GA 653 | LifeStream Mapping with Christian Wolcott

We start with, in LifeStream Mapping, what is your current state? What makes up your current day-to-day, your time, and your activities? So that assembly in a visual way, in a linear way, is something that the book encourages you to capture.

Today, I'm excited to welcome Christian Wolcott to the show. Now, Christian has written a book on a topic that many of us are going to be sort of semi-familiar familiar with, and the topic that many of us are familiar with is value stream mapping, but he's actually spun it a little bit and he's created a book called, focused on, Life Stream Mapping. Now, as you'll hear, Christian has a long, deep lean background. And so, in fact, he's run with some folks that I know very, very well over the years. And as we talk a little bit about that at the beginning, so he comes with a really strong lean thinking background. But then what he does is he sort of merges it into this whole idea Yeah. Of, oh, if we can map value streams, why can't we map our lives? And so that's really what we talk about on today's episode is how do you sort of take these whole ideas of a current state map and a future state map and everything in between and apply it to one's own life? And it's super interesting to me. And I haven't actually read the book yet, but I'm excited to get it because I really do think that it's something that I wanna actually do myself, right? And think about where do I want my life to look, to be in, you know, 5 years, a year, 10 years, whatever it might be. And so really good stuff. I think you're going to enjoy this one. I know I did. So show notes can be found over at gembapodcast.com. Just look for episode 653. Again, gembapodcast.com and look for episode 653. Okay, enough from me. Let's get to the show. Christian, welcome to the show. How's it going?

I am well, thank you. Thank you. What a pleasure to be here with you today. Man, I just can't tell you enough about how pleased it is to finally meet one of the gurus of continuous improvement that I have known for years. So, what a pleasure to speak with you.

Oh, thank you.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, well, I appreciate that, Christian. All right. Well, as you know, Christian, we like to begin all of our episodes with our guest sharing a quote. So, what do you got?

So, my favorite quote, which I think is going to be my epitaph at some point, would be ancora imparo, which is Latin for I am still learning. And I love that because there's 2 elements to that that speak to my heart. Number one is the humility in it, that there's always stuff to learn, right? I don't think there's been a day or a client or a situation that goes by that doesn't reveal, at least for me, something that's a takeaway or an informing point. And I love that. I just love that. And the other one is that there's a boldness, there's a courage to it still too, that I am still learning.

Mm-hmm.

So, and that's where you lean into it. And that, again, I think goes to at least my, and probably yours as well, your interest in the world of continuous improvement, that there you have what I would call true believers. And those are the folks that are out there championing this everywhere and in all of our work. So I absolutely love the field of continuous improvement. So I am, Still learning.

Love it. Yeah. And it's interesting, you just, even when you just say the words continuous improvement, what is the first word? Continuous. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

And, but man, it's easy to, to forget about that, right? Or easy to get locked into, you know, a way or technique or an approach or whatever. And before you know it, a better way has passed you by and you weren't even Didn't have your eyes open, you know what I mean?

Right. Or I think, you know, there's sometimes you get into situations, myself included, where you fall into the moment and you become so preoccupied with the pain of the moment or the we've got to get something done now moment, and you let some of the opportunities slip by because of hastiness. So continuous improvement does require a very strong element of patience. Like, slow it down. What are you working with?

Should make some t-shirts called, don't be so hasty.

Don't be so hasty.

Love it. I love it. All right. Well, hey, Christian, tell us a little bit about yourself. Tell us about your background and then maybe how you got involved in all this continuous improvement stuff, and then tell us what you're up to these days.

