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