Job Instruction - Major Change to Session I

In my new role, I surveyed my team and asked them to independently list the top five problems in the organization that they could have influence over. When we met together to share our opinions and thoughts about the survey, interestingly, the top problem was Training, with Communication not too far behind.

This prompted me to run a quick JI Appreciation Session, to test the waters with the group. The response was that JI could work well in our organization so we decided to give it a try.

I scheduled six JI sessions of with six participants each. Team Leads were encouraged to sign up and the rest of the company was invited to voluntarily enter the program. The sign up sheet was full in two days.

One of the things Mark Warren discovered in the New Zealand program was the fact that the Training Time Table was moved into Session I, from Session III. I had tried this before, but found this change wanting, not fully understanding the change. The thinking was that supervisors should plan for training first, and not jump right into job breakdown sheets - a big temptation for many. But simply presenting the TTT as it is just didn't have the intended effect. People really struggled with the TTT. After some discussion with Mark and additional research into the New Zealand coaching guides, we made a small change.

I tried this change out today in my first of the six sessions, and I'm really excited about the results. The order of the Session is standard until the end:

Intro
4 Objectives
Five Needs
Who Needs Training
Problems in the Workplace
Job Instruction Definition
Telling Demonstration
Showing Demonstration
4 Step Demonstration
Establish 4 Steps
Present Time Table
Tree Example
Assignments

Trainers familiar with the JI program will not recognize the Tree Example.  Here is what this is and how it worked:

I presented the TTT just like in the JI manual, except not with the Bill Smith example, but with a fictional TTT that continues with the 4 Step demonstration in my electrical shop. This seemed to help the participants make an easy transition from the knot tying story to the nuts and bolts of how the Trainer prepared for training. Once the participants grasped the TTT, we moved onto the Tree Diagram.

The Tree Diagram serves several purposes:

1) Not all participants are supervisors, so not all are responsible for planning for training,
2) TTT are used to spot problems by the supervisor and to plan to prevent those problems through training,
3) The Tree Diagram serves the same purpose as TTT but in a form that anybody can use to spot problems in their work:

A participant was asked what his job was. He replied that it was Manufacturing Engineering Technician. I then used a tree diagram (i.e. like an org chart) to drill down to the next layer of work units. He listed three basic units: utility planning, facility layout management and fixture design and validation. Since these are still large units of work, we drilled down further - after I asked him which unit is the source of most of his problems. Once he identified utility planning, we broke that piece down further: electrical, air and developing specifications. I asked him which one of those was most problematic. Once he had indicated the task that has the most problems, I congratulated him on picking his practice job!

Using this method, we successfully gave ALL participants a method for learning to look at their work a different way - whether they are responsible for training or not. In addition, ALL participants could see that they now have a method that they can practice on a real problem that will make their work, and others, easier to manage and with improved communication.

As I complete the sessions over the next few weeks, be sure to check in and see what else becomes of this change. What do you think of this change? Does it sound like it could make a difference in your approach to training and communication?

Job Instruction, Art or Science?

Recently I watched an interview about the Art vs. Science of writing Job Breakdown sheets. I am highly suspect of the Art vs. Science pitch when it comes to leadership consulting. Why? Because even the greatest artists practiced and perfected their brushstrokes before they painted their masterpiece. This tells me that with practice, perseverance and opportunity - anyone can learn.

What I learned from this interview is that writing Job Breakdown sheets is not necessarily a technically precise exercise, but is about combining words and concepts rearranging them into sequences that work for the learner, so that it is easy for the learner to capture and remember all of the important steps and key points of the job. That it doesn't really matter if it is a key point or an important step, but what is important is that we are figuring out a way to make the job digestible for the learner.

While this sounds nice, I couldn't disagree more.

It's funny, pretty much every interaction I've had with people on the shop floor evolves into a discussion around things like sequence of work, subtleties of the job, the nuances and history of the work which that person takes pride in. If I were to suggest that those subtleties are not subtle, or the sequence is out of order, or their history is fiction, I can guarantee a somewhat visceral reaction. After all, they have the experience of the value-add work, whereas I do not. All I can do is help them learn new skills, show them where we need to go and encourage them to make their value-add better.

I was recently trained by somebody on how to assemble a component of a product we make. After watching the person do the job, I tried it myself. When I started the job out of sequence, the person immediately corrected me, "Don't forget to grease your part first!" Clearly, this person wanted me to remember something important before I moved on. In this case, I can probably say that the Important Step is, "Grease Part".

Now let's use our experts example: what would happen if I arbitrarily decided to put the greasing step as a keypoint, and I put it as 3rd on the list because I think it may be easier for the person to remember the 3rd keypoint because there is a #3 on the grease tube? If I write that as a key point, what is the Important Step?
Is it the same? I probably don't need to explain to you how this example alone invalidates the argument that keypoints and important steps are interchangeable.

But that may not be enough...now lets go one step further: how would I know that they can't remember it as the first step? I must have had the experience of observing the person fumble through the steps in order to realize this problem and then subsequently rearrange the steps in order to move the 1st to the 3rd, or was it the 2nd? What is the likelihood that this unpreparedness would undermine the training effectiveness, if effective at all?

Oh, you test the breakdown sheet first. O.k., let's say it was tested first, but we can go deeper with the flaws of this approach. Now, three weeks later, a different trainer must train a new person using the same breakdown sheet with the 1st keypoint located in the 3rd, or may be the keypoint is now the Important Step. What is the likelihood that they will be confused when they see me grease the parts on the 1st step and then skip over it on the 3rd? What is the likelihood that I will even use the breakdown sheet since it really isn't accurate in the first place?