Sure, absolutely. So, I have been involved in the world of continuous improvement, being a consultant, quote unquote, which That's good, bad, and the other, I think. For over 20 years now, actually probably closer to 25 at this point. So I did have a real job many years ago working for a paper company. We made fine coated printing papers at the time, so I was in their converting division. So a variety of different roles, kind of frontline management, midline management. I was production inventory control manager. I was the last quality superintendent before quality got merged. merged into production. And I spent the last few years there in managing the inventory itself, which was fun, but it also came with robots at the time. So I got fired from that particular role, which is another story for another time. But it actually released me because it said, you know what, I think there's something else I wanted to do to help develop people and develop myself simultaneously. And so that took me into the world of consulting. And so over these last 25 years or so, I've spent 3 different organizations, one here that was statewide, an MEP center, which was my very first interaction, which I loved, learned a lot about the ropes of consulting, what it means for continuous improvement for an organization. And then I made a leap then to the Kaizen Institute, which is where I ran into folks that both you and I know, and then where your name started circulating in my world. And Kaizen opened it up a lot because it wasn't just manufacturing. Kaizen Institute brought me the opportunity to work with really some fantastic companies. NASA and the International Monetary Fund and Shell Oil, Nokia, Facebook. Just some fantastic opportunities to do work and explore what their needs were with improving the business and improving the techniques and methods that they were using. And so that's really where I had a chance to Learn, acquire, again, the I am still learning piece, and lean into, you know, what are these situations? How can I bring some objectivity to the work? And, you know, to help them first, but simultaneously pick up a few, you know, tips and tricks along the way. What works at what scale? And every one of these clients had different environmental conditions, I'll say that way. Meaning that there's, you know, sometimes there's politics involved at the senior levels, sometimes just complexity. and anxiety issues at the mid-levels. And at the front levels, it's just practicality. It's got to be something that's not theory. It's got to be something that actually works. So, I worked with them. And then more recently, I worked with a private agency up until COVID, and COVID kind of killed the business, frankly. And then I went out on my own. And so, now I have my own consultancy, Sumoto Group, which is based here in Wisconsin Rapids where I live. But we have all clients that are across the nation. So, we do primarily strategic planning and operational, I'll say that big box there, operational enhancements and improvements. So, yeah, that's a little bit about it. I still absolutely love this work. I just can't say that, I've said that to every client.

You ever run into old Mike Robleski out there in Wisconsin? Is he still in Wisconsin?

He is still in Wisconsin. Yes, we are. I would characterize us as old girlfriends because we get together and we chat about everything. So, we'll talk about client work. Sometimes we have a shared client, which we had Is he still consulting? He is still consulting, yes. He is the sensei. He is, he's in fact, I will throw it out there, you know, shamelessly, he is my sensei. If I get into a situation that I, you know, kind of go, gosh, I don't know what to do, I give him a jingle and then we chat about stuff. So, yeah, we're okay.

Yeah, give him my best. It's been a minute since I've talked to him. We need to get him back on the podcast. He, I've known Mike a long, long time. He's like a fantastic guy.

I can give you my links if you like. Yes, he's a great guy. Yeah.

Yeah. Good. All right. Well, hey, I want to jump in. I'm really excited for, for the episode today because I think it's a, it's a different spin on a topic that we've probably explored a number of times, but not exactly this way. And so many of the people listening are familiar with a value stream, value stream mapping, so forth. You know, Learning to See back in the day kicked it all off. Right. And And yeah, it's a powerful tool that we use a lot in, you know, not just manufacturing, but office everywhere, right? Anywhere value can flow, we can map it and try to see how we can improve the process. But I guess I understand that you've sort of, I don't know, maybe I don't want to put words in your mouth, but maybe put a slight spin on this idea of value stream mapping with something you call life stream mapping.

Yeah.

And so I thought, Let's just jump right into like, what is life stream mapping and how is it similar or not to value stream mapping?

So, this comes with a bit of a story. So, I'll unpack the story, actually the origin of it, the seed. So, several years ago, when I was with Kaizen Institute, I had the opportunity to be the director of Japan tours, the international tours for KI.

JKE.

