Breaking Down Silos

Tweet

“What we need to do is learn to work in the system, by which I mean that everybody, every team, every platform, every division, every component is there not for competitive profit or recognition, but for contribution to the system as a whole on a win-win basis.” – W. Edwards Deming

One of the most important aspects of lean thinking that is often underemphasized or ignored altogether is the catchball process.  Catchball is critical for calibrating the focus and efforts of everyone to assure that people don’t lose sight of what the organization is trying to achieve and how they contribute to its success.

Without catchball objectives tend to become fuzzy, the focus of people and teams turn inward, and teamwork breaks down.  Although not necessarily an easy process, the benefits associated with effective catchball are significant.  The discussions that occur throughout the process become the magnet that pulls the team together and focused on achieving the organization’s vision.

Vertical Communication

The most common application of catchball is a series of discussions that take place between leaders at different levels of the organization to assure objectives are understood, aligned, and achievable.

During catchball meetings, the leader assures that annual objectives are understood and accepted by those on his or her team.  In many cases, an objective will be a stretch for the person involved in the discussion, with the dual purpose of moving the organization forward and developing the person’s problem-solving abilities.  Particularly for a stretch objective, it is made clear that the leader will provide coaching throughout the effort.  This helps assure that the objective becomes the responsibility of the person to whom it is assigned as well as the leader doing the assigning.

The discussion is also an opportunity for the team member to express concerns about the objective, given other priorities for the team.  The leader must be ready to discuss priorities and resources during the conversation. 

Openly and sincerely discussing the specifics of an objective with the people and teams is vital to assure that those involved buy into the intention of the objective rather than approaching it as a check the box exercise.

Horizontal Communication

One of the less common applications of catchball is the discussion that takes place between functions to assure support and alignment of objectives is clear.  It is all too common for support functions to set objectives and determine priorities in a vacuum, and focus on what they consider to be important rather than what their internal customers need.  Given the fact that people want to do a good job and consider what they do to be important, this is perfectly understandable.  Establishing horizontal catchball discussions is vital way to assure that the energy and expertise of everyone, especially those in support functions, is directed toward the organization’s highest priorities.

When the company’s purpose is clear, it is easy to determine which areas support others.  In a company that manufactures products, for example, everyone’s work should be oriented toward production – meaning that the factory is the focus.  Even those developing new products need to understand the problems in the factory to assure that new designs are producible.  In an oil and gas operation, the focus is the producing asset; and in a service operation, it’s the point where the service is delivered to the customer.  The key to assuring that everyone is focused on the same priorities is being absolutely clear about the company’s purpose.  This helps people understand who they support and who supports them.

Horizontal catchball discussions focus on assuring that objectives are clear and that the needs between areas and functions are understood.  Although it is the responsibility of a support area to remain abreast of advancements within its area of expertise, efforts should be oriented toward meeting needs of those the area serves rather than forcing new and exciting developments on them.  With that said, however, as with external customers, internal customers don’t always know what is possible or what will help them improve, so the catchball discussions should include explaining new developments and understanding whether or not they can help address problems in the short- or long-term.

Assuring Catchball Success

Like much of lean thinking, catchball is simple but not easy.  The formal effort should take place over 2-3 months but, in reality, includes discussions that occur throughout the year.

The process runs counter to traditional management in that it puts just as much, if not more, of the responsibility for success on leaders.  Leaders must be closely connected to gemba to know the capabilities of the team, including the extent of stretch that they are able to accept.  It also requires the ability to coach effectively and continually help people understand the connection between the work of the team and the company’s long-term objectives.

By defining, standardizing, and continually improving the process, catchball can become an extremely valuable element of the annual planning effort.  The better the organization becomes at catchball, the more the energy and efforts of people becomes redirected from working against each other to actually uniting toward a common purpose that results in a win for everyone.

The Significance of Catchball

Tweet

“A goal without a method is nonsense!” – W. Edwards Deming


A critically important element of business planning that often gets downplayed or completely ignored is the catchball process.  The books and articles I've read on the subject of hoshin kanri tend to oversimplify the role of catchball and rarely go into the level of depth the subject deserves.

Catchball is a process whereby leaders and team members discuss objectives and plans to make sure everybody understands and is in agreement with expectations.  The conversations go back and forth between levels to assure that the objectives, as well as the plans to achieve the objectives are clearly communicated.