And further still...what happens when the two trainees talk to each other? How well will they communicate about this job? What problems can you imagine, in the context of your workplace? Now imagine how many key points you may have in your workplace? Is it 100? 1,000? 10,000? 100,000? More? How many people work with these keypoints? It doesn't take much math effort to explain how this turns into a nightmare probability problem  - which is the primary purpose for putting standards in place to begin with.

I was somewhat surprised to see Important Steps and Key Points treated this way. It is my contention that this muddled thinking is the primary reason why people have difficulty in training to begin with and subsequently, problem solving at higher levels.

I think what he was trying to say is that you want to give people the right amount of information, in the right sequence so that they remember the job easily. That I can agree with.

So, let me kindly remind everybody here about the anatomy of a Job Breakdown Sheet:

WHAT - Important Steps - Advance the work - this is the sequence of the steps. The sequence of work can be rearranged for kaizen, but not for training, that would sort of defeat the purpose of standard work.

HOW - Key points - things that could hurt a person, make or break the job, or make the work easier, a trick, or a knack for something. I suppose you could make a key point an important step, but an important step it does not make. Example: Safety - you can do any job in an unsafe manner, and still advance the work. Key points are HOW you advance the work.

WHY - Reasons for the key points. Don't you want to know why we do things this way? Don't you want to communicate these things to people so they do not take shortcuts? You may better understand how your work relates to individual progress, team goals and business growth objectives if you include this info on your breakdown sheet.

When it comes to art vs. science, Job Breakdown Sheets are mostly science and little art. Yes, you need to know how to approach people. Yes, you need to know how to work with people. These are artful skills needed in dealing with people, but those skills alone will not make you successful at building a continuous improvement culture and they are not to be confused with technical skills.

The Discovery of "Lean"

Whoa! I've been out of the blog saddle for a while...been a busy winter.

Speaking of staying busy, Mark Warren has been at it as well. Take a few minutes out of your day to check out this great synopsis about the "Discovery of Lean" by Mark:

I really like the slide above. It best illustrates what is wrong with today's version of lean:

1) We are taught to create work cells because that is lean,
2) The work cells do not really synchronize well,
3) They are not synchronized because the work content is not not balanced,
4) The work is unstable because standards are weak or non-existent,
5) Standards are weak or non-existent because (insert your reason here)

If you follow the chain above in the opposite direction, it is easy to see that people who organize for flow by first creating work standards it is far easier to implement and improve work cell arrangements to be flexible with demand. And of course, Job Instruction is a great place to start with creating work standards.

It is between the parentheses above where leadership can make all of the difference. Managers end up inserting excuses, leaders find the reasons and eliminate them. That is called waste elimination.

Learning to see the waste can be hard, because we are so hyper focused on creating work cells. When the work cells do not work, we resort to old coercive speed up tactics, give up or go back to the old way.

So, I admit it. I'm a purist, the stuff today's Lean is made of is really just a collection of skills and principles applied and developed over 100 years ago. I really like Mark's YouTube video above because it speaks to the validity of principles in systems leadership. I'm curious what all of you think about Mark's story above? Does this resonate? In what way?

(Darn, it is hard to not use the word, "lean")

TWI CardHacks - "Have Everything Ready"

"Have Everything Ready" Doesn't really have that flashy Lean sound does it? It doesn't have the name recognition of problem killers like 5S, PokeYoke, Kanban, etc. Yet, this Get Ready point may be the most overlooked Lean key point of them all. One of the reasons for this is that we often take for granted that Everything is um, already, Ready.

On one of my first practice Job Breakdown Sheets, I went out to the floor in a web coating operation. I was interested in a breaking down a changeover job that involved some calendaring rolls. The rolls, quite heavy, were supported by a bearing block on each end, about seventy five lbs. each. When I watched the mechanic pull the bearing off the roll, he used a precarious trick to move the 75lb. block from the roll end, hanging in the air, and over to the workbench about six feet away. His trick was to slide the block and rest it on his thigh, and then shuffle over to the work bench while supporting the block with this hands and thigh.

Perhaps you can imagine what I was thinking: "I won't write down this key point!" 

Number one, what I observed was clearly unsafe - potential problems were back injuries, broken toes, broken feet, pulled muscles, lacerations or crushed digits if he smashed his finger between the block and the work bench.

Also, if he managed to do the job unscathed, which he often did, what if he dropped the block on the ground? Damage to the bearing and the floor was at risk, causing unneeded expense. In addition, without knowing if spare bearings were available, the damage could result in unplanned downtime and missed promise dates or shutdowns of subsequent production lines.

You, see the workplace was NOT ready. This is one example, of tens of millions, that plague our workplaces. When you right a job breakdown sheet, don't just write down what you see. This is your opportunity to question what it is you see. This is one of the hidden benefits of using a questioning method as we are taught when pulling keypoints out of the job. It leads us to Learn to See problems in the workplace.

In this way, we are tuning our eyes to see problems in the workplace.

After talking about the problem in more detail, I learned that not only did the nightmare potential problems flashing through my mind were valid, some of them had already happened. It was time to make an improvement and stop the chain of accidents and problems cold in their tracks. We talked little more and we found an extra die table that needed repair, but would do the trick. After we fixed the control valve on it, he could raise the table to the end of the roll, safely slide the block onto the table, wheel the table over to the workbench and then safely slide the block onto the bench for maintenance.

We felt a lot better about writing down "Use die table" in the keypoints. Better yet, the mechanics quickly rattled off the reasons why with total buy-in.

Check out the TWI CardHacks for "Have Everything Ready". By doing so, you can set the example of how work should be done safely, correctly, quickly and conscientiously in the workplace.

Job Breakdown Sheets CardHacks - NZ Coaching Guide

More TWI CardHacks...the link takes you to the NZ Coaching Guide for Job Breakdown Sheets. The purpose of this Coaching Guide is to coach a supervisor in preparing a job breakdown sheet and in using the JBS. The guide is useful during the Job Instruction program deployment or as a follow-up guide.

