A Gemba Walk is a stylized interaction used by leaders who want to reduce their Gap of Knowledge (GoK) about what is going on at the Gemba, the place where value is added for the customer.

• The Gemba Walk, also known as Genchi Genbutsu, is a hugely effective approach for inspiring the people you lead, increasing alignment, reducing waste, and making things better for customers and employees.

In this episode we will cover how to make a Gemba Walk, and we will discuss the value of Gemba Walks with Tim Burgess, a successful, global executive in the food processing industry.

A written outline of the What-Why-How for Gemba Walks can be found at the beginning of this show’s transcript.

Prudent Frugality means to behave in economical ways at both the strategic and the tactical levels that provide sustainable and repeatable results which are aligned with the Purpose, Vision, and Values of your organization. Prudent Frugality is based upon Fiegenbaum's Cost of Quality Methodology.

The Theory of the Decision Line (TODL) is a mindset for decision-making that promotes a culture of high alignment.

• Imagine a vertical line on a whiteboard.
• Now imagine that this vertical line represents the moment a decision is made. To the left of the "Decision Line" is where fact gathering, analysis, discussion, argument, reflection, and consensus building occur.
• When we are to the left of the line in the decision-making process, we are respectful, but we "Argue Like Hell" being passionate, and candid and ensuring the decision is wise and supportive of our Purpose, Vision, and Values.
• Crossing the line from the left to the right represents "making the decision".
• Now, to the right of the Decision Line, everyone is professionally required to "Support Like Hell" and do everything they to make the decision a success.

TODL is a mindset that acknowledges and acts upon a simple reality - a mediocre idea that is well supported yields more results than a great idea that is poorly supported. In other words, it is a living expression of a basic truth - Alignment Equals Flow.

In this episode, we review 6 tenets of leadership that can used to create a personal, leadership development plan. We call these tenets the Six sides of the Leadership Tool Box.

• Unfortunately today, schools and organizations dedicate very little time to the study of leadership. This means that those who seek to study leadership must usually do so on their own.
• The good news is that those who do study leadership dramatically increase their impact at work, and in life.
• The Six Sides provide a simple framework for creating a personal study of leadership by providing enough structure to promote learning, yet leaving enough flexibility to allow each leader to develop their own personal style.

If you like our show, please give us five stars, write a review, and share our show with a friend. We are really interested in your feedback. Thanks so much for listening.

You can find a What-Why-How summary of the show at the top of this episode's transcript.

For even more information on the Six Sides of the Leadership Toolbox, write for our free guide at [email protected].

The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients achieve excellence with intentional culture and leadership development.

Introduction

• This is a method for animating Avanulo’s Third Belief Construct, which is that all improvement issues are, at their core, people issues.
• Belief constructs are important because culture is the greatest competitive advantage you can leverage in any organization, and we use the Belief Constructs to design and build an intentional culture.
• Some find this concept difficult to accept because they do not want to blame problems on specific people. So, to avoid blame, they express the cause in ways that do not link directly to people. This is because we are all taught that blame is toxic in a culture, but the reverse is true. In a healthy culture, accountability is used to make improvements in positive ways.
• Driving cause analysis to the lowest level of human decision or action provides a huge advantage in problem solving because it allows us fix problems much more effectively and permanently.
• Fixing things for good the first time allows us to spend more time preventing problems instead of having to correct them later.
• An effective, healthy culture is huge competitive advantage that revs up results.

What are the Five Truths of Improvement?

1. Everything is a process – everything.
2. Every process delivers exactly what it was designed to deliver – not what it was intended to deliver. So, in this way, every process is achieving “its design.”
3. Every process is the way it is because those with authority over it allow it to persist, either by intent, by acquiescence, or by a lack of awareness or concern.
4. There are usually two reasons in play – the reason given (the Stated Reason) and the real reason (The Root Cause). The reason given reflects our hopes and fears. The real reason is the truth that is made clear by the facts.
5. Find a way to work on the real reason, with the support of those who have authority over the process, and without diminishing those who give other reasons, and you will make significant and lasting improvement.

Why are the Five Truths of Improvement Important?

• The Five Truths help you to act upon Belief Construct Three – that every improvement challenge, is, at its core, is a people issue.
• Together, they act as a force magnifier that revs up your continuous improvement process.

How do you apply the Five Truths of Improvement?

1. Teach everyone in your organization about the value of culture and activate the “miracle machine.”  Teach them that you can improve results by improving your culture, and that you can use the Belief Constructs to help you do it. Also teach them that at the heart of every improvement challenge is a people issue.
2. Using work related examples, teach and animate the Five Truths of Improvement. Make them a center point of your continuous improvement message.
3. Use the Five Truths of Improvement to assess your improvement method, to make sure that it is addressing all Five Truths, or simply use the Five Truths as an approach to continuous improvement.

