Red Is Good

This paper focuses on the service cultural changes required to achieve the desired effects of AFSO21 based on the relentless pursuit of continuous process improvement. However, successful, valid, reliable, and continuous process improvement is only possible in an environment that tolerates, encourages, and promotes the public airing of dirty laundry. Others have labeled this as a Red is Good mentality, from the well known construct of PowerPoint briefings for metrics using red, yellow, and green stoplight charts depicting established target status.6 In a Red is Good culture problems are viewed as great opportunities to improve versus a failure or threat. Toyota Corporation is recognized globally as a benchmark for fostering and using a Red is Good culture, demonstrated by Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe's visit to one of his U.S. manufacturing plants. When shown the plant met all metric targets (all green) for its most recent reporting period, Watanabe observed, to the dismay of his U.S. managers, Ah, no problems, must need no managers.7 Watanabe, as a change agent champion, curtly and elegantly conveyed that metrics and goals were useless if leaders weren't using them as tools to find process problems and waste that could be eliminated. Unfortunately, many current USAF leaders look at metrics from the exact opposite point of view - as an opportunity to show others that they are on top of their game and meeting/exceeding all expectations.8 In other words, a Green is Good mentality.