Learning for Improvement

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Learning for Improvement
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Leverage
About 3 of the opportunities for improvement
come from attention to unique processes.

• This means that approximately 97 of the
  opportunities for improvement come from changes
  related to overall business strategy and
  companywide systems.

Paraphrased from W. Edwards Deming, The New
Economics, p. 38
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Seeing Interrelationships
Improvement
Learning
Change
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Seeing Interrelationships
Improvement
Learning
Change
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Individual Reflection

• Think about a time when you decided to learn
  something new.
• How did you approach the topic?
• How did you feel about the task of learning?
• Who did you share your interests with and why did
  you choose these individuals?

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Learning for Improvement

• What is the connection between learning and
  improvement?
• What does it mean to say you have "learned"
  something?
• What is the connection between teaching and
  learning?

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Knowledge and Understanding

• Knowledge and understanding is one of the few
  commodities in the world that grows through use.
  It is not a competition the more you know the
  more I can know. If I want to know more I will
  have to see to it that you know more.
• Nancy Dixon The Organizational Learning Cycle

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Learners and the Learned

• In times of change learners shall inherit the
  earth while the learned are beautifully equipped
  for a world that no longer exists.
• Thurber

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Learning

• Learning occurs through the recognition of
  differences and the making of connections
• Learning may be purposeful or unintended
• Learning involves more than just the acquisition
  of informationthe ability to act differently is
  also necessary.
• Learning requires the ability to explainnot just
  describe

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Prediction and Knowledge

• A statement, if it conveys knowledge, predicts
  future outcome, with risk of being wrong, and it
  fits without failure observations of the past.

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PDSA Cycle
If we do ____, I think the result
will be ____. Heres how we
can try this...
What new questions/ideas do we have? What do we
do next?
Plan
Act
Did we get the results we expected? What did we
learn?
Do
Study
Small scale study Data collected
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The Prediction Game

• What are we trying to accomplish?
• We have observed a pattern in the output from a
  process. We want to discover the rule that
  generated this sequence.
• Each team should develop theories to test in
  order to determine the rule. You may go for
• small scale test (what will be next and why)
• full scale implementation (what is the rule that
  will provide the sequence into the foreseeable
  future)

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Predictions

• Your prediction should fit the past
  observations and predict the future
  observation(s). The process is as follows
• predict
• test
• study
• revise

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What Can We Learn?

• The role of developing a theory (a hunch to
  test)
• The possibility for multiple theories
• Learning from success and from failure
• The cumulative nature of learning

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Tacit Learning

• Researchers estimate that a small part (possibly
  less than 5) of what we 'know' was learned in a
  school setting!
• Consider the story of "The Little Boy"

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Theories-in-UseActions Speak Louder than Words
Espoused Theory Cooperation and teamwork are
important.

• Behavior is influenced by our structure. We
  group 'pieces of information' from the
  environment to gain 'knowledge.' This knowledge
  helps direct our actions.

Information Knowledge
Action Individuals are Withhold requested
resourcespromoted who from peers in case they
mightare not team The organization be needed at
a future timeplayers rewards individual perform
ance, not Choose to stay and work
onPerformance teamwork project rather than
attendreview process a team meetingrewards
individual performance Criticize subordinates
when they spend time in cross- functional
team meetings
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Defensive Routines

• Pattern
• Send a mixed message
• Act as though it is not a mixed message (or
  ignore the inconsistencies)
• Make the mixed message undiscussable
• Make the undiscussability undiscussable

• Example
• Your decision was a good one, but I'm overruling
  it
• You can be proud of your contribution
• I feel good about this outcome, and I'm sure you
  do too
• Now that I've explained every-thing to your
  satisfaction, is there anything else you'd like
  to talk about?

Argyris, Chris, "Good Communication That Blocks
Learning"
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Single Loop and Double Loop Learning

• The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but
  it takes a creative mind to spot wrong questions.
• Anthony Jay, Management and Machiavelli

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Mental Models

• Mental Models are deeply ingrained assumptions,
  generalizations, or even pictures or images that
  influence how we understand the world and how we
  take action.
• Mental Models are both helpful and limiting.

