Continuous improvement and cultural change are key components of a successful lean conversion. Trust is the “hidden waste” we rarely discuss but a critical obstacle to their achievement. This podcast discusses this sensitive subject.
Comments Please…
Also, after you’ve completed Dwight’s reading list and other assignments… Read Patrick Lencioni’s book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” for a good model that connects trust explicitly to teamwork (as the basic building block, in fact) with a nice graphic model and metrics even!
Then, if you actually want to change, move on to “Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide” for specific exercises to build trust, (and address the other four dysfunctions), directed primarily at leadership teams (what could hurt more than lack of trust and teamwork at that level?)
This model, and the exercises in the “field guide” made a big difference for us. Like so many things in LEAN, this stuff is not COMPLICATED, but it is HARD, because it takes some nerve to dive in and do things differently.
Without TRUST, you cannot engage in constructive CONFLICT over ideas. Without working through CONFLICT over ideas, you cannot achieve COMMITMENT as a group. Without clear COMMITMENTS, there is no mututal ACCOUNTABILITY, and without ACCOUNTABILITY you will NEVER get RESULTS.
This dovetails perfectly with Strategy Deployment, as presented by Pascal Dennis in “Getting the Right Things Done.”
-ALB
Hi Dwight,
Hope things are going well for you. This podcast is certainly a nice use of technology. Please keep me on your distribution list. I’ve just added “Getting the Right Things Done” to my reading list. Thanks for the tip.
Stay well,
Bob Bitner