Lean Consulting Tips - A Question for You
Posted on Fri, Jul 09, 2010
Are you asking the right questions to drive Operational Excellence? Are you asking them in the right way?
This week Steve Engelman, Senior VP, tackles these topics and more in his Operational Excellence Insight posting:
Lean Consulting Tips - A Question for You
A few months ago we discussed the "World’s Best Follow-Up Question" in Operational Excellence Insights. This week we have a related topic for your consideration. Specifically, “Why don’t you ask better questions?”
If you think about it, most of us are born with a high level of inquisitiveness and the need for a deeper understanding of the world around us. Any time spent with young children reinforces this observation as their constantly asking “why” can change from being cute to being downright annoying.
So, what happened? Why were we so good at asking probing questions when younger and now we accept so many things as they are or shrug them off as “that’s how we’ve always done it?” Could it be we are expected to possess more answers as our knowledge base grows? Or, have difficult economic times made it more personally justifiable to keep one’s head down while not challenging the status quo?
This inaction quickly stifles continuous improvement opportunities and is contrary to one of Dr. Deming’s fourteen principles which states organizations must “Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.”
How can organizations drive out fear, especially fear that affects improvement, customer satisfaction and financial performance? By focusing on processes, not people. Obviously, people are integral to any process yet initial questions should not be founded on “who”, but rather, “why” as in “why is process flow being impeded?”
Where can you begin this quest for better process understanding? By getting to gemba, or the actual place where value is being created. Doing so allows for asking questions such as:
Read the full article "Lean Consulting Tips - A Question for You" and please add your experience or comments below