We would take great groups. Yes, we would take groups of executives to Japan for the week. We, of course, we'd go to Toyota and other of their suppliers, or other organizations that were exploring and learning about Lean thinking and Kaizen and all of that. Well, one of the trips I had, I had the opportunity to take my daughter along with me. And so my daughter was, I think she was about 18, 19 years old or so. And she went along and we had a group of executives from the Czech Republic. Not that that matters so much. But so we were there, we were exploring things. Of course, the topic of value stream mapping came up. And as I recall, I think I had to do a lesson maybe on what value stream was for them there and taking a look at a particular site. So anyway, long story short, we go to Japan, we have a wonderful time, we come back, we're back here in the house, and it was one evening shortly thereafter when we returned, and she had shown me this note card that she had from, that she had taken and drawn notes on the trip. And she had drawn on it this, map of sorts with notes. And she goes, well, Dad, I wanted to show you this. And she goes, so if you can map a process like I saw on the trip, why couldn't you do this with your life? So she had her and her boyfriend at the time, she had them drawn across this continuum, this time like now, here's where they're at now. And then simultaneously, she kind of double-packed it with What what should be in the future? So she had the timeline with events that were happening now. She was in school. You know, she was taking these coursework. She was doing some volunteering and things like that. She went on the trip with me, and then on the other side of the line, she had drawn you know marriage, travel, you know graduation, job, and then there's home, and then there were like hearts and things like that. And that stuck with me. And her words, well, couldn't you map a life in the same way that you map a process, a business process? So that seed has been rattling around inside my head for years. Like, well, what would that look like? So I have done hundreds of value stream maps at this point. In fact, that's what took me and continues to take me all around the world, are doing these value stream maps for business, because they work, right? Everyone knows that if you do them, they, they work.

Mm-hmm.

So, I took this idea and I'm like, well, what would that look like? So, it took me a while to kind of do the wiring together. Like, well, is it— it turns out this is really simple. It's a simple thing. So, I finally put pen to paper or fingers to keys and started getting it out of my head last year and with the goal of that getting out there and published. So, that took a little while because I think I overwrote it, made it too complicated, and I didn't want that. I wanted it for the non-business user too. So, someone that was not familiar with value stream to have an understanding, well, how could this work? So, that's the origin of it.

So, well, maybe we'll get into it here later on. I don't know, but I just, I'll just throw it out there. Like, so, I'm in my mind, and as I've mentioned, I haven't read the book yet. So, I like to actually interview people before I read the book. And that sounds weird, but I feel when I read the book, then I'm super biased and I only go down a particular route. All that I'm interested in. So, but like, so when we're mapping a, call it traditional value stream, you know, we often start with, you know, a current state map. Like, what is it? You know, how's this thing operated? Go to the Gemba, walk the Gemba, you know, big piece of brown paper on the wall and you're, you know, going after it. Then you come back together, assess it a little bit, and then you create a future state map, right? Of where do we think we would like to be in some certain timeframe, whatever the timeframe is that you're looking at.

Right.

And then obviously you iterate and you learn your way forward and run some experiments and start to go from current to future. So how does that— how are you sort of aligning the same ideas with this LifeStream mapping?

There is, there's a similar, I would say, sequence of work. So I didn't want it to be too formal because I didn't want to scare people off. So, and again, this was what took me probably months to get it right. I think I didn't want it to be something that was restrictive or a barrier. Because as we know, I mean, and I would say this, and I love the tool value stream mapping, but it is a heavy tool. You know, we take a lot of time to capture the current state. What is it really? You know, to capture data. How do these steps actually perform? You know, what impact does that have on the business? And there's a lot of, I don't want to say necessarily like serious, but there's a lot of weight we put into that process of capturing the current state. And so, I wanted it to be a little bit lighter. less pressurized, you know, to get it right. Wanted it to be easy to start with. But there is, yeah, we start with in LifeStream Mapping, what is your current state? What makes up your current day-to-day, your time and your activities? So that assembly in a visual way, in a linear way, is something that the book encourages you to capture. Now, does it have to be on a big piece of brown paper on the wall? No. Could it be? Sure. You know, I wanted to be free enough that given the scope of work, which typically, you know, in a value stream map, you have a scoping document from what point to what point. The book is a little bit more forgiving in that sense. You can start with, and I would just encourage, you know, today's time. Where do you spend your time? So that's one of the scoping mechanisms. It's going to be all about your time and those elements. activities, really involvements that make up the use of your current time. Clubs, marriage, family, jobs, travel, family obligations, organizational obligations. Any of those types of activities would be part of your current state. And if you can put— and sometimes this is the hard part— if you can put some data to that, how much time, how many days or hours or Not so much minutes, but how much time do you put toward that and capture that in a visual way? That's the aim of understanding your current state. Yeah.

