Change Jam: Recent Episodes
Mel Juer and Jo Henson
Join us for weekly chat on how to get through the sticky stuff and into the sweet jam of a life full of growth and transformation. Change Jam is hosted by two change gurus, Mel Juer and Jo Henson. We discuss theories, methods and honest insights on change that will help you improve your workplace, your team and grow as an individual. Music: https://www.bensound.com
With joy and celebration we bring to you the last podcast of this tumultuous year. This subject is universal and at the same time, intrinsic to Te Ao Maori. Whakawhanaungatanga is about making connections, about place, people, journeys and stories. It is about our place in the world, and respecting each other and our families and ancestors. It is about connecting in the most human sense, but also our connection to all things. And finally thank you to all our listeners, we have been podcasting for a year now and it wouldn't have happened without you.
Leadership in healthcare is stressful, especially these days! This week we focus on how we can manage stress, at a personal level, at a team level and for our whole organisation. LEAN has great tools that help us to keep the flow of the practice going, help us to not knee jerk react at every problem we come across and help us to problem solve or innovate when we need to - which is quite often.
Jo also talks about simple kindness, listening and making space. Mel says the worse the stress, the more important it is to keep up the discipline of LEAN. Personal disciplines are important too and we need to look after ourselves as well as others.
This week's episode takes its title from John Donne's poem which reminds us that we human beings are social creatures, connected to each other and greater by the sum of our parts.
We talk about the importance of team, and how the LEAN methodology is really about developing team cultures, team standards and working as a team for improvement. We recognise that leadership can shape a team, or divide it.
Particularly given the chaos of our current world, and the divisions that we see widening every day, we value the connectedness of a team where we have each other's backs.
No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
This week we discuss the benefits of having a mentor. Why would you seek out someone to help you grow? do you always have to pay for it? Is it worth it?
We talk about Personality Types this week, and how using this framework we can understand ourselves and others better to support change.
We refer to Allison Mooney, https://www.allisonmooney.co.nz/product/pressing-right-buttons-allison-mooney/
and The Five Personality Traits
https://www.verywellmind.com/the-big-five-personality-dimensions-2795422 the five personality traits.
Find out who you think you are, how can understanding Personality type can help us approach change and build resilicient teams.
Call it Imposter Syndrome, or lack of confidence or self limiting beliefs. When we challenge ourselves to grow and change, a self sabotage voice kicks in and tells us "you can't do that", or "you're not that great".
Jo and Mel share their own experiences of this inner critic, and ideas on how to shift the energy from what you can't do, to what you can do and how far you've come.
This is a deeply personal subject as well as one that can be applied to a team situation. Some teams, or corporate culture, is all about "we can do this". And other's seem stuck on a rut and have no belief in their own ability to improve anymore. What's the difference and how can we influence a change in mindset?
This week we bring a highly topical podcast, especially for our New Zealand listeners. Aotearoa went into level 4 lockdown last Tuesday night, and workers in primary care once again find themselves in the front line of defense in this global pandemic.
With an even more contagious variant, keeping everyone safe and supporting teams to adopt a safe but improvable plan is tricky leadership work. Then there is the fantastic opportunity to ride the wave of burning change. There is an opportunity here, says Mel, to use the momentum to rapidly adopt new ways of working that are good for now and the future. Jo says don't forget about your own wellbeing and your whanau. How are you going to use this time wisely, and value the time you've been given whether its at work or with your loved ones.
This week's korero is such a great subject! We talk about being positive, or being cheerful. Its all about Attitude, and how a great attitude shapes everything.
Your attitude can influence your day to day happiness levels, how we relate to our team members, and can make or break the culture of our team.
Jo has a reputation for being Pollyanna Positive, Mel is apparently Relentless Cheerful. Why? Is it just annoying or is there science behind the laughter?
We have so much fun this week talking about how important Strategy and Culture are in terms of the overall LEAN journey. It is obvious to us that Strategy is important to describe where we're going, and helps us to develop a Vision for all to see. But Jo says its not just the top echelon of the business that needs a Strategy. Jo's key point is that strategy needs to be communicated with every one in the business, so that everyone feels part of it, and knows their part to play, and wants to go there. Its inspiring and motivating, says Jo.
Mel says that we should heed Tom Peters when he says don't get too caught up in Strategy. Set the direction and then start the action part of getting there, start and get better! Sometimes organizations spend too long on developing their strategy, which can be an activity that is kept inside the board room. We recognize that a strategy that is alive would be driven by on the ground changes and learning, and also be consumer driven. So this also means that the strategy more or less points to the future, and it could be adapted as a result of on the ground experience, direction and learning.
Culture cannot be separated from change and strategy and Jo explains that, in her experience, Culture is an important part of knowing who we are, and where we're going. Culture can also be the barrier to achieving the vision and Mel talks briefly about poor organizational cultures, like hierarchal or dictatorial management cultures. We agree that Standardization is one of the tools that can be used to move away from a hierarchal culture, towards a culture of empowerment and trust.
