temptation. Be conservative. Focus on small nuggets and snippets that you can redesign to use the Story-Based lesson.  Showcase Your New Lessons to Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)Seeing is believing and buying a concept by seeing a product is more compelling than telling about the product.Help your SMEs to understand the new design by seeing and feeling and having an experience. The theory becomes useful when seen in action.Over time, develop your own library of models, like these models I created. Show Proof that Stories Impact LearningTo prove that stories and real-life events impact learning positively, do a simple exercise and show it: Select and compare two small lessons.One with purely static and factual data and the other one with some stories to relate the value of the data. Conduct a small test and obtain the results.More Inexpensive ApproachesIn constructing lessons, you may borrow (adhere to Creative Commons policy- link to http://creativecommons.org/policies) some stories from the web sources like YouTube stories. The goal is to find a story and use this as the heart of your Story-Based lesson.Use videos for your Story-Based lessons. But don't just show the videos. Have an "experience-sharing" discussion about the ideas from the videos. See how we borrowed the Values.com video on "First Date" and add interaction to the video.Even Easier to Implement - Story ConversationsAn Interactive story is unlike storytelling. Interactive stories may be applied in all types of learning. It can be applied in social learning, presentations like Chalk Talk, face to face classes, and even in webinars.It's About the Learners' StoriesThe thing to remember is that Story-Based Learning is not a tool, a technology, or a process. It is a belief system and value system that's says: ConclusionFighting the momentum of linear design can be difficult. You will certainly meet all kinds of resistance. But if you implement the tips presented here and slowly but surely embed Story-Based learning in your content design, you will eventually see gradual acceptance. If you believe that learners should take center stage rather than the trainer, then  Story-Based learning is the best way to move forward. Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning