The Magic Wand that Makes Lean Operations Management Easier and Better | 047

The Magic Wand that Makes Lean Operations Management Easier and Better | 047

Welcome to Lean Leadership for Ops Managers, the podcast for leaders in Ops Management who want
to spark improvement, foster engagement, and boost problem solving – AND still get their day job done.
Here’s your host, Leadership Trainer, Lean Enthusiast, and Spy Thriller Junkie, Jamie V. Parker.
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If you could take a magic wand and fix anything in the facility that you were coaching, what
would you typically fix first? This is a question that Chris Burnham asked me recently when I
recorded a guest spot on his Lean Leadership Podcast.
And in a hot second, several things went through my mind.
Then I decided to answer with this:
If I could wave a magic wand, I would instantly develop the capabilities and the habits of all the
leaders in the plant to leverage the positive by giving effective Reinforcing Feedback or effective
recognition feedback.
Sounds simple, right? Maybe I didn’t go for something bold enough. Well, ops executives and
managers, let’s dove into it a little bit.
What is reinforcing feedback?
Reinforcing feedback is when you give recognition for the helpful behaviors you would like to
see repeated.
This is why it is often talked about in terms of recognition. Because you’re recognizing the
helpful behaviors. It’s when we reinforce the good stuff.
When we do that, when we recognize the helpful behaviors, people feel good. They know what
they’re doing that’s helpful. They know when and how they’re contributing. And then they work
to do more of it. They find more ways to be helpful.
When leaders do this from an authentic place, of course, it demonstrates both respect for
people and continuous improvement, both at the same time.
Now, I know I can hear it: “I don’t need anyone to tell me how to say thank you.”
I know, I know I can hear you thinking it right now. And you’re right.
You know how to say thank you. The Magic Wand that Makes Lean Operations Management Easier and Better | 047
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You even know why you should say thank you and you probably feel like you do a decent
amount.
So why would I waste my magic wand on this?
Well, because what you’re doing today isn’t working. What organizations are doing today isn’t
working.
And here’s how I know.
First, studies show that 82 percent . . .
82 percent of U.S. employees say that they are not recognized enough for their contributions.
So that means either you’re not doing it as much as you think you are or maybe you need to
make a few tweaks and do it more effectively.
And here’s the other reason I know that what organizations and leaders are doing today isn’t
working.
Because when I stand in front of a room of people and I ask this, and it doesn’t matter what
room it is. When I stand in front of a room of people and I ask this:.
Have you ever yourself or have people in your organization ever express to you a sentiment,
something that to the tune of this:
“I do 10 things right and never hear a word. I do one thing wrong and never hear the end of it.”
And I look up into the room and heads are nodding, hands are going up and people look like I’m
peering into their soul.
Yes, they exclaim!
This is such a universal response that I know that what organizations and leaders are doing
today, isn’t working.
Because when 82 percent of U.S. employees say they’re not recognized enough for their
contributions, note that they didn’t say “I’m not recognized enough just because because I
deserve it”. Because everyone gets a trophy.
They said “I’m not recognized enough for my contributions.”The Magic Wand that Makes Lean Operations Management Easier and Better | 047
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People want to be recognized, but they want to be recognized for an impact, for doing
something that matters.
So if we want to change this 82 percent and everybody nodding their heads to “I do 10 things
right and never hear a word. I did one thing wrong and never hear the end of it.”
Everyone nods their head and say, “Yes, someone in my organization has said something like
that to me before.”
Then we have to DECIDE to Leverage the Positive.
Now, the biggest mistake that I see made with recognition feedback, both at the individual level
and at the organization level is that we assume we’ve got it.
We assume we know how to do it, that we’re doing it now.
We assume our leaders can do it.
We assume that it’s common sense because the idea seems so simple that it just seems like
common sense that we don’t need to invest time or energy or money behind it.
And this mistake means that organizations are missing out on one of the simplest, easiest skills
or behaviors that leaders can learn and one that has some of the fastest return.
Think about it this way.
When you’re trying to teach correcting feedback or productive conflict, all that stuff we talked
about in the last episode, last two episodes, there’s a lot to it.
It’s really nuanced.
It takes a lot of practice, a lot of learning through failure.
And the fallout of leaders learning through failure could be noticeable in any given situation,
depending on what level conflict that is.
When you mess that up, it might actually have an impact.
But with reinforcing feedback, it’s simple.
It feels good to do it.
Leaders are more willing to try it.
And because you’re recognizing helpful behaviors, there really isn’t that risk.
If you mess it up, it’s OK.
So it’s a safe place to learn.
And here’s the best part.
When you learn this, it helps you give correcting feedback. The Magic Wand that Makes Lean Operations Management Easier and Better | 047
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In addition to helping people feel valued and committed (assuming it’s authentic, of course), in
addition to helping people feel valued and committed . . . In addition to respect for people . . . In
addition to building a people focused culture . . . it also helps with getting work done.
You know, I taught a virtual workshop on this topic recently and during their first “Go Do”
exercise, because we always have these exercises where you go and do. I want you to apply it.
I want you to do it in real life.
So I had the very first “Go Do” exercise, their first time practicing the skill. They came back and
we were debriefing what happened.
And one person exclaimed: “She offered to help on another project!”
The very first time this leader went out and tried to practice the skill of recognizing helpful
behaviors, the team member responded by volunteering to take on more work.
True story.
When you do this, you get more of the helpful behaviors, the things that have a positive impact.
People are more willing to help out and give more.
And it normalizes feedback.
Not only does it make it easier for the leader to learn that correcting feedback, to learn that
conflict stuff when it’s time.
But people in general are more receptive to receiving correcting feedback.
So whether it’s a Level One Simple Correction or Level Two Pattern of Behavior with that
conflict ladder we talked about last week.
When we make this reinforcing feedback a part of our culture and it’s something that happens
every day, then we normalize feedback.
Feedback isn’t good or bad, it’s feedback. Sometimes it’s reinforcing feedback and sometimes
it’s correcting feedback.
And so people are more willing to hear it, to accept it and take action on it when you first and
also give reinforcing feedback.
When you DECIDE to Leverage the Positive, then feedback becomes normalized.
So what do I mean with this whole framework, DECIDE to Leverage the Positive? The Magic Wand that Makes Lean Operations Management Easier and Better | 047
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Well DECIDE becomes this mnemonic to help you remember. So remember, you can go to the
show notes at https://processplusresults.com/podcast/ and see an image of this.
But DECIDE becomes this mnemonic to help you remember.
So d the first D
D: Define the specific behaviors and impacts.
E: Execute the effective feedback formula.
C: Connect it to your True North.
I: Integrate it into your everyday routines.
D: Deliver it in your own voice, your own authentic voice
E: Evaluate for your next stop next steps.
So DECIDE is to Define, Execute, Connect, Integrate, Deliver and Evaluate.
And you can DECIDE to Leverage the Positive as a general skill toward your vision and values.
In fact, this is an amazing way to bring your core values to life, to translate values from a poster
on the wall to how people behave to what they do day in and day out.
If you remember, we talked about this back with Matthew Nix in a previous episode.
Too often, core values become posters on walls. If we want them to become everyday
behaviors, if we want to translate those core values into everyday behaviors, then the DECIDE
method and framework is a great way to do this. When you DECIDE to Leverage the Positive.
You can also DECIDE to Leverage the Positive on a specific program or priority.
So if you’re integrating, let’s say, Tier One Daily Meetings. Let’s say that you’re integrating daily
meetings into your work. Then you can go through this DECIDE process where you define,
execute, connect, integrate, deliver, evaluate.
You can go through that process specifically on daily meetings as a way to really lead through
change, easier and better. To make that a more effective integration process and one that
people adapt to change more quickly and more easily.
So you can look at this both from an organizational level:
What does it mean for our core values, our vision?
How do I translate that?