One of the things that I'm not known for in my blog post is brevity. I like to think that is because I'm smart, but I'm pretty sure it has more to do with me learning how to write.

A curious thing about this Coaching Guide, the word "brevity" is used twice. Brevity means: "concise and exact use of words in writing or speech." I find it difficult to write about lean and TWI because there is so much content that spans management, technology, culture, etc. that I don't know how one can write about such a complicated topic with brevity.

Interestingly enough, the NZ coaching guides, appreciation programs and materials are several hundred pages in content - that is a lot to say about 4 step programs!

But what the TWI skill programs really address is human behavior, not 4 step cards. The cards are simply reminders of ways we can behave to get good results.

Coaching Guide #3

Job Breakdown Sheets vs. Work Instructions Part III

See Part I of this blog post series here and Part II here...

A common question I get at the TWI Blog is if Job Breakdown Sheets can replace Work Instructions in an audit.

Caveat: I can only speak to ISO 9001:2008 audit standards, not TS or AS standards. However, I can't imagine how the following reasoning would not apply there as well.

Essentially, the ISO standard is still one where you are obligated to "do what you say and say what you do." There is nothing in the standard in which format or content is pre-determined or mandated. Your documents are simply subject to other elements of the standard such as Control of Documents and Control of Records.

It is interesting to me when people get wrapped around the axle with this question. The problem has nothing to do with the standard and is born from the anxiety that comes with the notion that your current documentation probably stinks, is burdensome and avoided by the masses.

First of all, I find that a Job Breakdown Sheet is far easier to audit and people are more likely to be following the important steps, key points and elaborate on reasons why then they are with a long winded, convoluted work instruction. Plus, despite an organization's best effort to update every document two weeks prior to an audit, the work instructions are usually not 100% accurate. That is not to say that a JBS is ALWAYS accurate. In both cases, the problem of accuracy, completeness and timeliness is a people problem that is management's to solve. One other thing, you may need multiple JBS to cover a twenty-eight page work instruction. That's o.k. to do. Don't try to squeeze twenty-eight pages into seven steps. Also, don't create twenty-eight pages into forty-seven steps on an eleven page JBS. That's what we like to call, "reformatting".

Because of this transition anxiety, I used to think that having both documents is o.k., since most organizations are usually in a state of partial implementation when it comes to adopting JBS and JI. Unfortunately, with this approach, inertia can set in and stalling will occur all too often. Nowadays, I'm inclined to say that all new "how-to's" are done on a JBS and work instructions are to be replaced by the supervisors and experts of their respective processes - as soon as time allows.

The reasons for this are pretty straightforward and it will help you and your teams be successful on both audits and continuous improvement efforts: ownership and probabilities.

Teams that own their documentation are far more likely to use them as roadmaps, training aids, guiding lights, problem solving aids, etc., then if they do not own the documents. And because work instructions are normally begotten from the nether regions of an office - they stand little chance of being utilized in any useful manner. Usually, work instructions find themselves basking in the glory of sunlight only days ahead of the audit.

Job Breakdown Sheets, on the other hand, tend to be posted in an area, are dragged out during genba observations, easily used during refresh training on repeat orders, etc. And since they tend to more accurately represent the actual work done on a product or service, can be used in an audit.

The matter really comes down to one of practical use and the probability of said use. Work instructions, due to their often low accuracy, unwieldy nature, foreign terminology and origin, tend to have a low probability of creating confidence in users, supervisors and auditors.

Job Breakdown Sheets in the hands of the expert who knows the work better than anybody else - and under the guidance of a coach, then to have a higher probability of being accurate, timely, simple in nature (i.e., easy to use) and due to the local ownership - can be front and center in how work is done.

My stance has changed: get rid of your work instructions! (but make sure you have JBS in place first!)

TWI - New Zealand Program Evolution & Toyota Discoveries

Digging a little deeper in the first sections of the New Zealand Appreciation, Operating and Follow-Up programs the past days...there are some interesting discoveries to discuss.

A little background may be in order: as stated in previous posts, the New Zealand TWI group honed their skills over 30 years - far longer than the TWI Institutes of World War II. They also had some pretty good exposure, er, influence over a heavy Lean hitter. Mark reported back to me that the New Zealand group, later called ITS, or Industrial Training Service, contracted with Toyota NZ operations to deliver TWI programs. This occurred over some 45 sessions during the early to mid 1980s. More roots to dig into! Here is an article link about the Toyota NZ TWI installation.

I digress. The point is, ITS had lots of experience, arguably far more experience than the WWII TWI team, especially when looking at their program development over the years. Here are a few things that were codified in their JI program:

First, Job Instruction training improves communication. My experience is that the JI skill is an excellent way of clearly communicating with people. What is interesting to me is that ITS states that their JI program aims to improve communication and training. This is the first time I’ve seen anyone claim that the aim of JI is to improve communication, especially over the training objective. Most trainers in the U.S. will claim better communication is an output, or result of training - not the primary aim. Perhaps the ITS team did not mean it that way, but judging from the 240 pages of materials in this book, I think they may have discovered something and shifted the focus on the JI program:

Form #103/1, from New Zealand ITS, TWI Appreciation, Organizing and Follow Up, ed. Mark Warren

This makes me wonder, why do I often hear from others that communication is a problem in companies? (data) I thought we had this one figured out? Obviously, not. So, we need to relearn how to communicate. There are many ways, TWI JI skills being one way. Are there patterns in the art of communication that we are missing that, if found and used, could make communication better? Is communication an art? Have we forgotten about the science behind communication, or are we all better served to leave the talking to those born with the gift? Would your team benefit if individuals could learn how to communicate better? Do you have any ideas about how JI skills could improve communication? What is your experience?

