By Billy Bennett
Failure can be a great teacher.  I prefer to call them “Do-Overs.” 

Life provides opportunities to apply lessons from one situation to another one later.  At that point, you not only become the hero, but you also appear wise. Which proves that wisdom is stupidity and ignorance that benefits from aging.  

When examining your failures, take the time to review them from three  angles: 

1. What did we do? …
2. How did we do it?… and
3. Were the individuals involved ready to accept the initiative? 

The readiness factor can be many things but it always includes – Trust.  Do they trust you?  Do they trust leadership? Do they trust each other? … Do you trust them? 

The Facilitator Partner Advantage

Insiders are often just a little frustrated when third party facilitators (like us) - organization outsiders - make progress doing things insiders have tried.  Why does it work for us working alongside of leadership rather than leaders standing alone?  Usually the reason lies in angles 2 and 3: On # 2  "How did we do it..."  trained, neutral facilitators create a unique approach.   They design the approach to meet the need.  Good facilitators have a strong understanding of process and a multifaceted toolbox and draw on both to create a plan and are capable of adapting the plan as situations evolve to get peak outcome from the group.   On # 3: Facilitators asses for readiness throughout the process, never hesitating to call a "time out"  when process, progress and people are out of synch.  Both of these skills have the multiplying effect of being "trust building" skills.

A good facilitator establishes neutral space.  An atmosphere where people sense the security of ideas.  A place where they sense a fair hearing of ideas.  A place where even those who feel uncomfortable with the precision of their wording sense they will be helped in crafting the correct meaning.  In these spaces, real conversations are more likely than position speaking.  Employees feel more comfortable asking questions and offering ideas.  Leaders feel more comfortable speaking openly.  Everyone appears more “Real”.  Honest.  Safe.  Even in the middle of uncomfortable topics.  

Facilitating the Gordian Knot

Good facilitators manage this differently for many reasons but a very important reason is because they they first check readiness- the trust levels – of individuals or groups before designing an approach.  The hard-wiring I mentioned in earlier posts is what I'm talking about here.  Facilitators look at this hard-wiring and recognize that a Gordian knot of trust must be unraveled...there are consequences for getting it wrong. However, the trained facilitator's advantage is in knowing to think two steps ahead in the process and preparing options for the dangerous bits.  It is hard work analyzing group dynamics while trying to achieve a work objective or to "convert" people to your side.  That is why leaders are by definition not facilitators.  They can act facilitative but they cannot provide the neutrality people are seeking in the conversation...if it is to be a conversation.   People assess danger when leaders pose as facilitators.   The filters and guards come into action and progress slows. 

Be A Leader

I have seen many times where an inexperienced manager wants to fly solo because he wants to establish him or herself as leader.  In the end, just the opposite happens.  As a leader there are very few things you are neutral about.  You have opinions - good ones - that others need to hear and to discuss.  Leaders misstep when attempting to facilitate when they need to lead.  The misstep is that in the effort to appear open and welcoming of ideas - they soften or hold back when they need to provide more clarity and directness.  They then appear to be hiding or dancing around a hidden agenda.  That's not leadership.  That's testosterone and paranoia overcoming good sense.


When  leaders are trained in group process skills they learn how to step in and out of the facilitator role.  This is helpful.  However, if you have a big discussion event do yourself a favor - get a partner -  an external facilitator.  Your success usually increases – significantly.      

Consider this for your next change initiative or group performance intervention:

1. Check readiness first – think about using a third party “outsider” to help you assess potential barriers you may have deal with in the upcoming change.
2. Have your initiative leaders participate in facilitation training – separate from any specific intervention process (SAP implementation, Six Sigma, Lean…).  Consider a custom design that fits with any barriers you may have uncovered.   We have helped many clients with facilitator development workshops and coaching.  This allows them ready access to facilitation support and provides more people who have a real understanding of what makes good meetings and good decision making.
   
3. Have external “outside” facilitators available to use for special times or situations where some neutrality is needed to help groups to move more quickly beyond relationship barriers.  A external facilitator is not needed in every meeting -but certainly they help when significant decisions, increased focus, or team breakthroughs are high on the outcome list.
   
