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Solving Problems using Dyslexia

Working through Dyslexia and Using its Gifts

Do you deal with learning and work challenges?

• Dyslexic Inconsistency
• Dyscalculia
• Backwards and Non-linear thinking
• The way your brain processes information
• Bi-Polar issues
• A chronology of Dysfunction
• Overwhelming obstacles

Tim Nelson has dealt with these and more and gives hope and direction for help and encouragement. He unwraps gifts such as:

• Technical Problem-Solving Process
• Standard Work
• Visual Math
• Ambidextrous Thinking
• Paradigms
• and 10 other Dyslexic gifts and skills

Don't hide your uniquenesses. Declare them as the gifts that they are and learn how to use them to your benefit

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Tall Poppies -Billie Flynn

Published on: Apr 5, 2023|Categories: Aerospace

Imagine You are Standing in a Red Poppy Field

I was interviewed on a Podcast hosted by ‘View Point’ highlighting the skills of my friend Tim Nelson, discussing his skills as a Tall Poppy.

Tim Nelson – Billie Flyn – Dyslexia and Billion Dollar Solutions.mp4 In our organizations, big and small, we often normalize the performance and behavior of our personnel, excluding those who stand out from the norm. Organizations do not typically encourage outliers and find it much easier to manage everyone if they are all relatively the same. That is certainly true in the Military and throughout the civilian business world, especially in the aerospace sector. The ’Tall Poppy Syndrome’ refers to cutting down the tall growing flowers so that the field of flowers are all uniform and the same height. Our cultures do this with those colleagues who do not naturally conform to the organizational behavior that has been established in our places of work.

The problem is that these outliers who don’t conveniently fit into the norm, may possess unique skills and capabilities needed to help our organizations excel and succeed.

We all love the rock star performers who can solve the unsolvable, succeed against insane odds and triumph when people think that there is no hope. HR departments hate the people who are not like the rest of the gang and diminish or ostracize the ‘one off’s who don’t behave like everyone else.

The Tall Poppy Syndrome certainly applies to the outliers who I know; at the top of the list is my former colleague and close friend, Tim Nelson. Tim and I were both appointed as Lockheed Martin Technical Fellows, an honor bestowed on less than 1% of the engineering world when we worked there together. I was the Lockheed Martin Fellow as the expert in Flight Test and Tim Nelson was the Fellow for ‘Red X’ as a problem solver. Tim had many, many patents to his name, could mentor and coach better than anyone on the techniques to solve unique and seemingly unsolvable difficult technical problems.

However, Tim was a Tall Poppy. His gift was his dyslexia that gave him the ability to view problems in a non-linear fashion and to see things through images, not words or 13 linearly as the rest of us think. Tim’s gift allowed him to process a problem from back to front, seeing what needed to be done and working back the steps to solve and lead a team to succeed. Tim had been recognized for this unique gift which really aided the giant aerospace firm working through many engineering issues of the F-35 program, the largest defense contract in history. Every problem solved meant money, resources and time saved and Tim was superb at contributing to this effort. The problem was that Tim was a Tall Poppy and did not fit into the norm, which really disturbed some of his superiors.

I wonder what would have happened if the gifted stars with dyslexia like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Muhammad Ali, and Steven Spielberg, were marginalized before they could succeed in their fields. I love Tall Poppies. They are often the only ones who can solve the unsolvable. I spent so much of my professional life in organizations that were intolerant of anyone outside of the norm, yet I have been so blessed to know and work with those Tall Poppies who changed the world including my friend Tim Nelson. We should all look up and see the gifts that everyone brings to the table and not be so judgmental when everyone doesn’t look or behave precisely the same way.