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Meaning Structures

• Meaning Structures are ways we organize data in
  order to make sense of it. We create meaning
  structures both intentionally and
  unintentionally. Meaning structures are created
  intentionally when we are consciously trying to
  understand or learn something. We also create
  meaning structures without conscious awareness
  over time (for example, language and expected
  behavior in an organization)

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Seeing and Believing

• Consider the following quotes
• Seeing is believing.
• I must believe it to see it.

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Organizational Learning

• What is it?
• How is it different from individual learning?
• What supports and discourages organizational
  learning?

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An Organization

• A group of people becomes an organization when
  the individuals which comprise it develop
  procedures for
• Making decisions in the name of the collective.
• Delegating to individuals the authority to act
  for the collective.
• Setting boundaries between the collective and the
  rest of the world.
• Argyris and Schon

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DefinitionsLearning Organization or
Organizational Learning

• "Organizational learning is the intentional use
  of learning processes at the individual, group,
  and system level to continuously transform the
  organization in a direction that is increasingly
  satisfying to its stakeholders." (Dixon, 1994)
• "Learning organizationan organization that is
  continually expanding its capacity to create its
  future." (Senge, 1990)

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Organizational Learning Cycle
Widespread generation of information
Integration of new/local information into
organizational context
Authority to take responsible action on the
interpreted meaning
Collective interpretation of information
Dixon, The Organi-zational Learning Cycle
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Requirements for Learning

• A culture that encourages learning
• Circumstances which make it physically possible
  to learn
• Knowledge of how to learn
• David Kerridge, May 1992

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New Ideas

• "Because our variety of experience and insight
  means that all those I meet know more than I do
  about something, so I can learn from them but
  equally they can learn from me."
• "Our awareness of our need to learn makes us very
  democratic in instinct, but truth cannot be
  decided by majority vote. In fact, the more
  advanced the idea, the more likely the one who
  understands it is to be in a minority."
• David Kerridge

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Meaning Structures and Learning

• Private meaning structuresthose which the
  individual chooses to withhold from other members
• Accessible meaning structuresthose which the
  individual is willing to make available to others
  in the organization
• Collective meaning structuresthose which
  organizational members hold jointly with other
  members

Dixon, The Organizational Learning Cycle
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Changing Collective Meaning Structures

• Tacit meaning structures must be brought to the
  surface
• - some event may trigger questions in a few minds
• - sufficient number of people begin to question
  assumption
• Meaning structure becomes accessible
• Dialogue, exploration of private meaning
  structures, and collection of external
  information takes place
• New meaning structures form for individuals
• A critical mass of individuals share the altered
  meaning structure for it to again be considered
  collective

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Thinking Together
not just the ideas themselves
but connections between ideas
not just con-flicting views
but differences bringing new in-sight to the whole
not just the topics discussed
but the unspoken questions and issues arising
not just approval or disapproval
but inner tension as clues to underlying
assumptions
yes/no
Bennett and Brown, "Mindshift Strategic
Dialogue for Breakthrough Thinking"
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Expanding Our View
Events(reactive)
Artifacts(visible organiza-tional structures)
Patterns of Behavior(responsive)
Espoused Values(strategies, goals, philosophies)
Systemic Structure(generative)
Underlying Assumptions(often tacit)
Senge, The Fifth Discipline, p. 52
Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, p.
17
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Assumptions and Values

• Assumption
• Whole sum of parts
• The individual is the dominant producer
• Cream will rise to the top
• The future is an extension of the past

• Value
• Performance of individual person unit
• Competition to bring out the best
• Rating, Ranking, Praise, Reward Meritocracy
• Problem solving

Adapted from talk by Ed Baker, August 1994
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Dialogue and Discussion

• Dialogue
• A process of "opening up""thinking together."
  Assumptions are brought to the surface and
  explored in order to obtain a new view and to see
  patterns of interactions. The goal is
  discovering a new view. Dialogue is divergent in
  nature.

• Discussion
• A process of analyzing a subject from various
  points of view to "focus in." Different views
  are presented and (often) defended. The goal is
  to understand a situation (and make decisions).
  Discussion in convergent in nature.

