Session Information:

Deploying Lean Management for Top Executive Teams

Leaders from Fannie Mae’s Lean Management Center of Excellence share their approach to shifting CEO and top two layers of organization to accelerate enterprise-wide adoption within three years of initial introduction to lean management practices.

Session topics will include:

• Approach to deploy Lean Management for top teams
• Strategy deployment
• Leadership behaviors, approach to enhance trust and transparency
• Key elements to consider and lessons learned
• Successes and impact to date as well as challenges ahead

Session Transcript:

we are mostly based out of DC we have offices in DC and in Dallas in Texas and we started a few years ago cultural transformation Sunday is a company that over the years they have become probably more like one of these old established companies that become a defense very difficult to move.

So we started a pilot about three four years ago was in 2015 to try to begin to turn the company into becoming more customer centric something that was kind of like not happening sufficiently as we were comparing to other financial institutions that was not happening the autonomy at all so we started this journey using the customer centricity and they needed to actually prepare for potential GFC report because after the 2008 crisis finally entered in conservatorship.

So it's regulated by the government that we needed to start preparing ourselves for for an environment where we would be operating in the open market come in customer centric bringing down silos to some of the typical things that you would see as traitors of any cultural transformation whether this would we started at funny.

Nothing was mrs. Harley gurney we were not falling apart so we decided to start this journey from a the companies believe well but we know that if TSE reformed we're going to happen we would be in serious in serious problems so much under the lead of the what started the journey we chose to drive this cultural transformation grounded on the management this is a Makita framework that we have I looked at the 20 very many other financial institutions across the country have been adopting this four disciplines or four loops need management system and about a year in.

So we decided to actually make this pilot and enterprise why the transformation we started in the main business line in a very small in the customer facing things a very small fortunately with of the company but then soon after after we needed to see the benefits we said we want this to be the
way in which we will drive a transformational time this is basically fresh to illustrate our vision the principle traveler saying the concept is a little bit different than this.

That is what I wanted to spend a little bit more time a few hours basically here we with Italian cooking we're going to be taking a team that the head of single family in we're going to work on top team effectiveness we have the belief that if we get this team to actually work a lot better and showcase a role model how they are adopting lean management the ripple effect will be dramatic and that was one of our formative so we put together.

We hired this with with McKinsey on the first we put together our set of modules imagine that each one of these modules is kind of like a half a day he did one of the one of the things that I wanted to to highlight from here is this foundational module.

One here that we have that it's basically a date that we focused with the team on crafting team norms and team purpose like a foundational thing it may sound like the most obvious question but it is really very challenging modules that we have been having with these teams and some of the others that we they really see the family leadership team.

What is the team purpose what are you here for who are you a wire why are you supposed to be a team maybe some of the most fundamental questions that really do a lot to try to answer but from there you have at least if you're able to do that you have the cornerstone or how and why should we be coming together as a team.

On an ongoing basis it goes dark I picked up a couple notes from earlier today that and course a said it also is procedure I said this morning it all starts with the purpose and that's what we have this at the very beginning that is if we all want to work on trust and collaboration and then shading that by developing some of the tools that without purpose it felt going to be very difficult to find common grounds and anything else later on.

We should have this this would have been in this sequence or another sequence but wish which 30-city are for knows where we would stand up for example the weekly Huddle's for this team so made all the tools inject from JD Dorian was talking about but now being adopted by a top team so this team actually would have and they would have a category and they would problem solve on a weekly basis and they would engage on member walks and coaching and feedback another neighbor extracted and and persistent way and that was our pilot interestingly enough.

When we were halfway through the pilot the co race to have his hand and said I want to go next and we do it now and I want to wait I don't care that this thing hasn't finished I want to go to that it was like yeah from alemannic capacity point of view it was very difficult can you say no and you say way to sink more money so push the answer was the exit and we when we were four months in this journey, we started this journey but in this case for the CLO and basically the management committee so actually for the head of single company.

He would go through the journey for the second time the first time is the leader of the team of this second time is that as a participant ability how do I throw the the the initial deployment with with the management committee to see a boat raise their hand and say and I want to go next so those are the three active teams that we have been deploying lean management to within the family were already in in maturity and in an ongoing sustainment phase and so to count we have we have already from the CEO wall and the head of multifamily.

Engage so that's going to be coming later on the lessons learned it is be careful with what you wish for because if it's more or less and they start raising their hands and these are often people that is you really can't say help so fast forwarding a couple things that I thought about cheering out of all the things that from what are some if you ever consider.

Actually engaging with the top layer of the company with the HP piece or the heavy piece of the company to try to shift them from being sponsors to practitioners of in management of continuous improvement or off whatever it is that you're having in the organization there's a few things that we learn along the way sub successes.