4. Make trust building as a goal of all work initiatives.  Design approaches that establish personal safety, healthy debate, and sharing of recognition for contribution as well as ultimate success.  When you review initiatives do a check on trust… “Was there anything that happened during the intervention where may have lost something?”   “Was there anything that happened that helped us to gain trust with anyone?”,  “After this event, when it comes to trust, are we better, worse, or no change?”   Most of the time, you want to follow a Hippocratic principle… “Do no harm” – otherwise look for opportunities to make breakthroughs in understanding and relationships. 

So, be a Leader, get the best facilitation support available.. 

BY BILLY BENNETT

Dean, a good friend and long time colleague told me recently about a series of “2fer” conversations he’s had with his team. Are you using the 2fer principle?  If not, you may be missing a crucial tool for building a Great Workplace culture. 

A “2fer” is short for “two for the price of one.”  A 2fer addresses a current challenge and also builds greater capability for the next step toward the end goal.   Dean’s ongoing conversations are a good example.   "2fer"s are how high performance leaders keep performance improving year after year.

Dean's company  is introducing a major breakthrough technology.  The potential is huge.  That’s the problem… I mean the challenge.  His team sees a big picture, but not always the BIGGEST picture.   The potential of this new breakthrough is bigger than most can see and in this case progress will grow in direct proportion to the comprehension of how "BIG" big can be.  Dean’s frustration comes when he brings change requests to modify a design feature in a new product…it could be the one “little thing” that turns a good idea into a great one.   Someone typically responds with “Oooh, that’s a problem”.  Now, Dean is British and his team members are not all native English speakers. They are technical geniuses, however they may not understand - Dean is hearing something else.  He hears “that’s not possible”.   With each suggestion the words come back “That’s a problem.”   His brain hears, “Can’t do it”

Dean role is more than working a technical challenge – it’s also to create a common vision about the end goal and what is at stake.   Aiming small is death. 

To keep his composure, he asks the team to use a different English word.  He asks them to replace the word “problem” with “challenge”.   When this happens each technical conversation is now about more than any specific feature, it is also a learning point:  while limitations can be a natural occurrence, acceptance of limitations is a choice.   When looked at as a challenge rather than a problem (or “impossibility”), each limitation, each roadblock becomes an opportunity to learn something new… to pioneer a new method… and to make the complex more elegant in its simplicity.  So the “2fer” is both a better product and better vision.  A Grand Bargain, all for the price of one conversation.

Leaders, especially technical leaders, need to master the art of the 2fer.  It is so easy to get wrapped up in the conversation about devices and technology – or processes and data – that you lose sight of the big picture.  You lose sight of the purpose:  doing the right thing – delivering products and services which overcome the challenges experienced by customers, investors and societies.  The leader who does not appreciate the art of the 2fer fails to see an unfolding future and as a result makes decisions based on short term pain relief.  In other words, the future is sacrificed for the pressure of the day. 

When you appreciate the 2fer, you expand the principle beyond the conversation – it becomes the guiding principle of people and organization development.  The things we do build capacity for the next step.  Each step we take becomes a foundation for the next, or it is just walking in place.    

 So, that conversation you had a little while ago… just what was the “2fer”?

By Billy Bennett

There is an interesting discussion going on at the Harvard Business Review on this topic "THE FUTURE OF TALENT IS CLUSTERS".  The idea posed is that we should hire "clusters" (aka teams) instead of individuals.  Or at least considering it.  To me it is an "everything old is new again" conversation.  ...And that is a very good thing. 

In the 90's we gained much from an intense period of study on teams.  When I say "we" I mean those of us fascinated about advancing knowledge about group work and dynamics.  However, we lost the way a bit. 

We lost momentum when other forms of collaboration were seen as equal to the power of the autonomous and self managing team as perhaps one of the most important units of work design.  I'm not sure that's the case. In fact, I am certain of it.   However, the HBR article is an example where the opportunity to learn is again coming to the forefront.

