GRGB Booster

 

This monthly booster topic revisits Embracing the Red – transparently acknowledging where we are not meeting our standards or goals and creating the environment where each leader is comfortable enough to talk about it. Legacy Navy culture emphasizes progress in the “green” instead of highlighting where we are not achieving desired outcomes.  This behavior ends up hiding shortfalls, at best; at worst, it costs us either time, money, readiness, or quality of service when the “red” eventually manifests.​ An important note: Embracing the Red before a crisis means that we see the Red differently:​

• The Red shows that the Team has enough psychological safety to report the truth (or actual condition).​
• The Red shows that the Team has a clear understanding of Standards and Goals.​
• The Red provides the opportunity to correct a deviation in performance and get better. 

The discussion materials provided offer an example of Embracing the Red and how Navy Recruiting Command used the Navy problem solving process (e.g. GRGB toolset) to make important change after Embracing the Red. As always, adapt or add to this material as appropriate to best fit your community, such as including your examples of Embracing the Red from your community.

Embrace the Red 
GRGB Behavior Card | GRGB Booster Discussion Dec 2024

GRGB Booster

This monthly booster topic revisits Kata, which means perfecting a routine through consistency and repetition—in our context that’s establishing a set routine for evaluating process improvement efforts through focused conversations on a repeated basis.  This technique scales from enterprise level (P2P is really a form of Kata) to individual performance (recruiter example shared in the case study) and everywhere in between.  
 
The discussion materials provided offer an example of the application of Kata in the Navy problem solving context.  Use that example and model with your team or adapt as appropriate using examples from your community— it is up to you how you want to best tailor them to achieve maximum impact.  For example, last year RDML Wolfson incorporated an interactive Kata game into USFF’s booster discussion (link provided on the “Resources” slide).
 
As always, our goal is to keep the mindset, skillset, and toolset at the forefront of our minds, making them a natural part of our thinking.  Thank you for your participation and dedication to our ongoing improvement.

Coaching Kata
Training Card | Instructional Brief | Case Study

GRGB Booster

This month, we'll focus on "Fix or Elevate Barriers" in our monthly booster discussion. This topic aims to help you and your teams to identify and address obstacles, allowing us to make lasting changes and achieve the outcomes we need.  
 
This topic is especially pertinent considering comments received during the recent pilot of our new “Problem Solving Practitioner” course in San Diego.  Lack of trust that leadership would be receptive to problem solving was a common refrain from the E-6 to O-5 level, “What do I do when my CO won’t listen to me?”  Our people are eager to improve so we must set the conditions for them to succeed. 
 
I’d like to make sure you discuss both best practices for problem solvers to use in the elevation process and how a commanding officer can set the right conditions to empower their teams to execute. The elevation of barriers is very much a two-way process, with important steps that need to be taken by leaders to ensure their team continues to excel.  A robust discussion will reveal the conditions for barrier elevation in your domain. The booster materials will help support that, but your example and engagement will set the tone and yield the resulting insight to GRGB mindset and problem solving. 
 
As always, our goal is to keep the mindset, skillset, and toolset at the forefront of our minds, making them a natural part of our thinking. Thank you for your participation and dedication to our ongoing improvement.

Fix or Elevate Barriers
Instructional Brief | Case Study
 

GRGB Booster

This monthly booster discussion revisits Root Cause Analysis (RCA), a previously well-received and top-requested topic for this year.  Root Cause Analysis falls in the “Analyze” part of the DMAIC process and is a systematic process for identifying the underlying causes of problems or events after the Define and Measure phases are completed. The primary goal of Root Cause Analysis is to determine the fundamental issues that lead to a fault or failure, rather than simply addressing the immediate symptoms​ – necessary for true, lasting change to take place.  Root Cause Analysis requires psychological safety to openly discuss errors so they can be corrected​, and it is key that when performing RCA with your team, no one comes to the table with the “answers” already in their mind. 
 
For this discussion we are pairing the guide with an actual case study from the JAG Corps and diving deeper into the accompanying instructional brief.  Over the next 30 days, I challenge you and your teams to perform root cause analysis using one of the tools in the booster discussion (Fishbone Diagram​, 5 Why Analysis​, Pareto Diagram​).  The most effective way for us to implement GRGB at this point is to learn by doing and to practice.
 