That we have had late and the next thing I'll share some of the struggles that we're having the rewarded you need to have very very strong core problem the CEO if you want to make this a company-wide initiative then it has to be from here the this probably is a very multiple times but this one is another.

One that at least I discovered over the last two years, I wouldn't be that much before when I was at warrior living with McKinsey it is this notion of connecting your leave management journey with all the other initiatives that are happening in the organization how are you we hear fighting we have for
example something that we called EDP executive development program which takes place at MIT it's a two-week program one week six months and then another week and we actually partnered with the MIT faculty in build in bringing together new management our way of doing lean management with that program.

That have become in supercar feel you could miss that and that would be a big mix same with how are you partnering with close with other HR efforts literature that has been a tremendous I think lesson for us another one has been the the the notion of actually sustaining and maturing many companies actually focus only on the on the first part left up here we don't focus that much an hour's the sustaining and maturity support didn't look like what happens when we finish this like set of modules and tools etc, as you're gonna be some sort of maturity or sustainment checkpoints and what have you and we mounted a cordon basically maturity program around each one of these.

Efforts like if you let those those themes it is too early on to actually think that this is going to solve the state and so the share couple of the key element to procedure and that's absurd but I didn't tell you that see today I go to this house mostly every Monday is CEO net paddles that take place every time very the drive a tremendous amount of connectivity across the company in gesture when I were no meetings followed by profit oddly the helps in the family the CFO and other leaders in the company meeting on the infobox something that would say it's very like they have like their five weekly in some cases monthly give a Walkman and they actually dormancy and one of the people of my team would actually go with them.

On again or walk and run a business and tremendous amount of actually bringing an EVP coach to the front line or the Tier one managers and being able to take the pulse of what should be happening on the floor it's tremendously powerful I would never thought that this would have picked up in the company and then this that was essentially should trust as we were working and beginning to go through.

The coaching and feedback modules you begin to see how Trust and more open and transparent you know conversations begin to happen has been tremendously these are some of the things that have worked well the first version a long way to go problem-solving is always hard at least notion of the city do you have a problem statement preventing them from jumping into solutioning before doing that root cause analysis all those things are things that we still have a long way to go but we have the pool we have the wheel from them saying I know this works I know it's hard but I really even in the value.

That it will help us we have an issue with bread honey nobody can embrace rate within it because of what happened in 2008 and we're having bet you can't be ready you can't embrace it in spirit I can't actually redish back where is your junction wish comedian so this is this is something that we still have we still have a long with things and then interestingly it's like if you can't see breaks the right nobody has really like.

It don't think that they associate limiting bracing the red gets any easier than that you know so I know that this is something that but at least urgent Wireless now we're talking about it we are we doing the picture of the table admission guys do you realize that you can't embrace the red because you think it is about worth it immediately that means trouble it doesn't mean continuous improvement so to get working on that OD strategy gasket is being tremendous the uncovering the thing and saying only you thought that strategy would get investigated about that corporate.

Communications it's frightening right there's going to set that eva is going to explain how it's trying to be works and then if it's good things are going to happen so beginning to have those dialog I think this is in our more in our next next level of good area but we're already uncovered this this things to work on i whatever that's on there and then the last one which is if you ever actually consider engaging and some of this you have to be very careful to be able to kindly let it come if when this demand comes your way.

It's very difficult to say no every single time we end up saying yes and you think that you're gonna be able to say no or to or to manage the mountains that way and and you reach out and then you end up saying how you pull resources in and an horsepower to actually be able to pull this up because it takes really so that has been one of the one of the areas that were acted we reverse of the transformation office it has been every need.

So this is my mind nine three takeaways and then and then every bathroom they have for some questions mildly takeaways for from basically all of this is very connected to what was happen this morning eager to start and focus and focused more and more and more in the wife and the purpose nest on the watch especially when you come to the company or the company I think that for said said this morning than Jeff focused on the wire the purpose why we're doing this lesson number one the second one that has been following through.

If you're gonna start something you stay for good you you you stick you stay and you think about sustainment and maturity you follow through you don't let go and the third wouldn't innovative for us lead manifest continuous improvement is full of shades of grey there's there's a hundred and fifty different Wayne words and I don't think that there's one that experiment to be tremendously better than all the other words but I think one and stick to it if you actually shit framework shit forces you say o PDCA is not for me.

I'm going to use the eight steps or I'm going to shape the statement for this other one I picked up from this morning be cautious about going after the next big thing I mean the principles don't change they will take forever so be a shade of gray and stick to it and make it work or to strike oh this one didn't work for me let's go after the next one that's probably not going to do so those at least for me as I have been nominated mr. Kenneth um over the last three years but we like city powerful message much that.

