Lean Forward: Connect, Inspire, Advance
Steve Yorkstone shares his experience at November's Lean HE event in Michigan:
At the start of November 2019 I represented Edinburgh Napier University in my role as chair of Lean HE, the worldwide community of practice for Lean and related approaches in Universities.
And it was awesome!
These experiences always serve as a reminder that by getting involved with what's going on we can have a real impact... and also have a really stimulating time. A lot of what I learn at these events comes back to improve our Business Improvement service here in Edinburgh Napier.
The event brought together over 200 Lean practitioners in tertiary education from all around the world, from those just beginning in business improvement to those teaching others. Now some weeks after the event began I have some space to sit back and reflect on what was for me a whirlwind, starting with chairing the Lean HE AGM. What did I do? What did I learn?
The Lean HE AGM is one of the very few times the leaders of the Lean HE community from all around the world can meet face to face; although we do also open up the meeting to attendees online from across our steering groups. It was a packed morning, as I moderated the meeting reflecting on our learning over the past year, and planning for an exiting year ahead. I was re-elected as Chair of Lean HE Global, which was really rather special. Thank you to the support I get from colleagues here in Edinburgh Napier that allows this to happen.
Then, it was conference walk-through, where the committee preps for their role over the next few days. From this, one of the first things I will take with me is the importance of words, and how even between different countries who share the same language, words can carry slightly different meanings. For example, I have been very used to calling conference attendees "delegates", but for colleagues in the USA I learned this was pretty confusing. I did try my best to refer to everyone as an "attendee" from then on!
It's a good reminder for me on returning however, that even in my own institution sometimes the same words can hide different meanings.
The steering groups for Lean HE are made up of a wonderfully diverse bunch of people, we have representatives that live in the lush jungle on the east coast of Australia, in the dry desert heat of Egypt, and the where the daylight lasts for weeks in the high north of Norway. It brings me back to the importance of inclusion, and how diversity can bring strength; as it enables us to bring different experiences, and to learn more from each other.
Now, I believe that the setting we are in makes a difference to that learning. And in Ann Arbor, we had such a setting! The trees of Ann Arbor were fabulous in their fall colours around the city; and the venue it self was absolutely splendid. That said, they don't have views quite like those we have from LRC5, Merchiston H floor, or the front of Craiglockhart!
The grand Michigan League was not only a stunning venue to host the conference, and a historical one. The first centre for women's activities at the university, it was great to be in a venue complete with historical art representing the important role of women. Then there was the truly spectacular conference dinner in the Henry Ford Museum; an inspiring space.
Within the venue, the conference was really made by the connections that attendees made with each other. In opening the conference I issued a challenge to the attendees to connect with one other person there to hold each other accountable for making the most of the event. While I will never know how many people took me up on the challenge, I know that from the outset there was a sense of building productive relationships with each other. This was very much in keeping with the conference theme "Lean Forward: Connect. Inspire. Advance.".
We had opportunities to reflect on what the Lean HE community worldwide has already achieved, and the level of maturity there is in our practice. The author breakfast I participated the following day was one part of this, as was the main-stage presentation I hosted with the chairs of our Continental Divisions, as we heard about activity from all around the world.
Of course, there was plenty of content relating to how we improve our work. Here in Edinburgh Napier I've already used the "Core Quality" model at the Big Brown Lunch presented by UiT The Arctic University in Norway.
Purpose is often spoken of as the starting point for lean, specifically customer purpose, and Dr. Vic Strecher's (a public health scientist) opening keynote "Life on Purpose: How Living for What Matters Most Changes Everything” had a powerful message that will stick with me, if you can, find his book.
He writes:
"Research shows that self-transcending values are more likely to create well-being and greater willpower to change behavior than what we might call “self-enhancing values”; and that college graduates who placed importance upon close relationships, community involvement and personal growth were, two years later, more likely to have achieved these goals and to have greater well-being, whereas graduates who aspired more to money, fame, and appearance were, two years later, more likely to have achieved these goals but had greater ill-being."
Closing the conference was an emotional time for me, as so many people had contributed not just their skills but also their passion to make for a great conference. It's a privilege to represent Edinburgh Napier and lead the Lean HE community. I say it often, but, Universities do important work, and helping universities be more effective is therefore pretty important stuff too. Reflecting Krista Schulte, the conference host, it really was a conference full of "big emotions".
So as I sit here in Edinburgh, looking out at the grey evening drawing in, even while nights are long and dark and the news seems pretty grim... I'm going to try to remember the learning from this conference.
That subtle differences between the words we use are important, and to reach out to people across different parts of the Uni, that when we get involved we can make a bit of a difference.
And then if Dr Stretcher is right, and I keep on focusing on making those improvements that benefit other people every day, and do so with kindness I'll not just do good for the University, but, also good for me!
Steve Yorkstone