In this episode, Adam Lawrence and I discuss the power of proper chartering prior to launching into a project or kaizen event of any sort. This is Adam’s second time on The Lean Solutions Podcast; the first time was back in episode 50 where we talked about his book, The Wheel of Sustainability.
What You’ll Learn This Episode:
- What is chartering and why does it mean so much to you?
- The 4 key components of chartering.
- How does chartering lock in leadership commitment?
- How does chartering fit with the Wheel of Sustainability?
- What are some examples of success and/or failures when chartering?
About the Guest:
Adam Lawrence is the Managing Partner of Process Improvement Partners, LLC. He has 30+ years of experience in process improvement activities, targeted at manufacturing and business processes. Having facilitated 300+ Kaizen events in multiple industries around the world, Adam aligns with leadership, engages teams, and creates sustainable results. Adam is also the author of The Wheel of Sustainability.
Important Links:
https://www.amazon.com/Wheel-Sustainability-Engaging-Empowering-Produce-ebook/dp/B08VVX8F6Q
Full Episode Transcripts:
Patrick Adams
Welcome to the Lean solutions podcast where we discuss business solutions to help listeners develop and implement action plans for true Lean process improvement. I am your host, Patrick Adams. Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Lean solutions podcast. My name is Patrick Adams and our guest today is Adam Lawrence. This is Adams are returning debut here he was out he was with us in Episode 50 for his first interview where we talked about his book, The Wheel of sustainability, and just talked about how to identify problems and dig into those. So if you’re interested to go check out our last episode, it was episode 50, where Adam and I had some really good conversation about the wheel of sustainability. If you’re new to the podcast, and you’re you’re new to Adam, and let’s talk about him. Before we interview and talk through some some questions with Adam. Adam is the managing partner of process improvement partners LLC, he has over 30 years of experience in process improvement activities targeted at manufacturing and business processes. I love this part about Adams bio, he has facilitated over 300 Kaizen events in multiple industries around the world. He aligns with leadership engages teams, and creates sustainable results. As I mentioned already, he’s also the author of the wheel of sustainability. Welcome to the show. Once again, Adam.
Adam Lawrence
Well, thank you, Patrick, I really appreciate you having me back.
Patrick Adams
Yes. I’m excited to have you back. We had a really great discussion. First time around. And at the end of the podcast, I think you and I agreed that we needed to get back together and have another conversation on a different topic. And so today, we’ve actually chosen the topic of chartering. So I’m excited to hear what your thoughts are around Chartering and the importance of it, how we do it, why we do it, all that good stuff. So let’s dive right in. What for what is chartering? How would you define Chartering and why does it mean so much to you?
Adam Lawrence
Okay, well, great, great question, Patrick. Appreciate that. So chartering to me, what is it? It’s really defining the contract between leadership and the team that’s trying to solve a complex problem that no one has solved yet. So chartering, to me is it’s very simple, but extremely deep and powerful. If done well, sure. And it means so much to me. Because in the past, not done well, teams have had less than winning experiences. And I’ve realized how critical it is to do it properly and well, so that we can guarantee a winning experience for the team and for the leadership.
Patrick Adams
Yeah, I also have had experiences where individuals have been, you know, assigned a project or whatever it is, and they take off running, just to find out that they have to stop and go back or they didn’t get approval, or there’s no one there to help support them or remove roadblocks that are, you know, that they’re, they’re falling into. So I completely understand the value of proper chartering ahead of time. Do you have any, you know, any examples of maybe individuals that without saying any names, but maybe stories of people that maybe took off without a charter or without proper chartering ahead of time and maybe struggled through that?
