Human Performance – From The Desk Of A Common Sensei

For nearly all of my life, I have been been blessed by the generosity of others providing me with opportunities. Rarely have those opportunities been more than the opening of a door to a challenge myself to be the best version of myself. Likewise, I have tried to follow a path of providing opportunities to those in need and volunteering my time as a means to Pay-it-Forward. Normally, I do not expect anything in return personally. Instead, I ask that those I help provide opportunities to others when the opportunity presents itself.

I have now reached a point in my life where I want to do something bigger. The culmination of my experiences and the foundations of my career endeavors have allowed me to create a very unique capability that is now being turned into a cloud-based software/cell-phone app. The program is being developed by an amazing team that has expanded upon my original vision and in order to make it available to everyone who wants it, I am going to go against my own unwritten rules and openly ask for help. If everyone of the people that I have coached, taught, mentored, or helped over the last 40+ years could find a way to donate $10 to support our new innovation, we believe that what we have created has the ability to Pay-it-Forward to millions of people.

If you want to learn more please check out our Idiegogo Campaign at: https://igg.me/at/nlitesports/x#/

We often hear of the term Hoshin Kanri, which strives to get every employee pulling together and in the desired direction at the same time. In this blog of From The Archives of a Common Sensei, we are attempting to help advance your understanding of how to: (1) Align the goals of the organization (strategy), with (2) plans of middle management (tactics), and the work performed by all the Associates (operations).

Attached we are including a real-life instructional document that has been used in a Toyota organization that provides guidance for the “planning process”.

This guidance uses many of what we now call “Lean Management” thinking and is heavily dependent on utilization of consensus building (nemawashi), which means using one-on-one discussion with each member of a decision-making group. This consensus building of those directly or indirectly affected is usually conducted prior to a formal meeting where the indication of support is officially made. In English, the term nemawashi is most often interpreted as “the rooting process”; properly preparing the soil prior to planting so the roots will grow deep and spread.

In the attached “real life” example from my archives, you will notice that there is a heavy reliance on the previously discussed PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT (PDCA) cycles and associated thinking. It is expected that by cyclically performing the principles of PDCA, and the activities resulting from PDCA, continuous improvement and strengthening of the organization will occur. These activities are expected to be carried out by ALL Associates, not only staff!

The planning takes place starting with discussions between Managers and the President of the organization to formulate ideas regarding the overall organizational plan which is then discussed with the Executive Committee. This back-and-forth discussion is both on an individual basis (nemawashi) and collectively (consensus). The same thinking and discussions take place in similar fashion at and between every level of the organization to formulate plans to support the plans and goals at their respective level. YES, this takes time, but the resulting aligned plans lead to increased moral and productivity, which results in attainment of increased results concerning safety, quality, cost, and time. While reading the attached planning approach, please note that it is BOTH top down and bottom-up planning and bottom-up reporting. It is also important to realize that when results reporting is not as planned, the expectation is for the Manager and Director to join with the Associates to determine how to resolve any issues.