The TPL Show

What is Zoning?Zoning is a holistic system for ensuring that all items used in an enterprise can be engaged efficiently.Why is it important?• The Rational Reason - a well-organized enterprise that is “at-the-ready” to meet customer demand is an invaluable competitive advantage that can be achieved very inexpensively. • The Emotional Reason – Zoning is the management system that enables and safeguards 5S, and 5S is an essential platform, for the engagement and continuous improvement needed to achieve and maintain excellence.• The Tangible Reason – The direct value of Zoning is an improvement of overall performance by 1-2%. The systems it enables, such as 5S, Safety, Standardized Work, and Genchi Genbutsu improve overall performance by 8-12%.When do you use Zoning?Whenever you find it valuable to have a well-organized and at-the-ready workplace.Who uses it?Every member of the enterprise applies Zoning Principles.How do you apply Zoning to an Enterprise?1. Align Senior Leaders with the concept of Zoning.2. Make Zoning an Imperative.3. Establish Geographic Zones.4. Set Maturity Based Milestones for the whole facility.5. Initiate 5S and zone-specific projects.6. Embed Zoning into daily life to ensure sustainment.What are the Key Tools and Concepts?• Every square meter in the facility is owned by someone. • The enterprise is divided into Zones, and each Zone is owned by a Zone Steward.• The entire facility moves through the process together from general overall standards, to specific, work center standards, with no use of pilot-implementations.• Meeting Zoning Standards is an expectation of employment.• 5S is the method used to animate Zoning.• Zoning is sustained with the Relentlessness Techniques of Op-Ex.View the full WWH here: Zoning_WWH_full_2024

What is the Origin of Lean Manufacturing?We see the roots of Lean in the writings of Ben Franklin. In his book, Poor Richard's Almanac, he writes about the reduction of waste when he writes, “avoiding unnecessary costs could provide more profit than increasing sales”.Franklin's thoughts are further developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in his 1911 book, Principles of Scientific Management. Taylor outlined and named the process of “Proto-Lean”, calling it Scientific Management. He wrote, “Whenever a workman proposes an improvement, it should be the policy of the management to make a careful analysis of the new method, and if necessary, conduct a series of experiments to determine accurately the relative merit of the new suggestion and of the old standard. And whenever the new method is found to be markedly superior to the old, it should be adopted as the standard for the whole establishment."Shigeo Shingo read Taylor's book and dedicated his life to the furtherance of Scientific Management. He and Kiichiro Toyoda refined Taylor's philosophies in the textile and automotive industries. As time went on, the great engineer, Taichi Ohno, brought these methods together to form the philosophy known as “The Toyota Production System”.In 1988, we first see the term “Lean” in John Krafchik's article, Triumph of the Lean Production System.Next, we see the term, “Lean Manufacturing” surface as the philosophy of Lean is detailed further by James Womack, Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Roos in the 1990 book ‘The Machine that Changed the World.' Womack and Jones continued to clarify the Lean Philosophy in their 1996 book, Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation. In that book, they laid out five key principles, “Precisely specify value by specific product, identify the value stream for each product, make value flow without interruptions, let the customer pull value from the producer, and pursue perfection”. From that time on Lean Manufacturing was a mature business philosophy.What is Lean?Let's start by saying that Lean means many things to many people. It has its purists, its revisionists, its visionaries, and its charlatans. So, it is important to think of Lean as a general school of thought rather than a specific discipline.Since the dawn of time, the desire to manufacture things has been a very human trait.Almost no other creature makes things, and humans alone engage in mass production.We human beings have been continually improving things for eons. Each generation improves upon the last.The Term Lean Manufacturing or Lean was first defined by James Womack and Daniel T. Jones in the Book Lean Thinking – Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation – 1996. They defined Lean as “a way to do more and more with less and less - less human effort, less equipment, less time, and less space - while coming closer and closer to providing customers exactly what they want."We at Avanulo believe that Lean is a business philosophy that calls for process owners to relentlessly pursue the reduction of variation for the benefit of the customer. We also believe that people will naturally seek to improve their environment, work processes, and lives whether or not there is a formal system to help them do so, and that Lean Manufacturing is a school of thought and some tools, that help us to . . . “Improve the way we improve”. Lean is a Meta-Improvement System.Lastly, we believe that Lean Manufacturing is mostly tactical, local, and very human. It is not a generic strategy, but an augmentation to an organization's generic strategy.Why is Lean an important part of a Leader's toolbox?Rational Reason – Lean provides an educational base, an integrated set of methods, and a vetted set of tools, for...

What is Commitment Lock?Commitment Lock is a simple, ancient, and powerful tool for ensuring individual alignment with a decision, plan, or action. It is comprised of two proven methods combined – Oath-Taking, and Public Square.Commitment Lock is a call for action posed in the form of a question to each person present at the time a decision is made.Commitment Lock, in its modern form, was revived by restaurant owners who used it to confirm reservations and persuade people to call them if their plans changed.Having seen this simple idea work so effectively, Avanulo used it to ensure compliance with safety standards and then, over time, extended its use to decision-making sessions from the shop floor to the boardroom.Why is Commitment Lock valuable?Rational reason – Commitment Lock is supported by well-accepted concepts in psychology. When people make an active “I will” or “I Shall” commitment in public, they are much more likely to honor that commitment than when the commitment is private or passive.Emotional reason – The regular use of Commitment Lock builds a culture of professionalism that minimizes lip service and exposes sycophants.Tangible reason – When a decision is clear, and everyone commits to it, the chance of success doubles or triples.When is Commitment Lock used?Commitment Lock is used when it is important to be certain that everyone involved will do their utmost to make a decision work.Commitment Lock is used after the decision is made and after the path forward is made clear with a Commitment Question.Commitment Lock is never used as a selection tool, to decide upon an option for a path forward based on who will commit to it.How do you use Commitment Lock? 1. Confirm that the decision has been made and that you are on the eastern (right) side of the Decision Line in the Theory of the Decision Line Model (See TPL Show, Episode 5). 2. Write a Commitment Question, which begins with “will you”. a. Include in that Commitment a call to action to support a clearly defined decision, plan, or step. b. Determine withier the commitment is a Goal Implementation or an Implementation Intention. i. A Goal Implementation is a commitment to bring about a desired state such as achieving one million dollars in sales – “We will increase sales to one million dollars this year”. ii. An Implementation Intention is a commitment to do something when a certain condition is present such as, “if the raw materials come in late, then we will work on Saturday to finish the order on time”. c. Make sure that the Commitment Statement is written in the form of a Question that one can answer, “I will”, or “I will not”. 3. Review the Commitment Question with all involved and make sure they fully understand it. Allow for discussion and modify the Question, if needed. 4. Starting with the lowest-ranking people and ending with the highest-ranking people, ask each individual whether or not they will commit to the decision. a. If someone will not commit (which is rare because the decision has already been made and this is a commitment check), discuss and attempt to gain their commitment. If this proves impossible, after a reasonable period of time, close the session in one of three ways, but be very clear. i. Have someone in authority over all present, simply declare what the path forward shall be. ii. Set a date and time and defer the discussion until that time. iii....

