Subject: Theory of Constraints 2 Laws of Leadership (Part 2)

In Part 1 I covered the Theory of Constraints first Law of Leadership -- “Don’t be a sissy!” And I have to admit I was holding my breath as I clicked the send button. I was direct (as I tend to be) and I wasn’t sure what your response would be.
 
It stirred up a lot of response. My heart rate increased as the first responses starting showing up within 10 minutes! Here are just a few of the first responses I received:
 

“Liked this one a lot!”

“I really love this – I talk to “just do it” all the time in my work (it’s in a frame on my desk). Adding “don’t be a sissy” is fantastic.”

“Amen”

“Great mail Lisa!”

“Agreed and amen!!“

So it seems that I have your permission to be direct (except for the few people who unsubscribed).  Now, I want to cover the second Theory of Constraints Law of Leadership – “Just do it!”

So now that you know how not to be a sissy and you’ve decided what you are going to go do. Just do it!

“Just do it” does NOT mean steam rolling your people (but at the same time don’t let THEM be sissies!), it means to focus and get it done NOW.

Use the Theory of Constraints buy-in and “yes, but …” processes to get agreement on what you want to do and why you want to do it. These processes also serve to clarify what exactly you’re going to go do and usually the solution improves in the process.

Then, if you have someone who just doesn’t want to do it -- do it anyway. Ask them if they are willing to try (really try) it. If so, then get on with it. If not, it maybe it’s time to replace that person with someone who is.

Don’t make excuses as to why you can’t start now. If there are other things going on, and those things are NOT your biggest most important project (yes singular) – stop doing them. You can start them again if they become your biggest priority.

There are really only 2 Theory of Constraints “Just Do It” measures:

1) Reliability – did you do what you said, when you said you’d do it. Whatever the something was you decided to do that we talked about in Part 1 – did you do it on-time? If you are unreliable you didn’t. If you are reliable you did it and finished when you said you would. Due date performance is a type of reliability measure.

2) Effectiveness – you didn’t waste time being distracted on other things and/or doing things you shouldn’t have been done. Ineffectiveness is the biggest cause of unreliability and “not doing”. If you’re doing things you shouldn’t, typically you are making it very difficult to be reliable and get done what you should. Inventory is a type of ineffectiveness measure – if you have produced something ahead of when it was needed in order to be efficient or to save money.

Being ineffective is really a focusing issue – both not working on the right things and working on too many things at one time.

So get really clear on what you’re going to do and what you’re NOT going to do and then get it done.

And to me, that takes care of leadership. There are only 2 things you need to do:

1) Don’t be a sissy!

2) Just do it!

One of the best leaders I’ve interacted with recently was one of my Velocity Scheduling System clients – Tanya DiSalvo, President, Criterion Tool. Her team was struggling with buying into VSS but she held firm (definitely not a sissy) and then focused on doing it. And doing it right, not some watered down version of what the group was first willing to do.

Here’s the payoff she and her team got:

 
And I received this email update from Tanya on June 6, 2010:

“Welp it’s Criterion’s one year anniversary with the VSB (Velocity Scheduling System) and WE STILL love it!

A few major projects went thru our building: new product launch in Oct- Dec, another new product launch currently under way, reduction of staff thru attrition and increase in work, and in most cases we came thru with flying colors.

Attached is our score card. :)”

Wishing you unsissified success,

Dr Lisa

P.S. Make sure that you click on the links above. They link to additional information and some really good stuff.

P.P.S. If you run a custom job shop and are frustrated with scheduling -- check out the Velocity Scheduling System Coaching Program  http://www.velocityschedulingsystem.com/

P.P.P.S Download the "9 Challenges to Scheduling Your Job Shop and Why Your Schedule is Dead on Arrival" special report here: http://www.velocityschedulingsystem.com/ebook/

Theory of Constraints 2 Laws of Leadership

July 4th makes me think of being patriotic and that makes me think of the military and the military makes me think of our great leaders. So I did a little internet surfing on leadership.