Adam Lawrence
Right, so certainly, there are tons of them. Let me just one that comes to mind was a group that I was facilitating about 20 years ago in Pensacola, Florida, so I won’t say who the internal at that point. But the reality is, is the charter was fairly vague. Okay. So the problem we’re trying to solve, it’s not clear and our scope wasn’t clear. And on day three, one of our team members steps up, raises her hand kind of sheepishly and says, I don’t think we’re working on the right thing is day three, we had a just about a four and a half day kaizen event. As we listened to her, we realized she was right. So we were working on in ciliary things that really weren’t going to move the meter for what our sponsors wanted, and what would really be beneficial for the customer and of course, for the employees at the plant. So we regrouped. We did what any good Kaizen team does, when things go sideways, we regrouped, we said some things under our breath, and we figured it out. And we put extra time in and we were able to recover. Now, what I realized from that moment on and I knew it beforehand was how critical it is to understand what are we really trying to solve and then when we’re facilitating staying in those boundaries. So there are things called parking lots are things that are nice to do. One. One thing I’ve learned in my experience, is that once you open people’s eyes to what’s possible, they want to solve everything, right. So it’s really a good idea to have them well bounded. And then as the facilitators pay strict attention to that to keep them there.
Patrick Adams
Oh, absolutely. That’s so important for sure. And I love love the example. And I think that that again, for those that are listening in, they probably have had similar experiences. And you mentioned for a Kaizen event. So there’s probably also people that are that are listening that would say, Well, do we charter every Kaizen activity? Do we charter every event every project? So again, there’s a there’s a big difference between a Kaizen event and you know, daily Kaizen activities. We wouldn’t say that chartering you in charter just your your day to day Kaizen activities, but potentially something much larger like a Kaizen event. It sounds like Adam, like you would charter a Kaizen event, which I would as well. So can you tell me a little bit about that? Like, what are the do’s and don’ts as far as what should be chartered versus what shouldn’t be chartered?
Adam Lawrence
Well, that’s a that’s a great question. So people are going to have to judge on their own as to what level and degree that you should be chartering certainly a Kaizen event, where is where I live most of the time. Daily Kaizen, though, if you think about it, you still need to know the boundaries and the scope of what you’re working on in the problem that you’re trying to solve. So I would say, at least informally having 10 second conversation of what are we working on? What’s in our boundaries? That seems important enough, so that people just don’t go go off into other places? Of course, project work, right, totally need to understand what is the team? What is the group trying to accomplish? So I think that there’s a informal side to very small type or daily type activities. But certainly, as you move up in scope, complexity, resource drain leadership commitment, and things such as that you should be a lot more formal. And it’s really a great way to test alignment. Are we really working on the right thing? Do you really understand that the team is going to work on something and they have your full backing to do to solve regardless of their approach? Because I use chartering is that test of leadership commitment as well?
Patrick Adams
That’s right. And, and I’m sure we’ll get into this a little bit. You know, as far as leadership commitment goes, because I’m assuming that just, you know, signing off on a charter isn’t everything that you would ask of a leader when it comes to supporting, you know, a chartered activity. And in fact, let’s let’s dive into that wrote, you know, real quick, I have some other questions, obviously, around chartering, but since we’re talking about it, what what would you say, you know, from a leadership standpoint, what is, you know, what is expected of a leader when a charter is presented to them? And, you know, for some, they’re signing their name to it, you know, for others that are they’re getting updates or or, you know, they’re they understand that there is a charter in place, what would you say is the, you know, the responsibility of leaders when it comes to chartering.
Adam Lawrence
Right, so I might challenge your question just a little bit. So presenting a charter to a leader is not where I would live, where I go, is that we should be developing that at least that first problem statement of the charter together, right. So in my process, what I would be doing would be having a conversation with the leader to try to understand what they’re telling me what, what is driving that reduced customer experience or safety issue or productivity, delivery, quality, whatever it might be. And then ideally, I would be walking there gamba with them to see it with them. I want to see it in their eyes. So this is truly a test of that leadership commitment. Sure. Because now what I’ve learned to do is to reflect their ideas and give them a statement, but mostly it’s theirs, based on what I’ve heard, so I call it the 80% solution. But But that first, it’s not the first time they’ve seen those terms, because they’ve already spoken it to me and we’ve hopefully seen it together, right. But the level of commitment is clearly that this is important enough to dedicate a team or a project team or an effort without distraction. If you’re in a Kaizen event. Well, that’s a big myth. Is this important enough? Does it have business? Impact? Does it have employee impact? Does it have customer impact in such a way that it’s worth attending people 100% of their time to the effort. So that that truly is that first initial tests of the commitment?
