PDCA and beyond
Quality development in day-to-day
(school) lifeJos Van ThienenTEACH LEARN QUALITYCOSTA DA CAPARICA - LISBON COAST (PORTUGAL) May-June 2012
Quality development in many schools (enterprises): life as it is
Rapid processes (instead of rapid cycle processes)
Jump to actions (action-driven) Jump to solutions: fight the fire every time Don’t measure if the solution is a success Forget about the intended actions The teachers are isolated in stand-alone
classrooms (professional isolation of the teachers)
Do
Check
Plan
Act
Fathers of the quality revolution
30s: Walter A. Shewhart 50s: W. Edward Deming
Two of a kind
IMARSoft Human Strategy
focus
PDCAHardInstrumentalStrategy
PDCA and beyond
Part One
PDCA for continuous development
They are always watching, what they see is what you’ll get
PDCA as a scaffold for today’s session
Plan
Do
Check
Act
Teach as you preachPDCA as a scaffold for this session
Plan
Set goals (learning objective)Define content and methods
Define learning needs and initial situation
Act
Learning objective: learn about quality cycle methodology
Plan
(1)Understand the basic principles of quality cycles, i.e. the what and the why, the how and the when.
(2)Learn how to implement a rapid cycle or PDCA improvement process.
(3)Exchange experiences (learn from and with each other)
Initial situation and learning needs
Plan
I. Are you familiar with PDCA already?
II. If you are:
(1) Where or when did you apply PDCA in your professional life recently?
(Did you do it successfully? Was it intended to be a PDCA cycle? Did you make it explicit?)
(2) Or can you think of a recent situation in which you could have applied it?
III. If you are not: can you think of possible applications already?
Do
Check
Plan
Act Why?
PDCA as a way of monitoring quality
(1) A simple tool, particularly suited for day-to-day usage on different levels and for different purposes.
(2) As a learning cycle it fits perfectly well in the frame of Demings TQMP.
(3) It puts into practice the general principles of quality development.
Demings TQM or Total Quality Management Philosophy Improve constantly every process Drive out fear Adopt and institute leadership Break down barriers between
staff areas Institute a program of education
and self-improvement for everyone
Quality assurance: general principles Contextual Cyclical
Loop that ensures that processes are frequently revisited Systematic
Phased process (4 well defined phases) Basically a system to analyze (measure, identify) and to
take corrective (but planned) action. Goal directed
Prevents us from jumping straight to solution mode, to fight the fires every time
Goal (what) and purpose (why) Timebound
System for continuous (long-term) improvement
P D C A : STEPS
P D C A : S T E P S 2
Cases1. Boosting scores2. Reinventing the
smoking ban3. Workload or free exercise
Example: Meet Ms Y
Case Ms Y
Y stands for You As Ms y you are
very egocentric and oriented towards yourself.
Make sure: You get the very
best out of the process your team is going to design.
Hopping into PDCA: how well did you perform?
• Is the goal or the project scope clearly defined? (Mrs G)
• Did you reframe or restate the problem in terms of a challenge? (Mrs C)
• Did you pl an t o col lect data and analyse them before you start looking for possible solutions?(Mrs A)
• Did you look for more than one solution (alternatieve solutions)? (Mrs A)
• Did you plan to run through more than one cycle?
• Did you pl an t o include other team member s int o the process? (Mr T)
• Was it your intention to celebrate successes? (Mrs C)
• Did you plan occasions to communicate about your project ? (Mr T)
• Will the process you set up pass through different stages (check, act, …)? (Mr P)• Did you plan to measure the results in other ways than by using written inquiries only? (Mr P)
PLAN(1)Define the problem (turn it into a
challenge) and set goals(2)Collect data and analyse them(3)Come up with alternative solutions
and select them(4)Plan the project milestones and
incorporate actions in a plan of action
Do
Check
Plan
Act
(1) Defining the problem and setting goals
ACCEPTED
(2) Collecting data and analysing them
(3) Coming up with alternative solutions and selecting them
Selecting alternatives Generate alternative solutions Judge the alternatives on strengths and
weaknesses. Each alternative should be considered if it is
relevant to the problem and not outside the scope of reasonable possibility.
Find creative and useful solutions. An idea that may not look ideal at first place, may lead to an ideal solution at a later time.
(4) Planning the project milestones and incorporating actions in a plan of action
Project milestones and time schedule by means of
WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE
DO Do changes to solve the problems. Do them on a small or experimental
scale. You can test whether they work or not, and
easily adjust course. You don’t disrupt day-to-day routine
activities. You don’t worry people (fear for change!).
Communicate what you are doing (and why).
CHECK Check creates a momentum. It is the
core moment in quality development.
Deming renamed this step: study. Study what worked or what did not work? What do I learn from this experience?
Report your results and communicate them (make it a ‘common’ project)
Not everything that counts can be counted
Not everything that can be counted counts
(Einstein)
31
Study, assess, control, measure: methods
Observation Daily teacher dipstick Interview Discussion Ranking Diary Presentation Drawing
Sticker discussion Quiz Pictures Tests Buddying Communication Inquiry
ACT
ACT You have now arrived at ‘problem solved’ or at
least ‘problem tackled’.
Plan corrective actions and prepare a new turn of the wheel.
Standardize the results (make them a routine part of your activity).
Act to involve other persons affected by the changes.