What are the Three Realms of Excellence?They are Leadership Aspirations that, when pursued, prepare and preserve an organization's ability to achieve excellence.The Three Realms of Operational Excellence (Op-Ex) describe a condition of being that, at first, an organization strives to achieve, and then later to maintain, so that its pursuit of noble purpose, and the fulfillment of its vision are both conceivable and possible.The three Realms of Op-Ex provide an organization with the platform and strategic blueprint needed to implement a Learning Organization and achieve Excellence.Why are the Three Realms of Excellence important?Rational reason – Recognizing the three realms, and pursuing them in order, is the only approach that results in a healthy, sustainable focus on excellence.Emotional reason – Whether or not you recognize them, the Three Realms exist. Ignoring them, or pursuing them out of order, leads a workforce to reject continuous improvement concepts, and resist the implementation of intentional culture.Tangible reason – When you recognize the Three Realms of Op-Ex, and then pursue them in proper order, the resulting intentional culture is much healthier, delivers far greater results, and is much more sustainable.How does an organization leverage the Three Realms of Excellence?Educate top Leaders about the Three Realms of Excellence and facilitate a deep and long discussion of them that answers three strategic questions. What is the definition of each in our organization and how do we measure them? Are we aligned about the importance of the Three Realms as an archetype for pursuing excellence? What is the current condition of each Realm, what will we do next to progress in each realm, and when will we achieve sufficient Evenness to implement an intentional culture?Develop a plan with milestones and metrics for achieving your aspiration in each realm. Implement the 1440 Management System, Scrum, Agile, etc. Reduce your Gap of Knowledge (GoK) by implementing Genchi Genbutsu (Gemba Walks). Use Value Stream Maps and Kanbans to understand Flow and evenness in your organization.Optimize your Organizational (Local) Evenness by freeing up your key players to Think, Plan, and Lead (TPL). Eliminate/streamline non-value-added uses of leadership time. Teach them the skills needed to be better leaders and problem solvers. Set the expectation that key players use the time saved to lead and problem-solve more and better.Establish the reduction of Mura (Unevenness) as an essential leadership duty at all levels in your organization. Teach leaders the value of pursuing Evenness. Encourage them and expect them to pursue it. Establish Evenness metrics. Post them in the public square. Set goals. Assign stewards. Tally often.Once the initial Mura goal is achieved, repeat the approach to reduce Muri (Overburden).When ready, declare the organization sufficiently even to pursue Kaizen-At-The-Point-Of-Value and implement an Intentional Culture (Lean Concepts). Optimize the workplace infrastructure (Implement Zoning/5S). Optimize workflow. (Implement Standard Work). Lock it all in with Intentional Culture (Implement Kaizen).Rinse and repeat (Conduct Hansei and begin again with Shoshin).Key ToolsWrite us at info@tplshow.org for a free guide to the Three Realms of Excellence. You Can't Kaizen Chaos by Danielle McGuiness, December 2014 -

What is Evenness?Evenness is a constancy of flow or condition that results in a beneficial outcome.In Business, Evenness is a state in which those involved in a process, or invested in an outcome, can count on inputs, processing, and outputs that are regular, consistent, and predictable.Evenness is also a matter of perspective. What some perceive as an Even output at one point in a process can be preceded or followed by frenzied or erratic flow. So often, Evenness is a local point of view.There are two types of Evenness. Enterprise Evenness is the degree to which an organization's Values Streams are Even. One of the best metrics for Enterprise Evenness is Forecast Accuracy. Local Evenness is the degree to which Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), or important conditions, are Even from the perspective of those who work in a particular process, system, department, etc.Why is Evenness important?Rational Reason – when you have a high degree of Evenness in a process, you can predict the outcome. What you can predict, you can control, and what you can control, you can improve. So, Evenness provides a platform for optimization.Emotional Reason – Evenness reduces surprises and the need to react to them. Evenness reduces stress, anxiety, and fatigue. In other words, it reduces Overburden, which is called Muri in Lean Manufacturing. It enables the customer of the process (internal and external) to benefit from the Certainty of on-time delivery that meets quality specs.Tangible Reason – A high degree of Evenness allows those working the process to fine-tune it because they seldom fight fires. This transition from firefighting to fine-tuning drives variation and waste out of the process while increasing velocity and quality. Evenness is a key competitive advantage that is free in that it costs only the will to keep working on it. Perhaps most importantly, when people see that their leaders relentlessly strive for Evenness, they are inspired to action.How does an organization use Evenness as a Rally Point in Uncertain Times?Listen to Episode 12 of the TPL Show – Part One of Leveraging the Benefit of Evenness – What is Evenness? Declare the situation openly and use a formal set of written Talking Points as a guide. Brief leaders on the situation, and then cascade and reinforce your message throughout the organization. Describe the situation clearly in simple language. Describe the impact on the process, on those who work it (suppliers & employees), and on the customer. Use tangible descriptions, relatable examples, realistic timelines, and numbers as much as possible.Clarify everyone's role. Be very specific about how it is different than during “normal” times. Clearly indicate who will lead what, even if it seems painfully obvious. Spell it all out in detail, and set the expectation that everyone must be ready to help and must be flexible, cooperative, and engaged in positive ways.Create an organization-wide Help Chain for this issue.Establish an Obeya Room using the 11 principles of Obeya.Identify all the actual and potential interruptions to flow. Rank them – use FMEA. Devise plans and backup plans – Use Potential Problem Analysis. Carefully determine the generic strategy for each plan. Is it Kaizen, or Kaikaku?Significantly increase your presence at the Gemba, keep awareness high, react thoughtfully, and be ready to reset and reshuffle as the situation unfolds.What are the 11 Principles of Obeya?MindsetPeople come together in the Obeya to respectfully see, learn & act on