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Solution for C130 Aircraft Issue Eradicates Defects

Billie Flynn – Test Pilot at ICE Leadership

I flew the Paris Airshow, as the Chief Demo Pilot, for Lockheed Martin’s F35 to demonstrate its superior capabilities. Tim and I both were Fellows that represent less than 1% of the engineering population. I represented the pilots. Tim represented the Red X methodology for solving complex technical problems. We focused on pilot safety. The most critical issue is avoiding radar detection. Tim and I worked together on Red X projects. I respected Tim’s dyslexic gifts, especially thinking backwards, ambidextrous thinking and creative Logic, I already used these concepts when flying but Tim clarified our thinking. When I fly airshows, I think from the end of a flight pattern to the start, to maintain a 3000-foot safety margin to the ground. I also cross check from the start of a flight pattern to the end. This is an example of ambidextrous thinking that I have taught other pilots as standard work. Creative Logic combines creativity and logic to obtain a synergistic response. We used creative logic extensively and became close friends in the process.

Craig Hysong – President and CEO at Shainin – The Red X Company

Tim has been able to use his extensive knowledge of Red X problem solving for improving products as a foundation to develop tools, strategies, and standard work for improving people! Tim is dyslexic and like many others who are dyslexic, Tim tends to be more creative and less logical than most individuals. Combining his compensation skills for being dyslexic with his extensive technical problem-solving skills, Tim has developed Creative Logic which is a standard work process for improving people. Tim is currently coaching individuals and companies to apply Creative Logic while writing a book on the subject. I look forward to reading the book and will continue to learn from Tim.

John Katona, Sr. – Retired Master Black Belt Team Leader, Powertrain, Chrysler Corporation

I have worked with Tim Nelson for over 10 years. He is a brilliant engineer and problem solver – he has great talent in getting teams past their tough technical problems. Tim Nelson is also very skilled in working with Top Leadership – many problem-solving teams get stuck because of “resource availability” that they don’t know how to resolve. Tim Nelson has a proven track record of helping teams overcome these verd difficult “soft side” issues. I have also witnessed him in our “board room” working with our top executives to effectively address tough business issues.

Dean Flower – Director – Fleet Operations Reliability & Efficiency – Torc

I have worked with Tim for almost 30 years. He has been a mentor and friend and taught me most of what I know as a Rolling Top 5 problem solver and preventer. We worked together at Intermet Foundries where Tim coached us to go from a $9m loss to a $25m gain in one year. At Delphi Steering he provided the strategic coaching to fix 30 years+ of chronic warranty to get off the GM no-bid list and achieve flawless launches of critical new products like GM Quadra-steer and Ford F-150 Steering Column to meet Five Star Crash rating. At TRW Steering he helped us achieve critical of new products in Europe and develop problem solvers. Tim is currently helping us at Daimler Trucks NA with our Diversity and Inclusion efforts, particularly in the area of neuro diversity. We are very interested in what Tim calls Creative Logic where he partners a creative person with a logic person to achieve a symbiotic relationship Tim likens to a ‘spike interaction’.

Ross Burnett – Robotics Metrology Operation- Intel Corporation (Contract)

Tim is a great teacher and fantastic coach on problem solving. Shared many projects with him. Tim is a great teacher and fantastic coach on problem solving. Shared many projects with him.

Dan Pleshko – President – Manufacturing and Supply Chain Solutions at Belcan

I was Tim’s VP of Quality and Tim’s mentor. Tim was the 1st Quality organization Fellow in the history of Lockheed Martin. Fellow represented less than 1% of the engineering population of LM. Using Red X skills, Tim coached Lockheed Martin programs, completed 65 projects, and helped save over $1B, certifying 84 engineers in complex technical problem-solving skills utilizing Red X.

Pete Shainin – Chairman, Shainin Group

Tim is an exceptional problem solver and an important contributor to our company’s technology. He will not let go of a problem until he has it solved.

Ha Dao – Technical Quality Manager at Emerson, ASQ Fellow, Shainin Red X Master, SSMBB

I worked with Tim for more than 10 years during my days at Delphi. Tim and his consultants provided us with training and consulting to help us build an effective problem-solving company. Tim is a brilliant engineer, a world-class problem solver and a visionary leader. He helped us to solve many difficult problems, resulting in improved performance and better capabilities.

Jerry Whitson – Registered Professional Quality Engineer – Retired

I have known Tim Nelson for over 30 years. He and I met when I was doing contract work with Shainin. Our emphasis was on solving complex technical problems utilizing Dorian Shainin’s statistical techniques for effective problem solving. These techniques were collectively known as Red X.