The second discovery is how ITS “sold” TWI programs to organizations. They called it “The “Problem Approach”. I think almost all companies today try to sell something to customers that they think they need. You don’t sell a car to somebody, you sell status. Or reliability. Or style. Or all of the above, but you aren’t selling them just a car. In the case of ITS, they used “The Problem Approach” to sell management on the proven results obtained by people using TWI skills. The ITS group really embraced the model setup during the war, which was never really codified as the war ended. ITS seems to have figured out that is how to get around some of the objections to installing what could be perceived as yet another training program.

Form #301 from New Zealand ITS, TWI Appreciation, Organizing and Follow Up, ed. Mark Warren.

What results have you realized using TWI skills? Do you feel they could be used to sell the continuing use of the program, or the spread of the program to other parts of the organization? What best practices could you share that help demonstrate benefits of TWI skills that go beyond training? Have you found that people communicate, cooperate and collaborate better when taking a different approach than what we have learned about TWI already?

Hidden Benefits of Job Instruction - Part 2

There are several basic things you do when practicing the skill of instruction:

1) Creating Timetables

2) Writing Job Breakdown Sheets

3) Readying the workplace with correct tools, materials, equipment, etc.

4) Organizing the workplace as it will be used,

5) Training using the 4 step method

6) Following up with people and adjusting plans

In Part II of Hidden Benefits, we ask the question: what is the primary purpose of Writing Job Breakdown Sheets? The primary reason is to organize our thoughts around training. Consider that Job Breakdown Sheets are for the trainer. Job Breakdown Sheets (or JBS) illustrate this in a simple way:

• The materials, tools and information needed to do the job,
• Important Steps, or, the orderly sequence of the job, 
• Keypoints of each Important Steps, or, the quality, safety and special knowledge about the step,
• Reasons for the Keypoints, or, the reason and logic behind why we do things a certain way,

But there are more benefits than organizing your thoughts. When used with a bias towards continuous improvement, questions asked when writing a Job Breakdown Sheets can lead us to habits and behaviors that are sometimes lacking in Lean implementations.

First Benefit to using JBS: What do you see?

JBS are very different than Work Instructions (or WI). See my post on JBS vs. WI for more details. For today, we will focus on one of the key differences: writing a good JBS forces you to go to the shop floor and observe the actual job. This sharpens your observation, questioning and coaching skills. In a past life, I wrote WI's behind an engineer's desk. I quickly discovered that going to the source and pulling information from the production system created a better WI. But even then, the effectiveness of the WI was diluted because of the length and depth of unnecessary details, flowery language and technical jargon. A JBS is concise, short and represents the actual work on the floor. When I learned about Job Instruction and started writing JBS, this alone enhanced my observation, questioning and coaching skills - without those objectives even being my intent...which leads me to the next hidden benefit:

Second Benefit to using JBS: Discovery and Connectivity Support the Business Strategy

A JBS can concisely and accurately represent safety, quality and productivity keypoints - or HOW things are done. In recent years, I've added a small check box column along the right side of the Reasons for the Keypoints:

✔ = Quality
$ = Cost
+ = Safety
↑ = Productivity

In this way, we can concretely illustrate how a keypoint contributes to (Q)uality, (C)ost, (S)afety, (P)roductivity. In lean transformations that focus on tool use, we struggle with linking the activities of people with meeting customer and company objectives related to QCSP. As a result, we create new tools such as Hoshin plans, X-chart Strategic Project Deployment, Leader Standard Work, etc. These management tools are designed to force lean tool use in the workplace. Unfortunately, the success rate of this push style lean transformation is quite low, and the degrees of separation between reconciling the improvement efforts of individuals and customer related goals and objectives is many.

When two people can see how work is directly connected to QCSP objectives we immediately clear the fog around what we are doing and what we should be working on. The pathways to improvement immediately shorten and degrees of separation to success are reduced to one.

I've sat through many, many hours of Hoshin planning realizing that the primary difficulty in doing so is trying to connect the dots between what people do to get results and what the expected results are to be. A JBS helps us make the connection within minutes: by directly observing the work, we are able to see how our work affects business objectives.

Third Benefit to writing JBS: Demonstrate a commitment to development of your people.

When you stop telling people to improve and starting working together with them, people see that there is a plan for them. JBS' are a great approach to deliberately practice working together. When they see that you are thinking about them and taking action, what do you suppose is going through their mind? For some they may feel uneasy. For others, they may be excited. A few may mutter, "It's about time!" If you follow through on your plan, in the long run the team will realize that we are in this together and for each other.

Summary: If you write JBS with others, you are modeling one of the high quality leadership behavior traits: mentoring and teaching. And doing this with others increases each person's emotional intelligence, working with others, resolving differences, testing assumptions, organizing actions, reflecting on results. We need tools to help us do what is required of us for the benefit of our team. A JBS is another deliberate method we can use to maximize the potential of our people.

In Part 3 of Hidden Benefits, we'll stress the importance of readying the workplace for instruction.

Hidden Benefits of Job Instruction - Part 1

There are several basic things you do when practicing the skill of instruction:

1) Creating Timetables

2) Writing Job Breakdown Sheets

3) Readying the workplace with correct tools, materials, equipment, etc.

4) Organizing the workplace as it will be used,

5) Training using the 4 step method

6) Following up with people and adjusting plans

Let's focus on some of the hidden benefits of each of these Job Instruction components that come with experience in using the skill of instruction. First, what is the primary purpose of Creating Timetables? The primary reason we use a time table is to plan our training. A timetable plan is a record of our answers to the following questions:

Who will get trained?

When they will get trained?

What will they be trained in?

Who will train them?

But there are more benefits than just having a plan to operate to. When used with a bias towards continuous improvement, these planning questions are asked in response to workplace problems such as quality, productivity, delivery, safety or cost related problems that can be solved through standardization and training.