Whatis Evenness?Evenness is a constancy of flow or condition that results in a beneficial outcome.In Business, Evenness is a state in which those involved in a process, or invested in an outcome, can count on regular, consistent, and predictable inputs, processing, and outputs.Evenness is also a matter of perspective. What some perceive as an even output at one point in a process can be preceded or followed by frenzied or erratic flow. So often, Evenness is a local point of view.There are two types of Evenness. Enterprise Evenness is the degree to which an organization's Values Streams are Even. One of the best metrics for Enterprise Evenness is Forecast Accuracy. Local Evenness is the degree to which key performance indicators or important conditions are Even from the perspective of those who work in a particular process, system, department, etc. Local Evenness is also called Organizational Evenness.Why is Evenness important?Rational reason – when you have a high degree of Evenness in a process, you can predict the outcome. What you can predict, you can control, and what you can control, you can improve. So, Evenness provides a platform for optimization.Emotional reason – Evenness reduces surprises and the need to react to them. Evenness reduces stress, anxiety, and fatigue. In other words, it reduces Overburden, which is called Muri in Lean Manufacturing. It enables the customer of the process (internal and external) to benefit from the certainty of on-time delivery that meets quality specs.Tangible reason – A high degree of Evenness allows those working the process to fine-tune it because they seldom fight fires. This transition from firefighting to fine-tuning drives variation and waste out of the process while increasing velocity and quality. Evenness is a key competitive advantage that is free in that it costs only the will to keep working on it. Perhaps most importantly, when the people see that their leaders relentlessly strive for Evenness, they are inspired to action.How does an organization foster Evenness?Teach Leaders the concept of Evenness and establish the relentless pursuit of Evenness as an essential leadership duty.With input from leaders, establish the Hierarchy of Evenness.Identify and develop the key metrics of Evenness in your organization.Commission leaders to teach the people in their charge about the concept of Evenness, the organization's Hierarchy of Evenness, and the organization's Evenness Metrics.Pick your organization's most pressing point of Unevenness (Mura) and try to reduce it. Don't whack the mole at the entrance of its hole (symptom), follow that mole's hole back to the nest (root cause), and remember that you can almost never solve an Unevenness issue where it is occurring (showing up). Map the Process using the Evenness Metrics – A VSM works best for this. Identify the focus for improvement using the Evenness Metrics.Have the next point of unevenness lined up and be ready to attack it so that you are relentlessly seeking more and more Evenness. Even a little more Evenness is worth it, and even if you fail, the engagement you get from your people as they see you fight to make work more even for them will pay off ten-fold.Key ToolsWrite us at info@tplshow.org for a free guide on Leveraging the Benefits of Evenness.

