2013 Annual Management Improvement Carnival: The Drucker Exchange

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For my second post in the 2013 Management Improvement Carnival hosted by Curious Cat Management Improvement blog, I decided to review The Drucker Exchange. The exchange is a daily blog hosted by the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. The mission of the institute is "strengthening organizations to strengthen society."

I'm a huge fan of Peter Drucker, and don't believe that many people really understand his contributions to the development of lean and continuous improvement. Many point to the negative effect Management by Objectives (MBO) had on business as an argument to dismiss Drucker's philosophy altogether.

For the record, Drucker was not happy with the way business implemented MBO. He once wrote, "Management by Objectives works if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don't." And in W. Edwards Deming's well-publicized criticism of MBO, I don't believe he was attacking the process as much as he was attacking the way people applied it.

Among many other practices, Peter Drucker was instrumental in the development of hoshin kanri. And much of what Drucker wrote about - including the importance of social responsibility and development of people - are well aligned with lean leadership values.

The Drucker Exchange

For anyone who wants to learn or stay current on the teachings of Peter Drucker, it is logical to go directly to the place he lived and worked. He spent 30 years as a professor in Claremont - at one time actually teaching Japanese art at Pomona College. The Drucker Exchange blog is maintained by the institute that he helped create.

I subscribe to the weekly digest and, although the messages tend to build up in my inbox, I do read them and access the blog on a fairly regular basis. The posts are generally short enough to read within a few minutes, although many of them require a good deal of reflection and thought to make the connections to everyday situations and facilitate learning.

I don't necessarily agree with everything that is published on the site (as shown below), but I still enjoy reading the posts. Probably because of the brevity of many of the articles, though, I find myself preparing to forward them to others only to change my mind by the time I get to the end.  I'm sure this is a personal thing - as I prefer fewer but longer posts that cover an idea in depth, than a lot of short, brief articles.

As it is with any visionary, Drucker's teachings would have continued to change over the years and, being administered by some of the people who worked with him, the blog attempts to stay current and write from the perspective of what he would be teaching today.

Examples of some of the posts on the site - and my thoughts about them - include the following

Process is a Prison: The article presents the argument that process standardization can go too far and actually interfere with success. The author discusses how a sales process can become ineffective by establishing controls that are too tight and beyond a reasonable level. Although I agree that it is possible to over-standardize a process, I found the example to be a bit of a stretch. In my experience, I find that a lack of standardization is much more of a problem than over-standardizing. The detail of a procedure or instruction should be to the extent necessary to assure effectiveness. In manufacturing, for example,where more of the environment can be controlled, standard work can be much tighter than in a sales situation. With that said, however, I believe that a sales process can also benefit from some level of standardization.  In fact, the consequences of a lack of standardization in sales can be just as destructive for the company as overstandardizing. Failing to standardize the sales process puts the focus entirely on results - ignoring the impact of process - and can result in breaking down teamwork, as well as negatively impacting customer service.

Generally, I felt that the post provides ammunition for people to shoot down the need for standardization - which I'm hoping is not the intention of the author.

It's also important to note that standardized work defines how a process should operate - not necessarily how it always operates. In this case, it helps identify circumstances where the standard breaks down - either not possible to follow or causes problems - to drive improvement activity. As with most business processes, the key to determining the need and extent of standardization - whether producing a product or selling insurance - has to begin with the customer.

Jeff Bezos, Risk-Averse Rebel: An insightful post that demonstrates a real world example of tying innovation to a culture of improvement. The post discusses how Amazon did not originally have a company-focused effort on the kindle. It was the culture of innovation that led to the product's development and success. By creating an environment that emphasizes innovative thinking, Amazon always has several new ideas working at all times and some will work out and some will not - The premise is, the higher the number of innovative ideas being worked at a company, the lower the risk associated with each one becomes. Through this type of thinking, the process of analyzing and bringing ideas to market also improves over time; something that is not likely to happen if the company focused on each new product as an isolated effort.

Although we don't necessarily see it referenced directly in articles and blog posts, Amazon has a lot of characteristics of a lean thinking organization.  Like Amazon's focus on innovation, a lean environment emphasizes PDCA thinking, which creates a workforce that is always looking for problems and thinking of ways to improve. The business result is not as important as the effort because the more people become involved in and are recognized for pursuing kaizen, the more positive business results will occur.