Find opportunities for further improvements Provide safeguards to prevent relapse into the
previous stage
PDCA and beyond
Part two
Empowerment
Summing up and getting ahead Frame 1: instrumental
Quality development should be a routine part of your organization (cloud)
It can be build in through PDCA
Frame 2: human PDCA can only be effective in a context
of empowerment Empowerment is possible through IMAR
Always do PDCA
PDCA as a scaffold for today’s session
Do
Check
Collect relevant data Don’t plan too much
Data is more than numbers
Beware of inquiry fatigue
Embrace the fact that you can’t control everything
Communicate and report about results
Don’t forget about the human factor
Set the right goals and keep the focus
Sustain your gains (use a chock)
PDCA and beyond
Part two
Empowerment
PDCA and beyond
Part two
Empowerment
School improvement is people improvement (Richard Dufour & Robert J. Marzano)
Leadership pickles, …
It is not in the walls!
Do
Check
Plan
Act
Inspire
Reflect
Mobilize
Appreciate
Inspire
Reflect
Mobilize
Appreciate
Learning objective
Plan
(1)Think, talk and learn about how we can make people take up greater responsibility.Empowerment through
Inspiration Motivation/mobilization Appreciation Reflection (reflective practice)
(2)Exchange experiences (learn from and with each other)
The power of story• Stories define our reality and our
destiny• Stories appeal to our mind but
also to our feelings• We remember stories better than
anything else• Positive experiences motivate and
inspire to action• Stories create a bond • Stories make sense of chaos; they
organize our many experiences into one thread
Assignment: time for stories (mixed groups of 5 people, 30’) Tell your stories by turns
Listen in an active way: ask questions to make sure that you discover the most important elements:
What exactly happened? Why did you do it? What did you want to achieve? What was your goal? Who was involved? What circumstances contributed to this feeling? Why do you foster this moment? What makes it so
special? …
After every story: name the elements which lead to more inspiration, stronger motivation.List these ‘conditions’ on the wallchart.
Prepare a short presentation
INSPIRELeadership pepper1Inspire Give incentives
Find new ideasCreate challengesDiscover new possibilities
Show people what works well and keep them
informed
Listen to what people are
occupied with and what they are
engaged in
Open communication (i.e. staff room)
Find and spread information about
new developments in education
Find topics which have a positive effect on student learning or which respond to
student needs
Start from a mission or a vision
which is known and supported
Create room for personal growth
and opportunities to gain new ideas
or insights
Find opportunities for staff members to
express their personal ambitions and to discuss new ideas
Trust your people
(collegial trust)
Define common goals, shared values,
accepted priorities. Create a sense of
togetherness (connectivity)
Install a challenging context and
introduce a forward-looking glance
Organize learning
opportunities
Inspire
Inspire (2)
MOTIVATELeadership pepper 2
Mobilize Spread enthusiasmGet people goingMake them use their competences in order to express their inspiration
Create a sense of urgency
Make things fun
Convince people to try and to experiment
Encourage people to take risks and to colour outside
the lines.
Take the fear out of the future (niet problematiseren maar kapstokken
aanreiken)
Make people believe in
their abilities.
Show people that you believe in their competences (i.e. seek their advice )
Organize opportunities to apply what they
have learned
Pursue a common
goal
Be a leader in learning (‘They’re always watching. What they see is what you’ll get’)
Stimulate people to use what they have learned in
practice
Mobilize/Motivate
Mobilize/Motivate (2)
APPRECIATELeadership pepper 3
AppreciateExpress what’s of a certain value in your organisation Appreciate efforts and resultsPay attention to each other’s contributions
Appreciative inquiry: what?
Attitude or perspective
Method or strategy
Discovery
Dream
Design
Destiny
Way of looking at things
The workload is too heavy? How can we solve this problem?
What can we do to adapt our organisation in order to lighten the workload? What are we already doing well?
I expect a lot of resistance. How can I deal with this problem?
What can we do to motivate our people? When are they already motivated?
Pay attention to each other’s
efforts, listen to each other
Turn problems into challenges,
reframe problems
Take positive experiences as a starting point, start
from things that are already well or from
strong moments in the past
Create a positive atmosphere,
express appreciation
Give complements and rewards
Celebrate successes
Discover the positive core in your personal life or in your organisation (that which gives you
energy)
Appreciate
A method(Recall what we have done)
Story-telling: awake energy
Start dreaming (Make concrete
plans) (Realize your
dream)
Method or strategy
Discovery
Dream
Design
Destiny
Discovery
• This stage is about discovering the positive core and creating connectivity.
• It’s also about positioning: what point have I reached already? How can you explain this? Who has helped me?
Methodological aid: scaling
Define a new challenge. Define your present
position Ask scale-questions
Which elements contributed to this?
Who helped/helps you? Have you ever been further? What made you go back? What will you do in a
different way? What could be your next
step?
Dream• You build on the positive
experiences of the first stage.
• This stage is about finding new possibilities or solutions, rethinking problems, seeing new connections.
Design
• It ‘s about making action plans: what steps have to be taken to realize your strategy?
Destiny
• It’s about executing the action plans: actions, experiments, exercises.
Discovery
• Find out what you have already done in order to realize your goals. What are already positive examples?
Dream • What can you do to create more such examples?
Design •Use the positive elements (building stones) of stages 1 and 2 to develop scenario’s for the future.
Destiny •Start shaping the future.
REFLECTLeadership pepper 4
Reflect Look back upon the process and its resultsTry to define problems and successesTalk with others about the heart of the matter Look ahead for new challenges
Reflective practice
Attitude Method or strategy
Kolb GROW Korthagen…
Plan
Study
Do
Act
Think and talk about things that give you
energy
Coach new colleagues
Create an open culture: opportunities to learn and to discuss things, to express experiences
and feelings
Provide deep and systematic reflection
on the goal and implications of
changes.
‘Always our students’. Reflect
about student results (are they proceeding towards the goals?)
Reflect