If you think this is unusual - hiring a "cluster" or team as an intact unit - I have seen it. We worked with a client who designed one of the most successful  autonomous team workplaces to date.  They were written about in journals and feted at three national conferences.  However, when the client decided to build a new,  more automated facility too far away for team members to relocate, the company worked with local businesses to find the team members new employment.  Here is where I witnessed a first for me (and I think maybe a first in modern era business)... the reputation of the teams were so great and impressive in the region that some of the teams were hired as "intact" teams.  They were asked by their new employers to bring the skills and capabilities to the new job.  I lost track of what happened to the team members, but they certainly learned team skills at the most advanced level I had seen before - or since.   They had developed an ability to go into any situation and begin assessing how they could make things work better and how they could be successful doing the work.  What business could not use that?

Have you ever seen a work group so impressive that others wanted to hire them away - intact?  That was the ultimate praise.

Valentine’s Day.  A day when you will think about hearts.  Candy hearts.  Plastic hearts.  Neon sign hearts.  Big paper hearts inscribed with the declaration of devotion, “from your Valentine…”    

Not many know the story of Valentine’s traditional origin.   You have heard about Saint Valentine. However, you may not know there were several Saints named Valentine  Each one met fates that would cause a caring parent to think twice before naming a child Valentine.  The one most credit as the namesake of the day was Valentinus of Rome a Christian priest living around 270 CE.

But first Claudius

Claudius II – also known as Marcus Aurelius Valerius Claudius Augustus (too much to say at a party so he was commonly known as Claudius Gothicus) was emperor for a grand total of two years.  During that time he defeated the Goths in battle, contracted smallpox and died.  Not the stuff of corporate legend.

I learned of Claudius when I acquired an ancient Roman coin in a deal from a shopkeeper.  He tossed it in for free because neither of us knew the image - yet, another sign of Claudius’ success as a leader.  To discover the origin of my prize, I learned as much about the short-serving emperor as I could.  His position and his respect came from being ambitious, devious, and cruel…very cruel. 

This is where Valentinus of Rome re-enters the story…

According to legend, Claudius hated two things which sealed the fate of Valentinus:  Married soldiers and   Christians.  So, when Valentinus was caught performing marriage ceremonies for soldiers and providing medical care for Christians he was imprisoned and eventually beheaded.   During his imprisonment, he is said to have healed the daughter of his jailer.  It was this young lady who received the first “Valentine” when Valentinus gave his jailer a heart shaped note with the message “from your Valentine”.  

Today we associate Valentine’s Day with romance.  However, for more than 1000 years, Valentine’s Day was known as a celebration of service and sacrifice. 

Claudius put his life on the line leading with ruthless power and ambition.   Valentinus put his life on the line with service.  Claudius believed his soldiers to be expendable and undeserving of a life outside of work.   Valentinus took risks and made personal sacrifice to make the lives around him more complete.

In work, few are asked to make life and death sacrifices – but employees know when you have your interests at heart or theirs.   On February 14, when you see a heart, take a moment to remember the story of Valentinus and Claudius and evaluate your leadership.  Are you the self-serving Claudius or Valentinus the servant leader?  

Engagement is fast becoming the workplace theme for 2013.  You will be more successful if you evaluate yourself on the Claudius-Valentinus scale and start your engagement efforts by first committing to be a Valentine.

"From your Valentines"

My wife recently lost her Ipad and the experience was the perfect example of real engagement.  Within moments I learned two things: first, my former anti-technology wife had clearly shifted to the dark side, and two, Mr. Jobs was a genius of engagement.  

It's frustrating that somewhere over the last 20 years, there has been a gradual erosion of the concept of engagement.  In some cases it has become a complete re-branding of employee "engagement" into a synonym for employee satisfaction.  While satisfaction was one of the typical “extras” associated with engagement – it was never understood as the cause or effect of real engagement.  I have known plenty of disengaged employees who are very satisfied.  The reverse is also true.  I also have known dissatisfied employees who were very engaged.  

Satisfaction is a great characteristic to measure and understand but as a predictor or replacement for engagement, it's problematic.  Satisfaction is neither the subject nor aim of engagement.  Engagement is – well, engagement.  My favorite is the definition of engagement as “the state of being in gear”.   On my Ipad I have few games.  One bordering on addiction is CSR Racing.  The skill in playing the game is shifting or engaging the gears at the optimum time.  In order to do that I myself must engage – be in gear – with the game.  It is so obvious that the more engaged (focused, concentrating, driving for better scores, etc.) I am – the better I do.  Even when I fail, I work to find out what I need to do better.  I set up my own learning and skill development.  I try to advance.  There are times I may be engaged… and terribly dissatisfied.

