Hearing the Voice of the Shingo Principles

Creating Sustainable Cultures of Enterprise Excellence

Robert Derald Miller

• Publisher: Productivity Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351173988
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Culture sur le lieu de travail

For more than 50 years, organizations of all types have struggled to achieve lasting benefits from the many tools and programs associated with various continuous-improvement initiatives. In fact, the notion of "continuous" improvement is largely a misnomer -- for many organizations, continuous improvement has been anything but continuous. Responding to this challenge, Hearing the Voice of the Shingo Principles chronicles key insights that went into development of the Shingo Model for Operational Excellence at Utah State University.

While responsible for the Shingo Prize at USU, the author observed that even recipients -- theoretically, the best of the best -- were experiencing this same up-and-down phenomenon. It was as though many of these organizations were reviewed on their very best days but then started declining from that point forward.

To build long-term credibility of the Shingo Prize, the author and his team had to understand what was causing such wide variation in results and make certain they were only recognizing those organizations that could demonstrate sustainability of improvements over the long term. They found that sustainability depended less on application of the tools for improvement than on embedding principles deep into the culture of the organization from top to bottom and side to side.

This book helps leaders understand their role in building sustainable cultures of enterprise excellence – That is, how to keep the entire enterprise focused on guiding principles that will change beliefs, behaviors, and the overall mindset. In addition, managers will learn how to align systems with principles so that they drive ideal, principle-based behaviors – the goal is for every leader to realign their values with the voice of principles and become an example so that every associate becomes self-motivated to continuously improve every aspect for which they are accountable.

1The Power of the Culture

Most organizational cultures are not built purposefully; they simply emerge while we are busy focusing on results.

Listening to the daily onslaught of stories on the television and radio of how great companies and organizations are being systematically destroyed from the inside by the behavior of their leaders is disheartening. Many of these institutions are critical to our sustainability as a society and include state and federal governments, news organizations, police and military institutions and corporations both large and small.

Sadly, the egregious behaviors we are forced to hear about rarely represent a singular instance but almost always reflect a deeply entrenched culture of power, ego, disrespect, intolerance, mediocrity, sexual impropriety and even corruption. The private and public demonstration of these behaviors affects everyone and everything they touch. The many good people inside of these organizations are deeply affected by and even tainted by the examples of their leaders. The culture of the organization is very often the source of the disease that ultimately destroys the organism.

Every time I think we have heard the worst of it something new and even worse is reported. We see the establishment of good laws to protect and preserve the sanctity of people, sacrificed by a culture where listening for understanding is seen as a sign of weakness and compromise to find win/win solutions is seen as flip-flopping. Ideal results are sacrificed every day on the altar of a culture of winning, no matter what it takes or at what cost. The consequences of such public demonstrations of a culture turned toxic can be seen inside almost any organization and at almost any level.

Organizational culture is rarely discussed seriously or strategically in the context of conducting business. The pursuit of results consumes the minds and calendars of nearly every leader and manager in every organization, leaving very little energy for softer topics like culture. Occasionally an exceptional leader arises who naturally sees the relationship between results and behavior or culture but for the rest of us discussions of culture happen almost exclusively in the Human Resources Department.

Conversations about culture and ideal behaviors in the workplace seem to have been largely replaced by efforts to provide fully stocked kitchens, unlimited amounts of caffeine on tap, very casual dress codes, beach cruisers and hover boards in the office to get from place to place, even a slide between floors, gymnasiums, ping pong tables, on-site massage therapists, on-site child care, unlimited paid time off, very flexible work hours, working from home (or wherever), free golf and ski passes and most recently, pets coming to work with their owners (to relieve stress). It seems that companies compete for employees by trying to out-perk their competitors and call it a “great place to work.”

In my conversations with many of the people (mostly young) who work in these companies, after describing the benefits, go on to share stories of what it is like to do the actual work. One of them recently observed soberly; “Yes we like the perks, but if people don’t like their boss, they end up only working for the perks and just put up with the work.” This person actually then said, “No amount of ping pong can make up for a bad work culture.”

