I'm sharing this morning's The Listening Leader newsletter with you to go along with my recent postings on (5R) Protocol for a Listening Workplace and Reflections on 5S and 5R. The two paragraphs come from the book Credibility by Kouzes and Posner. While the lesson is geared at leaders, the project situation demands listening from all performers. There is good advice here for project managers/leaders and those coordinating the work of others.

Credible Leaders Listen And Learn

Impressive listening skills have been identified as one common characteristic of credible leaders. A willingness to listen carefully to constituents and, if necessary, to hear the bad news keeps leaders from being isolated from critical feedback. When they can get information from a variety of sources, across functions and levels, they are able to know what is going on. To serve others well, leaders must be in touch with them, listen to them, and respect them. Ever try getting good service at a restaurant when your waiter or waitress is never around, is too busy, or seems to think something you have asked for was too much bother?

Being able to listen to the news, good and bad, is a basic ingredient for staying in touch. When things are going well, it's not all that difficult to hear the good news. It's how we react to news about mistakes and difficulties that may be the better indicator of whether or not constituents feel like keeping us in touch. From the constituent's perspective, the question is always, "Did they still shoot the messenger with bad news?"

How do you react to mistakes and difficulties? Are you inviting those conversations? Are you thanking people for those conversations? Are you clear you appreciate the opportunity to learn from these conversations? If you answered "No" to any of these questions, then you're not likely to be hearing all of what you need to hear for a successful project.

If you like what you read here, then subscribe to Dr. Rick Bommelje's Listening Leader newsletter.

I've written about linguistic action as a theory that does a better job at explaining why projects succeed and why they don't succeed. In three weeks I get to present my case at the International Group for Lean Construction 11th Annual Conference at Virginia Tech. You can still register for the event. Visit: http://strobos.cee.vt.edu/IGLC11/.

I'll offer up the paper in this forum as soon as IGLC publishes it, most likely in the next few days. In the meantime, I want to call attention to an aspect of project management that gets far too little attention and is often not performing for us. You guessed it, project controls. I've never quite understood project controls. Project managers set up a structure for tracking and reporting cost and schedule variances often weeks after the incident and we refer to this as 'control'. I've always thought of control as a mechanism for staying on track. There's no way to stay on track when third parties are accumulating data and reporting on it. The only possibility for control is to have the performers take responsibility for making adjustments in the midst of their action.

Some would call that being out of control. Performers are supposed to execute the plan as it is given to them. Doing otherwise would put the project at risk, or so goes the argument. Our common sense is betraying us.

The greatest untapped opportunity for staying in control is the distributed capacity for observing and making assessments. Performers are scattered all about the project setting, whether physical or not. By simply engaging performers in the planning conversations they will be prepared for for noticing, assessing, and taking actions that will keep them on plan. Without including them in the planning conversation they don't know what to look for, let alone what assessments to make.

So there you have it. The most profound thing Greg and I say in our IGLC paper is to stay in control you have to share it with the performers on the team. You do that first by including them in the planning. Then you hold them accountable for offering up observations and assessments that only they can make. How's that? Only they can make those assessments because they were the only ones present to the events as they work wherever they happen to be and the project management team is not.

We stay in control on projects by sharing the responsibility for control. There's more coming! Hope to see some of you in Virginia.

I've had some provocative comments on my speculation for a Listening Workplace (5R). (See Clearings, Intentions and Noticing.) The comments have ranged from "You are really on to something" to "Get real, Hal. It's not this complicated!" So, I'm emboldened to proceed with my experiment.

Starting next week I'll be working with as many as six teams on developing the practices for a Listening Workplace. I am still looking for a few more project teams. Here's what we'll be doing.

• I'll be in contact with the teams by email offering them guides and checklists for adopting each of the 5Rs.
• We'll convene by teleconference a number of times to see how each group is doing and for me to offer coaching.
• Teams will send brief status reports to me on what they are learning, what they are discovering comes easily, and what needs further attention.
• I will be recapping some of the learning in the weblog. However, I will not be offering the tools that we are using during the experiment.
• We'll convene a final teleconference in about 6 weeks to recap the groups learning.

Who knows where this will go. I certainly don't. But, I do know this: there is so much waste on projects. Our attempts at getting lean are just scratching the surface. Just maybe, a Listening Workplace can be a clearing for ongoing focus on client value without the usual waste.