We make reference to some of these gurus below:
Heath Brothers, Rider and Elephant change theory. https://heathbrothers.com
Simon Sinek
https://simonsinek.com
John Shook
https://www.lean.org/WhoWeAre
We are so fortunate to have met and interview Isabel Hunsinger, a Medical Doctor and Functional Doctor about her life journey through burnout and anxiety and depression, and her adaption and learning to come back to being alive and thriving.
Isabel talks about how she turned herself around and what her advice is to all of us to face challenges and grow from them into better and happier versions of ourselves.
Isabel also tells us about how it is possible to reverse Diabetes, and how to avoid Alzheimers, through nutrition and exercise.
As part of being interviewed by Change JAM, Isabel is offering a 50% reduction on her online Reserve Diabetes programme. Click here for the link.
Respect is a core, underpinning principle for LEAN leadership.
We explore what is it that we mean by Respect, for one's team, for the business and for yourself. We discuss how Doing the Gemba (going to the place of the work) and engaging with people in the place where the work happens, is a way of showing Respect. It is an important path to Leadership that places emphasis on the people as the one's who do the work, who notice the malfunctions, and who often have good ideas about change.
We agree that Change does not happen in the Board room, but on the shop floor.
We also discuss Respect in terms of listening deeply to what people are saying, and how it can be challenging as a Leader to remember to engage in humble enquiry, rather than consider that you "know it all".
We finish with a word about Respect for yourself. Always showing Aroha both to others but also to your own unique self.
This week we look at why is it good advice to "slow down". We have a look at what's the best advice to generally "be efficient", and discuss the benefits of a number of methods that we could use if we stopped for a moment:
Prioritisation - and here we discuss Kanban, Flow, Push and Pull, Value etc and we also talk about the power of Observation (Doing the Gemba).
Slowing down also gives us time to deepen personal connections, and to consider our values. Why are we here? Why are we rushing around?
We discuss methods you can use if you're like Mel - a person who can take too much on and doesnt finish completely. Kanban (again), and measuring Priority vs time available.
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We talk about that inevitable appearance of Resistance when we are going through change. Either in ourselves or in teams and the workplace. Why does it always show itself? What drives resistance in humans and how can we help ourselves and others go through the chaos and unknown territory that is change?
We refer to the Kubler Ross Change curve, to James Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and to the Five Stages of Technology Adoption, links below:
https://www.change-management-coach.com/kubler-ross.html
https://ondigitalmarketing.com/learn/odm/foundations/5-customer-segments-technology-adoption/
In the end we know from our own experience that having a good team mate, and committing to showing up, no matter what, are some of the greatest strategies you can adopt to get through the hard part of change.,
We had so much to talk about with Fran that we have two episodes to share. This second one continues with Fran's life journey, through many countries but finally making it back home to New Zealand with her wife.
Fran shares with us the tools she has forged, found or been taught which she is putting into her life's toolkit, for when she might need then.
Jo has invited a fantastic guest for the next two episodes of Change JAM.
When Jo met Fran in Libya in 2008 both women were in the midst of change. We are proud to share the first part of a 2 part podcast on some of Fran's take-outs and take-aways on her ever flowing, ever changing life which is how she describes her approach to change.
Kaizen, or Lean - the Japanese improvement methodology. Jo and Mel are unpacking more of this personal improvement method. In the last two episodes we talked about the philosophies and principles. This week we are starting to introduce the five methods; Method number 1 - Standardisation.
Yes we talk about standards for 25 minutes. Why, who knows, why do they exist. Why is it important that we all do the same thing? How are standards the first platform of improvement.
A bit of personal stuff thrown in as usual. Sorry to all friends and family. We love you.
This is the second of our two part introduction to Kaizen. Last episode we introduced Kaizen as "the way". A philosophy, a way of thinking, part of everybody, every day.
This episode we introduce the core concepts of Waste versus Value. We talk about types of waste, (WORMPIT) and give examples of what those mean in a real life situation at work, like standing around waiting, or re working something because it wasn't right the first time.
We also talk about Plan, Do, Check, Act, and how the first time you do something won't necessarily be the best version of that idea.
We always come back to the fact that Kaizen is a discipline. Some attention, focus and work is required. If you're looking for a quick fix, Kaizen is not it.
We are thinking about our own listener profile as well, and have a chat about who is our listener and what is our point of difference. We know that we love kaizen, and we like to keep it real.
Thanks for listening. Next up, an awesome Change JAM guest episode.
We are so excited this week. Kaizen, (or LEAN) is one of our favourite subjects and we refer to it a lot in our Change JAM chats. We thought that we would unpack what is Kaizen.
We have so much to say about Kaizen that we have split our introduction to the subject into two episodes. In this one we talk about Kaizen as a philosophy, not just an improvement method. We talk about Kaizen leadership, and about embedding Kaizen principles into team and organisational culture.
We introduce the concepts of Waste versus Value, and Flow. Jo waxes lyrical about "truely, madly, deeply" loving Kaizen principles and what this means in practice. We both have experienced business leaders who want a Kaizen practitioner to "do LEAN" to the business, but when we say "Lean starts with the leader", they're like... mmmm.. not so much.