Key Tools

• Write us at [email protected] for a free guide on how to establish and animate a Noble Purpose in your organization. Ask for the What-Why-How for The Five Truths of Improvement.

Thanks for listening.

The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients overcome challenges and achieve excellence with intentional culture.

What is Noble Purpose?

• An organization’s Noble Purpose explains why it exists.
• It is a clear and concise statement of what the organization does to improve the lives of its customers.
• Noble Purpose is at the foundation of every strategy and is the prime consideration of every decision made at work.

Why is having a Noble Purpose for your organization important?

• Having a Noble Purpose is just the right thing to do.
• A well-animated Noble Purpose enables people in the organization to answer “Yes or No” in an aligned way.
• Having a Noble Purpose attracts and retains talent, especially from the younger generations.
• Organizations with a well-animated Noble Purpose are more successful and more profitable. They outperform organizations that lack Noble Purpose by 400%.

How do you establish and animate a Noble Purpose?

1. Senior Leaders Develop a working draft of the organization’s Noble Purpose, and if needed, the organization’s Vision and Principles, to complete the PVV – the Purpose, Vision, and Values.
2. Senior Leaders socialize the working draft of the Noble Purpose by sharing it with small groups across the company, getting feedback, modifying as appropriate, and ultimately publishing the organization’s official Noble Purpose. In Lean terms this is known as Nemawashi.
3. Under the direction of Senior Leaders, the organization fully animates the PVV, by including it in the new hire orientation, in leadership training, in decision-making processes, in performance management systems, in communication campaigns, and in many other ways.

Key Tools

• Write us at [email protected] for a free guide on how to establish and animate a Noble Purpose in your organization.  Ask for the What-Why-How for Noble Purpose.
• "Leading with Noble Purpose", by Lisa Earle McLeod.
• Jim Stengel partners with Milward Brown on a 10 year study of organizational success and learns that "ideals" have a significant and positive impact on positive results.

If you like our show, please give us five stars, write a review, and share our show with a friend. We are really interested in your feedback.

Thanks so much for listening.

The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients overcome challenges and achieve excellence with intentional culture.

Introduction

• TPL is all about leadership, and leadership is the one core differentiator that exists in every human endeavor.
• You cannot achieve excellence without good leadership.
• In the end, leadership is everything.
• The study and practice of leadership is the key to success for all organizations.
• There are two authority streams, leadership, and management.
• Management is the administrative side of authority, and leadership is the visionary and inspirational side.
• In today’s world, those who have authority over others need to lead more.  Since time is finite, they can only do that, if they manage less.
• Middle and frontline leaders do most of the deciding and inspiring.  That is just a simple math equation.  They are closer to the people and the processes where deciding and inspiring take place.
• The most effective and most affordable way to achieve excellence in any organization is to enable middle and frontline leaders to Think, Plan, and Lead more.
• Some leaders are born, and others are made, but all leaders can become much more effective if they study and practice the art and science of leadership.

 So, what is TPL?

• TPL is a dynamic concept that challenges everyone to find ways for middle and frontline leaders to spend more time Thinking, Planning, and Leading – finding more time to TPL.
• TPL reminds us that leadership is thoughtful, it follows a methodology that we can all learn and use, and it requires effective execution. 

Why is TPL important?

• When leaders have time to think about the impact they want to have, use a sound method or tool to plan out that impact, and then execute well, the organization gets good leadership, and good leadership leads to excellence.

 How do you apply TPL?

1. Executives need to start by clarifying the purpose, vision, and values of the organization, which we at Avanulo call the PVV.  They need to make sure the PVV is clear, and well-animated.
2. Executives then need to develop thoughtful leadership principles that support the PVV of the organization.
3. Executives need to develop continuous leadership education that supports the PVV, teaches the organization’s leadership principles, and orients everyone to the concepts of TPL.
4. Executives need to challenge everyone in the organization to reduce the time spent on management duties and use the time saved to TPL.
5. Middle Managers and Frontline leaders need to seek ways to reduce the time they spend on management duties and use the time saved to TPL.
6. Those who find ways to increase their TPL should share those best practices with others, and executives should encourage the sharing of these best practices.

Key Tools

• Write us at [email protected] for a free guide and tool set to help you establish TPL on you team and in your organization. Ask for the What-Why-How on TPL.

Thanks for listening.

The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients overcome challenges and achieve excellence with intentional culture.

This short message introduces the TPL Show and describes the benefit it brings to leaders who seek to improve.