Enterprise Alignment and Results

Thinking Systemically and Creating Constancy of Purpose and Value for the Customer

Chris Butterworth

• Publisher: Productivity Press
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780429533952
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Manufacturing
• Index: Business

To succeed, an organization must cultivate management systems that effectively align their work and behaviors with principles and direction. These systems should be simple, comprehensible, actionable, and standardized. Establishing alignment in every value stream of an organization will ultimately create value for their customers and produce the desired results. This alignment stems from an understanding of why an organization exists, where it is going, and how it will get there.

Enterprise Alignment and Results guides readers to their goal of enterprise-wide alignment by providing a deeper look at the Shingo Model. This book builds upon the previous books in the Shingo Model Series by continuing to define ideal behaviors and the systems that drive them and increasing understanding of fundamental beliefs and how to use behavioral benchmarks. As readers examine the principles of "Create Constancy of Purpose," "Think Systemically," and "Create Value for the Customer," they will gain a deeper knowledge of the relationship between behaviors, systems, and principles. This knowledge will foster an understanding of how to create alignment within their organizations, thereby increasing the consistency of delivering ideal results.

1

Introduction

Too many organizations are failing to be competitive, not because they cannot solve problems, but because they cannot sustain the solution. They haven’t realized that tradition supersedes tools, no matter how good they are. Success requires a sustainable shift in behaviors and culture, and that needs to be driven by a shift in the systems that motivate those behaviors.

Gerhard Plenert

Countless organizations have, at one time or another, begun a “Lean journey” (for a brief description of Lean, please see the end of this introduction) or they have implemented an improvement initiative of some sort. At the foundation of these initiatives are a number of tools that seem to promise exciting new results. While many organizations may initially see significant improvements, far too many of these initiatives meet disappointing ends. Leaders quickly find that Lean tools such as Six Sigma, jidoka, SMED, 5S, JIT, quality circles, etc. are not independently capable of effecting lasting change.

Years ago, the Shingo Institute set out on an extended study to determine the difference between short-lived successes and sustainable results. Over time, the Institute noticed a common theme: the difference between successful and unsuccessful effort is centered on the ability of an organization to ingrain into its culture timeless and universal principles rather than rely on the superficial implementation of tools and programs. These findings are confirmed time and again by nearly three decades of assessing organizational culture and performance as part of the Shingo Prize process. Since 1988, Shingo examiners have witnessed first-hand how quickly tool-based organizations decline in their ability to sustain results. On the other hand, organizations that anchor their improvement initiatives to principles experience significantly different results. This is because principles help people understand the “why” behind the “how” and the “what.”

To best illustrate these findings, the Shingo Institute developed the Shingo Model™, the accompanying Shingo Guiding Principles, and the Three Insights of Enterprise Excellence™. The Shingo Institute offers a series of five workshops designed to help participants understand these principles and insights and to help them strive for excellence within their respective organizations. This book, Discover Excellence: An Overview of the Shingo Model and Its Guiding Principles, is an introduction to these five workshops.

Here is a description of the first of five workshops offered in the Shingo Institute educational series.

Discover Excellence Workshop

A facility-wide improvement initiative is expensive in terms of both time and money. Perhaps the most disappointing thing about them is that they often end up as temporary measures that may produce early results but are unsustainable in the long run. The unseen cost is that after they see such initiatives come and go, employees begin to see them as futile, temporary annoyances rather than the permanent improvements they are meant to be.

The Shingo Model begins with culture informed by operational excellence principles that lead to an understanding of what aligns systems and tools and can set any organization on a path toward enterprise excellence with sustainable continuous improvement.

The Shingo Model is not an additional program or another initiative to implement. Instead, it introduces Shingo Guiding Principles on which to anchor current initiatives. Ultimately, the Shingo Model informs a new way of thinking that creates the capability to consistently deliver ideal results to all stakeholders. This is enterprise excellence—the level of excellence achieved by Shingo Prize recipients.

DISCOVER EXCELLENCE is a foundational, two-day workshop that introduces the Shingo Model, the Shingo Guiding Principles, and the Three Insights of Enterprise Excellence. With active discussions and on-site learning at a host organization, this program is a highly interactive experience. It is designed to make learning meaningful and immediately applicable as participants learn how to release the latent potential in an organization to achieve enterprise excellence. It provides the basic understanding needed in all Shingo workshops; therefore, it is a prerequisite to the CULTURAL ENABLERS, CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT, and ENTERPRISE ALIGNMENT & RESULTS workshops, and concludes with the BUILD EXCELLENCE workshop.

DISCOVER participants will:

• Learn and understand the Shingo Model.
• Discover the Three Insights of Enterprise Excellence.
• Explore how the Shingo Guiding Principles inform ideal behaviors that lead to sustainable results.
• Understand the behavioral assessment process using a case study and on-site learning.

The additional four Shingo workshops are described as follows.

Cultural Enablers Workshop

The CULTURAL ENABLERS workshop is a two-day workshop that integrates classroom and on-site experiences at a host facility to build upon the knowledge and experience gained at the DISCOVER EXCELLENCE workshop. It leads participants deeper into the Shingo Model by focusing on the principles identified in the Cultural Enablers dimension:

• Respect Every Individual
• Lead with Humility

Cultural Enablers principles make it possible for people in an organization to engage in the transformation journey, progress in their understanding, and, ultimately, build a culture of enterprise excellence. Enterprise excellence cannot be achieved through top-down directives or piecemeal implementation of tools. It requires a widespread organizational commitment. The CULTURAL ENABLERS workshop helps participants define ideal behaviors and the systems that drive them using behavioral benchmarks.

Continuous Improvement Workshop

The CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT workshop is a three-day workshop that integrates classroom and on-site experiences at a host facility to build upon the knowledge and experience gained at the DISCOVER EXCELLENCE workshop. It begins by teaching participants how to clearly define value through the eyes of customers. It continues the discussion about ideal behaviors, fundamental purpose, and behavioral benchmarks as they relate to the principles of Continuous Improvement, and takes participants deeper into the Shingo Model by focusing on the principles identified in the Continuous Improvement dimension:

• Seek Perfection
• Embrace Scientific Thinking
• Focus on Process
• Assure Quality at the Source
• Flow & Pull Value

This workshop deepens one’s understanding of the relationship between behaviors, systems, and principles and how they drive results.

Enterprise Alignment & Results Workshop

The ENTERPRISE ALIGNMENT & RESULTS workshop is a two-day workshop that integrates classroom and on-site experiences at a host facility to build upon the knowledge and experience gained at the DISCOVER EXCELLENCE workshop. It takes participants deeper into the Shingo Model by focusing on the principles identified in the Enterprise Alignment dimension and the Results dimension:

• Think Systemically
• Create Constancy of Purpose
• Create Value for the Customer

To succeed, organizations must develop management systems that align work and behaviors with principles and direction in ways that are simple, comprehensive, actionable, and standardized. Organizations must get results, and creating value for customers is ultimately accomplished through the effective alignment of every value stream in an organization. The ENTERPRISE ALIGNMENT & RESULTS workshop continues the discussion around defining ideal behaviors and the systems that drive them, understanding fundamental beliefs, and...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Editor
• Foreword
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 The Dimensions
• Chapter 3 Think Systemically
• Chapter 4 Create Constancy of Purpose
• Chapter 5 Results: Create Value for the Customer
• Chapter 6 Lean Prescription at Denver Health: The Enterprise Alignment Workshop Case Study
• Chapter 7 Assessing the Enterprise Alignment and Results Dimensions
• Chapter 8 Summary
• Bibliography
• Index