Continuous Improvement / Operational Excellence

This lecture introduces the first part of the method, strategy cascade. It goes over the reasons why strategy cascade is important and a general definition of what it is all about.

This lecture provides a an overview of the suggested framework for deploying strategy cascade. It may well be that aspects of this framework are already done in your organisation - but its a good chance to check whether goals are effectively cascaded to allowed people to focus on improving in the right areas.

Cascade software free trial:

https://www.cascade.app/trial?fpr=steven86

This lecture provides guidance on how to set good vision statements, mission statements and 3-5 year goals for your team/organisation

This lecture introduces you to a case study example of setting 3-5 year goals, for a fictitious chair manufacturer.

This lecture provides guidance on setting effective annual goals, linked to the 3-5 year goals set in the previous lecture

This lecture provides guidance on how to run effective "catchball" sessions to ensure horizontal and vertical alignment of goals across the organisation

NOTE: This lecture refers to some tools (prioritisation matrix and interrelationship diagram) that are actually discussed in the problem solving lecture labelled "Prioritisation of Problems". If you feel these tools would be useful as part of strategy deployment - you can skip forward and then return to this video series.

This lecture provides guidance on thinking about your tactical improvements that will help teams achieve their annual objectives. It also discussed the importance of thinking about your problems in terms of "cause known" and "cause unknown" problems and how to approach each of these.

This lecture provides two very useful tools (and templates attached) for documenting and visualising your teams goals and their connection to the wider business strategy. These tools can be very useful in communicating your teams role in driving continuous improvement for the organisation.

This lecture provides an introduction to the principles of visual performance management

This lecture provides a set of guidelines around what good visual performance management looks like - so we start with the end in mind when building it in our teams.

This lecture provides a basic set of steps to follow to build visual performance management (or enhance existing efforts) in your team/organisation

This lecture provides some basic guidance on running effective performance meetings aided by your visual performance board. It provides some principles of what to cover and what not to cover during these sessions, and the importance of being action/outcome focussed.

This lecture provides and introduction to the concept of root cause problem solving and why it is important. It uses an everyday example to bring to life the importance of finding and fixing the root cause of problems, to prevent recurrence and avoid "sticky plaster" solutions.

NOTE: The two tools covered in this lecture can be used in various scinarios - including in strategy cascade section when identifying opportunities and projects to drive improvement toward strategic goals.

This lecture provides guidance and two useful tools in prioritising and selecting the right problems to focus on - interrelationship diagram, and prioritisation matrix (see attached resources).

This lecture discusses the difference between root cause analysis and JDI (just do it) problem solving. Templates for both are attached here.

This brief lecture provides an overview of a case study from the fictitious chair manufacturing company - which will be used to walk through an example of a root cause analysis.

This lecture provides an example of a JDI (just do it) problem, and also - discusses the importance of using templates to drive the right thinking when it comes to effective problem solving.

This lecture covers the first part of the case study - covering problem statements, current state analysis and goal setting.

This lecture covers the first part of root cause analysis and covers a useful tool - fishbone analysis (otherwise known as cause and effect diagram or "Ishikawa" diagram). Template attached for the tool.

This lecture looks at the importance of using facts and data to prove/disprove the potential causes of a problem, and uses the case study to emphasise that. It also provides guidance on how to use the fishbone tool as a live document to structure investigations into cause factors.

This lecture covers the use of the 5-Whys method to delve deeper into underlying root causes

This lecture talks about the importance of "go-see" otherwise known as "gemba". It emphasises that facts and data should be coupled with process observation and dialogue with the people that do the work in order to get a holistic understanding of the problem and associate causes.

This lecture provides guidance on how to select the most appropriate solutions for the problem, and also plan out the actions to implement the solution. Solution selection matrix attached in resources.

The lecture also brings to an end the case study and recaps on the process followed.

This lecture covers the critical ingredient to sustaining CI/Operational excellence practice - leadership. It discusses and sets out suggested routines for leaders to follow, and also provides a useful suggested check sheet for routine health checks for whether CI continues to be in place and in use. This can be used to identify where teams need some support to get their CI system up to scratch.

CI floor walk checklist attached in resources.

This video covers the basics of mapping processes and analysing variability. Use this in conjunction with route cause analysis and TIM WOODS to document and assess your processes.

This video covers the eight different kinds of waste (TIM WOODS) and provides a downloadable checklist to support process analysis/observation for these wastes.