As always, the intent is to keep the mindset, skillset, and toolset in the front of our minds, so it becomes a routine part of how we think.  Please share any feedback on the effectiveness of the discussion material – what worked for you, what did not work – so we continually learn from these efforts.


Root Cause Analysis
Instructional Brief | Training Card | Case Study

GRGB Booster

This monthly booster topic explores Acting on What Matters Most, a conscious mindset to prioritize your time to achieve maximum impact.  We will raise awareness to long-standing Naval practices that have stunted long-term growth: “check-in-the-block” behavior, the pursuit of short term gains to have a good tour (and performance evaluation), the perception of not having enough time to slow down and use deliberate problem solving, and focusing on activities vice outcomes.  Furthermore, this session offers easily digestible behaviors and best practices to take and apply immediately; and also an activity asking participants to think through outcomes and impact.  I encourage you to assess how well your command Acts on What Matters Most during your discussions.
 
One of my favorite quotes directly applicable to the GRGB initiative is, “If you know the way broadly, you will see it in everything.”  It is a quote highlighted to me by Carl Chebi. The author is Miyamoto Musashi, from the 17^th century.  If you apply a GRGB mindset, you will see it in everything you do (or in everything that is presented to you or review as a commander).  It’s counter to the perception that GRGB is a program and to a saying I occasionally hear “it’s time to GRGB this.” Musashi’s quote speaks to a holistic approach that we can apply to GRGB and organizational improvement.  I’ve attached a card for your use during this booster topic discussion if you care to work it in.
 
As always, the intent is to keep the mindset, skillset, and toolset in the front of our minds, so it becomes a routine part of how we think.  Please share any feedback on the effectiveness of the discussion material – what worked for you, what did not – so we continually learn from these efforts.

Act on What Matters Most
Musashi - The Way | Instructional Brief
 

Problem Solving

This monthly booster topic explores Daily and Visual Management, a technique that can help answer the questions "are we winning today, and how do we know?"  The techniques can apply at the executive level (e.g., dashboard), team level (e.g., production control board), or the individual level (e.g., scorecard).  When I visited the shop floor of a Danaher company, I was struck by how the visual management tool of a scorecard helped an individual worker know their performance, their needed improvement areas, and their overall buy-in to the larger team objectives. 
 
This discussion is intended to highlight the importance of the hands-on nature of effective leadership, especially through visual management means.  Daily/visual management is practiced every day throughout the Navy already, so adapt the conversation to best suit your organization. Use the case study as a foil to self-assess your own techniques, or an example to work through principles. 
 
As always, the intent is to keep the mindset, skillset, and toolset in the front of our minds, so it becomes a routine part of how we think.  Please share any feedback on the effectiveness of the discussion material – what worked for you, what did not – so we continually learn from these efforts.

Daily & Visual Management
Training Card | Instructional Brief | Case Study

Leadership Behaviors

The goal of this monthly GRGB Booster topic is to keep GRGB leadership principles and problem-solving methods in the forefront of our minds to ensure they are the routine way all our teams think, act, and lead.  This month’s guide offers a framework to gauge your team’s alignment on standards, goals, and principles.  The guide discusses “SMART” goals and also offers thoughts on parsing people-centric behavior standards and work-centric performance standards.
 
One of the takeaways of the Navy’s internal benchmarking of our higher performing vs. lower performing units is that our high performing units consciously, intentionally, and overtly align on standards and goals—and do so routinely.  This month’s GRGB booster reflects on this leadership practice and asks if our organizations remain aligned or if we’ve experienced organizational drift.
 
Please share any feedback on the effectiveness of the discussion material – what worked for you, what did not – so we continually learn from these efforts.

Act Transparently and Align on Standards and Goals
Training Guidance | Self-Assessment Guide


 

Problem Solving

Standard Work
Training Card | Case Study

Leadership Behaviors

Building Learning Teams 

Problem Solving

DMAIC Refresher Brief | DMAIC Refresher Instructor Guide | Limited Duty Case Study

Leadership Behaviors 

Mindset Facilitation Guide | Mindset One Pager | Mindset Quiz | Mindset Quiz Scoring

Problem Solving

Voice of the Customer
Training Card | Training Brief | Training Packet