First Benefit to using Timetables: What gets your attention, gets done.

When your team sees you developing a plan that includes their personal skill develop, you are apt to get their buy-in. When you tie completion dates, improvement of quality, reduction of cost and improvement safety to their training and their development you will get more buy-in. And when you include them in the development of Job Breakdown Sheets - you are sharing in the ownership of the process with your team. Use the Timetable as a planning and management tool for your team and you will see things get done. Make it a part of your KPIs and you will see good things happen. Use the timetable as a rally tool around problems that involve training. This is not limited to operations departments...you can apply this skill to engineering teams, marketing, sales and other support functions. The objectives may change, but the skill of planning does not.

Second Benefit to using Timetables: Demonstrate Return on Training Investment.

If you use the timetable to help the team spot problems, record them and plan for solving them through training, you can demonstrate to others that training can pay off. Example: scrap is on the rise again on one of three shifts. A discussion with all of the shift leads reveals that adjustments are made by the operators during operation. Adjustments cause the product to drift out of spec from time-to-time. A review of the Job Breakdown Sheet reveals that the key point regarding the adjustment isn't specific enough to keep the process in control. The Job Breakdown Sheet is updated and the supervisor notes on the Timetable when each of the operators on the shifts will get retrained on the updated process. Too many times, these types of corrective actions go unaccounted for. By formalizing the planning, standardization and improvement cycle of how people train we can see in concrete terms how training pays off.

Third Benefit to using Timetables: Demonstrate a commitment to development of your people.

When people see that there is a plan for them, when they see that you are thinking about them and taking action, what do you suppose is going through their mind? For some they may feel uneasy. For others, they may be excited. A few may mutter, "It's about time!" If you follow through on your plan, in the long run the team will realize that we are in this together and for each other.

Summary: If you use a time table, you are modeling one of the high quality leadership behavior traits: duty. We need tools to help us do what is required of us for the benefit of our team. A time table is a concrete way of illustrating just how we are trying to compete in this world: by maximizing the potential of our people.

In Part 2 of Hidden Benefits, we'll uncover some of the gems found when writing Job Breakdown Sheets.

Looking for Lean Coaching? Join me at the 2013 TWI Summit!

This year, I'll be talking about a few simple lessons learned in TWI Job Instruction:

1) Important Steps advance the work,

2) Writing Job Breakdown Sheets increases your observation skills,

3) These are skills that help us to learn lean character traits...YES, you can teach an old dog new tricks!

These discoveries have helped me evolve from doing walkabouts (MBWA) to doing genba walks (observing problems) to what I call "Coachabouts" and how TWI skills can help you learn the behaviors needed to make your lean transformation, well, actually a transformation.

Sign up for the TWI Summit and use the code, "LUND" to take 10% off your registration fee. See you there!

TWI - It's all about YOU!

Interesting day today...I delivered an "appreciation" session to a team where I presented the benefits of Job Instruction. In our world today, we tend to get hyper fixated on the need for mutual benefits and for good reason. When we work together as a team, we feel good about the results for all involved. That is a BIG deal.

TWI guys will inevitably break BIG things down into their smaller components. How about the notion of mutual benefits? Well, for starters, mutual benefits implies that  more than one person realizes a benefit. O.k., let's look at two people who are using Job Instruction: the leader and the team member.

I'll use the comments I received after the session. First, the leader explained that she was very excited about using JI because now she could see a way to get through to the person she was training. Her explanation was that the team member just wasn't getting it and this would help her, "get it". That sounds like a one-sided benefit. Where is the mutual benefit?

While the team member is most likely to "get it", actually the primary aim of practicing Job Instruction is to make the leader more capable. Capable of what, though? Could she think of any benefit that she might realize by practicing Job Instruction? This question prompted a different discussion, one that lead us to why TWI is a leadership development tool first, and a tool to help people get it - as a result of practicing the skill.

In this world of collective thinking, we cannot forget that groups of people are made up of unique individuals.  Put another way, you cannot have a group without individuals, so do you want your group full of undeveloped people? Who would you prefer develop those individuals? Undeveloped leaders? As much as we would like to do things for others, with no regard for ourselves, we cannot truly see mutual benefit until we have discovered ways to help ourselves first. This is an important concept of leadership that we cannot forget. The unique concept behind TWI J-skills is that they are all about YOU!

Job Instruction vs. Work Instructions - Part II

Several years ago, I posted an example of main differences between documentation methods used in Job Instruction and traditional Training programs. See: Job Instruction vs. Work Instructions

Over the years, I've continued to practice using Job Instruction and in doing so, I've been able to establish a basic, but adaptable, thinking pattern for myself that has proven to be quite useful. I used to think about What, How and Why as a matter of procedural thinking, but over time I have found that a better way to think is Why, How and What.

Why do I do this?

Asking yourself "why?" first helps you dig into the purpose of something. Asking yourself, "how will you do it?" - this gets to the heart of your effectiveness ad efficiency in testing your answer to "why?" And finally, asking "what is it we are doing?" - this helps describe and identify the tools and skills needed to implement the how and why. Make sense yet?

Here is why it makes sense to me:

Using a "traditional" work instruction blends all of the thinking together into one long document. Good work instructions do a good job of creating header information to help people walk through the structure, but people don't use header information to perform their jobs. What they really need to know is in the body of the document. In order to think critically, one has to be able to stratify and sort things out in their mind; this is hard to do by processing several pages of writing and photos. The extension of a work instruction is a reference book, in fact, many benefits claimed by proponents of work instructions is that they serve as a reference and even can be used to, "train somebody off the street." Any engineer that has a Machinery's Handbook or Mark's Standard on their reference bookshelf uses them for just that, as a reference. But a reference is not an effective training aid. And this is why Job Breakdown Sheets are superior to Work Instructions. Short, concise, clearly organized training aids that if used with the four step instruction method - nearly guarantee great results.