Back to my wife’s Ipad.

My wife is seriously engaged with her Ipad.  It now appears to be an obsession.  At the point that she can have the device surgically attached we will have to sell something to pay for the surgery.  Why?  Because it allows her to do the things she wants to do.  It adapts to her needs.  It helps her to get things done.  It makes her life easier.  Shouldn’t that be the metaphor for everyone’s relationship with work?

Watch your co-workers with their Apple or Android devices.  Imagine what you would see if you suddenly removed it from them.  If you lived to tell about it, you would be describing total engagement.  There is a lesson in alignment here for us.

The lesson tips

1.       Assume people want to be engaged.   It isn’t about having more money (although being financially respected is important).  It isn’t about being satisfied, although dissatisfiers can disengage.  People want to fulfill a purpose and if you are a leader they want you to know it intuitively. They want you to help as much as you can so that they fulfill that purpose. 

2.      Clarify, Clarify, Clarify purpose and the definition of winning.  Another way of saying this is make it crystal clear what must be achieved and give each person every opportunity to judge for themselves what they need to do to get better at achieving that.  During this year’s HR Directors Business Summit in Birmingham UK I heard a wonderful presentation from Baroness Eliza-Manningham Buller DCB former Director General of MI5 during the period immediately following 9/11.  She described a period of unprecedented change and engagement from the MI5 staff primarily because “they understood their purpose clearly – ‘Protect the United Kingdom’.” How clearly do your employees see their role and purpose in delivering to your customers?

  

3.      Make it your life’s work mission to make it easy for the people around you to accomplish and achieve purpose.  Redesign processes and structures to make it easy for people to get in gear. To focus. To win.  The challenge for most leaders lies in wanting the benefits of engagement while denying that it requires a total makeover.

4.      Look at work and organization design as engagement design. It is likely that your organization was designed to prevent risk, not achieve purpose.  That means that it was also not designed to create or even allow engagement.  Create a workplace that allows easy engagement. Aim at inventing the ultimate engagement work system. Constantly look for things that “disengage” and work to eliminate or at least reduce them.   Is it a stupid rule? Kill it.  Is it old or broken equipment? Fix it.  Is it an external problem? Help them deal with it.  Is it access? Provide it.  Is it a ridiculous waiting time? Cut it.

5.       Allow people to work when and where they work best in the best balance with your customers needs.  This means you must provide technology, workspaces and time flexibility that can facilitate achieving work. 

6.      Constantly question people about the dissatisfiers – the disengagers.   Challenges change all of the time.  Whatever you repair today will break over time.  New challenges will appear.  As a leader you are always and forever seeking ways to fend off the distracters – so that the people around you can create and deliver ultimate customer satisfaction, with an ultimate engagement.

When you create your own clear picture of engagement and think of your organization as an engagement design opportunity you will be on your way to big wins.  Good Luck.

Billy Bennett

By Billy Bennett

Failure can be a great teacher.  I prefer to call them “Do-Overs.”  A good review of initiatives always asks three questions: 
1.  What did we do? …
2.  How did we do it?… and
3.  How ready were individuals to accept the initiative? 

If you want to try “do-over”, improve your chances of success by considering #s 2 and 3.  Especially #3: readiness.  The readiness factor can be many things but it always includes – Trust.  Do they trust you?  Do they trust leadership? Do they trust each other? … Do you trust them?  You may get the answers on your own or you may need help from a third party – an independent observer. 

Insiders are often just a little frustrated when third party facilitators (like us) - organization outsiders - make progress doing things insiders have tried.  Why does it work for us… working alongside of leadership… rather than leaders standing alone? Usually the reason lies in questions #2 and 3.  A good facilitator establishes neutral space.   Places where conversations happen more than position speaking.  Employees feel more comfortable asking questions and offering ideas.  Leaders feel more comfortable speaking openly.  Everyone appears more “real”.  Honest. 