In a Google search there were 154,000,000 results for the word leadership. On the National Speakers Association's website there are 650 speakers who are experts on Leadership.

I don't know about you, but as an engineer and NOT a very touchy feely kind of person, I have trouble relating to all the discussion on leadership.

I don't have anything against leadership or the people who speak on it or write about it (there are tons of those people and some of them are my friends), I just don't see what the big deal is.

Theory of Constraints is about focus, so assuming you are focused.  There are only 2 things - guiding principles if you will -- that a leader or manager needs to keep in mind.  I call them the Theory of Constraints 2 Laws of Leadership:

1) Don't be a sissy!

2) Just do it!

Any leader, who is bold about what they want and goes after it without apology and with perseverance, has my attention. And if this direction is delivered in a respectful way, they have my respect. I will follow where they lead. (Am I alone here?)

Now that sounds easy, probably too easy. So let's apply it. Don't be a sissy means - don't let old patterns, past ways of doing things, and failures stop you from finally getting 99+% on time all the time, reducing lead-time, and from dramatically reducing chaos or whatever your goals are.

Pick a technique, a philosophy, or anything that you think might get you closer to your goals. And realize that if you want improvement, you have to DO SOMETHING different. It is also true that not all change is improvement, so select carefully, but DO make a selection.

I once told a client who wanted to do an incentive program (which generally I'm against) that I didn't care if they wanted to bring clowns in on Fridays - but to DO SOMETHING.

Now, I'm partial to my programs and Theory of Constraints for the "something to do" - but even if you don't go with the changes I recommend, you will get some improvement simply by doing something and sticking with it.

For example GE chose Six Sigma as the horse they would ride. I can tell you why that may not be the best overriding philosophy, and how they could get better results by using Theory of Constraints to direct their Six Sigma efforts (see 2 articles below), but the reality is that they did improve by making the selection and sticking to it.

Don't be a sissy also means don't make excuses and don't blame anyone but yourself for the results you get or don't get.

It is our job as managers to put systems and processes in place that get the results we want. Our systems and processes comprise the policies, procedures and measures that direct our peoples' actions. If you're not getting the results you want, just look in the mirror.

Don't listen to the voice in your head or to your employee's who say:

• "that will never work"
• "we already tried that, and it doesn't work here"
• "you don't understand ..."

And one other thing that "don't be a sissy" means is that if you make a mistake, chose wrong, or fail - then get over it and find what IS going to work.

This is NOT in conflict with my prior statement of "sticking with it". I find that people either 1) don't try something long enough to see if it's going to work - they get distracted by the next new shiny thing; or 2) they stick with it forever despite the poor results.

I'm suggesting a rational balance between the two. And a good way to do that is to decide ahead of time what success and failure look like, then do everything to can to make whatever you decided to do a success.

If you want better results you are going to have to do things differently. Simply decide WHAT you're going to do and just do it.

Next time, I'll dive into the Theory of Constraints second Law of Leadership -- "Just do it!"

Wishing you unsissified success and a happy July 4th,   (Please post your thoughts and comments to this post.)
 
Dr Lisa

P.S. Here are links to 2 articles on the subject of Theory of Constraints and Six Sigma: http://www.scienceofbusiness.com/Portals/0/SixSigma2.pdf and http://www.scienceofbusiness.com/Portals/0/2006MayTLSArticle.pdf (this one includes Lean)

P.P.S Check out http://www.velocityscheduingsystem.com/ if you have a custom job shop and need to reduce time through your shop, get on-time and reduce chaos.  This is a coaching program to help implement what you read in the Theory of Constraints book The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt.  WARNING:  This is NOT training, this is a go and do program. 

P.P.P.S Download the "9 Challenges to Scheduling Your Job Shop and Why Your Schedule is Dead on Arrival" special report here:  http://www.velocityschedulingsystem.com/ebook/

(c)Copyright 2010, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.