What is a Help Chain?A Help Chain is a structured, and highly visual, accountability system used to communicate and restore interruptions to flow.Why are Help Chains important?Rational Reason - They ensure that everyone knows when an interruption to flow occurs and who is accountable to restore it.Emotional Reason – Alignment is much easier when restoring flow is identified as an organizational priority, and when addressing interruptions to flow is led in a predetermined, clear, and systematic way.Tangible Reason – Having a Help Chain makes it much easier for organizations to identify and eliminate the root causes of interruptions to flow (downtime). Organizations that apply Help Chains have 50% less downtime than those that do not. How do you use help Chains?Step 1 - Understand the concepts behind Help Chains. Learn about the Visual Workplace by reading Visual Workplace – Visual Thinking by Gwendolyn D. Galsworth & the 5 Pillars of the Visual Workplace by Hiroyuki Hirano.Learn about Andon - https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/guide-to-andon-in-lean-manufacturing.Learn about Reverse Cascades – Avanulo Blue Paper #562 – Everything you need to implement Help Chains - write us at info@tplshow.org.Step 2 - Publish a simple, clear, and relevant definition for downtime (an interruption to flow) for your organization.Step 3 - Identify the Bottleneck and major pinch points in your process that will benefit from Help Chains.Step 4 - Design the Escalation Protocol for your organization.Step 5 - Design and install the Andons for each place that will have a Help Chain.Step 6 - Train everyone in the concept of Help Chains, Your organization's definitions and protocols, and your Andons.Step 7 - Implement the Help Chain System. Practice using it. Adjust as you go.Step 8 - Do a Process Check after 30 days and adjust as appropriate.Step 9 - Schedule and hold a Process Check every quarter.Key ToolsShow Notes and Transcript – https://www.dropbox.com/s/6kyvvs437hkmbfp/Transcript%20for%20Episode%2011%20-%20Help%20Chains%20and%20How%20to%20Use%20Them%20v2.pdf?dl=0 Write us at info@tplshow.org for our free guide - Everything you need to implement Help Chains (Avanulo Blue Paper #562)Book - “Visual Workplace. Visual thinking”, by Gwendolyn GalsworthBook - :”The Five Pillars of the Visual Workplace”, by Hiroyuki HiranoA good, concise article about Andons - https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/guide-to-andon-in-lean-manufacturing

What is Alignment?Alignment is a relationship to decisions. It's an approach to decisions that leads you to own decisions as if they were yours. Alignment is the most powerful relationship you can have to a decision. Alignment is a choice. It's also a commitment to have a decision work. If you're aligned, then you both own the decision like it's yours and you're committed to making the decision work. Also, alignment is not a one-time thing. It must be sustained over time. It's an ongoing commitment, an attitude, a state of mind. Why is Alignment, especially, Executive Team Alignment important?Rational reason – when a group or team is aligned, it can get more done, with less effort than similar teams that are not aligned. Emotional reason – when a group is aligned, drama and dysfunction are reduced, people are happier and more fulfilled, and dedication and engagement go way up.Tangible reason – organizations that are aligned are 300-400% more profitable than those that are not.How does an organization ensure Alignment?Teach everyone what alignment is and the benefit of alignment.Implement tools that support alignment, an effective and formal decision-making tools are a must, but there are others – see key tools below.Practice getting and staying aligned as you decide and implement at work.Reflect upon recent decisions and implementations with respect to alignment. Did we align? Did we stay aligned? How can we do it better next time?Keep this process evergreen. Talk about it all the time. Retrain. Reflect a lot. Key ToolsWrite us at info@tplshow.org for a free guide on how to achieve and maintain executive and organizational alignment.The Transformational Power of Executive Team Alignment by Miles Kiersen.Full Show Notes & Transcript https://www.dropbox.com/s/3v80vqurorf779h/Show%20Notes%20and%20Transcript%20for%20episode%209%20-%20the%20Power%20of%20Alignment.pdf?dl=0