The Business of Building Great People: Covers the story of Barry-Wehmiller, a St. Louis-based company that focuses on developing and respecting people. In line with a lean mindset, the company demonstrates the idea that, although results are obviously important, long-term success can only be achieved by looking at the things that cause the results - continual improvement of processes and people. B-W understands this link and strongly emphasizes and actively practices the development of its people.

Why “Pay For Performance” Is a Sham: An excellent commentary on the importance of process when understanding results. The post highlights skyrocketing CEO pay and how boards are justifying it by tying salary/bonuses to results, which leads to short-term thinking and long-term damage to the organization. If process is not considered (e.g., people hiring and development, capital investments, business planning processes, management of innovation), we end up spending more time justifying compensation than making the company successful.

This is just a small sample of the type of posts that make up The Drucker Exchange. It is a great way to stay current with the type of thinking that drove the works of Peter Drucker.

More on the 2013 Management Blog Review can be found in the Curious Cat Management blog at http://curiouscat.com/management/carnival/2013.

2012 Annual Management Blog Roundup – Steven Spear: The High Velocity Edge

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This is the third installment of my favorite management blogs as part of John Hunter’s 2012 Curious Cat Management Blog Carnival.

Back in 1999, Steven Spear and H. Kent Bowen wrote the HBR article, Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System.  The article has become one of the most widely read accounts of why and how the Toyota Production System (TPS) works.  It’s one of those articles that needs to be read over and over as one learns more about lean and transformation.

Spear has continued to write about learning and improvement in his blog (The High Velocity Edge) and his latest books, Chasing the Rabbit and The High Velocity Edge.

I’ve enjoyed reading the books and articles written by Spears, as he digs into some fundamental elements of transformation and why companies like Toyota and Alcoa are different from traditionally-led organizations. 

Rather than review posts from a few blogs posts, I would rather approach this one with a series of excerpts that I thought were valuable to those involved in organizational transformation.

“ . . . there is the ideal as a consistent source of concern . . . Observed departures from ideal were triggers for the question: what is it we don’t understand that causes us to have defects, delays, waste, and risk?”  Triggers and Objectives for Processes Change-Shortfalls, failures, and imperfections

“Lean never becomes self sustaining.  Never ever ever.  No way, no how.  It simply cannot.” Does ‘Lean’ Become Self Perpetuating?

“To focus on trade offs – that to get more of something means you have to give up something else – means you assume you are extracting as much cumulative value out of your work as possible.”  Asking What Quality Initiatives Get Sacrificed Under Budget Pressures Asks the Wrong Questions 

“Often confused are “continuous improvement” and “innovation, . . . The differences between the two may have more to do with time frame and scope and less to do with approach.  In either case, the key issue is deliberating converting ignorance into useful knowledge.”  Continuous Improvement versus Innovation

Spears posts tend to be fairly short and to the point, which is nice when you have a lot to read and little time to actually sit down and do it.

Additional information about the Curious Cat Annual Management Blog Carnival is available at http://management.curiouscatblog.net/category/carnival/.

2012 Annual Management Blog Roundup - John Shook & the Lean Enterprise Institute

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This is the second installment of my favorite management blogs as part of John Hunter’s 2012 Curious Cat Management Blog Carnival.

John Shook is one of the most recognized names in lean thinking.  John spent 11 years at Toyota, and has authored (or co-authored) several books on the Toyota Production System.  He is currently Chairman and CEO of the Lean Enterprise Institute (www.lean.org) and maintains a blog on the site entitled John Schook’s eLetters, where he has been posting since 2008.

In Encouraging Signs of Leadership, John addresses the complexities of leading a lean journey.  An organization is a system and transformation needs to take place on many dimensions.  Change must be driven on the system, not the components of the system.

In the post, Shook writes that, “Leadership is integrated into the work and not overlaid onto it.  And yet many prevailing conceptions of leadership fail to grasp this simple but essential truth.”

In another post (Learning Lean – Collaboratively), Shook writes on my favorite lean topic: learning.  Lean practitioners are obsessed with learning but, as Shook writes, learning does not happen just because one wants it to.  It results from the application of tools and methods that enable a PDCA mindset.  Through PDCA, mechanisms like standardized work, kata, kaizen, and hoshin kanri all enable learning to occur faster.

In So What Are You Going To Do About It? (I love the title) Shook addresses the changes taking place in the world and the resulting impact they are having on business.  By once again returning to the idea of appreciating the system, he talks about the importance of understanding and improving the value stream as the way to deal with these large-scale changes.  By addressing problems in isolation, we’re doing nothing more than pushing costs from one part of the value stream to another.

