Hi Linda,
thanks for you story. I recognize what you say:
>.... a High performance work team
> mostly by accident because there were a few good people in the right place
> at the right time. I believe Joe Jaworski calls this "Synchronicity".
I also consider myself lucky to find the right people at the right time
and i often feel this synchonicity. The first big project i did, succeeded
because of it, me thinks. But nowadays i must admit that i also deploy
this feeling of synchronicity to get people on board of a team. I also
encountered people who have this magic "touch". They main problem is that
not many managers (none?) allow you to use it or do not use it themselves.
As i'm writing this, it perhaps has to do with the confusing information
we get: a "synchronised team" feels good, almost the same as "an old boys
network".
I remember very clearly that my first JIT project was granted to me,
because the manufacturing director (not the one that fired me), somehow
created the space to experiment, learn and improve. He had been a
succesful plant manager and been promoted and promoted. He had what was
called "a caravan": a bunch of people around him who always said "yes" to
him. I was "not in his caravan" and young, so i said: "NO, this
(efficiency, single loop learning) is not the way". And altough he himself
didn't believe in it - he just said that: " i do not believe in your
approach, but you seem to believe in it, so lets give it a try" - he
allowed it and appriciated the results. Once he told the factory workers:
"Efficient production is important, but i have been seen that low
inventory levels, quality and effectivity are important too". A few years
before i was fired, he resigned, and i still think that loosing this
"parachute" contributed to it.
> What are the lessons learned?
>
> Leadership plays the key role for successful plant floor operations.
Leadership in two ways: "Roving leadership", people who act on the
opportunity and "cross cultural bridge builders", people who move easily
from one world orientation to another.
> Cooperation is better than competition.
Cooperation is what made The Netherlands strong, not competition.
Rule 1: You cooperate with others in the things in which you differ
Rule 2: Compete with others in the things you are the same until they
differ and then apply rule 1.
> Ego strength is better than big ego.
I agree, when you mean being flexible, strong, know (and accept) your own
strong and week points
> Actions speak louder than words.
400% true. I try always to translate what i say into concrete actions and
act, interact, double interact or creact.
> Work can be a place where we can have fun, learn and work too.
I always say: as soon as i don't have fun in my work, i start searching
for a new working environment. Sometime i am obliged too stay and do work
without fun, but somebody else has fun so ....
> Teams are a powerful force.
A force or a source? The source of results.
> Training about teams and what they are, how they grow and change is essential
> and this is one element that was overlooked; it may have helped.
Yep.
> Training in problem solving and SPC is essential.
Also: very concrete: combine it: team training, problem solving techniques
ans SPC. In an eralier reply i mentioned games we used for systems
thinking. but now the old memeory is triggered: we started out with a
training in Fishbone diagram (Cause and Effect Diagram, Ishikawa). And i
still try to get people to use this simple technique.
> Fear must be removed and opportunities to make mistakes and learn must be
> valued.
Drive out fear, ye, Deming. For me this is a tricky one. Removing fear may
seem necessary, but i think it has more to do with living with your fears,
know them, accept them. Nasty things still happen, but you do not fear
them anymore. I'm afraid that we are very much guided by our fears, and
that we, because we do not like pain, have created these kinds of mental
models. In many cases, it is not pain that leads to unhappyness, nor fear
but the avoidance of fear. I once learned that most men are afraid to be
rejected by women ("een blauwtje lopen" in Dutch, is there a saying in
English concerning this that has also the colour "blue" in it?) and that
"removing" this fear creates the issues between woman and man. But there
is nothing to be afraid of when you know: "it is true: men fear women".
> Partnering with suppliers and customers is essential.
We are both.
> Commitment by the team to something greater than ourselves provided the
> "invisible leadership".
I fear invisible things, so, well, no I do not think that there is
"invisible leadership", or "an invisble hand". But i must admit that it
sometimes seems like it: it is what i call synchonicity.
Commitment, in my experience, has to do with getting the results you've
promissed (or committed yourself to). It is one of the four elements of
the 4C-model and has to do with delivery reliability and Hofstadters' law:
"every thing is harder than you think, even if you take into account
Hofstadters' law"
> I hope I haven't gone on too long.
Likewise
> I am no
> longer with this company. Too many big egos came on board and the synergy
> was lost.
Also
Kind regards,
Jan Lelie
(starting tomorrow i'm on holiday, so please do not respect exponse, ;-)
--Drs J.C. Lelie CPIM (Jan) LOGISENS - Sparring Partner in Logistical Development Mind@Work - est. 1998 - Group Decision Process Support Tel.: (+ 31) (0)70 3243475 or car: (+ 31)(0)65 4685114 http://www.mindatwork.nl and/or taoSystems: + 31 (0)30 6377973 - Mindatwork@taoNet.nl
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