Contact me now. Please include this information:

• a brief description of your project,
• where you are in the project (just starting, about to finish, midway, etc.), and
• a colorful characterization of how you are doing as a team (firing on all cylinders, stuck in the mud, wiping the tears away, etc.).

I'll get a note back to you pronto.

This week's Project e-Tip was submitted by Clarke Ching, a reader in Scotland. Clarke reminds us of the perils of multi-tasking by sharing his story of book reading. Enjoy!

The Project Reformer's e-Tip of the Week

009: Eliminate Multi-Tasking to Speed Project Completion

I (Clarke) have a bad habit of trying to read 3,4,5 or more books at one time. My bedside currently has about 12 books, all of which are "in progress". It (unjustifiably, I think) annoys my wife immensely. If A-E represents the 5 books I am currently switching between, and I switch between each every so often then my reading looks like this: ABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDE … all finished                               a finished here                                 b finished here                                   c finished here                                     d finished here                                       e finished here Compare this where I read one at a time. AAAABBBBCCCCDDDDEEEE       a finished here               b finished here                       c finished here                               d finished here                                       e finished here While it appears that all five tasks finish at the same time. We know from our own reading that it takes awhile to get back into a book. We might have to back up to re-acquaint ourself. And maybe our retention falls off. Projects are just the same. Task completions often release work for another person, consequently multi-tasking significantly delays the release of work and the completion of the project. Submitted by Clarke Ching, Scotland shamelessly borrowing from Critical Chain.

©2003 Hal Macomber | RPM | e-Tip Archive | PDF | Submit Tip

Clarke selected a 1-year subscription to Business Book Summaries as his reward for submitting the Project e-Tip.

Today I drove 475 miles round trip to New York to spend the day with Seth Godin. It was worth every minute of the drive. Seth is a prolific writer about marketing. He spoke of permission marketing, unleashing an idea virus, and being remark-able. Of the about 40 people attending his workshop a number of them were leaders in their fields.

So, what did I learn? I now have a whole new perspective on what I'm doing by blogging. Seth says in the post TV-industrial complex permission marketing, rather than interruption marketing, will prevail. However to do that you must turn strangers into friends before you can turn them into customers. While this weblog is not a marketing arm, I am developing 'friendships' among the readers. Over 80 customers are readers. Geez, and I thought I was just learning with the rest of you!

Seth charges $800 to attend the Purple Cow Workshop. However, for every 25 Purple Cow books you purchase you get a seat in the workshop. That's a savings of over $450! Remarkable! Get a dose of Seth by reading his recent ebook 99 Cows. It's normally $10 on Amazon. He's allowing me to distribute it to my readers for free!

I apologize for the interruption in email delivery. Many of you must have forgotten about Reforming Project Management or me or both. I've been blogging away even though Blogger has had its problems. It is finally fixed (for now).

Please take a look at five of my recent posts:

• Conquering Team Dysfunction, an article by Patrick Lencioni
• Readers' Project e-Tips, either a reader or I post a tip on conducting your project each week
• Define Project Roles Based on Strengths, a not-to-be-missed approach to setting up your project for success
• 5R Protocol for a Listening Workplace — A speculation, my take on a parallel to 5S for the project setting
• Six Project Teams Wanted, join me for some free coaching

I'll keep monitoring the delivery of emails. If you don't hear from me for awhile, please check-in. It will most likely be a technical snafu.

Thanks for reading!

Are you adventuresome? I'm looking for 6 project teams who want to join an experiment with me. Here's my plan: over the next five weeks I will be creating and testing a set of tools for encouraging the listening workplace in the project setting. This is part of a larger effort of mine to have project managers step up to the role of project leaders.

As you've probably read by now in 5R Protocol for a Listening Workplace I think that one of the reasons lean initiatives work in the production environment is they either begin or include the visual workplace (5S). The visual workplace does something essential for people working in the production environment. It creates a clearing for observing and maintaining value-based practices. That clearing is predominantly associated with materiel (equipment, tools, space, material, and labor). The world of projects is always about people and only sometimes about materiel. The principal actions of people on projects occur in language: requests, promises, assessments, assertions, and declarations. But those speech actions don't appear as clearly as does the physical elements of projects. If we are to conduct projects on a lean basis we need to produce a clearing for observing and maintaining conversations that are attending to the value promised on the project.