Good facilitators manage this differently because they know what to do, and how to approach it because they first checked the readiness- the trust levels – of individuals or groups before designing an approach. 

Consider this for your next change initiative or group performance intervention:

1. Check readiness first – think about using a third party “outsider” to help you assess potential barriers which you could face in the upcoming change.
2. Have your initiative leaders participate in facilitation education – When initiative leaders are trained in group process skills, success increases – significantly.   Do the facilitation education separate from any specific intervention process (SAP implementation, Six Sigma, Lean…).  Think of it this way – there is the process – then there is the skill.  Facilitation is the skill.  If you are launching or re-launching  (remember “do-over”) consider requesting a custom design that fits with any barriers you may have uncovered.
3. Have external “outside” facilitators available to use for special times or situations where some neutrality is needed to help groups to move more quickly beyond relationship barriers.
4. Make trust building as a goal of all work initiatives.  Design approaches that establish personal safety, healthy debate, and sharing of recognition for contribution as well as ultimate success.
5. When you review initiatives do a check on trust… “Was there anything that happened during the intervention where may have lost something?”   “Was there anything that happened that helped us to gain trust with anyone?”, “After this event, when it comes to trust, are we better, worse, or no change?”  

 Remember: Asking for help is not a sin.  Not asking for help is.

Recently, I had two similar meetings.  Each began with “we tried [fill in the blank] …. but it didn’t work”

Meeting #1 was with a CEO.  He told me of their initiatives to engage a very important group.  The result: Lots of effort - minimal response.  Most of the checklist items I suggested were met with “Yep. We did that.” 

In meeting #2, executives described a great effort to change the organization structure.  They were now a couple of years into the new design and results were, well, not good.   People were not responding.  “We did everything – the usual stuff”. 

Two cases… Same employee response, “We’ll get back to you.”

In each of these conversations you could tell they were dangerously close to giving up on their people. They were one step from concluding “our people are too difficult to change”. 

Usually, a conversation like this includes a question to me, “So what can you do?”   It comes across the table like a well hit forehand.  The server hopes to score an ace or prepares to receive our power return – Namely, “here’s the secret I have that you don’t”.   Sometimes we do – but that’s not the real answer.  We avoid playing the game.  Why?  Because gaming IS the problem.   That is what these and other organizations find themselves doing: throwing a series of initiatives, at a problem and expecting…hoping… for a great response.  Imagine hitting a great shot at your opponent and he stands there watching the ball fall to his feet.  No return.  No engagement.  (Perhaps, a little yelling at the umpire)  When the expected response does not come from employees, we conclude something is wrong – the next step is typical blame assignment… “is it us ” or “is it them…Are they unchangeable?”

It’s the trust “thing” again

Organizations have years of hard wiring expectations in employee minds.  A certain level of trust questioning starts all interactions.  It is like your personal computer that, over time, becomes cluttered with fragments… software leftovers.  Everything slows down and if you push too hard you find the inevitable blue screen of death.   You face these “trust leftovers” in any change.  You cannot overcome years of hard-wiring with “normal” actions or a few “one- off” initiatives. You must plan to unravel and rewire.  It is difficult.  Most give up at difficult.  However, rarely is it impossible.    

Before I go too far, let’s get back to gaming.  What’s wrong with gaming?  You can sum it up in one word:  opponent.  Organization games put people in competition with each other.  Competition is good and playing games are fun – when it is against the right competition.  Your players are supposed to be on the same side.   When the game is between “insiders” trust filters every initiative you attempt.   Trust is the key to this hardwired system.   

In our last post we started with step one of  Aligning People Skill #2: Cultivating Trust – by redefining winning .  Do it well and each person has a clear view of what it takes for success.   I wish it was as easy as it sounds.  It is not.  It is only the start because when you redefine winning you don’t just change the rules – you  change the game itself.  No longer is it insider gaming that defines success, but “organization winning”.  If you do it right, the real focus of any organization winning will be to bring your product or service to a world that needs what you have to give.  This is a game of all of us versus the competition.  Not each other. 