Dialogue and discussion are complementary
approaches that expand our "world view" and
enhance our ability to take action for
improvement.
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Necessary Conditions

• Conditions that support collective interpretation
  of information include
• Information and expertise that are distributed
• Participants "suspend" their assumptions
  Suspend hold out for all to examine
• Egalitarian values freedom to speak
  openly equality (necessary for freedom) respect
  (necessary for equality)
• Participants who regard each other as
  colleagues
• Processes and skills that facilitate
  organizational dialogueA "facilitator" who
  "holds the contest"

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Dialogue

• Provide others with accurate and complete
  information that bears upon the issue
• Confirm others personal competence when
  disagreeing with their ideas
• Make the reasoning that supports their position
  explicit say how they got from the data to the
  conclusion
• Voice the perspective of others
• Change position when others offer convincing data
  and rationale
• Regard assertions, their own and others, as
  hypotheses to be tested
• Challenge errors in others' reasoning or data

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Recognizing Assumptions

• From a letter to the editor of the Richmond
  Times-Dispatch discussing educational
  reformHow will our respected faculties grade
  a childs achievement toward becoming a
  fulfilled individual, a supportive person, a
  life-long learner, or an environmental
  steward?

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Personal Performance

• Can we today accurately and fairly rate
  (individual) contribution?
• Evaluations are done by evaluators
• Trainings effect must be removed or considered
  to be consistent from individual to individual
• Effects of the system must be separated from the
  effects due to the person

Drawings Gipsie B. Ranney, May 1992

Questions General Motors Powertrain
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Individual Contribution
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Carryover Effects
Person 1
Person 2 Person 3
Result
Action


Result
Action
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Ranking Assumptions

• You can separate the contribution of the person
  from the effect due to the system
• All individuals have received the same training
• Carry-over effects can be separated from the
  contributions of the individual
• Evaluators have no effect
• The time period used for the review provides the
  same opportunity for contribution for all
  individuals

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Recognizing Assumptions

• Christmas in the Melton household
• Assumptions
• There should be
• Gifts under the tree
• Surprises
• Gifts that dont need to be exchanged/returned
  (i.e., the recipient should like the gift)

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Seeing Interrelationships
Improvement
Learning
Change
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Source?
I think I will
You will
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Resistance to Change

• Suppose you are the developer of the Dvorak
  Simplified Keyboard for typewriters and word
  processors. This keyboard has potential to
  increase operator efficiency by over 40
• List as many reasons as you can for why people
  should discontinue using the old QWERTY keyboards
• Predict as many reasons as you can for why people
  will resist using the new keyboard.

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Dvorak Keyboard
space bar
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Changing Nature of Work

• FROM TO
• Unskilled work Knowledge work
• Meaningless repetitive tasks Innovation and
  caring
• Individual work Teamwork
• Functional-based work Project-based work
• Single-skilled Multiskilled
• Power of bosses Power of customers
• Coordination from above Coordination among
  peersGifford Elizabeth Pinchot, The End of
  Bureaucracy the Rise of the Intelligent
  Organization, p. 30

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Changing World View

• Creative
• Different things can come together and form
  something totally newnature is dynamic.
• Everything exist as sets of connections with the
  world around it.
• The most powerful forces driving change come from
  the future.

• Logical
• Change is a step-by-step incremental process..
  The world works in a logical, rational way.
• Material objects exist inde-pendently of each
  other and their environments.
• Events are driven by and are a result of past
  causes the present is determined by the past.

Breakpoint and Beyond by George Land and Beth
Jarman, pp. 98-105
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Change as a Reaction

• Problem Solving
• I do not like what happened
• Let me do something about it
• Example
• Problem Cant find my advisor at the start of
  the semester

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Problem Solving

• The significant problems we face cannot be solved
  at the same level of thinking we were at when we
  created them.
• Albert Einstein

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Change to Modify Existing Process

• Improvement
• We can do this better
• Incremental change
• Proactive
• Change within the current framework
• Example
• Improve Registration at the start of the semester

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Change that Breaks with the Past

• Innovation
• Redefines the market
• Breaks with the past
• Creative
• Driven by desire
• Example
• On-line education