Patrick Adams
I love that, that correction. Thank you for that because that is important. It’s not just something where a project champion maybe is sitting at their desk, drafting all of this on their own, but really it should be in partnership with leadership and really developing what are those those milestones? Where are the expectations and As you mentioned the boundaries, right, what resources are available to me whether that be money or labor or machinery or whatever it might be? So I like that, that you that you made that correction, because it definitely should be a partnership. What What issues have you seen with with it not being a partnership, when when maybe leadership is not engaged or involved in the proper way? What what types of problems do you see come out of that?
Adam Lawrence
Well, certainly, it makes it very, very confusing for teams, if if leaders I do have one where I had two different sponsors. And on day one sponsor, one comes in speaking to the Charter Day to sponsor to who was a level above basically said something that was diametrically opposed to the terms. And exactly, that wasn’t the words that I used in my head. But that was close. Right? So okay, what do we do? So alignment is so critical. Now, I want to go back a little bit, because I don’t feel like I corrected you correctly. All right. So correcting is not really the word challenging a little bit. If I am sitting in an in a space, and I see an opportunity, certainly I have that opportunity to present that to a sponsor, right. So it might be the first time that they’ve heard it. So I’ve been working with a client in Florida, this whole year, and I’m getting a lot more involved in understanding of their processes. And I see a couple of really great opportunities. So in my sponsorship reviews that I’ve had, from time to time, I’ve presented those. If they’re interested, then that leads to a charter. If they’re not ready, at least I I’m offering them opportunities, right? To say, Okay, you’re you’re wanting to do this, but here’s what I’m also seeing. And perhaps this would be of higher value to you. So I think people sitting at their in their offices who might see an opportunity Don’t, don’t say that sponsors have all the chartering answers. Certainly we can, we should bring those opportunities to them. The only thing I’ve learned is that most people that I’ve worked with, have difficulty getting off of zero writing those first problem statements. So those of us that have experience should at least be able to give them a template or a sense for what that might look like. So that we’re not so vague, and it would be compelling to maybe their sponsor, and of course, to the team doing the work, and the people that get the results of the work.
Patrick Adams
That’s right, the problem statement is such an important piece, and making sure that you’ve defined the problem correctly. I’ve worked with a lot of teams where, you know, they present a problem that has, you know, maybe multiple problems included in the problem statement or, you know, maybe someone in leadership, this is just an example that I remember, not that they have to be in leadership, but that they actually had the solution that they wanted in the problem statement. Right. In that a few times. Yeah. So yeah, of course, everybody in the room is gonna go okay, well, then we have to do that. Because, you know, our executive leader want obviously wants that solution. Well, that’s not the proper way to define the problem. What advice would you give to the listeners around proper definition of the problem with chartering?
Adam Lawrence
Right, okay, so certainly problem statement is the key. We I’m very linear. So there’s four components to chartering in my in my world. Okay. First one is a clear, concise problem statement with with compelling reasons. Certainly what you said, you cannot have a solution. And if you know the solution, then just implement it, right. So if the problem is truly a problem that we haven’t solved, and you’re not just practicing, right, you’re not just in a training mode, then there should be no solution in it. You may have ideas, but clearly, if you want to bring a team into it, and you want to engage them and give them the autonomy and the authority to solve the problem, you can’t thrust your solution on them. Now, don’t get me wrong. A lot of people walk into these sessions with ideas, fantastic. But what we find is the combination of the ideas become an even better approach than just one person with their strong opinion of what the answer might be. I’m sure that’s happened. But I think that there’s a reason why you put teams together. So let’s go back to the problem statement, say what what is a true compelling problem statement? The first thing is it needs to be clear, and it needs to be measurable, and it needs to be impactful. Right? So to say that we’re too slow delivering to the customer is very vague, and everybody’s too slow delivering to the customer. That’s right. What we’re saying is that the industry standard is three and a half days, and currently it takes us five and a half days and we want to be numbered. Number two are number one in our industry. So we need to drive that five and a half days down to two and a half days. And the value of each day is three quarters of a million dollars per day on an annualized basis. In addition, this extra time is creating safety risk in our, in our workspace, that equals two injuries per year. And we want to get that to zero. So obviously, I’m making this up as I go along. But we want to put some financial, we want to put some customer related, we want to put some employee related in some business related true information that is verifiable, at least within the realm of That’s close. But it feels and it is important enough to do that work.