So here goes:

On Thursday I will offer six teams the opportunity to work with me on creating the listening workplace. To be one of those six teams I want to hear from the project manager of the team. Please email me to accept my invitation. Include:

• a brief description of your project,
• where you are in the project (just starting, about to finish, midway, etc.), and
• a colorful characterization of how you are doing as a team (firing on all cylinders, stuck in the mud, wiping the tears away, etc.).

I'll pick six teams to work with for the next month or so. I'll be reporting our learning in this weblog. The tools we develop together will be used in the upcoming program for project leaders. This is a great opportunity to contribute to the practice of lean project delivery while giving your team a boost along the way.

I want to remind you that this is an experiment. There is no listening workplace. There is only my strong suspicion that something I'm calling the listening workplace will create the circumstances for delivering projects on a lean basis. Don't even think about getting your team and project involved if you aren't up for the learning and surprises.

I'll provide more details during the week. In the meantime, I need to get ready for a trip tomorrow to New York. Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow, has invited me to attend his Purple Cow Workshop in his office. Maybe he thinks I'm purple…naw. I'll tell you what I learn.

Over the last week or so, I've been exploring the circumstances for working in a lean fashion. Lean production efforts often start out with the visual workplace (5S). To that, firms will set objectives for their lean initiatives that has the effect of engaging people in looking for opportunities. Setting goals or clarifying intentions has the effect of engaging the reticular activating system. But that is not enough. People will only see what they can distinguish.

I used to work on my car. Actually, it's been a very long time since I last worked on my '63 Plymouth Belvedere with a slant six engine. I could gap the spark plugs, clean the points, change filters, oil, and lubricate. I had the distinctions for observing and taking action with the car. No more. The engine compartment is now so sophisticated (and it's been so long since I did anything under the hood) that I don't even notice what needs attention.

What we notice has to do with the distinctions we can make and the routines that we follow. Both our noticing and effectiveness in action increase as we take action. If we want to work in a lean way we need the distinctions of lean and we need to take action. Knowing about riding a bike and actually riding a bike are two separate matters. It doesn't matter how much time is spent showing bike riding, discussing the physics or riding, and explaining the actions of riding, learning to ride occurs on the bike. Learning to operate in a lean way happens by doing projects in a lean way.

In the posting 5R Protocol for a Listening Workplace I distinguish five conditions for setting the stage for lean project delivery. Those five conditions produce a clearing that allows for noticing and for listening to the everyday actions of project delivery. The routines on the project reinforce goals and intentions while deepening distinctions.

What's next? While a rewrite of the 5R Protocol is coming, I'll first take a shot at producing a quick 'n easy guide for project leaders. I'd like to do an experiment with a few adventuresome souls. Please drop me a note indicating your interest in joining the experiment.

I had two great plant tours this week. As part of the Lean Project Leadership (Shusa) Program that I comduct with Greg Howell we went on a visit to the Toyota plant in Georgetown, KY and the Aisin plant in London, KY. You haven't seen lean 'til you've seen a Toyota operation.

I've been studying lean production since 1986 when I visited Japan for 3 weeks. At that time I visited electronics manufacturers. I'd always wanted to see Japanese automotive companies. About 5 years ago I visited NUMMI in CA. Three things stuck out at the two KY companies:

1. Everything was clean, orderly, and obvious. There were numerous examples of special-purpose tools and examples of incredible kaizen.
2. The pace of production exceeded my expectation. People were in constant motion. I saw no one on the production line resting or in conversation with others. And yet, people didn't appear stressed. Most people were in great physical condition.
3. Both firms went to extremes to communicate with and among the production workers. There were communication stations throughout the production areas that described the standard work for that area and the current performance. The plant manager and the local president walked the production areas every day.

While touring I frequently wondered what practices could be adopted to make projects lean. Eventually, I got to ask a few questions about that. Both companies said the same thing. "Find ways to put all of the talents of the people to work on your projects." Sounds like good advice.

Sorry for being late with this week's Project e-Tip. I'e had an exciting week visiting the Toyota Camry plant and another Toyota Group company both in Kentucky. I'll provide some details on Friday. In the meantime, this week's e-tip is a follow-on to last week's. I raised the issue of conflicting intentions as a significant impediment to adopting practices of self-directed continuous improvement. In this week's e-tip I share how a project manager can create a situation for engaging all team members in improving activities that are focussed.