Here is how you can begin to use Job Instruction and Job Breakdown Sheets:

If you are in an organization that "already has a training program", you may face an uphill, endless battle trying to replace work instructions with job breakdown sheets. Here is a different approach for you to consider, use JI to solve problems that involve people - after all, that is the intent of the program! When you face a problem, break down the process using a JBS. It will begin to help you see problems in the process and will help you standardize the current state. You may also find that the team will begin to see the advantages of using JI over their current training standards.

Here is what you are doing with this approach:

By using JI in this manner, you will find that your improvement efforts will be more likely to succeed when involving other people in an organic, grassroots manner. This is a different philosophy than rolling out TWI to everybody in the organization only for it to meet a wall of resistance and resentment.

Mark Warren and I will be presenting more about this at the TWI Summit in Savannah, GA this May. Use TWI Blog code "LUND" at get 10% off at registration!

What is older than TWI? Apprenticeships!

A quick article at Oregon Manufacturing that highlights the success of revitalizing apprenticeship programs in the lumber industry. The exodus of baby boomers from industry is the primary driver behind this movement. You may be facing a similar problem. Most surprising is that an apprentice can be making up to $50K in their early 20's by end of the program with a company paid associates degree. A most impressive and altruistic approach in this economic downturn.

Interestingly enough, apprenticeship programs were around far longer than programmed on-the-job training approaches such as those like Job Instruction. However, the TWI-JI borrowed elements from the master-apprentice/teacher-student style relationships which are a hallmark feature of apprenticeships. I wonder if these apprenticeship programs employ Job Instruction skills as a means to train the apprentice?

More importantly, if apprenticeships can make a comeback, why can't TWI? I think the fast answer is, good solutions require from us to do the right things over the long haul (develop our people) vs. doing a half-ass job in the short term to get quick satisfaction and results (use our people).

Thoughts?

Suggested Change to Job Instruction Sessions - Training Matrix

Posting has been extremely tough in 2010...my new job is all consuming and trying to balance the demanding workload with the most important priority, family, has put TWI Service and Blog way down on the list of priorities. Nevertheless, I feel that I should share my experiences with TWI with my fellow management practitioners. To that end, I will continue to try and post at least once per month from this point forward. 

Last month, I wrote about reversing the sequence of your kaizen effort: kaizen teian first, kaizen events last. That post was inspired by the experience I've had over the past ten years with kaizen events and what I call the mainstream formula for lean implementation: go kaizen event crazy. However, over time I found that coaching one-on-one, standards development and encouraging people to make small kaizens (kaizen teian) within their control is FAR more effective and LASTING than most kaizen events sponsored by coercive management and well funded with high priced consultants.

This month is similar with my TWI experience: switch the session sequence. I have a suggestion for TWI trainers and practitioners: start with session three which deals with the time table, or, in modern terms - a training matrix.

First of all, creating a time table is part of the planning phase of Job Instruction Training. In fact, it is Step I of preparation of training: by asking questions about our production needs with training in mind, we come up with a plan. What changes require training? What training will address the change or problem? Who needs to be trained? When will I train them? Basic questions like this help us figure out a plan. 

In a standard Job Instruction session, you will go through an introduction to JI and then in session two, be introduced to the Job Breakdown sheet, which is Step 2 of preparing to instruct. In session three, only then are we introduced to the training matrix and its purpose.

The danger in introducing Step Two (Job Breakdown Sheet) before Step One (Training Matrix) is that people get really excited about writing the Job Breakdown sheets and subsequently, lose focus on the problem, which is preventing problems through training. It is only through the Training Matrix that we are challenged to consider changes in personnel, production, design, equipment, materials, orders, standards, etc. 

In simple terms, by introducing Job Breakdowns before the Training Matrix, we are encouraging people to skip a step in the Job Instruction PDCA cycle. The illustration below may make this more clear:

Strange, no? We jump to last half of the process first, not unlike many lean practitioners today jumping feet first into a kaizen event, with little understanding of the problem beforehand. Why then, are the sessions rearranged all out of order? The main reason is the selling point. Nobody gets jazzed up about making a training matrix. But they do get excited when they see the JI demonstration and begin to breakdown their own jobs and see how well the training can work. 

Lesson Learned? The sequence the sessions isn't the priority, but just remember, the sessions are for you to practice ALL of the steps of instruction, not just breakdown sheets. So, please don't forget the Training Matrix. And remember that it is a planning tool that is aimed at your problems that can be solved through training.

Total Recall: The Toyota Story on CNBC

I've been a bit out of the blogger realm since end of May...family, the new job (seven months now) and life in general have pushed the blog/website priority to a late night affair.

One thing about this heat wave in Vermont, I was able to commission the TV tonight. I think my wife was too wiped out to even put up a fight for the controller! While surfing through the many, many channels that I pay for but don't watch - a Japanese factory worker caught my eye...

Behold! A 1 hr piece on CNBC - about Toyota. As I'm watching workers work and parts move through the Trim Door Kaizen Gate, I begin to hear less about the Toyota Production System, which the show does a typical cursory job of covering - and then I watch as the show transforms into some sort of hit piece on the Japanese company.

As the story continues to bash Toyota, presenting speculative versions of what happened in the Sudden Unintended Acceleration recall by lawyers, government officials, management "gurus" and otherwise hacks, we see lots of footage of factory work. There is even a short clip of some Job Instruction at an off-the-line tire installation station.

One thing the story probably got half right - and this is arguable since none of us REALLY know: Toyota probably caught a bad case of "big company" - where they decided to be bigger than GM, rather than focus on making good cars better. At least this is what one of the talking heads, Peter Brown claims.