Patrick Adams
That’s right. I love that. And that’s the examples are very, like I love your example, because of how clear it is, right? If I’m sitting in the room, and you’re presenting as the project champion, or whoever it is, if you’re presenting that exact example to me, I know exactly how it’s going to affect me how it affects the customer, the company. And so I understand the problem, and I understand the value of the problem or the I guess the value of us not solving the problem, right, which I think is key. So that’s great. I love that. When it comes to the those four components, can you talk about a couple of the other components maybe in a little bit more detail outside of the problem statement?
Adam Lawrence
Right. So once I have the problem statement, so one thing I left off is what is the scope that we’re going to work. And so that’s pretty important, especially to the facilitator that’s been brought in, that knows nothing of the process, right? So the beginning starts here, and the end starts there. That way we can leave bound the team and not work on all these other cool things that present themselves. We get the problem statement pretty clear. Now what we want to do is create the objectives, the measurable objectives that say the team has won. So what would be the clear, some people call them smart, like Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and time bound? I think that’s right, you can check me you got it? Yeah, I try not to use too many acronyms, because I realized I probably don’t remember the word. So. Okay, so the objectives, right, so I always have a safety objective. First and foremost, every time we remove waste, we’re going to improve safety. I want people to learn that and focus on that. So I like to personalize that. And it’s going to be two safety improvements per team member. That means every single team member of my Kaizen team has to identify and implement two safety improvements, at least two, it’s usually not so hard to do more than to measure that. If you’re new to this, it sounds like wow, how are we going to do that? And then the second objective would then be the measurable objective, right? So we, if it’s something that I can’t measure immediately, like a changeover reduction, then it’s going to be processes implemented to reduce five and a half day delivery to two and a half day. And oh, by the way, by June 28 2022, right. So something that’s measurable, something that says by a date, so it’s not forever, is it realistic, who knows? Right? The next one is, we’re going to put it in the standard work, some form of standard work, whatever your whatever your group calls it, that that is going to ensure that these best practices, new processes are implemented in a way that will be carried forward from this day on. And of course, since I am the wheel of sustainability guy, all the people that I work with, we’re going to implement all elements of the wheel of sustainability in that kaizen event. So those four objectives, there could be five, there could be three, the team measures themselves against those objectives. And if they hit them all, they win. Now, some things we won’t know for a while. So sure, do we believe that our processes will, in fact, bring that five and a half to two and a half days? So that’s component two. So that’s how the team tells if they’re going to win or if they have one. Very nice. That’s two. Okay, now, you’re ready for the third? Or do you have a quick question before you go into the third or not question?
Patrick Adams
I guess, just comment on what you said. I love that you brought in the boundaries piece because in our charters, we normally even call out like what’s in scope and what’s out of scope, because very easily, you know, you can be in a in an improvement event or a project meeting or kaizen event or whatever it might be. And of course, your work, you’re there to solve problems, but you know, different people in there that are like, well, if we’re gonna solve this problem, you know, I’d really like to solve my problem or this other problem that you know, so then they try to kind of sneak in some of this other stuff that tends to Beyond the out of scope side of things, right. And so I just want to, you know, stand behind what you said around the importance of setting those boundaries. And obviously 100% completely support the SMART goal setting when it comes to establishing those objectives and making sure that we know how to measure success and how to really define what good looks like for completing this particular activity.
Adam Lawrence
And I don’t want you I want you and the rest of your audience to know that I have fallen in that trap myself a number of times. Yeah. So it’s easy to get excited for an improvement that has nothing to do with what you’re working on.
