I’ve heard Adam Lawrence on Lean-oriented podcasts (mostly Marc Graban’s Lean Blog) a number of times, talking about his “wheel of sustainability.” He has written a book on the topic, The Wheel of Sustainability: Engaging and Empowering Teams to Produce Lasting Results, that goes through the approach he has devised.
The book and the examples draw from Lawrence’s experiences over the years both inside companies and as an external consultant, bringing changes to life. I liked how each of the sections featured examples from the shop floor that worked and some that might not have worked so well. He even brings in examples from home or office that connect to the topic in question. For each of the “spokes” of the wheel, he also provides a couple paragraphs of how leadership commitment (the hub of the wheel) relate to that spoke, as well as the full chapter on the topic.
While I didn’t see the work I do in the examples, I kept thinking about how the eight spokes plus the hub of the Wheel of Sustainability might apply - what I could take away from these ideas. All the concepts make a lot of sense in just about any environment - it is the details where there might be differences in approach. The book reads quickly with the basics in each chapter rounded out by those examples. In the meantime, here are my brief thoughts on the spokes:
Notification: Not just telling people what is coming, but really talking with them about the proposed changes and how it might impact their work. We might actually learn something that will make the change even better. This spoke seems important in any change initiative, and it is often missed in favor of bulk announcements - giving a flavor-of-the-month perception.
Training & Review: “See one, do one, teach one” is the version I’ve used of this. In the context of the book, these are training sessions around a piece of equipment or on how to conduct physical operations. But the idea applies to anywhere a new behavior is expected. The more safe practice people get with the new behavior, the better. And once again, this becomes an opportunity for both improving the implementation (feedback from the trainees) as well as gaining deeper commitment to the change by showing both the how and the why.
Visible Evidence: This one and all tools available initially seem to be the most specific to shop floor kinds of environments. This is about having easily-seen evidence of the system’s health: something close to the action that lets the people doing the work see and respond to the situation. This is often harder in office environments where people are moving around and stuck to their devices all the time. I liked the note that leaders should come to the information, not making it come to them - who is this in service to?
All Tools Available: Do people have what they need to successfully start AND complete the work they are doing? In a shop floor, this one looks like wrenches and hammers available and in good working order - often in very specific places with outlines. For knowledge-work, we need documents and people and approvals - clear inputs and outputs. In either case, when these are missing, we create lots of chaos. I have a harder time imagining what this looks like physically.
Clear Benefits: “Because I said so” is something my mother used to say when I questioned her rules. It didn’t work terribly well then, and it hardly ever works in organizations. When a change is introduced, it has to make sense to the people who have to absorb that change. I’m not exactly clear on the difference between this spoke and Notification - possibly it’s needed to emphasize the point.
Layered Audits: This is an interesting one - setup mechanisms to ensure the change is happening, and check at multiple levels from the daily checks at the coal face to the random walks and other reviews that check we are getting the desired results. More than simply monitoring OKRs (objectives and key results), this looks for the new desired behaviors. “If the audit looks like help, people will welcome you and share ideas to improve the system.”
Accountability: While everyone is accountable for the change, this spoke emphasizes that the leaders (at all levels) are responsible for ensuring the new behaviors and the new ways of working keep working, even when no one is looking. Reinforce the importance and value of the change. You know why the change is happening, right?
Recognition: While the changes might by physical changes or new ways of working, the way they become the regular mode of operation is in the stories we tell. Give people credit when they are doing the right things - even if they still have some way to go. They’ll remember and begin to joke about the things people have done to make the initiative work.
And finally, there is the hub of Leadership Commitment. This one almost goes without saying - except that there are so many examples of change projects which were made much more successful and sustained when people could see their leaders (both the official leaders, as well as the people to whom people look for direction) wanted these changes to work. And that those leaders are “walking the talk” as described in the various spokes of the wheel.
One of the elements Lawrence discusses is the idea of having a clear charter for a change event (or project for that matter) that defines the problem, objectives, team members, and owner of the results. From the comments Lawrence makes, it sounds like he’s seen many charters that don’t do these things well. A charter should answer the question of why? Why is this initiative important? What will be better if the “problem” is solved or removed? Will we create problems elsewhere? Are we solving a symptom and missing out on the root cause? I like the phrase “what does good look like” in relation to this - what are we aiming to create? What will we see?