Tim and Dorian were my mentors, teaching me when and how to successfully use Red X to find and control manufacturing problems. Tim has a deep understanding of how to solve problems others had given up on. In my estimation, Tim is second only to Dorian Shainin in the practical application of the Red X tools. Tim has run Red X programs at many Fortune 100 clients. He also coaches Red X teams. Tim knows how to make Red X a core competency in organizations by training, coaching and certifying Red X problem-solving team members. These teams include an executive sponsor, a coach and a subject matter expert that knows the most about the part or process being fixed. He teaches the individuals on these teams their roles and responsibilities.

My emphasis as a consultant was quality assurance. I audited clients’ processes and procedures to assure they were following them. Tim’s emphasis remained on quality improvement. Tim maximizes bottom-line improvement by working on the biggest problems. Over the last 5 years, Tim’s focus has shifted from improving parts to improving people’s behaviors. He discovered Red X is a transferable skill that does both. Two books named ‘GIFTED’ and ‘RECOVER’ will be published by Amazon and reveal the behavioral transformation. Books just provide credibility. Tim is determined to create a consulting business whose passion is on people. Programs and projects will transform non-technical problems into gifts, defined by standard work, that everyone can use. I learned much from Tim and consider my time with him to have been among the great privileges of my quality career. I consider him a good friend as well as a mentor.

Dave Wohleen – Member of the Board of TrusteesMember of the Board of Trustees Lawrence Technological University

Tim Nelson is one of the true experts in problem solving in industry. His background and experiences enable him to integrate into any organization as well as into any discipline within that organization. He communicates with ease at the highest level of management while at the same time winning the trust and confidence of all other subordinate levels of employees. I can recommend Tim to any company or challenge with confidence.

Gary Berndt – Chief Operating Officer – High Value Manufacturing

Tim is the ultimate problem solver. I have seen Tim solve warranty automotive problems costing millions of dollars. No other group of engineers had been able to previously solve the issue. He used the process and team at Andersen to solve a problem that plagued the company for twenty years. He focuses on the problem, uses the process, and always solves the problem, regardless of the industry.

Sam Tillotson – Renfrow Brothers Machining Division/ARC Products

Tim has a relentless passion for Quality Improvement, Problem Solving, Process Improvement and Cost Reduction. I have known Tim for 25 years and have seen the results of his work and the growth of his skills and expertise. Tim is extremely focused on projects or areas of responsibility. I highly recommend Tim to any organization seeking an accomplished Executive capable of implementing solutions and a clear path for continuous improvement.

Don Runkle – Consultant-Industry Advisor

I’ve had very good experience with Tim during my days at Delphi where he and his team helped us build a world class problem solving company as well as helping our team to solve some very difficult problems. Tim always provided good value.

Dave Krausch – Director of Customer Satisfaction at Delphi (Ret)

I would like to write a long overdue recommendation for Tim Nelson. During my tenure @ Delphi, Tim worked with us almost continuously as a problem solver, trainer and coach for Shainin LLC. I consider him to be at the very top of his profession on a global level. He was instrumental in helping us to establish a world class statistical problem-solving culture with outstanding results as measured by dollars saved, problems solved and problem solvers trained and certified. I consider him to be a personal trainer and mentor to me in the area of statistical engineering and problem solving. I have the highest regard for not only his technical skills but also his interpersonal skills and patience with people.

Desire Djomani – Senior Director, – Enterprise Continuous Improvement – Ulta Beauty

Tim is a very accomplished problem solver, with a rare gift of organizational transformation / change skills in a complex corporation setting. Tim helped Delphi Corporation deploy Shainin strategies, allowing Delphi to continuously solve complex problems, reduce cost, and ultimately enhance Customer Satisfaction. Tim was able to convince stakeholders from the Boardroom to the shop floor level on the business importance of the Shainin strategies. On a very personal level, Tim was very inspirational to me when I was confronted with deploying our continuous improvement methods in Europe. I strongly recommend him to any corporation confronted with organizational transformation imperatives.