Who is the Little Guy?The Little Guy is a version of yourself that lives in your head.It's an inner voice that sows doubt, fear, and self-hatred. The little guy is a dark part of you that tears you down and pushes you to be petty and negative. It's an inner voice that we must all overcome if we seek to live happy, healthy lives.Why is overcoming the Little Guy important?Because the Little Guy robs leaders of valuable thinking time, resulting in less effective solutions, less inspirational interaction, and even less time leading.To lead well, leaders need the full capacity of their minds. They must have time to think, and those thoughts have to be very clear.Our brains are kind of like computers. We only have so much space available to process things. If we clog our brains up with the unproductive, maybe even counterproductive, thoughts of the Little Guy, we're reducing our capacity to TPL (Think, Plan, and Lead). To be the best leaders we can be, we must learn how to overcome the Little Guy, because it's destructive, distracting, and takes you off task.How do we contain the Little Guy?One - Acknowledge that the Little Guy occupies space in your head and commit to containing it.Two - Keep the Little Guy contained. At the time of big decisions and important interactions ask yourself, "am I containing the Little Guy?" Develop an internal leadership kata[1] tocontain the Little Guy. Optimize your Inner-Coach – the adversary of the Little Guy. Perform Hansei (self-reflection). Use the 3 Questions of the After-Action Review to do this. What was supposed to happen? What actually happened? What will I commit to do next time to improve the outcome? Approach everything with Shoshin – the Beginner's Mind.Three - Read the book, “The Wise Advocate the Inner Voice of strategic leadership”, by Art Kleiner, Jeffrey Schwartz, and Josie Thompson.Four - Develop a Life Purpose that is noble, a Life Vision, and a personal Code of Ethics.Five - Gain input, advice, and feedback from a mentor, or personal board of advisors.Six - Practice, practice, practice.Key ToolsWrite us at info@tplshow.org for a free guide on how to contain the Little Guy.“The Wise Advocate the Inner Voice of strategic leadership”, by Art Kleiner, Jeffrey Schwartz, and Josie Thompson.Full Show Notes & Transcript - https://www.dropbox.com/s/n7i7dldups0983l/Show%20Notes%20%26%20Transcript%20for%20Episode%2010%20-%20The%20Little%20Guy.pdf?dl=0 Episode Transcript[00:00] Luke: Everybody. Welcome back to the TPL Show. First off, I think wemaybe owe the listeners an apology.[00:10]Dave: Why is that?[00:11]Luke: Well, we haven't recorded them.[00:12]Dave: Well, that's true. We certainly got distracted by hot projects andthe holidays and all that stuff.[00:21]Luke: So 2023 New Year.[00:26]Dave: Happy New Year.[00:28]Luke: Happy New Year to all of our listeners. Yeah. So here we are.We're recording in our new recording studio.[00:36]Dave: Yes. We vacated the loft, and we...

What is a personal Leadership Code?A Personal Leadership Code is a unique code of ethics that you develop for yourself as a leader.Why is having a personal code important for leaders?Having a personal code brings four benefits, it builds trust, garners respect, establishes accountability, and increases predictability of behavior. Organizations led by people who demonstrate the behaviors that a personal code promotes, outperform those who don't by 400%. So, personal leadership codes are profitable as well as the right thing to do.How does a leader develop a personal code?Learn what a code of ethics is.Research existing codes to help you develop your own.Write down your own ideas. Look for patters. Group similar thoughts. Organize your ideas into a few key principles.Use your code in daily life. Check decisions and behaviors against your code.Reflect upon your code periodically. Assess how you are doing. Adjust your behavior and your code as you grow.Key ToolsWrite us at info@tplshow.org for a free guide on how to develop a personal leadership code.Full Show Notes & Transcript - https://www.dropbox.com/s/a74jnclihlj3kgd/Transcript%20for%20Episode%208%20-%20Developing%20a%20Personal%20Code.pdf?dl=0Check out Alex Hoffer's article on predictability - https://alexhoffer.me/post/leadership-essentials-predictabilityRead Douglas Satterfield's Article on Leadership Predictability - https://www.theleadermaker.com/leaders-bring-predictability-and-productivity/Thanks for listening.The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients overcome challenges and achieve excellence with intentional culture.

A Gemba Walk is a stylized interaction used by leaders who want to reduce their Gap of Knowledge (GoK) about what is going on at the Gemba, the place where value is added for the customer. The Gemba Walk, also known as Genchi Genbutsu, is a hugely effective approach for inspiring the people you lead, increasing alignment, reducing waste, and making things better for customers and employees. In this episode we will cover how to make a Gemba Walk, and we will discuss the value of Gemba Walks with Tim Burgess, a successful, global executive in the food processing industry.A written outline of the What-Why-How for Gemba Walks can be found at the beginning of this show's transcript.

Prudent Frugality means to behave in economical ways at both the strategic and the tactical levels that provide sustainable and repeatable results which are aligned with the Purpose, Vision, and Values of your organization. Prudent Frugality is based upon Fiegenbaum's Cost of Quality Methodology.

