I would like to share some of his thoughts about qualities that make one successful as an improvement professional regardless of circumstances. Today will focus on one of the most important.

Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field. – U.S. president Eisenhower (1956).

Hariharan:  "I’ve come across a few armchair philosophers who became quality professionals. They would complain that nobody in the business listened to them. I’ve learned that one of the most important qualities needed to be successful in quality is the ability to execute. Few people in the business will be interested in theories alone; the quality person must work with their colleagues in the business to implement what they preach."

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Armchair philosophers exist in all forms of improvement:

* (that and $2 get you a cup of coffee)

W. Edwards Deming’s philosophy remains the robust seed for most of today's improvement practices. The human need for easier-to-understand, more formal structure has resulted in development of and increasingly rigid adherence to pale, fragmented imitations such as Six Sigma, Lean, and now Lean Six Sigma. Relentless impatience for immediate results guaranteed the toxic influence of one of Emiliani's laws of Lean disillusionment: 

Dilution widens acceptance. Acceptance widens dilution

One common criticism of Deming's famous 4-day seminars was the perceived lack of his supplying any “how to” of implementation. I was among those critics after my initial exposure in 1982. It took faith and painstaking, tenacious, ongoing study until one day – 30 years later – the “light bulb” finally came on: I had worked it out for myself – the final "synergistic kick."

It is anything but a prescriptive formula and took Deming almost 40 years to develop – starting with "variation" in the mid-1940s. His experiences in implementation resulted in his empirical 14 Points as a robust framework for success in the early 1980s. Its further development culminated around 1990 as his synthesis of an underlying unifying theory, which he called a System of Profound Knowledge (unfortunately, a name that is often perceived as too pretentious for words).

For me, it took the will to do it, the belief I (and my organizations) could do it, the wherewithal to keep learning, and shutting up and actually doing it. [See "A Four-Step Process that could Change Your Career"]

In the 1980s, I remember pontificating one too many "Dr. Deming says..." when an angry executive confronted me, "I'm so sick of this! Tell me exactly what you would do to 'implement Deming' starting right now!"  My response was an embarrassed blank stare. Attention deficit executives have increasingly become even more impatient with and deaf to the onslaught of worn out platitudes.

The giddiness and naive enthusiasm of an initial intoxication with Dr. Deming (or six sigma or lean or lean six sigma) can lead to a very nasty hangover! All the belts and certifications in the world mean nothing.

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The Red Bead Experiment can be effective at creating quality awareness, but "dilution" due to overexposure and poor demonstrations has made it lose much of its novelty and shock value. It's time to declare a temporary moratorium until naively enthusiastic demonstrators can develop the "ability to execute or implement," i.e., the confidence and competence to formally schedule a post-demonstration dialogue with each person or work group in the demonstration. The sole purpose of this dialogue is to expose and create understanding of people's daily "red beads" – with an ultimate objective of helping them successfully improve a situation on a number that makes them “sweat.”

Chapters 1 to 4 of my book Data Sanity teach an improvement mindset  (not tool set) to create productive dialogue with executives. Chapter 2 shows 10 familiar everyday scenarios that will guide you to get results that will engage executives, move their "big dots" on key goals, and reduce ongoing confusion, conflict, complexity, and chaos

• Also available in e-book format for all e-readers, including iBook, Nook and Kindle (available only through publisher MGMA, includes downloadable .pdf)
  
  
• Great news for UK readers who want a hard copy.  It is now available on Amazon UK for  £69 with free shipping.
  

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Please know that I always have time for you and am never too busy.to answer a question, discuss opportunities for a leadership or staff retreat, webinar, mentoring, or public speaking --  or just about any other reason!  Don't hesitate to e-mail or phone me.

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