A CEO commenting on his competition once said “We beat them because they spend so much time doing business with themselves.”  Gaming.

Great leaders learn this lesson early.  If there is too much gaming there is too little trust.  If there is little trust, normal initiatives do not work.  Change the game – by stopping it.   

Not winning? It might be the “trust thing”.

For all of our talk of “Social” media, developing real  relationships in our workplace can be uncomfortable for many leaders.  The ones we hear of  most seem to be dysfunctional, inappropriate or nonexistent.

When leaders speak of trust it is often as an abstract concept if they talk about it at all.  Yet trust may be the single factor aside from technical competence that makes for true high performance.  A study presented at a Purdue University conference stated that high trust organizations outperform low trust organizations by a factor of 2.5X

Without trust engagement is only a dream.

Trust is a one on one thing, right? So how can we make trust building an organization imperative?   How does this work on an organization scale?    Dan Harding, our guru of leadership models, developed a way of looking at the trust “mechanics” in an organization.  It starts with the premise that there are crossroad moments where organization trust has the opportunity to grow stronger or to erode:  1. Knowing if we are winning or losing, and 2. Responding to the wins and losses.  Leaders influence both of these to a great degree.

1.       Do we know what winning is? 

Most will say of course…however it doesn’t take long to dig into the organization to find people unclear about success - especially when it comes to their own job.   They may understand winning as filling orders or completing tasks.  These may contribute to winning – but not necessarily they are only final acts of a series of events where people have an opportunity to act with care.

What does this have to do with trust?  The dominoes begin to fall…

When people are not clear about winning – in terms they can measure…in ways everyone clearly sees... then the result is confusion.  Confusion leads to an over reliance on personal interpretation.  Personal interpretation puts more value on personal agendas.  Personal agendas become more important and behaviors become self preserving.   Self preserving behaviors usually result in I win – you lose strategies.  When people don’t care about losing – as long as it is someone else -  the trust level in the organization heads to the bottom.

We met once with the operations director of a highly technical electronic component facility in Europe.  We had difficult feedback to deliver.  Over the years, the facility had been through a number of changes.  Different parts of the factory were making many different things for many different customers. When we asked a group of employees “Who gets the parts you are making?”  They answered “I think they go into telephones?”   In reality they went into aircraft guidance systems.  When we shared this with the Operations Director he exclaimed “that’s not possible… I told them!”  When we dug deeper it became clear that telling them meant a 30 minute mass presentation on all aspects of the business – done only once in the last three years.    Somewhere in all of the cool slides, the definition of winning was lost to everyone but the Operations Director.  It may not be surprising that the level of trust was low. Very low.  You saw it when you walked into the workplace.  People avoided eye contact.  Interactions only happened when you initiated one.  I called it a low smile index. 

Can you guess why we were there?  Yep - they were not winning.

What can you do?

Walk around your organization.  Engage in conversations with your employees.  Ask them question like:  “What does winning look like here?”   If you see people hesitate or if answers seem to be unclear then you may have a problem.  If winning is defined only as “we make a profit” you may also have a problem.  

Next, toss the next questions to them “So, yesterday, did you win or did you lose?” and “How do you know?”  If the answers sound too vague or if the answers seem disconnected from other groups… you have an opportunity.  Get to work.

Here’s a cheat sheet:

1. Find out if people clearly understand if they are winning or losing
2. Define winning clearly. Make sure people see connections to your purpose statements
3. Create a way that everyone can translate winning for their level. Again, make sure connections are easily seen to organizational winning.
4. Create opportunities for individual to evaluate wins and losses in a way that learning and improvement become fun and develop a passion for winning. 
   

In the another post we will look at part 2 : Responding to Winning or Losing.

By Billy Bennett

When do you work on alignment?  When you are "in crisis" is too late.  In the 1952 movie High Noon, Gary Cooper played a town Sheriff who finds himself needing help to face the bad guys, the town members vote with their feet, leaving him to face the threat alone.  There are many interpretations of the movie and a great story about John Wayne (he hated the movie).  Here is one from me... Don't wait to earn the vote from your employees on the day of the crisis.
 
