Kick Down the Door of Complacency
provides a new solution to an old problem: how to persuade and teach managers to enact Continuous Improvement.
The book is a story of a CEO who persuades his direct reports that having Continuous Improvement is vital, and then leads and teaches them exactly how to do a basic method for the next 24 months.
Harwood's method is built on some new assumptions: a change process is necessary; the top person must personally lead; everyone is required to participate (two hours per week); speed is critical; and obtaining measurable meaningful improvement, early and forever, is essential.
This approach is applicable to any organization, and parts of large organizations of up to 2,000 people, be they in manufacturing or service, for-profit or not-for-profit.
With two supplemental books - one for trainers, the other for participants - all can easily be trained (two sessions totaling 15 hours) in how to use 22 basic problem-solving techniques. By actually using them to solve problems presented in two cases, they learn the techniques.