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Negative Response to Change
Managing at the Speed of Change by Daryl Conner,
p. 133
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Positive Response to Change
Managing at the Speed of Change by Daryl Conner,
p. 137
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Stages of Change Commitment
Internalization
Institutionalization
Commitment Phase
Adoption
Installation
Positive Perception
Commitment Threshold
Degree of Support for the Change
Acceptance Phase
Understanding
Disposition Threshold
Preparation Phase
Awareness
Contact
time
Negative perception
Aborted after extensive implementation
Aborted after initial implementation
Confusion
Decision not to implement
Unawareness
Managing at the Speed of Change by Daryl Conner,
p. 148
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Change Equation
Perceived need for further change
Shared vision or desired future state
Good next steps
Resistance to change
Level of dissatisfaction Shared by
many Strength Primary causesystemsubsystemo
ther
Leadership commitment Involvement Clear Co
ncise Consistent with values
What When Who How Flexible
Fear of unknown Autonomy and security
threatened Belief other's are
incorrect Support not visible Inconsistent
with other systems
"A Statistical Approach to Human Resource
Systems," OQPF 1992, Mary Jenkins
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Seeing Interrelationships
Improvement
Learning
Change
57
Leverage
About 3 of the opportunities for improvement
come from attention to unique processes.

• This means that approximately 97 of the
  opportunities for improvement come from changes
  related to overall business strategy and
  companywide systems.

Paraphrased from W. Edwards Deming, The New
Economics, p. 38
58
Improvement
Adaptive

• Problem fixing things gone wrongSolving
• Continual incremental improvement
  Improvement within the current framework
• Creation bringing new products, services
  and/or processes into being

Generative
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Analysis and Synthesis

• "Anyone can break something up into small pieces.
  The trick is to knit them back together again
  into a whole without compromising their
  autonomy."
• David Nadler

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Systems

• A system consists of a set of parts
• Each part can affect the essential (defining)
  function, behavior, or property of the whole
• The way each part affects the whole depends on
  what at least one other part is doing
• Every possible subset of these parts can affect
  the essential function
• Take a system apart and it looses its properties
  and the parts loose the properties
• Russell Ackoff

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System Concepts

• A system must have an aim that is clear to
  everyone in the system.
• Management of a system requires knowledge of the
  interrelationships between all of the components
  within the system and of the people that work in
  it.
• The larger the boundary of the system, the bigger
  the possible benefits, but the more difficult to
  manage.
• The secret is cooperation between components
  toward the aim of the organization.

Paraphrased from W. Edwards Deming, The New
Economics
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System "Killers"

• Appraisal Systems Pay for Performance
• (Traditional) Job Descriptions Competition
• Profit/Cost Centers Everyone Doing their Best
• Fear and Lack of Trust Management by Results
• Numerical Goals and Quotas Purchasing Policies
• Organizational Structure Rewards

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Unintended Consequences

• Select one of the "system killers."
• What are/were the intended consequences of this?
  (Why would we want to do this? What are we
  trying to accomplish?)
• What are the unintended consequences? (What
  dominos fall as a result of this?)

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Accelerating the Pace of Improvement
Improve Redesign a Process Move Steps in Process
Closer Together Move Order receipt and the
warehouse process closer together Move the FAX
that receives the orders into the warehouse
area Write a work order to have FAX moved on
Monday
Concepts, Vague, Strategic Ideas, Specific,
Actionable
Lloyd Provost at OQPF's Eleventh Annual Deming
Conference, 1997
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Transportable Concepts

• The Chaotic Picnic
• I was at a picnic (with about 100 other people).
• Hamburgers and hotdogs were cooked on the grill.
• People filed down both sides of a long table to
  get their food.
• Chaos was the order of the day

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What I Saw
Slaw
hamburgers hotdogs
cups
lettuce
mayo, mustard, ketchup
buns
plates
drinks
Chips
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What We Did

• Concepts
• Improve flow
• Reorder steps
• Create parallel processes
• Separate into multiple processes

• Specific
• Moved the plates to the beginning of the line
• Put the buns before the condiments and meat
• Put the slaw and chips in line (so people from
  both sides of the table could get to them)
• Moved the drinks and cups to a separate table

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Focusing Energy
Focusing our efforts on things that are of
concern to us and that we can influence can
produce positive results (and an increase in our
circle of influence). To focus our energy where
we have no influence results in an increase in
our own feelings of helplessness (and a shrinking
of our circle of influence).
Circle of Concern
Circle of Influence
Adapted from Covey, Stephen R., The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective People, pp. 81-86