I'm doing so with that this is that this is the first part so thank you I was going to be able to get up for our questions well I don't know that this is a good answer this is what we're doing and what it seems to be helping and it has been happening for the last year I would would be cautious to actually call this a good practice what we have been doing is most of the problem solving sessions that are taking place in any of these top teams.

We are facilitating them I am I am there facilitating them so I would go but I will prep with whomever typically the problem owner or the problem sponsor is and before before you would come into the the management committee meeting or the single family leadership team meeting or the CFO leadership team meeting.

I would I would I would prevent like the the a3 and make sure that it's filled out and I would then go and facilitate and try to do that hand-holding again that comes with a lot of demand because then you are yeah but at some time you have to let go we haven't let go yet we are we're very much there helping and hand-holding and we play for example a facilitator role and then when you're there you have you you can influence quite a bit and prevent people from jumping into solutioning or or not being able to even answer.

When they are already like on the fourth derivative of the solution what problem are you trying to solve for it because you're facilitating and you help them prep and you are also taking care of the action items that have and after it's hitter today we have been getting some very positive traction that it comes at a cost it has been well I think that anything it's funny that came pretty naturally and maybe I was a gift because we didn't have to do a lot of work to make that actually happen but in other companies that I worked when I was in McKinsey for example ragu loop and I worked at and when we started working in in operations for example.

I don't know that is how much a CEO knew what we were doing but at least we've got one senior leader that sponsored that was senior enough to actually help this start and then I see that it for example the story I'd like by word-of-mouth and by actually then running and others beginning to hear I look at the good things that are happening in this area of our gigantic Empire and then if you if you don't get that traction that word of mouth it's really going to be very difficult I don't know that there's a one single answer but that has been one that I've seen in in in multiple companies start small and then build a showcase example.

Then when you're ready you bring in the CEO you bring others to go and see come and see but instead of going and seeing ing and answer them or going and seeing MassMutual in Springfield or Liberty Mutual in Boston you actually when you develop an internal go and see exactly very power for the CEO we have great partnership and they have four years of than ever
oh yeah oh yeah yeah.

I think that it's our charity that is totally coming out next so we we started using we started losing the we started using this this coordination to this framework and we made a connection of this framework with the values that the company of course already have and the mission and addition of the company one thing I know that when we will be revisiting the values of the company but what we know for sure that we want to bring in sooner rather later are the 10 single principle.

That I think Jeff also will share this morning we have been in timidly timidly been bringing them but I avoid a financial where I wish before the finally we brought them in big big big David coming rained pretty much in the station and then I don't know the vanish we didn't touch them because they were
thank you the values we didn't touch them because they were crafted in a way that they're like principle based so they don't they don't change over time that much I don't I don't know that I think with revision devices probably had five or six next levels of good and a debauch right now.

We probably have enough to get entertained with bringing in the tensioning of principles sustaining making things incremental improve I think that should be coming that is probably further ahead of where we are probably not ready to have that conversation yet yes the question is are teaching
well no you could you could do that and then if you do that then typically you do one or two and then immediately definitely.

What I've seen is that when you do that that pull will will stop and when you actually leave it up to the executive to pull it together how again the walk is going to go it would have to be extremely extremely lucky for or for the leader to pull it off himself so what we're doing right now and then goes back to to the question that you were actually we're hand-holding that pretty much as well so we know there's pool. s

S I would seat for example this took place the other day I came up and remember I came up with all of this gimbal walk line for the head of single family two weeks ago letting him know the six different areas where I thought that he needed to go to and he came back and said knowledge they know where we organizing risk and digital operating model.

I need to I need to stay about culture I need you to put me in front of those guys bi-weekly for the next three months and then we can talk about all the things okay the following Friday we took him to Reston to another DC location that we had and it was all prep what questions do you want to ask for it there wish a couple of round tip so it's highly orchestrated but the guy is actually going and seeing frontline.

Heather and then immediately the handle of the manager of that handle and then maybe a roundtable with frontline staff over the course of an hour - if we if it happens in Plano it might be a half a day if it happens in DC you could do this only in one hour so what we have been doing is highly hand-holding if you will and either I or somebody on my team would be there going with with him and I actually would then the following that will take away that I will just share ensure that he follows them you can't actually come and visit all these people and then not follow them at a minimum to thank you note or and then three months later when you say I want to see where you are three months later took a note three months I'm gonna come and say you need to follow through.

This guy so again I haven't seen this ever I think self-sustaining at all I know that there's examples in history like somebody would say Abraham Lincoln used to spend 15 days a month with the troops out there in the hill and there's probably many many many examples of leaders like the Jack Welch and many of these other guys but those are exceptions I haven't seen this really work well without strong.