The Theory of the Decision Line (TODL) is a mindset for decision-making that promotes a culture of high alignment. Imagine a vertical line on a whiteboard. Now imagine that this vertical line represents the moment a decision is made. To the left of the "Decision Line" is where fact gathering, analysis, discussion, argument, reflection, and consensus building occur. When we are to the left of the line in the decision-making process, we are respectful, but we "Argue Like Hell" being passionate, and candid and ensuring the decision is wise and supportive of our Purpose, Vision, and Values.Crossing the line from the left to the right represents "making the decision". Now, to the right of the Decision Line, everyone is professionally required to "Support Like Hell" and do everything they to make the decision a success.TODL is a mindset that acknowledges and acts upon a simple reality - a mediocre idea that is well supported yields more results than a great idea that is poorly supported. In other words, it is a living expression of a basic truth - Alignment Equals Flow.

In this episode, we review 6 tenets of leadership that can used to create a personal, leadership development plan. We call these tenets the Six sides of the Leadership Tool Box.Unfortunately today, schools and organizations dedicate very little time to the study of leadership. This means that those who seek to study leadership must usually do so on their own. The good news is that those who do study leadership dramatically increase their impact at work, and in life.The Six Sides provide a simple framework for creating a personal study of leadership by providing enough structure to promote learning, yet leaving enough flexibility to allow each leader to develop their own personal style.If you like our show, please give us five stars, write a review, and share our show with a friend. We are really interested in your feedback. Thanks so much for listening.You can find a What-Why-How summary of the show at the top of this episode's transcript.For even more information on the Six Sides of the Leadership Toolbox, write for our free guide at info@tplshow.org.The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients achieve excellence with intentional culture and leadership development.

IntroductionThis is a method for animating Avanulo's Third Belief Construct, which is that all improvement issues are, at their core, people issues.Belief constructs are important because culture is the greatest competitive advantage you can leverage in any organization, and we use the Belief Constructs to design and build an intentional culture.Some find this concept difficult to accept because they do not want to blame problems on specific people. So, to avoid blame, they express the cause in ways that do not link directly to people. This is because we are all taught that blame is toxic in a culture, but the reverse is true. In a healthy culture, accountability is used to make improvements in positive ways.Driving cause analysis to the lowest level of human decision or action provides a huge advantage in problem solving because it allows us fix problems much more effectively and permanently.Fixing things for good the first time allows us to spend more time preventing problems instead of having to correct them later.An effective, healthy culture is huge competitive advantage that revs up results.What are the Five Truths of Improvement?Everything is a process – everything.Every process delivers exactly what it was designed to deliver – not what it was intended to deliver. So, in this way, every process is achieving “its design.”Every process is the way it is because those with authority over it allow it to persist, either by intent, by acquiescence, or by a lack of awareness or concern.There are usually two reasons in play – the reason given (the Stated Reason) and the real reason (The Root Cause). The reason given reflects our hopes and fears. The real reason is the truth that is made clear by the facts.Find a way to work on the real reason, with the support of those who have authority over the process, and without diminishing those who give other reasons, and you will make significant and lasting improvement. Why are the Five Truths of Improvement Important?The Five Truths help you to act upon Belief Construct Three – that every improvement challenge, is, at its core, is a people issue.Together, they act as a force magnifier that revs up your continuous improvement process.How do you apply the Five Truths of Improvement?Teach everyone in your organization about the value of culture and activate the “miracle machine.” Teach them that you can improve results by improving your culture, and that you can use the Belief Constructs to help you do it. Also teach them that at the heart of every improvement challenge is a people issue.Using work related examples, teach and animate the Five Truths of Improvement. Make them a center point of your continuous improvement message. Use the Five Truths of Improvement to assess your improvement method, to make sure that it is addressing all Five Truths, or simply use the Five Truths as an approach to continuous improvement.Key ToolsWrite us at info@tplshow.org for a free guide on how to establish and animate a Noble Purpose in your organization. Ask for the What-Why-How for The Five Truths of Improvement.Thanks for listening.The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients overcome challenges and achieve excellence with intentional culture.