Jo mentioned the Healthcare Homes, which for those of you who are thinking...what is this... the HealthCare Home model of care is a model that has Kaizen principles at its heart and it well recognised and adopted across New Zealand as well as many other countries in the world. https://www.healthcarehome.org.nz/integrated-health-care-management-nz
for more info.
We will cover off the five methods of Kaizen (or LEAN) in our second part of this two part Kaizen special. Can't wait!
We continue our discussion about change, this episode being about starting. Starting a new habit, or starting a new exploration in your life, or starting something new in your workplace. Why is this sometimes the hardest step? Mel and Jo look at why just starting is so difficult, and share some strategies on how to make this a bit easier. Jo listened to a great audible book this summer - called Greenlights, narrated and written by Matthew McConaughey. Apart from his magnetic voice, the book provides some inspiration around how to spot the green lights in your life.
Our first change JAM guest is AJ Juer, who speaks to us from Christchurch about finding his own identity and having the courage to transform into his own true self. AJ talks about his own path into understanding himself and why gender affirming surgery has been such an important step for him.
For anyone who wants to find out more about this subject here are some links below:
https://genderminorities.com
https://genderminorities.com/database/resource
AJ's partner, Finn, has not been able to access healthcare yet and is raising funds for his own gender affirming surgery. You can help by following the link here:
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/help-finn-afford-top-surgery
At the start of the change journey, most individuals or teams generate a vision of the future. Where do you want to go to? What is good about it? Why is it worth the effort of going through change to get there? Who are we serving and what motivates us?
We talk about the importance of acknowledging those who came before us, and that sometimes a vision comes out of the engagement in change. It grows as we step into exploration.
Jo finishes with some practical examples of how a change facilitator might support a team or an organisation to consider what is their vision of the future? And who's vision is it?
This episode we look at some of the practical ways one might work with a team, or an organisation, when starting out the project or improvement journey. How can we get everyone on the same page; seeing each other's viewpoints and agreeing on their big Reason to do anything differently.
Are different individuals driven by different things? How can we work with this?
Both Mel and Jo talk about the importance of Doing the Gemba... or Gemba walking.. which is LEAN observation methodology which is at the core of much of its philosophy.
They agree that starting with humble enquiry is a really important philosophy, and stepping into a workspace with respect.
Jo says sometimes the burning platform comes from know that you can't go on the way you are now. Its a matter of, if we don't do this, then what is going to happen.
Jo explains that we're going to follow the Prosci change management stages; ADKAR - Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement for a structure to our podcast.
We start with Why? Why change? Why start? Is why important, asks Jo, or can we just move on to how? Mel argues that if things get tough down the change journey, you'll need to remember Why or you might loose your way.
We do get a bit diverted in our excitement about Kanban, which is a LEAN visual management and work prioritisation tool. Bear with us, we get back on track after a little while. And there is the little moment when Michael, Mel's husband, comes in. We decided not to edit it out... just keeping things real. This is how we roll.
In the end we agree that knowing your Why before you start on the How is really important, because somewhere down the road of change you'll need to dig deep and your motivations will keep you true to your vision.
This week Jo and Mel talk about one of the fundamental Kaizen principles; making it known. Jo tells us how this is one of her favourites and why. They discuss the range of subjects that we might want to bring into the light, whether that is about process problems, or data on cost and volume of the issue, or about behaviour and the impact it has on others.
They also talk about the use of Visual Boards or visual clues in a workplace or personal setting to help us know where we are now, where we are going, and what the standards are.
Both agree that there is a time and place to speak your truth, but sometimes it is also wise to hold your silence and let others work it through for themselves.
Good mates Jo and Mel start a Change JAM chat with looking at the difference between a being in the "growth zone" from being in a "fixed zone, or in the stagnation zone". They look at the root of all creativity, and consider whether mediocrity is ok, or should we all be aiming to be creative and productive. They examine whether New Zealand has a lack of business maturity and notice some of the hierarchal management styles that exist as a result of lack of leadership.
Jo says "Know the difference between Growth and Stagnation. And employ strategies to get into the growth space".
or
Just keep doing the same old stuff. Up to you.
Welcome to our first podcast.. introducing Jo Henson and Mel Juer, two friends and change gurus. In this podcast we dive straight in and talk about who we are, our whakapapa (where do we come from) and what is Change Jam all about.
Jo and Mel met about five years ago in a small town in New Zealand and discovered many things in common ranging from a passion for supporting growth and change to a love for knitting and ethnic jewellery. The Northland adventure kicked off a lifelong friendship, which has led to more change gigs involving crazy drives in Northland through mountain passes and evenings knitting by the sea looking over Shipwreck Bay in the Far north.
In this episode we introduce Kaizen, Change Methodologies, and some of our experience in supporting change. We are so excited to share our skills and tools and hope that they will help you find your groove, your growth space and your jam in life.