Patrick Adams
For sure. I’ve been there many times, we got tons of problems we can solve, right? I mean, we, there’s plenty but in order to get as much done as we can, in the short amount of time that we’re together, we have to stay focused, right?
Adam Lawrence
Absolutely. Right. Okay, so component three, critical element. You can’t do it without wanting to though, who’s the team that can help me solve it? Yes. All right. So it sounds obvious, sounds easy, but it’s not. Because you really need people inside the process. First critical to that, right. People that manage the process, a customer, the process is perhaps the supplier to the process, somebody with an outside set of eyes for the process. And I always say if it’s that important, give me the winning team. So if you’re a sports person, the 72 Dolphins never lost a game. The 27 Yankees just pummeled every baseball team that they played against, you can pick your team that just plows through, give me you should be able to visualize and name people immediately. Oh, this is the person I want.
Patrick Adams
For me. It’s the Detroit Lions. No, I’m just kidding. We don’t ever win anything.
Adam Lawrence
In the 50s. You guys went way back a long time. That’s a long time. Yes, I understand that. Sorry.
Patrick Adams
I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I was just thinking about myself about what team was my team?
Adam Lawrence
And anyways, go ahead. Yeah, I like Washington. So this is really challenging for me, we haven’t been winning in a lot. At least it was in my lifetime. So I can say that. Sure. Right. So when I’m chartering with a sponsor, they should be able to visualize and if we’ve taken a walk, I’ve met some people that they don’t have to be experts, they have to care, they have to be willing to give of themselves, they have to be have ideas a maybe they’re really skeptical or upset by the problem. They’ve been feeling a little not listened to. This is their opportunity. So but it’s good to also have people that are very familiar with the process, of course, because they know the ins and outs, it’s great to have somebody who manages the process because they know who to contact if we need something. Right. Okay, so that’s step three. So, you know, if I’ve been with a group for a while, I start to know who those what I call the Kaizen rockstars. Okay. And I’ve brought people from different locations or recommended people from different locations, once I get to know those folks. And if they say, Well, we really can’t afford to do it. Well, if the problem is that critical, how can you afford not to do it? Right? So once it’s financial in nature, or safety in nature, like direct impact, it becomes a very non emotional conversation. I can’t fly this person across the coast. Okay, this is a $3.2 million Kaizen, this was actually conversation I had about three years ago, I said, if you can tell me something you’re going to be doing in a week, that’s going to save $3.2 million. It’s more bigger than that. I think you probably have some leverage to invite the guy from the other coast of the country. That’s right. And he said, Well, you know, when you put it that way, kind of hard to argue against right? That’s right. That’s what I’m thinking. If it’s real. Again, it has to be real, right? Yeah. Okay. So that’s three. The fourth is unless you have a question about three No, no, yes, you’re the Fourth. Fourth is really simple, but I’ve failed on this one in the past. The team leader should be the person that owns the output 24/7. Okay, because their skin is in the game. They they will not be influenced by one group versus another. They will have to live with what happens next. Because I’m going to say this is going to sound blaspheming is that a word? I don’t know. It Kaizen and everything leading up to the Kaizen is the easy part. The minute the Kaizen over is over, is the work yeah. Now as a facilitator, all that prep and all that Kaizen in the 47, things that go sideways during a Kaizen can make you really hired. And if you could, you know, it makes your hair fall out better. But in a sustainability way, we have to set up the organization to have the best opportunity for all that hard work to pay off every single day from now on. So the best way I know, in the team is the person who owns out output is the team leader, they become the tiebreaker, they become the the BS screen, they are the one that will knock down any barrier they are, they don’t have to be the sponsor, they don’t have to be at that level. But they have to at least have that 24 hour responsibility, because then they’ll see across all the groups,
Patrick Adams
very nice. And so important to have that that one person that is responsible at the end of the day, and it doesn’t mean that that one person is responsible for all the actions, right, but they are ultimately responsible that you know, whoever the owners and the due dates and all of the stuff that you set up during the event that all of that is followed through on anything that comes out of the event, obviously, I mean, if whatever you can get done in the event, I mean, that’s great. But outside of that, to your point, you need to have somebody that is ultimately responsible.