In the end, and as most "news" shows go, there is no resolution. Only biased conclusions based on mostly speculation.

But don't take my word for it, you judge for yourself. I was hoping to see a technical story about the recall problem but apparently, genbutsu (facts?) are too much for the media to uncover.

CNBC airtimes: 
Wednesday, July 7th  8p | 12a ET
Sunday, July 25th  8p ET

Do Not Write Work Instructions!

Probably not what your ISO auditor would want to hear. O.k., go ahead and write a few to start...but you better use them! I've seen lots of work instructions lately that just do not get used. We didn't write them for the auditor, did we? Why did we even write them to begin with?

Why? Let's use our 5W1H (what, when, where, who, why and how) to get to the bottom of this.

WHAT is the purpose of the work instruction? Most working professionals will tell you that they serve as the record of best practice, training, etc. Most ISO auditors will tell you that they are required for ISO certification, but generally speaking this reason is subordinate to the reasons previously stated. In other words, work instructions must be useful for training and improvement purposes, or, they are not worth the paper they are written on.

WHY use a work instruction for training or improvement? Isn't there something better? The keyword to think about here is "use." Work instructions don't use themselves, people use them for training and improvement. Decades of research suggest that people learn differently. This has spawned hundreds of millions of dollars in various training methods, techniques and schemes. Video, audio, computer, etc. the choices for learning media are endless. But a work instruction, when coupled with a solid OJT method of instruction like JI, builds a desired habit in the trainee. What I mean is that if the trainer is prepared, she can validate that the trainee knows what she knows - or, that knowledge has been transferred. Can your computer do that with a work instruction? How about your DVD player? When we think of training this way, videos, CDs and computers are at a large disadvantage to the human capability to train.

WHEN are work instructions written and used? When they are written may depend on your business. The timing could be: before the process is created, as the process is created or after the process is created. In Bryan's perfect world, the paper would be created concurrently with the process - not before, when assumptions are incorrectly made and clung to after they are disproved, or, after when bad habits have formed and must be broken. WHEN are they used? Usually, at least once in the beginning of the process to train people. Hopefully, you have tested the instruction to see if it is bullet proof. Hopefully, it won't be the last time you use it. And, when abnormalities are found, a work instruction makes for a quick and easy troubleshooting guide. When improvements are made, work instructions are very useful for guiding trainers through the new process, reminding them about the key points the new improvement requires.

WHERE are work instructions written? The right answer is NOT behind your engineer's desk! Instructions are written by directly observing the process. If you asked me to bet on the accuracy and effectiveness of a work instruction written by a highly paid engineer under the gun of a corrective action and a Job Breakdown Sheet written by a well trained supervisor that will actually use the JBS, my money is on the supervisor.

WHO. Already covered that. To expand a little more, preferably the person who knows the job and will use the JBS to train others. If that is impossible, get a cross functional team to work out the sheet through collaboration. The bottom line is that direct observation of the job is required and it should be written and used by the person that will do the training. Although it won't vanish, effectiveness diminishes as you deviate from this recommendation.

HOW is the work instruction used? The four step Job Instruction method is the preferred technique. Unfortunately, most trainers will not go much beyond group overview discussion of a work instruction, demanding that trainees read the WI, or more commonly job shadowing with an eventual abandonment of the work instruction.

Don't write that work instruction unless you mean to use it. With great power comes great responsibility!

Management Reality

I've started a new job recently as Director of Quality and Continuous Improvement. One might think that after having over ten years of CI/Lean experience that it would be no problem to jump right in and start making changes to improve the business. One would be wrong.

What I've realized very quickly is that Lean tools are not going to improve anything unless the people that I work with are responsible for the job of creating standards and improving those standards. I could make mandates, but what will that gain for us? Probably too much change with a good dose of resentment heaped with resistance and backsliding. The result is kind of like a diet without the discipline of daily of exercise...frustration with the same results.

What does all this have to do with TWI? Well, if daily self-discipline is the problem, then I guess thats where to start. The J-skills have self-discipline already built-in. A simple concept in the J-skills that helps us with self-discipline are the pocket cards. They are like little management checklists whether you are dealing with creating and training people in standards (JI), involving people in the improvement of standards (JM) or dealing with issues that involve people (JR).

Here is a podcast link to a January 7 talk delivered by Atul Gawande, author of The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.


Yup. The thing I plan on doing over the next several months is using TWI pocket cards checklists to remind myself the crucial steps that I cannot forget to take in leading people. Anything more than that is just asking for trouble!

Fives on the Mind

Five is your new favorite number. Add a Y, S or N after the five. Trust me on this.

Lets start with the five whys (5Y). Do I need to elaborate on the importance of this? Read the section of Toyota Way Field book on causal chain and then go use it. And please don't stop at five just because it is five.

How about the five esses (5S)? The 5S' embody the very simple basics of workplace organization, improvement and building self discipline.

But don't start with either of these, they will come soon enough. You need to start with the Five Needs of every leader (5N).

What are the 5N?

The 5N can be separated into two basic needs: knowledge needs and skill needs. The knowledge needs can be parsed again into:

1. Knowledge of the Work
2. Knowledge of Responsibilities

Leaders must acquire this knowledge. By acquiring this knowledge, leaders can earn respect, grasp the situation more easily when problems do arise and can take prudent steps that are aligned with the organizations culture.

I mention these first needs because I have recently taken on a new role as Director of Quality in a manufacturing company. To say that I need to acquire these two packets of knowledge is the understatement of the New Year. But acquire them I must. The next question is then, what to do with the knowledge that I acquire over time?

