By: Duke Rohe  drohe@att.net

Creating An Environment That Loves Innovation

1. Why Does Every Organization Need A High Level Of Improvement?
2. What Does A High Improvement-Driven Organization Look Like?
3. How Do I Create An Environment That Invites New Ideas and Involvement?
4. How Do I Get Everyone Looking For Waste?
5. How Do I Sustain The Momentum Over Time?

What Does A High Improvement Driven Organization Look Like ?

1. Leadership Takes The Lead In Improvement
2. People Are Highly Empowered (responsibility = authority)
3. People See The Customer In Their Work
4. There Is A Collective Dissatisfaction With Waste
5. Improvement Becomes A Mental Challenge
6. Response To A Proposal (idea) Is Pronto
7. Failure Is OK
8. Time Savings Are Converted Into More Service, More Output With Same Staff, Fewer Staff
9. Staff Feel Good About Contributing
10. High Degree Of Respect and Acknowledge Of Contribution

Start With Your Innovative Self

1. Are You Hungry For Improvement? (Scale yourself)
2. What Are Some Of Your (small) Improvements You Have Put In Place?
3. Are You Taking Care Of Demotivators?
4. What Is Your Staff Afraid To Tell You?
5. Are You Willing To Pave The Way For Your Staff’s Improvement?

A Call To Arms

1. Make A Case For Change
2. Give Your Ground Forces A Line Of Sight To The Company’s Goals
   (and The Knowledge & Resources To Get There)
3. Prove To Them They Are Important, Their Ideas Are Essential
4. Broadcast Success — Theirs and The Company’s
5. No Victims Allowed — If You Got No Solution, You Got No Problem

Creating A Culture Of Improvement

1. Expect Ideas, Challenge Everything
2. Dismantle The Corporate Immune System Toward New Thoughts
3. Be Dogged Toward Implementation
4. Become A Walking Suggestion Box
5. Extinguish Stinking Thinking
6. Look At Your Work Environment Through A Different Set Of Lens To Find Waste

Ready The Implementation Machine

1. Structure A Downhill Acceptance Process
2. Loosen The Payback Requirements
3. Shrink The Authorization Cycle
4. Get Carpenter, Print Shop, Purchasing On Board
5. Require The Issuer’s Participation
6. Follow-up, Follow-up, Follow-up

Teach People How To Find Waste

1. Kaizen
2. Waste Hit List
3. Visual Control
4. Service
5. Optimizing The Whole

Understanding Teams

1. They Are Tough To Get Started, But They Will Amaze You Once They See The Light And Taste Success
2. To Get Teamwork –
3. Give The Team The Work:  Offer Help
4. Expect Them To Work Out Collective Issues, Keep The Wheels Rolling
5. Quit Being The Individual Savior, Stop Directing,
6. Ask Them, Offer Support, Support, Support and Trust, Trust, Trust

Start Hard Then Pick Up The Pace From There

1. Management Sticks With The What, Staff Determines The How
2. Catalog, Time Value and Broadcast Innovations
3. Continue to Add Energy Into The Innovative System
4. Reward, Acknowledge, Reward, Acknowledge
5. Gradually Defer More Decisions To The Workforce
6. Sometimes You Must Force Efficiencies (Standardize)

Universal Truth about leadership:

• People don’t pass on better than what they get:
• If you don’t give staff time, support and respect, THEY WON’T PASS IT ON TO THEIR CUSTOMERS.

Do It Now

It’s What You Do Now
When You Don’t Have To Do Anything
That Takes You Where You Need To Be
When It’s Too Late To Do Anything About It!

Robert Gary, Texas Utilities