What is Noble Purpose?An organization's Noble Purpose explains why it exists.It is a clear and concise statement of what the organization does to improve the lives of its customers.Noble Purpose is at the foundation of every strategy and is the prime consideration of every decision made at work.Why is having a Noble Purpose for your organization important?Having a Noble Purpose is just the right thing to do.A well-animated Noble Purpose enables people in the organization to answer “Yes or No” in an aligned way.Having a Noble Purpose attracts and retains talent, especially from the younger generations.Organizations with a well-animated Noble Purpose are more successful and more profitable. They outperform organizations that lack Noble Purpose by 400%.How do you establish and animate a Noble Purpose?Senior Leaders Develop a working draft of the organization's Noble Purpose, and if needed, the organization's Vision and Principles, to complete the PVV – the Purpose, Vision, and Values.Senior Leaders socialize the working draft of the Noble Purpose by sharing it with small groups across the company, getting feedback, modifying as appropriate, and ultimately publishing the organization's official Noble Purpose. In Lean terms this is known as Nemawashi.Under the direction of Senior Leaders, the organization fully animates the PVV, by including it in the new hire orientation, in leadership training, in decision-making processes, in performance management systems, in communication campaigns, and in many other ways.Key ToolsWrite us at info@tplshow.org for a free guide on how to establish and animate a Noble Purpose in your organization. Ask for the What-Why-How for Noble Purpose."Leading with Noble Purpose", by Lisa Earle McLeod.Jim Stengel partners with Milward Brown on a 10 year study of organizational success and learns that "ideals" have a significant and positive impact on positive results.If you like our show, please give us five stars, write a review, and share our show with a friend. We are really interested in your feedback. Thanks so much for listening.The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients overcome challenges and achieve excellence with intentional culture.

IntroductionTPL is all about leadership, and leadership is the one core differentiator that exists in every human endeavor.You cannot achieve excellence without good leadership.In the end, leadership is everything.The study and practice of leadership is the key to success for all organizations.There are two authority streams, leadership, and management.Management is the administrative side of authority, and leadership is the visionary and inspirational side.In today's world, those who have authority over others need to lead more. Since time is finite, they can only do that, if they manage less.Middle and frontline leaders do most of the deciding and inspiring. That is just a simple math equation. They are closer to the people and the processes where deciding and inspiring take place.The most effective and most affordable way to achieve excellence in any organization is to enable middle and frontline leaders to Think, Plan, and Lead more.Some leaders are born, and others are made, but all leaders can become much more effective if they study and practice the art and science of leadership. So, what is TPL?TPL is a dynamic concept that challenges everyone to find ways for middle and frontline leaders to spend more time Thinking, Planning, and Leading – finding more time to TPL.TPL reminds us that leadership is thoughtful, it follows a methodology that we can all learn and use, and it requires effective execution. Why is TPL important?When leaders have time to think about the impact they want to have, use a sound method or tool to plan out that impact, and then execute well, the organization gets good leadership, and good leadership leads to excellence. How do you apply TPL?Executives need to start by clarifying the purpose, vision, and values of the organization, which we at Avanulo call the PVV. They need to make sure the PVV is clear, and well-animated.Executives then need to develop thoughtful leadership principles that support the PVV of the organization.Executives need to develop continuous leadership education that supports the PVV, teaches the organization's leadership principles, and orients everyone to the concepts of TPL.Executives need to challenge everyone in the organization to reduce the time spent on management duties and use the time saved to TPL.Middle Managers and Frontline leaders need to seek ways to reduce the time they spend on management duties and use the time saved to TPL.Those who find ways to increase their TPL should share those best practices with others, and executives should encourage the sharing of these best practices.Key ToolsWrite us at info@tplshow.org for a free guide and tool set to help you establish TPL on you team and in your organization. Ask for the What-Why-How on TPL.Thanks for listening.The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients overcome challenges and achieve excellence with intentional culture.

This short message introduces the TPL Show and describes the benefit it brings to leaders who seek to improve.