Professional Documents
Culture Documents
23-08-2015
So youve gotten a big client or Senior Leadership position. The company that
is hiring you has seen the results of your previous projects, and they want you to
start a very large global project (Enterprise Level) on numerous sites. You of
course say, We can do anything you want. This is a typical response from most
consulting companies and executives. The instant promise of being able to deliver
amazing results without even understanding the business model, or most
importantly its current state. You tell senior executives that it is just as simple as
putting some visuals in place and running some events, tightening up on the
management team, and you will have the company trimmed out in no time. The
true fact of the matter is that results that are promised cant be delivered because
the time frame is too short for the complexity of the real issue. The culture isnt
ready for the change. Its easy for someone to say its all about the culture to know
how to transform one is the hard part.
You can look at a companys Lean journey like a fraction. Twenty percent will be
teaching and applying a Lean Six Sigma tool set and theory, the other eighty
percent will be the transformation of the culture. Cultural transformation is
changing habits, the way of working, and the belief system. To change a belief
system you need to create a system. This will definitely be the most time
consuming and challenging. It is difficult enough to get an already mature culture
to transform let alone a damaged one. What could create a damaged culture? Some
examples are low pay, poor working conditions, no opportunity for advancement
or development, no succession planning, poor recognition, etc. So it is imperative
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Operators have standard work for their value added activities and so should
leadership at all levels. The core of Leadership standard work which everyone
knows is the Gemba (which refers to observations made where the process occurs).
Some of the other components of Leadership Standard Work are usually
overlooked and not managed properly. They are reflection meetings, Andon
response, accountability process, and mentoring. I will briefly cover them all
below.
Gemba
Visuals need to be in place to identify normal vs abnormal (ex: on-schedule,
off-schedule)
A Gemba is not just a social visit where we discuss our weekend or football
games (not saying you don't have to be personable and pleasant just goal and
data oriented).
Establish METRICS to be discussed and standard questions to be asked every
time you Gemba.
Ensure your route covers all areas of the business
Design your Gemba for all levels Executive, Managers, Supervisor, etc. All with
different frequency, scope and questions.
Reflection Meetings
These meetings are to solve problems observed and recorded through the
Gemba
Process owners from each functional area should attend, operations, finance,
sales, HR, etc.
Tools used to discuss issues, A3, PDCA, Root Cause Analysis, DMAIC (what
ever fits your needs just has to be hypothesis tested, data driven problem
solving)
Create a theme (for the problem statement) for every meeting to keep
everyone engaged.
Gemba is to see, Reflection is to solve.
Once again create standard for all levels.
Andon Response
Andon doesnt have to be a light or flag, it can be as simple as an email.
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transformation-mro-tickets-16905155776
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When youre working as a marketer with a travel company, you are expected to
know one thing who is your ideal traveler. We spend a lot of time defining and
refining the target persona and it should dictate it all: the marketing strategy, the
content strategy, the design and segmentation. As a content marketer, being able
to clearly understand my target reader is of utmost importance to me.
We conduct surveys, listen actively on social media, seek out opinions from
experts in the field but the truth is, sometimes we begin with assumptions of who
our consumer is.
Ive been trying to find an answer to the question: What do travelers look like?
Is he the millennial? The family man? The single girl? The bachelor?
You think you have the answer, but you're always surprised!
A colleague, a silent, unassuming member of the team decided to go on leave for 21
days. Great! A good break in Goa, or his hometown, maybe, I thought. But this
individual, nothing like my concluded persona of a traveler, was going on a road
trip all-over India. Alone. Adventurous, much?
He is currently on this amazing journey and Im still wondering what do
travelers look like? We may love numbers and we may think weve got it right, but
the reality is Anyone Can Travel. And Everyone Loves to Travel. Makes my
job very easy or very tough!
The right answer then is that there are no right answers. As marketers, we need to
keep an open-mind and let the numbers only guide us - not limit our creativity.
Falling into old thought patterns and assuming that we know what our consumers
and who they are will lead us to a dead end and are a sure shot way to zero growth.
Be open to new ideas and people and let the world surprise you - in a good way - or
learn important lessons.
Be like the seasoned traveler who studies his map but throws it away, just so he
can discover a place.
Have you ever been surprised as a marketer? Share your story with me.
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