Adam Lawrence
Right, right. And I have to be honest with you, my goal is to never have any homework, right? Okay, so let’s implement but there are always three Pete’s pieces of homework one is communicate to the rest of the organization. The second is to update your change management system. And the third is to finish the training, because there’s always a basic training that gets going during the Kaizen but there’s other people that weren’t involved. So those are the three. So that team leader is going to be the one maybe not doing it, but making sure that it does, in fact, happen. Now, of course, they engage a sponsor, we engage leadership, we make sure we get the food’s important. Let’s get the food, let’s get the room. Let’s do all those various things, supplies, all the details of that. And that’s who I was just working with earlier today, my next team leader for a Kaizen event in Florida, so, you know, they get they get that detail work, because I can’t control it from where I’ve set, right?
Patrick Adams
You mentioned one of the most important pieces of a good kaizen event is the food. Adam, what’s your favorite kaizen event food? Why are you got it?
Adam Lawrence
Yeah, okay. And my last kaizen event team said anything that’s in front of Adam is his favorite food because they were calling me Pac Man.
Patrick Adams
Oh, nice. That’s funny.
Adam Lawrence
So it’s just food, they call it an overnight kaizen. So we actually start at 4pm and work past midnight. Okay. So getting dinners to us. I like we joke I eat like an older person, so we eat early, so I wasn’t eating early, so I guess I was getting a little grumpy. Oh, yeah.
Patrick Adams
That’s coming out.
Adam Lawrence
I was just so happy.
Patrick Adams
Nice. Yeah. I was gonna say a plug forthe cinnamon bagels from Panera? Have you had those? The cinnamon?
Adam Lawrence
Those are my past life.
Patrick Adams
I have Yes. Early March. Your favorite Tyson Foods? Yeah, a cup of coffee. And one of those was with some butter on it. That’s my favorite way to start out a Kaizen event.
Adam Lawrence
Well, what I would say the critical thing is never skimp on treating and feeding your team properly. Yes. So that is a mistake that I have seen people make in the past. You think you’re going to save a few dollars. And what you’ve done is you have basically set a bad precedent, and you’re showing the team that you just don’t care as much as you probably do.
Patrick Adams
Right? That’s right. Yeah. Yeah. Good point. Hey, how does all of this fit in with the wheel of sustainability? I know that, obviously, we talked about the wheel of sustainability in detail during episode 50, a number of weeks ago, but what how does all of this with Chartering and everything we’ve talked about how does this fit into
Adam Lawrence
the wheel? Well, that’s great. So this chartering really is that first entry into leadership commitment, which is the hub of the wheel. And basically, when we’re chartering together, when I’m traveling with a sponsor, and anybody can do this, of course, basically, you’re seeing, are they buying in? Are they supportive? Do they truly believe it’s important enough? So here’s ways to think of this one way I figure out how much effort and what types of tools I’m going to use for a Kaizen Event is through that problem statement and the objectives right. If it’s a really complex thing, we’re going to put more time into it if it’s less time complex thing, we’re gonna put less time into it. So one of the tests first is okay, this feels like three and a half days is probably the right amount. sponsor says, Can you I don’t have three and a half days, can you do it in two? Right? Well not if you want to actually accomplish those objectives during the event. So if they’re not buying into the commitment and the resources and the effort, then you probably shouldn’t proceed. So from the wheel sustainability, that’s really that first good test. If they’re kind of giving lip service, let’s call it to the chartering, but they’re not really, you know, they’re going to give you a random team leader, all those kinds of things, then we shouldn’t move forward. So if you really want to sustain the result, right, I’m not going to take you around the wheel, but all those components, you know, I can give you a clear image of what that might look like, I don’t know what the answers are going to be for the Kaizen because I wasn’t there yet. Right. But what I can do is say, you’re probably going to have an audit, well, you will have an audit, there will be training, there will be communication, we may be buying some tools, we may be moving some equipment, we may be changing standard work with all these things. And this is what it might look like, how do you feel about? Because you’re going to be doing an audit, once a week? Because the team is going to expect that from you. How do you feel about that when their eyebrows raise? Well, I don’t have time for that you can’t make five minutes or less than your day, once a week. You know, and if they can’t, so that’s a test. And that’s how it fits in the wheel. It’s a very quick and early test, I have to be honest with you. Even though I’m just four years into my own consulting business, there are moments when it’s obvious that we should not engage if there’s no clear leadership commitment, if they just really are just putting a check in a box because they somebody told them they have a Kaizen event. I have to say no, even if or I have to make it look like they should say no, maybe that’s best. Let it be for them to realize that perhaps we shouldn’t engage in such a thing. And that’s happened a few times, right. Yeah,
Patrick Adams
I can see where that that would be the case. And speaking of just some of the different examples that you’ve been a part of, or different events or activities. As we kind of wrap up, what would you say would be your favorite success story? Your favorite example, when chartering.
