Critical Thinking Exercises for Leadership – Volume 7 – Exercises 31-35

Critical Thinking Exercises for Leadership – Volume 7 – Exercises 31-35

By Mark Preston

“Trust” should be a key focus for any organization trying to create a lean culture. Trust takes time to build but only seconds to destroy. Leaders must begin thinking critically about affecting change by focusing on building trust over time. As we continue to learn about critical thinking, focus on developing trust in your organization through consistent - constant communication and actions that speak more than words.

I have a list of 75 critical thinking exercises, and I will be discussing 5 every 2 weeks.

If you missed the first 30 exercises, please review my previous Lean Applications newsletters.

The First 30 Exercises:

1. Shadow / Emulate Lean Thinkers

2. What’s on Your Daily Leadership To-Do List?

3. Your Company Standards Should Be documented and clear to all team members.

4. Read Across (Yokoten)

5. See Flow

6. Seeing Waste

7. Distinguishing Normal

8. Who-What–When-Where-Why-How

9. Quick Response

10. The 4-step training process.

11. Audit Always

12. Standardize Solutions

13. Designate Early Warning Signals

14. Distinguish Between Human and Machine Work

15. Adopt JIT (Just in Time)

16. Know What’s Value Added

17. Don’t Let Problems Hide Behind Inventory

18. Respond to Reality

19. Flow Materials and Information in a pull processing system

20. Give Your Process a Heartbeat

21. Have a Flexible Worksite

22. Invest in Team Members

23. Never Implement Temporary Solutions

24. Mirror Single Piece Flow

25. Cost Shadows Motion

26. Time is a Powerful Measure

27. Make Problems Visible Immediately

28. Step Back from the Screens

29. Never Fear Failure

30. Delegate Authority to the Worksite

Let’s continue to understand Critical Thinking Exercises 31-35.

31. Strive for Elegantly Simple

Have you noticed that Simple processes are much more sustainable than Complex processes? By looking at the reason for the process, many times you can eliminate work arounds and reduce waste before you implement changes. For example: Trucks continue to get stuck under a bridge in Griffin Georgia because the bridge is lower than many trucks. The solution could be to raise the bridge at great expense and time, create an intense warning signal with sensors and automation, or simply put up a sign 50 feet before the bridge that says, “If you hit this sign, you will hit that bridge”. Focus on value in the eyes of your customers. No More and No less. The competition today is focused on Design – simpler, less parts, and longer lasting products. By designing your processes and products with lean in mind, you will be able to drastically improve your productivity, quality, cost, and sales. ?Your processes and products should maximize operational ability by striving for the perfect blend of elegance and simplicity.

Are you questioning the elegance and simplicity of the processes and products that you create?

32. Develop People for Trustworthiness

Leaders should strive to cultivate teams that can be trusted. Trustworthy teams accept responsibility for the management, production, and outputs of a worksite. In memory of one of my great mentors – Doc Hall. He said, “To build trust, first dispel any illusion that “my people are out to screw me.” They may think that you are out to screw them too.” Crossing such a divide takes a lot of time; it’s not a desk job, one for which there is a checklist, or a sudden transformation. Beginning with top leadership, most people are too busy doing what they are doing to figure out how to do it better. Top leaders must break this syndrome, developing people until process improvement is an expectation of each person’s job. Success is people spontaneously improving their own work, organizing their own kaizen, either in teams or individually. To encourage this, drive out fear – fear that they will be “written up” or chastised for exceeding budget, etc. By example, show people that it’s OK to try something that does not work; try again. That’s the way they learn. Stop having people ask permission first but show what they have done later. To reach this state of trust in the organization it takes continued focus, communication and deliberate proof in action.

Are you developing trust as an indicator of success?

33. Set Standards

Sitting straddled on a barbed wire fence is miserable. There is uncertainty surrounding which side of the fence to be on. There is pain associated with this uncertainty and everyone watches as you sit there helplessly. Is your company sitting on a barbed wire fence because it does not have the discipline to cultivate and maintain clear communication, direction, and understanding? A few ways that companies cultivate and maintain great practices such as these is through the following: Defined Standardized Work, Documented Processes, Target / Goal Achievement, Best Practices, and examples of the Company’s Values. Top Leadership should not reinforce standards. They should set the bar high and reinforce junior leadership whose role revolves around maintaining the standards. Always remember, if it is not written down or documented, it is not a standard and you cannot improve it. People are not afraid of Change; they are afraid of uncertainty!

Does your team have Clarity or are they sitting on a barbed wire fence?

34. Recognize and Resolve

I have often heard, “We don’t have time to fix the problem.” My Question would be, “Have you added up how much money and time you are wasting by not fixing the problems that you simply put Band-Aids on?” Band-Aids have led to more problems or infected problems that are harder to fix. Applying permanent resolutions to problems strengthens your organization, while temporary fixes will do nothing but weaken your company. A key element for world class companies is the concept of stopping the line and fixing the problem. Reward recognition of problems and resolve them with root cause actions. As leaders we should coach team members to recognize and resolve. Toyota realized that unaddressed problems on the assembly line create huge complications if left unattended. They installed an Andon Cord to stop the line and deal with manufacturing issues at the source, before they festered into something much worse. Leadership rewards this behavior and has created a culture that recognizes and resolves problems.

Are you creating a culture that rewards stopping the line, or do you criticize those that stop production?

35. Foster a “Trusty” Group.

In my experience, there are five key actions leadership should take to improve their employee’s ownership:

• Ensure everyone understands the direction of “true north,” and how to move toward it.
• Achieve results as a team, and reward efforts as a team.
• Foster each employee’s unique abilities and talents, and ensure these skills are fully applied.
• Create an environment without negativity, which is most conducive to Kaizen.
• Treat the worksite as a laboratory for the pursuit of perfection.

Trust is earned and not given. As leaders we must continue to earn trust through clear communication, recognition, positivity and curiosity. Once trust is broken, it takes years to earn it back if ever. Set yourself up to gain trust by preparing yourself even before walking into the plant. Stay focused on the team that you lead and how building a culture of trust always wins over the tools that they may use.

Are you preparing yourself as a leader to build a culture of trust or are you only focused on your own goals?

I hope these critical thinking exercises have helped you exercise your mind as a leader. In the next article, I will be discussing the next 5 Critical Thinking Exercises of the 75. These include – 36. Establish Improvement Processes,

37. Don’t Allow Dropouts, 38. Awaken Motivation, 39. Recognize the Benefits of Kaizen, 40. Provide Goals.

How can I help you?

I hope you enjoyed the article, and it brought a smile to your face. Please comment and share, I would like to hear your thoughts. Have a great week! Please reach out if you need help developing leadership and engagement at your company.

I specialize in:

• Lean Assessment and Lean Journey Development
• Problem Solving Workshops
• Strategic Planning Workshops
• Value Stream Mapping Workshops
• Rattlesnake Hunt Engagement
• Monthly Leadership Coaching
• Lean Certification

Have a great week!

Mark

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Mark Preston

[email protected]