The Project Reformer's e-Tip of the Week

008: Set an Improvement Agenda for Your Project

The Japanese have a goal-setting practice called hoshin. They use it for annual and five-year planning. It is a top-down and bottoms-up approach that aligns individual intentions for improvement with the strategic intentions of the firm. The brilliance of hoshin goals is in the limitation imposed for no more than 2 or 3 goals/division. Why is it brilliant? First, there are no corporate conflicting intentions. Everyone is focussed on the same thing. Second, it engages everyone's reticular activating system in the same way. Take the time at the outset of every project to set 2 or 3 improvement goals. Do this with your team rather than for your team. Provide the context of the strategic intentions of your company. Also share what your customer would appreciate as added value. Then solicit team proposals in a way that allows a (re)shaping of goals. Finally, create a routine of reviewing improvements in team meetings. Last Planner is a trademark of The Center for Innovation in Project and Production Management www.leanconstruction.org

©2003 Hal Macomber | RPM | e-Tip Archive | PDF | Submit Tip

Keep your comments and suggestions coming. Much of what I write about is initiated by readers' comments and emails.

For all my subscribers…Blogger and Bloglet have been acting up. I continue to write and post 4 or 5 times each week. Please remember to check-in on me if you don't get Bloglet emails from Reforming Project Management. It's most likely just a glitch and not me abandoning the reform.

I've been reflecting further on the 5R Protocol for a Listening Workplace. I'm not attached to the speculation of a protocol. I am confident that something is at work on lean production initiatives that isn't in place for lean projects.

The lean production or lean thinking approach rests on what many people call pillars. Some of those pillars are autonomation (self-adjusting automation with a human touch), kaizen, the visual workplace (5S), non-stock production, single-minute change-over, productive maintenance, and zero quality control. Some folks may argue to add to or delete from the list, but it generally covers the territory of value-enhancing and waste-eliminating practices.

Projects are not principally production-oriented. In fact, many projects have nothing at all to do with materiel (material, tools, equipment). What makes a project a project is its one-of-a-kind, discrete, creation activities providing something unique for a customer requiring 2 or more people acting cooperatively over a period of time. We could give our attention to any part of that description. I continue to ponder what it would take to produce a clearing for ongoing value-enhancement and waste-reduction?

I'm using this strange word clearing. It is a metaphor. In a forest a clearing is an open space where the sun shines through to the forest floor. You'll notice different patterns of action from wildlife in clearings from their actions in the forest. When standing in the clearing you can also see things about the forest that you can't see standing among the trees.

Adopting a 5S approach in a factory creates a clearing both metaphorically and physically. Sorting what's used from what is not used creates more space. Placing the remaining materiel appropriate for its use makes it ready-to-hand. Cleaning as you work improves quality and safety. Combined the three groups of actions allow you to see something about the productive space that wasn't apparent in the cluttered state. You can see the production flows. You can see what adds value and what is just waste. You can see what is out of place. You can see what is breaking down. You can see each other. That is how 5S became known as the visual workplace.

Companies that adopt the visual workplace as a first lean action get off to a very good start. The clearing makes visible opportunities for people to participate in improvement and to maintain the improvements adopted. The other pillars of lean fall into place.

I've set out to create the same kind of clearing for the project setting, a setting that often is absent all materiel. The clearing needed is for making visible the space of cooperation. That space happens in the language of action: declarations, assessments, requests, promises, and assertions. While better speaking may improve the space of cooperation, there must be a listening for the speaking for it to be effective. The clearing I am after is one for listening.

Take another look at the 5R Protocol for a Listening Workplace. See if it produces that clearing. If not, then what do you speculate could produce a clearing?

I've been just a little bothered by the state of the art of lean project delivery for awhile. When I look at the work done on the lean production side there is a well-established path for getting started and becoming lean. That path inevitably begins with the visible workplace (5S), value stream mapping, and kaizen. After that, lean production can take any number of paths. However all have a foundation of producing value for the customer without producing waste along the way.

