DailyKaizen

Lee and I are doing a little switcheroo. I was out of the country for a bit so he was on the “blog service” for our team. Now, he’s leading two workshops, so it’s my turn to tell the story here, and I am happy to do so.

I returned from my time away to find our team back at a rapid improvement event for our quality improvement efforts, right at the gemba. It’s been about 6 months since we participated in one of these regularly recurring experiences, where we go physically to a care site with programmers and process experts to solve clinical problems for patients. We had to take a break so we could complete a major software upgrade (which we did).

I think a measure of the value of this approach is whether it is one that is relevant and lasting after a break like this. It completely distorts my work schedule; it prevents me from regular check-ins with my business peers; it takes me a way from planning activities that are my responsibility; it requires a level of intellectual versatility that can be exhausting (the care teams we work with know how they serve patients, our task is to keep up). One of my colleagues is actually assigned as lead physician already and is in ready attendance.

In short, I’m really not supposed to be here. However, it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be. My job is to support our members and those who take care of them, and I am watching a high performing care team solve important problems using our next-generation tools. I thank the organization I am a part of for letting me be where I am supposed to be during this week.

Even though tomorrow is a Monday I can’t remember a time when I was more excited about going to work. Why? Tomorrow marks the start of our cross-functional improvement efforts in the Model Line. For months we have been diving deep into the data of the operations areas and have slowly constructed a vision for a future state organized around value streams. It has been painstaking work that has required an incredible amount of discipline for the team. Most of us are used to doing and not planning. Yet, this time the changes are so transformational we knew that the upfront efforts needed to be invested in making sure that we understood all of the details. We now have an eight month implementation blueprint designed that includes more then a dozen RPIWs and many more improvement efforts. Tomorrow we will conduct a five day RPIW focused on improving flow, leveling and FTQ within the most upstream section of our value stream. What better way to mark the beginning but with an inspirational quote?
“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult undertaking which, more than anything else, will determine its successful outcome.”–William James

This week I had a great coaching and learning session with one of our Sensei. She has an incredible ability to listen and ask simple questions that lead those that she is coaching to clarity. I originally called the meeting because I have been feeling very overwhelmed over the last couple of weeks. I am playing many different roles and as the work moves forward with the Model Line there seems to be a ever expanding number of tasks that I am finding myself responsible for.
So off to Starbucks we went and through questioning from the Sensei I began to identify some of the root causes of my problems. So here is what we found and the counter measures I am going to put in place:
* There is no consultant strategy or plan. We have dedicated a lot of time to helping our clients put together their strategy and A3’s, but have not taken the time to put together our own. Each consultant is doing great work on their own, but that does not mean we are aligned and organized. * The consultancy does not have standard work! It actually hurts me to write this, but it is a fact. While we may have standard training methods, etc we have never taken the time to standardize our practices. This has led to variation and us often being reactive to problems that arise. * There has been no dedicated time for the consultants to come together and reflect. We have been so busy working with our clients that we have never taken the time to reflect or go through the PDCA cycle with a focus on improving our practice.
Based on these realization I am going to initiate the following countermeasures. First, we are going to schedule a retreat to develop a consultancy plan. The focus of the plan is gaining agreement and alignment around objectives and methods to achieve those objectives. Second, we are going to begin to standardize our processes. From how we use our meeting time to how we communicate. Finally, we are going to schedule bi-weekly reflection and alignment sessions where the entire consultancy will come together and reflect and adjust. I guess it is about time that we practiced what we preached.