Behind the Curtain: Adventures in Continuous Improvement

Yellow belts. Green belts. Black belts. In this podcast episode, hosts Dr. Mohamed Saleh and John Dyer continue their series exploring the difficult questions around lean, Six Sigma and continuous improvement, focusing their attention on the belt certification system and asking whether belts build expertise or simply create hierarchies. 

Podcast hosts Mohamed Saleh and John Dyer tackle a topic that drives a lot of passionate conversation. Is lean or Six Sigma the better improvement philosophy? One co-host argues it's a flawed debate while both weigh in on many organizations' woeful misunderstanding or misuse of lean and Six Sigma. 

Hosts John Dyer and Dr. Mohamed Saleh discuss the responsibility for organizational problems, emphasizing that systems often drive behaviors and that leaders should focus on correcting structures rather than blaming individuals. They highlight structural components that include performance reviews, incentives, metrics, policies and decision-making processes.

Dive into the topic of suboptimization, which occurs when individual departments focus on their own metrics at the expense of the overall enterprise, and learn tactics to drive enterprise-wide performance. 

Delve into why organizational visions often fail and learn tactics to develop visions your workforce can embrace. 

While 'respect for people' is a tenet many organizations claim, podcast hosts Mohamed Saleh and John Dyer delve into the truth of that statement. Does your leadership always show 'respect for people' or does it erode when the pressure is on? Here are some telltale signs that leaders' are failing to show 'respect for people' and the potential negative consequences of their actions. 

Podcast hosts Dr. Mohamed Saleh and John Dyer share their favorites of Dr. Deming's 14 points and reflect on the management guru's most controversial principle. 

Hosts John Dyer and Dr. Mohammed Saleh discuss Dr. Deming's 14th point for management: Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job. The hosts also outline the potential misuse of lean specialists. 

Understand the essential requirements to building an organization of thinkers rather than button-pushers, and delve into how AI should contribute to building a learning organization. 

Explore why pride of workmanship is important as well as common barriers that destroy it within an organization. 

Explore what the podcast hosts describe as Dr. W. Edwards Deming's "most controversial" point for management, one that many executives have a problem with. 

Learn why Dr. Deming called Point 10 his "biggest pet peeve" among the 14 points for transformation. One hint: It blames the workers. 

Learn how silos encourage local optimization at the expense of the whole, and gather tools to break down those barriers. 

Understand fear's invisible impact on KPIs and its destructive effects on innovation. 

The aim of leadership is to help people and machines and gadgets do a better job— not to put out fires or be the hero.  

Understand why lack of proper training rather than a lack of employee effort creates bad operational outcomes, and gain insights on training measures that work. 

Gain insights into the importance of continuous improvement as a daily habit, with reduced costs as a result, not a goal. Understand why this approach extends to all disciplines and departments, not just manufacturing production. 

Delve into why Dr. Deming promotes the idea of selecting suppliers based on total cost and moving toward a single supplier for any one item. 

Explore the meaning behind Dr. W. Edwards Deming's third point for management: Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place.