GMT Strategic Engineering
ENGINEERED Solutions for EXCELLENCE
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It All Begins with Deming and Crosby A story about transforming your thinking and achieving quality in business and life. Book One of the Jordan Chronicles Before downloading sample chapters 1 and 2, begin with an understanding of the origin of the story. Introduction What is required to build a successful company? What does it take to live a successful life? The answers to these important questions continue to challenge and elude us. That there are similar solutions to these two questions may surprise you. Many years of my engineering career were spent acquiring knowledge and building an understanding of what succeeds in business and life. While helping companies, I gained first-hand understanding of the connection between a lack of knowledge and the difficulty in establishing improvements. My interactions revealed a widespread inability to apply and benefit from established improvement methods. It was amazing how many people lacked a basic understanding of valuable improvement methods that had succeeded in the past. The names changed, the buildings were different, but the core problem remained the same. It was increasingly evident that the pace of improvement was limited by substantial misunderstanding of the tried and true tools of the “improvement trade” and the inability to apply them. The lack of understanding was just like a craftsman not knowing all the tools of his trade. Far too many of today’s leaders do not understand the groundbreaking improvement ideas of Deming and Crosby. The few who have distant memories of Deming and Crosby do not understand how the improvement ideas they pioneered are still very relevant today. Concerned that the next twenty-five years of my career would be hampered by this persistent knowledge gap, I was determined to discover a means of bridging the gap. As the years went on, I perfected and improved my training materials to better explain and illustrate basic improvement methodologies. But the results proved that it was not enough. My engineering mind continued analyzing these situations, receiving feedback and developing a deeper understanding. Over time, consistent behaviors and repetitive patterns became apparent. The first obstacle that limited the absorption rate of understanding was the method of instruction. Traditional instruction was no longer effective. In classroom instruction, if the student does not learn, the teacher is still employed. Classroom success is not defined by student achievement. This is not possible in my business. The measure of my performance is directly related to the success of each individual and the achievement of project objectives. I only succeed if those I instruct actually learn, apply the instruction and produce measurable improvements. This results in a more demanding measurement of success. It requires methods that not only grab their attention, but are convincing enough to make them want to learn. While evaluating methods of instruction, I was also driven to identify the knowledge that accomplished the greatest advancement. What benefit is the best method, if the knowledge imparted does not produce successful achievement and improvement. After the time-consuming process of identifying the valuable knowledge that is required to achieve improvement, the next question was, what holds everyone back from learning? In other words, what can be done to increase the pace of learning? This caused me to evaluate the usual methods of imparting knowledge. We are familiar with learning by memorization. Many years of our early education were spent learning by this method. It increases our knowledge, but that knowledge is rarely internalized and usually does not produce relevant transformation. When we progress into the “real” world, we discover learning is not limited to memorizing. We learn by watching and by doing. The pace of learning is increased when we have a role model or a mentor to impart knowledge as a living example. Unfortunately, it’s a rare benefit having someone with helpful knowledge and experience and the time required for learning. The role model method of instruction produced success in helping companies benefit from lean and engineered processes. The valuable contribution I provided was not just my knowledge, but the ability to live and breathe these improvement methods. I was a catalyst, a spark plug who ignited a larger reaction, not just by what I taught, but primarily by what I modeled. Although the role model method of instruction is successful, there is a major limitation – time and distance. I am limited to benefitting only those with whom I have direct interaction. While giving this further thought, an intriguing idea began to develop. I gradually began to consider imparting my knowledge of improvement methods by means of a story. This was unusual territory to venture into. As children we learn from stories, but that is not considered an “adult” thing to do. It’s certainly not something an engineer would ever think of doing! But if we learn from stories as children, why can’t we also as adults? Maybe learning from stories is not something we grow out of. Is it possible that knowledge of improvement methods could be imparted through a story? While exploring this idea, the learning benefits of a relevant story became crystal-clear. Although it is not used often in our modern age, storytelling has been relied upon for many centuries as a means of imparting important lessons. Even today it remains an effective delivery method to overcome obstacles to learning and impart valuable knowledge. Once I realized that a story is an effective means of imparting knowledge of improvement methods, the idea began to take on a life of its own. As I thought within this framework, my achievements, conversations and lessons learned in the past fifteen years in manufacturing came together as raw material for a story. These events were forged together for the purpose of communicating the ideas and methods for building a successful company and developing a fulfilling life. As I shared the developing story with friends, they noticed similarities with their experiences. They pointed out events from the story that “happens all the time.” Others noticed similarities between themselves, or someone they worked with, and the characters in my story. This is what makes the story valuable and real. The more it applies to real life, the easier it is to learn. This story relates to everyday experiences that happen in real businesses to real people. The events are “real” because they’ve happened hundreds of times, in businesses throughout the world. The only shortcoming in relating my experiences in a story is that the main character, me, is not as interesting on the printed page as I am in person. So with you, the reader in mind, I discovered someone who is more suited for this story than the author. You will unquestionably learn more and experience greater benefit from someone whose life is more engaging than mine. If this appears unusual, just remember that learning from a story is also a bit out of the ordinary, but beneficial none the less. So this is where Jordan enters in and the author steps aside. Please accept the story not being just about me – but about Jordan. And as we begin, Jordan is eager to start by telling you . . . Although many years have passed since the beginning of this journey, it seemed a good idea to write a detailed account of what happened. It was a most informative and enlightening journey, of which many have greatly benefitted. My intent in writing this is for you to receive the same great benefit. So here we go. |
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Thursday / where we started
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Friday / Quality 101
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