Catchball is often limited to the discussions at the executive level to sort out high level goals.  By not carrying the process through all levels of the organization, however, leaders are missing an important opportunity to communicate expectations and concerns before problems occur.

The objectives of catchball include:

Clarification:  Clarifying expectations to team members upfront rather than waiting until the performance review to criticize them for not meeting objectives that may never have been understood in the first place.  We tend to spend more time evaluating performance than we do making sure expectations are clear, which makes it appear as if we want people to fail more than we want the organization to succeed.

Consistency: Gaining comfort that a person can meet objectives through methods and behaviors that are consistent with the way the organization operates.  When the only concern is whether or not an objective is met (i.e., the "how" is ignored), we can easily create an Enron-type environment that undermines values, breaks down teamwork, and where improvements are not sustainable.

Coaching:  Providing a vehicle for coaching team members on the methods and behaviors required to be successful.  A critical component of development is to provide team members with objectives that stretch thinking and take them out of their comfort zone. Doing this without adequate coaching and direction, however, can be destructive to the person's development.

Communication/Dialogue:  Allowing people to communicate concerns to leaders about meeting objectives and asking help that may be needed to be successful.

Alignment:  Assuring that there is clear alignment between lower level plans or A3s and higher level plans and targets.

When implemented correctly, catchball can make up for many of the problems that companies experienced during the MBO-era.   It forces communication between levels and improves a leader’s understanding of the implications that objectives have on the people to which they are assigned.  Like anything in business, however, catchball requires continual improvement to be successful.  It requires patience and a willingness to listen to concerns, as well as a sincere effort by leaders to coach and mentor team members.

Profound Knowledge & Sociology

Tweet

Sociology: noun \ˌsō-sē-ˈä-lə-jē, ˌsō-shē-\.  the science of society, social institutions, and social relationships; specifically : the systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of organized groups of human beings. [Merriam-Webster.Com]

W. Edwards Deming’s Systems of Profound Knowledge has been a cornerstone to successful lean deployment for the last 20 years (longer, if you consider that it began with his 14 Points for Management).  As written in an earlier post, I am a strong believer that the level of success with lean is directly related to the level of understanding and application of Deming’s system of management.

The four components of Profound Knowledge as presented by Deming include Knowledge & Learning, Appreciation of a System, Variation, and Psychology.

Deming rightly presents the need for leaders to have an appreciation for psychology because of the fact that effectively leading requires knowing how to relate to people.  Although it should be obvious, I have run across many people in leadership positions over the years who were severely short of people skills.  There are differences in people and effective communication and motivating individuals requires understanding and working with these differences.

How About Sociology?

One aspect of leadership I always felt was missing from Deming’s system is sociology.  Organizations consist of a number of individuals and teams, and in addition to knowing how to relate to and motivate people individually, leaders need to be able to continually develop and improve teamwork.  This can not be done without an understanding of sociology.

There are natural and cultural forces within people that drive them to identity strongly to the teams to which they belong.  Although these forces can be beneficial to improving performance, they can also be destructive to the organization, as a whole.  It is all too common for people to put the needs of the immediate team ahead of those of the company.  Even if this is unintentional – which in most cases it is – it is still very toxic to the company’s culture.

Maintaining a Unified Focus

One of the basics of organizational sociology is tendency of a group to break apart when its members start developing conflicting interests and objectives.  Competition between factions develops and the ability to keep people focused on a common purpose becomes difficult, if not impossible.

Without strong leadership and an understanding of group behavior, internal competition (or apathy toward those outside of the immediate team) can grow to the point where correcting behavior can be extremely challenging.

Many leaders do not recognize the complexity involved in the individual and team goal-setting process.  In far too many instances, there is too much going on to take the time necessary to assure objectives are aligned and well understood by all involved.

Catchball, a process for communicating direction, expectations, and objectives between levels in the organization, is critical to assuring that consistency is maintained and people work toward the achievement of a common purpose.  Unfortunately, catchball takes time and, without a respect for organizational sociology, will not help prevent competition from developing and sub-optimizing performance.

Although sociology is apparent throughout Deming’s writings, I believe elevating it to the level of importance assigned to psychology, variation, knowledge, and systems thinking would help more leaders understand how critical it is to organizational success.