KaiNexus: Continuous Improvement, Leadership, and More

No More Flavor of the Month! Learn How To Deliver Sustainable Change [Webinar Recording Lynn Kelley]

·58 min·5 clips

Lynn Kelley and John Shook discovered they were writing the same book on change, merging their lists into the Change Questions.

The episode is a recorded webinar hosted by Mark Raven of KaiNexus, featuring presenter Lynn Kelley. It begins with an interactive segment where attendees estimate failure rates for New Year's resolutions (9% kept) and organizational change (consensus around 70% failure). Kelley shares her background, including roles at Textron and Union Pacific Railroad, and a personal failure story from implementing TQM in French plants. She explains that research shows failure can be detected within the first month of implementation. Kelley introduces the Change Questions methodology, co-developed with John Shook, which includes 11 questions across five categories: purpose, design/do/improve work, engage/develop employees, management system/leadership, and culture. She describes its origin: she and Shook independently developed similar lists while writing books during COVID, merging them into a unified approach. A free digital workbook is available at changequestions.net. Kelley uses the Union Pacific Railroad's UP Way program as a case study, detailing how they achieved 96% sustainment by measuring six consecutive months at or above target KPIs. She emphasizes starting with a clear purpose statement, citing studies that millennials strongly need to understand 'why'. Analogies include the change curve illustrated by a riptide story (20% accept, 60% neutral, 20% resist) and pigeons playing ping-pong to discuss incentives. Kelley contrasts operational speed (timeline-based) with strategic speed (checkpoint-based), noting a Harvard study found 52% better results with strategic speed. The webinar concludes with Q&A covering topics like chunking large initiatives, managing management focus, and tracking KPIs amid external factors.

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