I mean, maybe it's the idea of your current state is I'm a workaholic and, you know, all the rest of it. And my kids barely know who I am and that sort of thing.

Exactly. That's what you're looking for. Some way to document that. You might know that, you might say those things. Certainly people might experience those things around you. But it's, it's a challenge to get it out of your head, get it out of your behavior, and get it down on paper to see it visually, which is the same challenge it is in value stream mapping, right? Get it out on paper, show us.

Right, right. So something that I've heard you say is that people don't buy maps because they, they love maps. They buy them because they're sick and tired of being lost.

Yeah.

And so, I'm wondering if you could maybe just explain, what do you mean by being lost?

I think in my travels, I've had the privilege in this career path to meet thousands of people. And sometimes the simplest question, because I'm truly curious and I probably am a bit— I can fall into the same category often. When you ask folks, well, what's next? You know, here's where you're at now, you know, the job, the role. You meet them in Japan or you meet them here locally. They're in a company someplace. You say, well, what's next on you? Because I truly do have a curiosity about that. And I'm surprised how often the, I don't know, I don't understand your question, is the response that comes up. And I'm thinking like, wow, that's humble on one hand because sometimes you get the real honest response. But on the other hand, a huge opportunity. I mean, I've met some ultra-talented, way more talented people than I am in my travels. And I think, I think of one man in particular. He was an executive vice president with a Tule company. I met him in Hong Kong doing a value stream map of all things. And I asked him what was next. We had just struck a nice rapport. We were having lunch and he goes, you know what I want to do? I want to be a breakfast cook. I don't want to cook any other meal. I want to open a little restaurant and just make breakfast. I'm like, wow, that's pretty cool. So then we talked about, you know, all the mechanics of doing that. That was his future state view. It helped provide some fertilizer to this idea that was in my head about this, life stream mapping.

Mm-hmm.

Couldn't people find a moment of clarity to put a marker out there for themselves? What could be their future state for their life? So, that's just one example.

I'm wondering, like, well, I think I know, but I want to just ask it anyhow. Like, what are the— what key problem are you trying to solve with this whole idea of life stream mapping? Yeah.

I think there's the big challenge to put it in one-word response. I would say it's clarity. I think there's so many folks that are out there that are just struggling, myself included at times. You know, where things just aren't clear. The weather forecast for life is like, I don't know. And I don't like the idea that we're somehow just kind of moving through our time and our roles and our obligations and our family and our personal life, that we just kind of roll through it without any stake in the game. Like there's no controlling it. And I don't believe that. I think there are ways to bring about some rigor, some structure, some discipline to achieve things that maybe you're looking for. So rather than just think about it, hope on it, pray on it. And again, I'm— this is not a— I'm going to touch on this a little bit later on. I'm a true believer. I'm a believer in Jesus and God and all of that and a practicing Evangelical. There needs to be something more.

I'm Catholic. We can still be friends.

Don't worry. Yeah, do it. There needs to be something more that you're doing other than thinking about it. And so my thought was that this book allows at least some space and a mechanism. It's a method to get it out of your head, get it down on paper so you can see it. And again, those things you can see are made easier Right? And attainable. It turns into, you know, eventually once you articulate it, your action plan to achieve your future state. So, that's the thinking behind it. So, it's clarity. I want to give people a moment, a way to find some clarity with their life. Now, if they're happy with things every way they are, great. Then maybe it's just continue to do more of the same. But if they're not, if they're looking for something, and I believe more people than not are looking for something more, a clearer purpose, a better path, they want a different result. And like in business, that's exactly what they're looking for. You know, they want something that delivers on time or the right count, the better quality, all those sorts of mechanisms apply then to your life too.

Yeah, because when you think about like, well, okay, in business, you know, with the future state map, right? It's like kind of like this, like, Ideal. Oh, you know, if we were at that point, this would be fantastic, right? And but it might take us five, six years to get there or something like depending on.