Experienced leaders know that they have three other needs:

1. Skill of Instruction
2. Skill of Improving Methods
3. Skill of Leading

In the TWI approach, the skill of instruction is learned through Job Instruction. In my new role, I've asked people in the genba to train me in the job in order to better understand the work and problems that they encounter (knowledge need). Since I've been practicing Job Instruction for several years now, I can also evaluate the company's training effectiveness, its efficiency and other strengths and gaps. Interestingly, there is a direct tie between the 5N and 5S. In Job Instruction, we learn about the "Get Ready" steps of instruction. Two of the steps are to determine if everything is available for work: 1) machines, materials, tools, etc., and 2) is the workplace organized the way the person is expected to maintain it - even during work. Sounds like 5S to me!

Next is the skill of improving methods. It is said that Ohno wasn't satisfied with Job Methods when it was introduced to Japan in the 1950's but that he retained the "questioning method" that was learned in the program. You may be surprised that another "five" reveals itself in Job Methods: 5W1H. Perhaps this odd five-plus-one is best expressed in Rudyard Kiplings' poem:

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

O.k., there is a sixth wheel here! But, the answers to 'how' often lead to many improvements. The Job Methods questioning method of 5W1H will bring the leader to many systemic improvements. It is the 5Y questioning method, however, that can allow deep insight - in probably the simplest manner ever devised - to millions of workplace problems today. Incidentally, there is a definite order to the questioning method in Job Methods, it starts with a simple question: "What is the purpose?" and then is followed by a relentless stream of why's until the questioner is satisfied. This gets people thinking about elimination (not needed if purpose is irrelevant) rather than streamlining waste and jumping to false conclusions.

Interestingly enough, the many little jobs I'm learning through Job Instruction can be snapped together like legos and eventually build up into a bigger process that can be analyzed and improved through Job Methods. In other words, as we learn the TWI job skills first, we begin to see how the five needs begin to work together with the five whys and the five esses...

With the skill of leading, learned through Job Relations, leaders aim to maintain and improve cooperation and workplace relations. This is done through the lens of improving problems of production, quality, cost and morale. It is not a stretch to see how improving workplace instruction, methods, organization and increasing problem solving skills can tackle all four problems listed. Where does Job Relations come into the picture? There are a few ways. First, by acquiring the knowledge of responsibilities we are better equipped to lead and maintain good relations. Second, when we talk about stabilizing the process through better instruction of standards, improving methods, machines, materials and environment - what we are really doing is changing the culture of the organization. Job Relations helps the leader help others through the change.

Do we need a huge toolbox to operate daily? Sure, there are a lot of nifty tools out there, but if everybody had a case of the fives - whoa, look out! Yep, I've got a bad case of the fives - and thank goodness there isn't a cure!

NEW BOOK! TWI Job Instruction Training

What a great way to start the New Year! Or as Jon Miller likes to call it, an Arbitrary Dividing Line in Time :)

Regardless of the time of the year, it is always the right time to pick up a new skill. As of today Mark Warren of Tesla 2, Inc. and I have released our first book: Job Instruction Training: Participant's Sessions Guide & Implementation Manual

(Click on image to left for ordering information)

We are really excited about this, but what is this all about? The basic idea was this: there are a lot of people out there that are using Job Instruction and other TWI J-skills based on several premises:

1) We know it was used at Toyota after the war, (if it works for them, then we should do it)

2) many have mistakenly pigeonholed JI as Standard Work, (Toyota does Standard Work, so we should at least do this!)

3) and recently, many professionals have billed and marketed TWI as one of the foundation stones of lean.

but...TWI blog readers who have been through the archival material on my sites (and in the past year, have visited Mark's newly acquired archive records) intuitively know there is a lot more to know about TWI than what is currently available in a simple 10 hr training session.

This book is our attempt to fill that void of information between the famous 10 hr session and what might be considered a successful implementation. So, the book is divided into two parts. Part One is the Participant's Guide. Our guide follows the best known practices for a 10 hr Job Instruction Session. This would normally be unremarkable, except our book can be used as a self-study guide with the included answer key and references throughout Part One.

Part Two is in chapter format and expands on the concepts learned in the sessions, but also insists on the requirements for sound implementation. This is the first aim of the book - to provide the reader with the things you should know about Job Instruction before you start, but won't find out even in a 10 hr training session. The reason for this combination of guide, concepts and reference is born from experience and the research Mark and I have done over the past two years.

Who is this book aimed at? In keeping with the spirit of Job Instruction - one can learn by doing. So, anyone can use it. But trainers can use the standardized participants guide that will follow most reputable trainer's guides today. To this end, the book is sold in groups of ten to meet this training need, coupled with discounts of single volume sales to keep session costs down.

We also hope this book will succeed in providing a source for those individuals who are unable to attend a Job Instruction session for logistic, economic or other reasons. These thousands of small business owners and individuals who are limited to self study and implementation are at ease knowing they are practicing at the leading edge of JI training without the expense of travel to a 10 hr sessions. By using the included answer key and then digging into the meaty Part Two, one can dig deeper into the concepts of the J-skills in order to expand their leadership ability.

Ordering information for single volumes can be found by clicking here. Contact me with any questions at the email above! To expand on this, look for a trainer's manual between now and February!

Trainers: Order kits of 10 for your Job Instruction Session by clicking here!

TWI Blog - 2009 Year in Review

Following are the top ten most viewed blogposts for 2009. Interesting…50% of them are from 2007 and 2008!? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone and God Bless!

Job Breakdown Sheet Vs. Work Instruction

Genba, Genbutsu, Genjitsu in Plain English

Life After Death by Powerpoint

Lean Jargon Part II - Muda, Muri, Mura

Lean Jargon Part III - Gemba, Genba?

Job Breakdown Sheet Example

5S, Poka Yoke and Visual Controls

Lean Manufacturing Book Review - Managing to Learn by John Shook

How to Compress a Truckload of Digital Photos in 60 Seconds - JBS Example

Obama's Lean Government?