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Development of Standard Work Improves People and Parts

In 1933, Toyota’s Taiichi Ohno discovered the need for Standard Work, demonstrating that Standard Work drives consistency and is the baseline for improvement. Took this concept and expanded the definition in a process flow diagram defined by a meaningful acronym. FACTUAL® (Focus, Approach, Converge, Test, Understand, Apply, Leverage) is Standard Work that takes the concept beyond factory floor processes to produce consistent engineers. Then decided to apply Standard Work even further and tackle a dyslexic individual’s biggest problem – inconsistency.

Developed a comprehensive list of weaknesses and strengths and discovered that using an ingenious compensation strategy like FACTUAL® always resulted in consistency. At a higher level, problems could be transformed into gifts (skills), then into Standard Work for use by anyone. Both dyslexic and non-dyslexic individuals could follow a process defined by Standard Work.

The first column of the matrix is a generic expression of Standard Work. The acronyms shown in the second column are represented by meaningful names. Each letter in the acronym represents a step in the process. The meaning of each acronym step is shown in the third column. There are two types of Standard Work expressed in the fourth column – there is Foundational Standard Work and Deployable Standard Work.

All trademarks within the table represent Improving Parts. RECOVER and GIFTED represent Improving People.

Standard Work yields process consistency and serves as the baseline for improvement (Taiichi Ohno). A quality improvement system consisting of six processes defined by acronyms is shown in the center column below. The first column represents an input for each process, the second column defines the process, and the third column defines the output for each process. Note that the output for one process is the input for the next process.

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Blower Motor Problem Resolved in One Day

A large gas and electric lawn product manufacturer was experiencing starting problems with its gas leaf blowers. Blowers are developed on two lines – line one had a large amount of scrap, and line two had none. The blowers would not start because a component that should rotate freely was stuck.

Quickly determined that the scrap parts on the line with defects were caused by an angled hole in one of the two mating parts. When comparing line one to line two parts, identified an obvious difference. The bad line’s mating part was coated with black phosphate, and the good line parts were coated with gold dichromate. Black parts are rough, while gold parts are slippery and can overcome friction caused by angled holes. However, engineers argued there was no difference between the two since both met material specifications.

The four points in the visual below show whether a component is stuck or free. Three points are at a low scrap level. One point is at the high scrap level – the spike interaction. A spike interaction occurs when two independent causes come together and cause an event to occur. The holes are labeled as Best of the Best (BOB) and Worst of the Worst (WOW).

Demonstrated creativity when drawing the image for the leaf blower. Carl was a mathematical genius who was the chief statistician at GE. He worked on the atom bomb. The combination of the leaf blower image and Carl’s math resulted in a patent.

The image below has a vertical performance scale that goes from 0 (worst) to 1 (best). The horizontal axis goes from not being logical to being logical. The lines inside the graph form a triangle. The line parallel with the horizontal axis illustrates not being creative and the line that’s steep represents being creative. The only way to get a best value of 1 is to have a creative individual (Tim) and a logical counterpart (Carl).

Using Creative Logic™, solved the problem in just one day. The methodology demonstrates a synergistic effect – the result of combining the creativity and logic is greater than the sum of each individual parts. Performance is compromised until creativity and logic come together in a holistic way.

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Unique Gifts and Skills Instrumental in Addressing Challenges

RECOVER™ is a universal problem-solving approach that can be used to help people overcome life’s most challenging problems. The methodology can also be used to improve parts, processes, and services. In these situations, using RECOVER™ improves quality. By transforming problems into gifts and skills, gain the ability to solve the biggest technical problems and life’s greatest behavioral challenges.

The steps in the RECOVER™ process are shown in the first column. Steps are shown sequentially but are not always performed in sequential order. Steps can also be done in parallel. How a step was performed is shown in sequential order. The second column uses the methodology to overcome alcoholism or any other addiction. The third column demonstrates how RECOVER™ is used to gain improvement from bad parts, processes, and services.

As a dyslexic individual, possess unique qualities (such as a high level of creativity) that improve people, parts, and services. Consistently demonstrate that maximizing gifts and skills is far more effective than minimizing stigmas. The result is extraordinary versus ordinary.