Lean project delivery isn't yet mature to have a similar usual way of starting and continuing. The most common approach is to adopt the Last Planner System™ of Production Control. In concert with this people take up improvement actions. But what about getting the setting ready for both? The practice I've observed is just to jump in.

So I wondered, what would an analog to 5S be for the project setting? What is most interesting about 5S is it allows everyone in the process to see the current flows (value stream) of the process by getting the unnecessary stuff out of the way while making the materiel ready-to-hand. Is there something that is like that for project delivery? By now you see that I'm claiming listening has the same clearing effect that 5S has. Why? All project actions occur with a backdrop of promising conversations. In the project setting when something goes wrong, it inevitably involves some sort of mis-listening or misunderstanding. What is if we could do something about that is in a systematic fashion? Would that produce a similar clearing for the adoption of the Last Planner and kaizen? Let's find out together.

Here's my speculation of a protocol for the Listening Workplace. (I suppose I should trademark this…I just might be on to something.)

Let's start by replacing the S with an R. (If I need to force it for the sake of the analog, then so be it!)

1. Roles
   We listen best when we are clear about what accountability we have for the future. Clear intentions and commitments engages the biological system of noticing — the reticular activating system. For instance, we have an intention to get a new car. As the intention gets clearer about the type of car we want, say a two-door sports car, then we begin noticing what seems to be more sports cars on the roadway. Not that there really are more sports cars, just the reticular activating system allows us to see what has always been there. It works the same way for listening.
   • State the role as the promise(s), both broad accountabilities and specific deliverables, that the individual is making on the project.
   • Join with team members in their fulfillment of their promises. Another way of saying this is to root for each team member.
   • Progressively clarify intentions and commitments throughout the life of the project. What may start as just an inkling is brightened as the project proceeds and people find their place on the project.
2. Rules
   Much is made of listening skills. Experts advise us to restate what we hear. To restate and clarify our what we say. But we still have mis-listening. What if we adopt a small set of rules by which we will engage with each other? It would be our stance in the conversation. It is a stance of openness to listen and be listened. In other words, be generous…give others the benefit of the doubt that they speak only with good intentions while knowing that some people speak otherwise.
   • Adopt a posture of unconditionally constructive conversations. While it is human to be making assessments, it is not helpful for listening to be judgmental in the midst of the conversation.
   • Balance inquiry and advocacy. Investigate with the question, "Why do you say that?" rather than argue for your opinion.
   • Take responsibility for what you listen. Share that listening in the conversation.
   • Take responsibility for producing the listening. Investigate what was produced by your speaking in the particular setting and circumstances in that moment in time.
3. Review and Reflection
   The intention is for learning. We learn best in supportive situations that are in alignment with our interests. Make on-going assessments of what is being accomplished, what is being learned, and what possibilities are opened and closed.
   • What do we do well? Projects have a way of bring out the best in people, or not. Be intentional that you will build on the strengths of individuals and the group rather than correct for the deficiencies.
   • What are we learning? Learning is hard work. It takes attention that we would otherwise place elsewhere. Call attention to the learning and appreciate for yourself and with others on the team.
   • What needs (more) attention? This is not a polite way of saying what are our weaknesses? No. This is an opportunity to deliberately choose what would produce more value if we gave it our attention. Very often it is something that we are already good at.
4. Relationships
   We listen well when we have a shared experience of the topic and each other. Have you noticed you can give someone the benefit of the doubt when you know them? And, for the people you don't know you wonder what they have as a hidden agenda? It is usual on projects for people to not know each other. No wonder we have communication problems. By taking action to intentionally build relationships we create the clearing for listening. Without describing a lifetime's worth of issues for building relationships, let's focus on three things we can do on every project to create the basis and opportunity for a good working relationship.
   • Trust: Be prudent, not naive in making assessments of trust. Have open conversations about trust.
   • Legitimacy: Each team member is already all right. They don't need to be different to be players on the team. Their difference adds value to the team, especially their different views or opinions.
   • Aligned: When we share concerns for the future we can act in concert with each other. Talk about why the project is important to each person on the team. Keep the context of the project alive in the conversations of the team. Explore how each team member can get with or align to the promises of the project.
5. Routines and Rituals
   We keep this whole thing going by adopting standard practices as routines on the project. I hesitate to say habits only because projects are temporary organizations. However, we want routines to become our rituals.
   • Speak about the project promises. Keep the promises to the customer in the foreground of the project conversations.
   • Elicit commitment to those promises. Each team member has his or her life. The whole of our lives offer opportunities for changing priorities. While I committed fully yesterday to the project, today I a family member or friend is sick or needing my care. My commitment to the project dissipates in the face of other life concerns. And that commitment can be renewed with another conversation.
   • Investigate how each team member is doing. We all want to know that people care for us. We also need to be present to be full contributing members of a team and listeners in a conversation. Every even incidental preoccupation blocks listening, even the incidental ones. Create a clearing for listening by inquiring how each person is doing before the conversation. Do this with an authentic concern for each others' well-being, otherwise you will create cynicism.