I just returned from voting in the U.S. election.  I flew back from our offices in Belgium just in time to cast my vote.  Today is the day when candidates find out if they did all they could do to align an electorate behind their ideas and leadership.  It is interesting to notice the activity today... rallies, television and radio ads, phone calls, and anything that will convince the critical voter to join them today.  While I believe that you expend every effort to deliver for your customers...or in this case cause, the commitment you need to succeed is built upon relationships you have made long before the day of the crisis.

Political candidates are lucky.  There is a regularly scheduled referendum on their leadership.  Feedback comes on a regularly scheduled basis.  For organization leaders the referendum comes unexpectedly... like Gary Cooper we find that our relationship building was not as effective as we thought - commitments are not where we need them to be.   In the end, Gary Cooper resigns and viewers conclude that everything was the fault of weak--minded townspeople.  But -  how well had Gary prepared for that day?

New studies on organization networks reinforce things we already know...but need to hear again... the ability to move and influence people is based on the relationships you built over time - and relationships are the foundation of modern networked organizations.  A recent article implied that Starbucks baristas are better at handling difficult relationship interactions than most technical professionals (Doctors).  Ouch.  

The lesson here is to start working on your relationships today.  You may need the vote of your employees very soon.

If you would like a tip sheet on how to work on the relationship, send us an email, or join our list...

My Dad’s Story
By David Ashton

My dad spent his working life in a skilled trade position in a manufacturing environment. He was the type of person that was constantly looking to develop something to make life just a little bit easier. He made a car top boat loader, a pop-up camping trailer and a hand held walk behind “Zamboni” for my backyard ice rink, long before you could ever buy anything like them in a store.

He believed in honest hard work, doing your best, and the concept that if you are going to do something, then it’s worth doing right. So lessons and education were a big part of what he expected when you took on a new hobby or task.  

Although a very creative person he was not a very artistic person. In 1988 he finally made the move into retirement and initially found himself with plenty of time on his hands. As a gag gift for his retirement, my wife bought my dad an Exacto wood carvers set. It was a small basic collection of knives for whittling wood. The premise of the gag was, that now you are retired you can sit in a rocking chair on the front porch and whittle a stick.

My dad didn’t get the joke.

He proceeded to search for a wood carving teacher so he could learn the finer points of creating the best carving he could.

He found a very creative young man who, after a work accident, used his passion for carving wood to create lifelike renditions of ducks, songbirds and birds of prey.

 I remember being at his house, scared that the hawk in the corner was about to take flight and seek me out as it’s next meal.

Dad studied and worked hard, sometimes carving 8 hours per day trying to perfect his new found craft. He purchased and studied a book entitled, “Drawing On The Right Side Of Your Brain”, to help him improve his artistic ability.  He built a small carving shop in the backyard as my mother forced him and his dust producing hobby out of her house.

As his passion grew and his carving mechanics improved he developed the ability to produce very lifelike and expressional duck heads. Apparently, in the duck carving world the ability to carve quality heads is a great asset. This inspired him even more and before long dad was turning out some rather impressive carvings. He had reached the point where the need to paint his creations was upon him.

At first he farmed out the painting to another individual as he himself could not paint and produce a realistic rendition of a Mallard. This quickly did not fit Dad’s need to pursue perfection and before long he was waist deep in the art of waterfowl painting. Through practice and hard work he became as good a painter as he was a carver.

So dad was now turning out piece after piece. He would give carvings as gifts for birthday’s, weddings, anniversaries, and whenever he felt you deserved something special. And if his house was getting too full, then carvings made their way to my house. Our house is filled with his work from over the years. He started to branch out into relief carving, song bird carving and busts of ancient Vikings. He carved places that my mom and dad went over the years and anything that he had an interest in. He even carved the street that my parents honeymooned on from a 40 year old picture.

Dad didn’t sell or accept money for any of his carvings. His view was, that if he did it for money then he would start to keep track of the time spent on a piece and that may short cut the level of detail and the overall quality of the carving.

So as time went on the need for increased challenges grew, and one day his teacher convinced him that his work may do well in competition. So dad embarked on creating a carving to enter in the Ward Institute World Carving Championships in Ocean City, Maryland.  I suppose if you going to go into something, go big.

