Using CPI to Promote CPI

While working with the Air Force’s Process Improvement program, an odd problem arose. Our training program was producing Green Belts at an unprecedented rate. The problem was that?the Green Belts were going back to their units and the leadership didn’t know what to do with them. So the Belts sat and twiddled their thumbs.

A few years back I was responsible for training Lean Green Belts for the Air Force Reserves as part of the Air Force Smart Operations (AFSO) program. There were 37 locations with the Reserves, and we had positions for Green Belts at each one. But many of the Green Belts hadn’t been trained. As we streamlined the process, we soon had all 37 billets trained and certified as Green Belts.

Every month I followed up with the Belts around the country and began to hear a similar story. Their leadership didn’t quite know what to do with them. The Air Force had a Senior Leadership course that was to provide training to commanders about what Lean was about…but it didn’t address things like:

·??????How to identify problems for projects

·??????How to charter and start an improvement project

·??????What their Green Belts could do and how to use them

This gave me an idea: I’d create a short training course to fill in this gap of knowledge.

I decided the course had to meet a few critical to quality parameters:

·??????It could not be more than 4 hours long

·??????Class would be only for members of one unit at the time

·??????Must be practical and engaging

·??????Designed so that any Green or Black belt could deliver the class

·??????The class would result in a list of prioritized projects for Green Belts to work

All in all, a pretty tall order. On top of that, I had the idea that it should use the Socratic teaching method. There would not be a lecture, but instead, as Socrates had done, it would be an open discussion in which the students would derive their own answers. Not a common, nor easy, teaching method, but one I was convinced would be perfect for this class.

Putting the word out to my colleagues, one talked to her Wing Commander. He agreed to host some test classes in two months. Things were falling into place: a vision and a willing test group. There was just one small problem. I was neck-deep in an enterprise-wide event that wasn’t going to let me develop the class. Fortunately, a fellow Black Belt had some time available and agreed to help.

Bob and I met, and I outlined my vision. Bob left and went back to his unit. After that, he kind of ghosted me. I’d reach out every week and all I’d get was “It’s going great” and “Made a lot of progress this week” and other similar platitudes. But Bob never gave me concrete examples nor any details. As the time for the test class got closer, I got increasingly nervous.

The test classes were to be held at a Reserve base in Niagara Falls. We all arrived the day before and met to review the plan for the next day. We were to have two test classes: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Then Bob unveiled his class.

It explained some key basic concepts of Lean and had a lot of engagement. It had clips of Apollo 13 that illustrated brainstorming and problem-solving. In the end, the class was to have completed a brainstorming session, multi-voting prioritization, and PICK chart exercise…all designed to have the class create a prioritized list of projects for their Green Belts.

While Bob was proud of it, I was not happy. It was not Socratic in nature. It was lectures broken up with a few exercises. It was not what I had envisioned (and to be honest, I was a little peeved about seeing the class the day before we were to test it). After some discussion, we made a deal.

Bob would run his class for the morning session. I was going to pull an all-nighter and put together my Socratic class for the afternoon session. We’d then compare the two and decide which one we’d like to use going forward.

As the class convened the next morning, I was drinking another cup of coffee (I’d lost count) and sat in the back, still working on my version of the class to presented later that afternoon.

But it was difficult to work. The students were talking, laughing, and even arguing a little bit. All the noises you’d hope to hear in an engaged class. I was having trouble outlining my discussion guides and creating decision trees that could be used to guide the Socratic discussions I was convinced would revolutionize CPI training as we knew it.

By the end of the morning session, the class milled around their list of projects; jabbering excitedly about all the great things they were going to get done. It was then I realized I had to “kill my baby” and scrap the whole Socratic teaching method. (The term “Killing Babies” was discussed in an earlier article: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/magic-process-improvement-craig-plain/ )

I threw my course in the digital trashcan, and we ran the morning class again. We had a completely different unit in the afternoon, but the results were similar. Lots of learning, lots of good discussions, and a long list of prioritized projects written up by the end of the day.

The Wing Commander was so impressed with the feedback he’d gotten from attendees, he asked us to stay another day and run two more classes. Who can say no to another day in Niagara Falls? So, we stayed, running the class again and creating more projects.

We made some tweaks to the class. Soon we had a solid version, with PowerPoint decks and supporting trainer’s guides. It was done in time for the Reserve’s annual CPI conference. There, with the Green and Black Belts from around the country, we unveiled the course. It was not a mandatory program; some of the belts took it and used it, while others did not.

Shortly after that, we were invited to present at the Air Education and Training Command’s (AETC) global conference. This conference had attendees from all the divisions in the Air Force, not just the Reserves. Some active-duty black belts were interested, and we shared the class with them.

There was no formal tracking system in place. But as I sent out the package, I asked folks for feedback on the training, and to let me know how many possible events were generated at the end.

After the class started, I stayed in the position for just shy of two years. During which I heard of the class being run 23 times and 429 possible events being generated and prioritized. Via my network, I’d heard that even more belts were running the class, but weren't forwarding data, so the numbers were likely higher.

With data like that, we could claim success! At least 23 organizations had their leadership trained and they generated hundreds of improvement opportunities.

I often joke that teams that run CPI programs do not use CPI on themselves. But here is a time when we did just that.

Do you have any favorite training stories for Process Improvement programs? Please let us know in the comments.