W. Edwards Deming used to say that the system is as large as we’re able to manage.  I think the complexities and interactions in today’s world require us to see the system as much larger than was required in years past.  Understanding the supply chain, company processes, distribution, and customer tiers, although complex, is necessary for the long-term success of any organization.

 
Although Shook tends to push products and services of the Lean Enterprise Institute in many of his blogs, one can gain a wealth of information by merely reading and reflecting on his posts.  Focused directly on the application of lean, the influence of Deming is very evident. 

Additional information about the Curious Cat Annual Management Blog Carnival is available at http://management.curiouscatblog.net/category/carnival/.

Blog Carnival 2012 - Peter Drucker's Management Philosophy

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One of my favorite blogs on leadership is John Hunter’s Curious Cat Management Improvement Connections.  Besides a number of informative posts on a variety of improvement-related topics, John regularly hosts a management blog carnival, where various business and leadership blogs are featured.

This year, I’m happy to participate in the carnival with information on some of the blogs I read on a regular basis.  Reviews of all of the blogs featured in this year’s carnival can be found at http://curiouscat.com/management/carnival_2012.cfm. 

My first review in this year’s carnival is Peter Drucker’s Management Philosophy by Jorrian Gelink.  I don’t know Jorrian personally, but after reading his blog, he is obviously a Drucker zealot with excellent insight into Peter Drucker’s management philosophy.

Peter Drucker’s teachings are closely aligned with a lean mindset.  I have always found the information he provided to be a great fit with W. Edwards Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge, and a necessary component of effective leadership.  Although Deming regularly attacked Management by Objectives (MBO), I believe he was more disappointed with how MBO was implemented than the method itself.  In fact, Drucker even said that MBO only works if objectives are carefully thought through, and that 90% of the time, they aren’t.

I believe much of Drucker’s teachings have been lost over the last several years, as companies look for quick and easy ways to “become lean.”  I applaud Gelink for keeping it alive and using it to teach current and future leaders that Drucker’s philosophy is as relevant today as it was when he was alive.  I enjoy reading Gelink’s posts and expect to continue to learn from the Peter Drucker’s Management Philosophy in the future.

Gelink organizes the blog into four main sections:  Executive Basics, Management Basics, People Management, and Entrepreneurship.  There is also an excellent search tool that makes it easy to find posts on a number of management topics.  A sample of Jorrian’s posts is listed below:

Fear of Conflict – Why Conflict is Necessary  An excellent summary of the benefits of healthy conflict in any organization.  The post reminds me of The Abliene Paradox by Jerry B. Harvey; a story where family members agree to drive 53 miles to Abilene for lunch, even though nobody really wants to do it.  To avoid conflict, however, they all go along, have a terrible time, and blame each other upon returning home.  Unfortunately, too many organizations suffer from the Abilene Paradox because of the absence of open, healthy conflict.

In the post, Jorrian writes, “the result of a stronger, discussed plan is increased effectiveness, and overall satisfaction of those involved because their input was considered into it.”

What is Our Mission?  The Heart of the Organization  Whether deploying lean or not, the importance of a clear and unchanging purpose is critical to success.  Without a clear mission, there is no team – there is only a group of individuals who define success on their own terms.  Any success without a consistent purpose is accidental and destined to be short-lived.

In providing direction for defining the purpose, Jorrian wrote, “the mission starts with what is on the outside of the organization; not with what is inside.  Entrepreneurs that fail are the ones that do what they want to do, instead of what their customer wants.”  Examples of mission statements from successful technology-based companies are provided within the post.

In Personal Development – Becoming Effective in Your Role, Jorrian provides the distinction between being effective and efficient, specifically that effectiveness results from doing the right things.

The post hits on one of Drucker’s most important teachings – the idea that understanding, developing, and continually using your strengths is what leads to success.  Jorrian writes that aligning individual strengths with the organization will lead to increased effectiveness and personal success.

I have so many interesting books on reading list that I will never have the time to complete.  As with Deming, I learn a great deal each time I re-read one of Drucker’s books because he had so much to teach.  Reading Peter Drucker’s Management Philosophy allows me to keep up on Drucker’s theories even when I don’t have the time to re-read his books.

More information on the 2012 Management Improvement Blog Review can be found at http://curiouscat.com/management/carnival_2012.cfm.  For specific posts from this year’s carnival, please go to http://management.curiouscatblog.net/category/carnival/.