In the background of all this is a functioning team and team leader. Now that may not be the case for some projects. People may only be performing a set of tasks as assigned perhaps in an anonymous bureaucratic process. We can't call those people team members. Maybe we should just call them cogs. We also may not see any indication of leadership. Conducting meetings, keeping action item logs, and giving status reports is not leadership.

So ignore this speculation for a Listening Workplace if you don't have a team and a leader. Take care of that first. For everyone else, the 5Rs are described for iteration. Get yourself in action at some point and then begin moving with others from one R to another with the intention that you will continue to iterate through the life of the project.

So that's my speculation for the protocol. Let's call it a draft. While I go to work on a second version please tell me what you think. Can you see this working in your setting? Am I missing something? What new possibilities do you see? Please offer your comments.

Look for the 5R Protocol for a Listening Workplace tomorrow. I forgot that today was the day for the Project e-Tip.

This week's Project e-Tip comes at the suggestion of reader Keith Ray. He has chosen Purple Cow by Seth Godin (currently #15 on NYT Business Best Sellers list) as his reward for the proposal. Next week I'll do a follow-up to this Project e-Tip. The 9th tip will come from a reader.

The Project Reformer's e-Tip of the Week

007: Create A Habit of Self-Directed Improvement

Keith Ray reminds us that an intention and routine of improvement matters more than any specific improvement methods. Too often a bureaucratic intent to adopt a standard approach runs head-on into individuals' and teams' intentions to improve. This may seem contrary to what we've read about either the Japanese firms' programmatic approaches or western firms' lean/six sigma black belts. While training and methodology can contribute to results, getting in a habit of improving seems to make more of a difference. There are three aspects to creating the improving habit: Establish and re-establish clear connections to the purpose of getting on and staying on an improving path. Provide coherent actions from supervision and company leaders that value and expect the improving habit. Engage with others who share the same intention for learning and support. Still, this may not be enough. The leading impediment to adopting this or any other change is a conflicting intention. (More on this later.) For now, set a good example by getting yourself on an improving path and invite others to join you. Submitted by C. Keith Ray while reading the book Lean Software Development by Mary and Tom Poppendieck.

©2003 Hal Macomber | weblog.halmacomber.com | e-Tip Archive | PDF | Submit Tip

I've made it easy for you to make and print copies by providing a PDF version along with a complete archive. Share these Project e-Tips with your project team, with your colleagues, and your friends.

For the sake of this discussion let's use the example of a project that is strictly virtual. There is no one workplace. There may only be the space of conversation. This extreme view addresses the minimum condition for all projects: that is people are necessarily in conversations making declarations, assessments, requesting, and promising. There may not be any materiel in the strictest sense of the word. There is no place, no tools, no physical material, and no one in any acts of transforming material. In other words, horsepower work (acting on materiel) is a special case of project work.

So what are we doing? Are we doing problem solving? Maybe. Are we learning? Probably. Might we be innovating? That would be nice. At the essence of all projects we are setting out to fulfill the promise(s) of the project. Maybe one or more of us took part in making those promises. Maybe someone else (sales) made the promises. In any case, it is up to us and the rest of the project team to make good on the project. When we act otherwise we only generate waste.

So, you ask, how does 5S fit in? If we're not dealing with materiel, then the notion of a visual workplace doesn't make sense. Sure, we could talk about the organization of desks, computer databases, email, reporting, etc. But that is all incidental to the actions of fulfilling promises. Instead, how about the listening workplace? Weird? Only in the sense that there might not be a place in workplace. Otherwise, the capacity for listening and eliciting the listening of others is the greatest determi