As important as these social perks have become, the real culture of an organization is far more than that. As in Figure 1.1, perks are like the tip of the iceberg that you see above the water. The full measure of organizational culture is the part that is below the surface and is very difficult to see, but is ultimately reflected in every aspect of every employee’s work.

Figure 1.1The “perk” culture vs. the total culture. (By license.)

Employees often report that a relatively small percentage of the employees actually use most of the perks provided but every single employee is deeply impacted by the part of the culture that has to do with the way work gets done, the part below the surface. This is the part of work where strategy, plans and decisions get made, people collaborate on projects, problems get identified and solved and customers are provided with great products and services. This is the part of work that can be deeply satisfying or profoundly frustrating.

This book is directed not to the “perk” based part of the culture above the surface, the ten percent, but to the hidden work-related part of the culture, the 90 percent. This is the part of the culture where principles should speak most loudly and help to inform every single associate, no matter their level or responsibility, about how best to act to maximize both personal contribution and satisfaction and organizational effectiveness.

The De Facto Culture

The creation of a high performing work culture within any organization may have the greatest single impact on the organization’s ability to create great results of anything a leader can do. Unfortunately, building a sustainable culture of excellence is also the hardest thing that a leader will ever do. Creating a great culture is not something that can be delegated or purchased; it requires a deep personal commitment to people and a daily genuine demonstration of ideal behaviors. Building a sustainable culture of excellence is not for the faint of heart; it requires a sustained commitment over many years and a complete realignment of virtually every management and work system in the organization. As hard as it is, creating and sustaining a culture of excellence will also likely be the most rewarding thing you will ever do in the context of your profession.

As hard as it is, creating and sustaining a culture of excellence will likely be the most rewarding thing you will ever do in the context of your profession.

Typically, the culture that emerges while everyone is focusing on results is what I call a “de facto” culture. De facto cultures are not intentionally designed; rather, they are the consequence of many small and a few large decisions made over a very long period of time. What emerges on its own as organizational culture ultimately has a profound impact on the behavioral choices made by every single person, top to bottom and side to side. How people behave in any organization may be the greatest single determinant on the quality and sustainability of results. A de facto culture rarely has the capacity to deliver ideal results over the long term.

A de facto culture rarely has the capacity to deliver ideal results over the long term.

From my discussions with literally thousands of leaders in a host of organizations and industries, I have observed that creating a relentless and enterprise-wide focus on the achievement of business performance metrics, or “results” has become the prevailing mindset for achieving success. This almost singular focus from senior management teams drives the thinking, strategies and behaviors of the entire enterprise. All of the organizational energy becomes focused 24/7 on the achievement of business results; almost everything else becomes subordinate to that one aim. Even actions directed at supporting people are usually motivated by how this action will contribute to the achievement of better business results.

Most of the people I have worked with to build a sustainable culture of excellence start with the question, “How can focusing on results be a bad thing?” In fact, it is not a bad thing; but if it becomes the singular focus, it leaves to chance the evolution of the corporate culture and rarely does what emerges have the capacity to generate ideal and sustainable results over the long term.

The unspoken and often-unintended consequence of this relentless focus on results is a culture of “results at any cost!” Certainly leaders never intend to say, “Get it done at any cost.” Most would be horrified to even imagine anyone thinking they actually meant, “at any cost.”

I recently worked with a group of mostly middle managers who, when confronting this part of their culture, confessed in hushed tones and only when the door was closed that “Even though our leaders don’t say it, we all know exactly what they mean; ‘Don’t tell me how you did it, just get it done.’”

Rob Galloway, President of US Synthetic, says it this way; “Sometimes we get so focused on results that we will do anything to get them and we forget that the approach we take will have a cultural impact. Every leadership decision is a culture decision.” Each time we choose to act or leave to chance the way that others act in the pursuit of great results, we have an impact on the culture of the organization.