But I want in my own experience, I don't in even in in value stream mapping, I don't ever tempt the the team with nirvana. What could we be if we had you know a bazillion dollars and all the time in the world? Well, you don't. You've got limited resources.

Yeah.

You've got limited time.

Well, okay. So that's interesting that you would say that then, because that's kind of where I was going. But with the life stream mapping, like, what kind of— what do you suggest folks look at? Is it like, where do I— what do I want my life to look like a month from now, a year from now, 10 years from now?

Yes.

What do you suggest?

Yeah. So the book mentions— great question. Thank you for asking that. So the book mentions that there are several different time horizons that are common. And I can, you know, the easiest one to point to is a 6-month horizon. What could you do now, from now, let's say, to the end of the year or to the 1st of 2027? If you were to do the start doing the exercise, the mapping today, what could that look like? Something more near-term. You could push it out a year and say, well, what would I like my life to look like in a year? Perhaps it's, you know, get that new job, get that new promotion, graduate from school, get buy my first home, start our first, you know, have our first child or start the family. Those sort move mom and dad from their home into a retirement community. Those sorts of activities you could lay out in a timeline. So it's more than just a knee-jerking. You're planning for some of these larger activities. activities across a time frame. And I believe fully those things which you get down again on paper in front of you are things that get done, right? Going back to the old adage, things that you don't measure, you're not going to get done. Things you do measure do get done. There's a much higher rate of success with that. So, that's my thinking. You know, could you go out, you know, 5 or 10 years? Sure. I mean, I think the book even says, That you could go out longer. But more practical speaking, again, and this was informed by my own experience with clients, you know, the traditional one in learning to see always said a year, give it a year.

Yeah.

And I found that most clients, if you did that, and I did that early in my career, it's a year, it's a year, it's a year. And most clients didn't start work on the implementation plan to get to future state until month 10 or 11. And then they're like, oh, we have to start working here. You know, some of the people on the team aren't even there anymore. So, more recently, I've done value streams, even a 3-month horizon. Like, what are we going to turn now, next week, right? Monday, what are we going to start doing? And I have found that those provide a far better traction for the organization. My thinking is the same for the individual too. You're going to have some folks who are going to want to move faster. Great, great. Then let's move faster, pull in that scope, and you can always reevaluate.

I've seen some folks, we don't officially teach this or promote this, although it's fine, I'm all about learning and experimenting, but I've seen people who create a current state map and they don't actually bother with a future state map. They just say, let's go make that part better.

Yep.

And then they make that part better and then they update the map. And you say, let's go make that better, you know? And I'm like, oh, okay, you know? And then I look up a year from now and things are— it's a completely different map. Like, what are your thoughts on that approach with this, with this life stream approach?

I think, you know, in some ways I've seen organ— excuse me, organizations that do that as well. They capture the current state map and they go, this is enough for us to work with. We see the pains and the potential opportunities in the current state. And I think that part is fine. In my mind, that's an organization that is, I'll say politely, respectfully, they're green with continuous improvement. They're not confident in their own ability to carry forward, I think, with the plans. They almost have training wheels on the continuous improvement methodology. So, they want to just get to the current state. Let's improve a little tiny bit. I'm fine with that. I think that's— if that's where the organization is, maturity level again.

Yeah.

Great. I can live with that. I think the larger opportunity, though, is, you know, the— what is it, the Japanese word, kaikaku, breakthrough?

Radical change. Yeah.

Radical change. Exactly. What does it look like? What does it need to look like? What does it need to look like a year from now?

Yeah.

I think that part's presented in the book too, because some of us— I know I've had moments in my own career path You know, I'll go back. I didn't do a livestream back in the day, but when I got released from the paper mill, it was— I mean, my whole world just like fell out from under me. I had no idea. And those events require breakthrough thinking. Is it more of the same or is it going to be something entirely different? What does it need to look like and when? What are the attributes that you're looking to achieve with that change? And I think that part of future state is essential. And I think is required. And I think that the readers are going to be capable of doing that. What does it need to be? You know, praise the Lord right now, I have all 4, my wife's parents and my own parents are all still around, which is extraordinary. They're all in their 80s now. Well, you know, the train's pulling into the station soon. We know that there's going to be a bunch of change occurring in the next handful of years. Those are on my map. You know, I don't know exactly when, but I know it's coming.