It can also be done on a specific priority. You know what? I’m doing this thing: The Magic Wand that Makes Lean Operations Management Easier and Better | 047
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What are the helpful behaviors that would make this go better? What are those helpful
behaviors?
OK, let me train myself to see those.
Let me give reinforcing feedback using the methods that I’ve learned in this process.
Let me give that feedback.
Let me connect it to my TrueNorth to something bigger. So it might be to a core value or it might
be to a KPI priority or it might be to my purpose statement, whatever that might be.
And integrate this into this every day.
So you go through this process in different ways, but it’s repeatable.
When it comes to this stuff, though, I’m going to tell you, I had to learn too.
I used to get requests from CEOs who would say that their leaders need to get better at giving
feedback and stuff goes ignored or things get handled poorly. And then a senior leader has to
get involved. And now we’ve spent 12 hours worth of top time on something that didn’t need it.
Right.
What I used to do is teach reinforcing feedback and correcting feedback together.
Because the reality is the level one simple corrections that we talked about last week in the
conflict ladder . . . you give those using the same basic effective feedback formula as you give
with reinforcing feedback. It’s just that in reinforcing feedback, you’re reinforcing a helpful
behavior that you want to see repeated and in correcting feedback, you’re correcting an
unhelpful behavior.
So I used to teach these together because in my mind, you know, this was a skill that went
together.
But I stopped Because what do you think happened?
Those leaders would go back to their operations.
And what type of feedback do you think they give?
That’s right, you nailed it: correcting feedback almost exclusively. Almost exclusively.
And this is why leveraging the positive through reinforcing feedback would be my magic wand.
Assuming authenticity. It would be both the skill and the habit of doing it. Because when
presented with both reinforcing and correcting, leaders were choosing, correcting.
And I get it. I understand why. We’re operations managers. We’re trained to see the gaps and to
close the gaps and to fix the problems. Right? The Magic Wand that Makes Lean Operations Management Easier and Better | 047
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We’re operations leaders, and especially if we’re doing a lot of problem solving.
We get problems, that’s how we’ve trained our brains.
But because of that, we have to be more purposeful, and you have to be more deliberate as an
operations executive.
You can’t just make the mistake of assuming people will get this, assuming it’s common sense.
And I can tell you, I have had CEOs and VPs and executives in these types of programs who
have been highly successful. They’ve been very effective. They’ve developed. They care about
people. They care about putting people first, all of that.
And they go through this and they’re like, “Oh, I could be more effective. I could do this better.”
And they learn something and it makes a change for them and then it makes a change for the
organization.
So that is why this is my magic wand.
What’s the great news for you? Let’s talk about next steps.
What’s your next step?
The great news is that the magic wand is available to you now.
So if you’re an individual leader wanting to improve in this area, you can head back and listen to
episodes five through eight of this podcast. You can learn more about reinforcing feedback in
those episodes. They’re free.
You can go listen to them now through either your favorite podcast player or by going to
https://processplusresults.com/podcast/ . And remember, that’s episodes five through eight.
If you are a leader of leaders and want to wave this magic wand to help your leadership team
leverage the positive through reinforcing feedback, then schedule a call with me.
We’ll have a no pressure, no sales call to understand your business, what’s happening now,
what your business vision is for the future.
If I can help, I’ll let you know how.
If not, then I’ll point you to some different resources.
So to schedule a call, just head over to https://processplusresults.com/ and click on the
schedule a call button.
And here’s a thing for everyone, for you tuning in:. The Magic Wand that Makes Lean Operations Management Easier and Better | 047
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All the stuff I talked about with conflict last week, the levels of conflict within the context of
correcting unhelpful behaviors.
You can actually reduce the amount of situations that need that and help people be more
receptive when it does require it by making reinforcing feedback a part of your everyday
routines. Every day in your daily meetings, your walks or cross-functional meetings or casual
walks around the operation. Your structured problem-solving or improvement activities.
Integrate reinforcing feedback into your everyday routines, and be amazed at how people
respond.
Until next time