Sometimes we get so focused on results that we will do anything to get them and we forget that the approach we take will have a cultural impact. Every leadership decision is a culture decision.

Rob Galloway

President, US Synthetic

My hat does go off to associates who even in the face of a less than perfect culture are able to deliver good results. What a leader must ask him or herself is, “Is this sustainable? How long can I keep asking people to go through what they must to keep getting things done? I wonder what more our people could do if they had a better environment in which to do it? What are the unseen consequences of allowing and perhaps even encouraging people to behave the way they do in pursuit of results?”

The Cost of Bad Behavior

Can great results that deliver value for customers be achieved with bad behavior? Nearly everyone I have ever asked this question to, answers it in the same way; “Yes of course you can; we do it all the time!” Naturally my next question is, “Yes, but is it sustainable, and at what cost?”

The cost of striving to achieve ideal results with consistently bad behavior is enormous. These costs, both financial and non-financial, are reflected in the following symptoms that flow from bad organizational behavior.

1. Unexpected or inexplicable problems
2. Low productivity
3. Low morale
4. A lack of innovation
5. Long workdays for managers
6. Bloated staff
7. Significant, sustained and unplanned overtime for employees
8. Constant fire fighting
9. High turnover
10. Frequent customer disappointments

Consider in your own organization the total cost of these symptoms. What is the impact on your organization of low morale, lack of innovation, constant fire fighting, high turnover of personnel and customer disappointments? While these outcomes are not usually measured on a balance sheet; most leaders, managers and even frontline workers can easily describe in great detail from what they see every day what the impact these unresolved “cultural indicators” have on the results of the company.

I once was asked to perform an organizational assessment for a company that was experiencing a 40% turnover of its employees each year, yet just up the road another company in a similar industry experienced almost no turnover. The cost and disruption caused by this lack of commitment was enormous. Serious quality issues led to a near total collapse of their business in a vitally important industry.

The team leader’s and senior management response to the crises was almost completely technical. Greater controls, tighter specifications, improved documentation, automation and more inspection were among the solutions being implemented. These solutions were almost exclusively a top-down design. Their implementation fundamentally changed the way that almost every worker did their jobs. To their credit, senior management also invested in a nicer cafeteria, beautiful landscaping, an exercise room available to all employees for a nominal fee and higher base salaries, mostly perks.

I spent two days on the floor talking to as many people as I could to better understand what it was like to work in this organization. My experiences were deeply moving. I met some of the most wonderful and committed employees I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I found them to be highly educated, humble, respectful, deeply committed to the quality of what they did and highly supportive of each other. I also learned that they came from many different countries and that for many, English was a distant second language.

In a conversation with an incredible lady from Central America, she was very eager to describe the work that she did. It was extremely intricate and critical to the quality of the product that would ultimately end up in the human body keeping someone alive. As she described her work, tears came to her eyes when she told me how she felt about knowing that what she did would become so intimately a part of another human being. After drying my own eyes I asked her about her tears. She told me that many times during the day she found herself emotional from thinking about the lives and families of people who would be changed because of what she did.

I was naturally drawn to her and wanted to know more about who she was. With a little prodding I discovered that she had a college degree in Accounting, but when she came to America her degree was not recognized and so she was forced to take the only position she could get, which was in production. A smile ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Author
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The Power of the Culture
• Chapter 2 Values, Behavior and Corporate Culture
• Chapter 3 Principles and Foundational Truths
• Chapter 4 The Shingo Model
• Chapter 5 Respect Every Individual
• Chapter 6 Lead with Humility
• Chapter 7 Seek Perfection
• Chapter 8 Assure Quality at the Source
• Chapter 9 Flow Value to Customers
• Chapter 10 Embrace Scientific Thinking
• Chapter 11 Principles of Enterprise Alignment
• Chapter 12 Leaders Lead Culture
• Chapter 13 Hearing the Voice of Principles
• References
• Index