PDCA and beyond Quality development in day-to-day (school) life

Jos Van Thienen

TEACH LEARN QUALITY COSTA 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)

Plan Act Check Do

Fathers of the quality revolution

30s: Walter A. Shewhart 50s: W. Edward Deming

Two of a kind

PDCA

Hard Instrumental Strategy

IMAR

Soft Human Strategy focus

PDCA and beyond

Part One PDCA for continuous development

They are always watching, what they see is what you’ll get

Plan Do Check Act

Teach as you preach PDCA as a scaffold for this session

Set goals (learning objective) Define content and methods Define learning needs and initial situation

Act

Learning objective: learn about quality cycle methodology (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 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?

Plan Act

Why?

Do

Check

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

Cases 1. Boosting scores 2. Reinventing the smoking ban

P D C

3. Workload or free exercise

2

Case

Example: Meet Ms Y

Ms Y    Y stands forYou 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 plan to collect 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 plan to include other team members into 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)

Act Plan Check Do 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

(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    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.  Generate alternative solutions 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)

Study, assess, control, measure: methods

 Observation  Sticker discussion  Daily teacher dipstick  Quiz  Interview  Pictures  Discussion  Tests  Ranking  Buddying  Diary  Communication  Presentation  Inquiry  Drawing 31

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 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!

Inspire

Act Plan

Mobilize

Do

Reflect

Check

Appreciate

Inspire Mobilize Reflect Appreciate

Learning objective (1) Think, talk and learn about how we can make people take up greater responsibility.

    Empowerment through Inspiration Motivation/mobilization Appreciation Reflection (reflective practice) (1) 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

Ins

pire

Leadership pepper 1 Give incentives Find new ideas Create challenges Discover new possibilities

Ins

pire

Start from a mission or a vision which is known and supported 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 Show people what works well and keep them informed 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) Install a challenging context and introduce a forward-looking glance Define common goals, shared values, accepted priorities. Create a sense of togetherness (connectivity) Organize learning opportunities

Ins

pire (2)

Leadership pepper 2 Spread enthusiasm Get people going Make them use their competences in order to express their inspiration

Mobilize/Motivate

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 Stimulate people to use what they have learned in practice Pursue a common goal Be a leader in learning (‘They’re always watching. What they see is what you’ll get’)

Mobilize/Motivate (2)

Leadership pepper 3 Express what’s of a certain value in your organisation Appreciate efforts and results Pay 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?

I expect a lot of resistance. How can I deal with this problem?

What can we do to adapt our organisation in order to lighten the workload? What are we already doing well? What can we do to motivate our people? When are they already motivated?

Appreciate

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)

A method (Recall what we have done)

Method or strategy

Discovery

    Story-telling: awake energy Start dreaming (Make concrete plans) (Realize your dream)

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.

Leadership pepper 4 Look back upon the process and its results Try to define problems and successes Talk with others about the heart of the matter Look ahead for new challenges

Reflective practice

Attitude Method or strategy

Plan Do Act

Study

Reflect

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?)