Page 92 - Lean six sigma demystified

Chapter 2 Lean Demy S tifie D 71

Lately, I’ve been working with hospitals to accelerate the patient’s experi-
ence. The biggest roadblock to this is the limiting belief that nurses can’t influ-
ence the doctor’s behavior or the family’s behavior. (Discharging patients and
getting them picked up by the family often determines the hospital’s ability
to accept more patients.) Once we asked “If you could influence doctor or
family behavior, what would you do differently?” creative suggestions began
to surface.
The biggest barriers aren’t out there, they are inside your mind.

The 70-70-70 Rule
The Marine Corps teaches that “if you have 70% of the information, have done
70% of the analysis, and feel 70% confident, then move. A less than ideal action,
swiftly executed, stands a chance of success.”
In my own office, if I can try something easily with minimal risk; I just do it.
It sometimes shocks my staff because it’s so fast. I put one of my staff in charge
of improving the standing of our Web pages in the search engines. She was wor-
ried about making a mistake, so I made a backup copy of the entire site that
would allow us to put back any pieces we screwed up. No risk; get going.
The worst decision is to make no decision at all.

Fear of Making Mistakes
Most people are afraid of making a mistake. It’s “caveman brain.” the sort of
fight or flight feeling that is designed to stop you from being eaten by a saber
tooth tiger. In the modern world, maybe this comes from our educational sys-
tem where every mistake means that you are less likely to get an A. But life and
business aren’t multiple-choice tests. Sometimes you have to guess and test.

Make some mistakes. Learn from them.
The obsession with perfection stops too many people from making
decisions.

Break the Loop
Every once in a while, I find myself grinding on a decision. In software we used
to put loop counters into the code so that if we got stuck in an infinite loop, the
code counter would cause a break. I’ve learned that grinding on a decision
means that I’m stuck in a loop. So I’ve learned at that point to give myself three
more loops before I decide one way or another.
I call this the three-strikes rule: If someone in the office brings up the same
subject three times without action, I require them (including me) to take action