Yeah.

So, I know I have some needs that are quickly developing on the horizon as far as their care and that sort of thing. That's going to be something on, you know, my sister and I, but I'm going to start with my own and the map can help reveal that.

Yeah. Good stuff. Well, maybe to wrap things up, Christian, I'd like to ask you if you had, I don't know, maybe just one piece of advice that you want to leave with everyone for, you know, I don't know, designing a meaningful life. Like what advice would you leave with the folks?

I think, you know, this technique, you know, the book and the title might be new, LifeStream Mapping, but the technique is now almost 50 years old, right? I mean, it's been around, it's proven. The technique of capturing and understanding what your current state condition, and get to your best ability to capture that, to be honest about it, objective about it, and getting that down, documented someplace, whether it's a small hand journal, whether you want to post a big piece of paper on on the wall and draw it out with Post-it notes or just handwriting. There's some power that comes with that because you go, oh, here's what it is. I haven't had a mapping team with a value stream mapping yet that doesn't go, oh, wow, this is what— here's what we've been talking about. Here's why we go home tired at the end of every week because of this. And I think that same opportunity presents itself to the readers. What makes up your current state? And then as the book guides you through some discernment, some challenge with it, are these elements things that you would wish to continue? That in my mind, that's a yes/no question. Now there's an evaluation in the book that says, do these things bring you energy? Do they bring you joy? Does it help you fulfill what you believe your obligations are? to the people in your world? Again, and those questions are things that only the reader can answer. That's kind of that midpoint, that assessment. That's where you, you know, we'd say identify waste. And I would say in the book's case, you'd identify opportunities for growth and change.

Yeah.

And then I think what we just talked about, this breakthrough, the white paper piece. What was the future? What does your future What do you want it to look like? What does it need to include? And I think those elements are huge opportunities for the reader as they are for a company. Though, you know, articulate, well, what is our need for growth? What are some of the key activities that I've got to have in my day-to-day? You know, are my kids graduating? Are we perhaps separating? Are we selling the house? Are we moving? Are our parents— do they require care? All of those large and small details, when you get them out, you're going to be much more effective, I believe completely, in addressing those concerns and making a more effective plan to achieve them, whatever your measures of success are. Yeah. In summary, I think that To get it out on paper. Again, the method itself has been— is true and tried, and it works every time.

Yeah.

I will tell you honestly, initially when I first learned value stream mapping from John Shook, we actually had a course with him down in Madison, Wisconsin, years and years ago. I hated it. I thought it was so tedious and so time-consuming. Like, how are you going to get a client to bite onto this? And many years ago now, I love it. I absolutely love it because it works so brilliantly.

Yep, yep, yep. Good stuff. Ah, well, this has been a fun episode, Christian. I appreciate you coming on. If folks wanted to connect with you personally, what's the best way?

Well, there's a number of ways, as you know. Social media-wise, I'm available on LinkedIn. You can find me at Christian Wolcott there. If you have a direct interest in the book, there's www. lifestreammapping.com, which interestingly enough, I'll point this out, if you have an interest in the book, you can go buy the book there. The book's on Amazon as well. But there's also— I created a customized GPT to guide you through the book.

Yeah.

So you can connect with Jules on the website, and Jules has been fully informed with the book and will help guide you through creating your own map. If you— if that's something that piques your interest, and there's no charge at all. So otherwise, uh, there's an Instagram page now I've got out there, and of course, you know, old-fashioned Facebook is out there.

What about TikTok? You know, it's the way— it's all the kids, you know.

I've got to get my toe in TikTok, and I'm still working on that.

Still working. Yeah, get your kids. They'll figure it out for you, right?

Exactly.

Yeah, good stuff. All right, Christian, hey, I appreciate you coming on, man. This has been a lot of fun.

Oh, and a privilege for me, truly, truly, Ron. I am just, I'm just tickled pink. So, thank you.

All right, take care.

All right, see you.

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