Dad has entered this competition 3 times. He has won his class twice and came in third once. All of these pieces sit in my house today as a constant reminder that hard work, doing your best, and the concept that if you are going to do something, then it’s worth doing right, can help you produce great things.

Over the years I have been fortunate enough to witness family, friends, and the general public’s reaction as they see Dad’s carvings for the first time. The reaction is one of amazement around the lifelike quality of the piece. Once the astonished look subsides, it is always followed by the same question.

That is so lifelike, how do you do that?

It is at this point that the door of opportunity has swung open for dad to launch his everlasting carving joke. His immediate response to that question is always:

It’s easy, all you do is carve away everything that doesn’t look like a duck!

I listened to this response hundreds of times, each time thinking, dad stop with the bad pun, it is really getting old. Dad’s response is then followed by a light chuckle from both the admirer and him and then everyone goes on with their business.

I don’t know if my dad is Einstein or Mr. MaGoo, but it took me a very long time (years) to get it. I finally woke up one day with a totally different understanding and appreciation for that never ending bad pun.

All you do is carve away everything that doesn’t look like a duck!

What I had finally come to  understand was, that my father has true vision. When he looks at a block of wood he doesn’t see a block of wood, he sees a finished, lifelike, artistically excellent duck that meets his inner standards and creates pride and accomplishment. All that and he hasn’t even started yet.

So I started thinking about my father and others like him who have true vision that is supported by operational excellence and the master pieces they create. I though about Walt Disney, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the great painters of history, the great world political leaders, Steven Spielberg, and some of the great inventors. I then start thinking about those companies that really portray operational excellence. Companies like Rolex, Waterford Crystal, Disney Entertainment, Bass Pro Shops, Dell Computers, and Sony. These are some of the companies that have achieved a level of operational excellence: A level of performance that has set them apart from their competition.

Since so few companies achieve operational excellence, there must be an element present in those that do that is not present in those that don’t. Now I grant you that there are hundreds of factors that determine the ability to achieve business success, but the number of people that truly  have vision are very few.

I then wondered,

• Can vision around excellence be developed?
• How can we grow a vision of operational excellence in the people within our organizations?
• Can we develop an environment that will get anyone to stop and think about a topic, situation, or physical space in terms of operational excellence?

The answer is: Yes we can.

So we did. We took a group of shop floor manufacturing production workers and put them in a room and used a tool we developed called Vision Quest.

Vision Quest starts with an educational session on what operational excellence is: A level of performance that sets you apart from your competition, a level of performance that all others are compared to.

It then creates an environment where each individual sees the task, situation, or space in a state of excellence.

We then give the group a short list of rules and guidelines for the exercise. Vision Quest then requires each person to describe, out loud, the details around their vision of excellence for the topic. These details are then captured to create, on paper, the groups vision of excellence for this specific task or situation. The details are then discussed and a consensus is produced.

Once the vision of excellence is on paper and we have consensus, we then physically take the written vision to the location and compare vision to reality. Any system or behavior that does not fit the vision will then have an action created to help drive the reality closer to the vision.

Carving away anything that doesn’t look like a duck!

The great thing about this tool is that it develops everyone to see things in an operationally excellent light. It can use the vision of the workforce as well as the vision of the management group and each person has ownership and involvement in the improvement process. And when used with an action item format task assignment and accountability system, it will provide performance improvement results that will raise the bar to new heights.

As western manufacturing is struggling to maintain a level of competitiveness in the global market place, leaders are looking for new ways to grab any competitive edge they can. Many are looking to streamline operations and remove layers of support. Many are looking to create a team or collaborative environment. All should be looking to capture the hearts and minds of their workforces. The Vision Quest tool can be one tool that truly moves you closer to your vision.

Be a leader, have vision, pursue excellence, develop your people, enjoy the journey.

So it is time to say thank-you to my Einstein for teaching me the value of having Vision and enabling me to create a tool that has truly developed a new level of excellence in me and in hundreds of managers and floor operators in American business.

Thanks Dad!

© Dave Ashton
Dave is our Vice President of Operations.  He leads our "Intensive Care Teams" and develops our Lean Education Series for building understanding of lean thinking and working practice.