Adam Lawrence
Wow, that’s like saying, Who’s your favorite child?
Patrick Adams
Well, no pick one and we know you have lots.
Adam Lawrence
Okay. Okay, I guess one, there are a couple that jumped to mind. Okay, perfect. Can you remember at the end of a Kaizen event that was well chartered, stands up with tears in his eyes, he’s six foot six 330 pounds and says, I’ve never done anything so impactful in my career. Powerful, you’ve made a difference. Right. So when the team does things that they didn’t expect was possible. When when a team we did a change or event very recently during an ice storm, and the whole plant was let to go home. But our team stayed except for one person live far away. So on the last day, last full day, we have the crew do the changeover. And because most everybody in the planet went home, most people that had never done a changeover in their life, we had to cobble a group together. Never did it. And we had cut the changeover time by about 65%. Wow. So that was a bit. That was fun. That was recent, a little mind blowing. Yeah, it’s true to the team that what they did really was beneficial. And it was very easily trained, the people that actually knew what they were doing. So that was kind of cool. So I love those breakthrough moments. I love those personal moments, when something we did is that impactful to a person that they want to apply it elsewhere in their life. It’s actually helping them in their life. Yeah, not just at work, right? That thing, all things are possible. If you’re willing to just give it your all and work together.
Patrick Adams
That’s powerful. A great way to to close out to just with that thought on mind. And if anybody is interested to hear more from Adam, again, you can go back to Episode 50, where we talked about the wheel of sustainability in detail. We identified you know, how to how to choose a problem. What is the wheel we talked about each of the spokes of the wheel? How does the wheel help strengthen leadership commitment. Adam also shared with us why he even wrote the book. So if you’re interested to go by I can take a look at that. Also, if you want to get Adam’s book, The Wheel of sustainability, it is out on Amazon. We’ll drop a link into the show notes just like we did in Episode 50. So if you’re hearing this for the first time you want to learn more about the wheel, you can definitely grab Adams book, Adam also, is there any other way that they can get a hold of you if they’re interested to learn more?
Adam Lawrence
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I have a LinkedIn page and a company page. So you can find me on LinkedIn, and website, pi dash partners.com. And you certainly can email me there’s contact phone numbers as well, and also a link to my calendar. Because as you can probably suspect, I love talking about this stuff and, and helping folks in their journey. So I would invite anybody who wants to learn a little more, just reach out to me, direct message me or again, check out my contact information on LinkedIn.
Patrick Adams
Perfect. Well, thanks again, Adam. As always, it’s always great to talk I love I love having these conversations. And even you and I are too are part of a mastermind together. So it’s always good to catch up and just bounce ideas and just figure out you know, how we can how we can help other people. So thanks for being part of the lien solutions podcast and I look forward to having you on again at another point.
Adam Lawrence
Well, thank you, Patrick. I really enjoyed it.
Patrick Adams
Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the lien solutions podcast. If you haven’t done so already, please be sure to subscribe. This way you’ll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined. Please give us a review. Thank you so much.
Thanks for having me on your podcast Patrick – I really appreciate it. I would like to invite any of your listeners who want to know more about my views on chartering, the Wheel of Sustainability, or any other CI topic of interest, to drop me an email at atlawrence@pi-partners.com.