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Quality Improvement Program Yields Certification of 2,000 Delphi Personnel

After resolving a fuel pump noise for Delphi (the largest automotive supplier in the world with 171 manufacturing sites, 190,000 employees, 42 joint ventures, and 34 technical centers), offered the opportunity to speak about Rolling Top 5® during Shainin® LLC’s presentation to executives from Delphi’s largest division. The division President decided to move forward with the Top 5™ program.

The process began by developing a competency with individual projects. As the competency was developed, each executive was assigned a deck of projects, which became the Rolling Top 5® program for the executive’s use in managing and developing his staff for individual projects.

This cascade then continued until the competency was developed across and deep within the organization.

The image below displays Delphi’s customer base. Red X® was used in complex technical problems to help customers and suppliers implement quality improvements.

Ultimately, over 2,000 Delphi employees were certified in one of the three methodologies (Red X®, Six Sigma, and Robust Engineering), and some became certified experts in all three.

This Rolling Top 5® program was also used to coach engineers on Lockheed Martin’s F35 fighter jet – arguably the world’s most complex and sophisticated product. The F35 is stealth and therefore cannot be identified on radar. This capability protects the nation’s fighter pilots – the real “Top Guns.”

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Standard Work Process Leads to Resolution of Complex Technical Problems

Professional background is rich in examples of coaching others in solving complex technical problems using the FACTUAL® (Focus, Approach, Converge, Test, Understand, Apply, Leverage) process as Standard Work.

The team that solves a complex technical problem is comprised of a Red X® coach, an executive sponsor, and a Subject Matter Expert (SME). The coach leads the strategy and investigation, then coaches the sponsor and SME. The sponsor knows the political environment and removes roadblocks to streamline the project, while the SME executes the strategy.

As a dyslexic individual, develop accommodations to execute successful projects. The Red X® team is an accommodation that ultimately became the standard for all Red X® projects around the world.

Every project goes through the four sequential processes shown in the diagram in the oneFiveFIFTY™ exponential staged deployment order. Acronyms define the process and its steps.

First, projects are selected using ALIGN. Second, improvement projects are conducted using a problem-solving methodology (Shainin®’s FACTUAL® process is shown). Next, how improvements were made are explained using DRIVE™. Finally, projects are exploited using AA2SS2®. The arrows on the left side of the process flow diagram show feedback from a process improving the process. The right arrow shows feedback for the system improving the system.

Throughout career, devoted a total of 26,600 hours coaching projects. The largest projects were always selected and coached by small teams, and the investigations were consistently effective using FACTUAL® as Standard Work. The projects involved a wide range or problems that were solved for a variety of mechanical products.

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Solution for C130 Aircraft Issue Eradicates Defects

The C130, also known as the Super Hercules, has been in production longer than any other aircraft, but it had a defect referred to as oil canning for the last 35 years. The aircraft’s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, was a new client of Shainin® LLC.

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Upon being assigned to solve this issue, decided to use a problem-solving methodology called Red X®. Discovered that the oil canning was caused by non-parallel surfaces joined together by bolts when the forward fuselage was mated to the rest of the plane. The non-parallel condition was an interaction caused by a quarter inch calculation error made when the plane was designed.

A non-disciplined investigation is shown in the left-hand column. It’s inconsistent and causes chaos. A disciplined investigation is shown in the right-hand column. The FACTUAL® process shown in this column is defined by Standard Work – everyone follows a consistent process that yields consistent results when solving complex technical problems. When a dyslexic faces a problem, they create a compensation strategy, which is a gift that can be further defined as a skill. A gift might be a good problem solver while a skill might use a specific methodology.

The vertical axis shows strain, and the horizontal axis shows build sequence. Blue represents the top strain gage locations and readings, while red represents the bottom strain gage locations and readings.

Blue and red strain gauges indicate the skin is in tension and compression respectively. As blue and red readings separate, blue gauges are pulling, and the red gauges are pushing. This put nonuniform stress on the skin and creates an oil can.

Once the error was discovered, a shim was used in the construction of all future planes and the problem was reduced to zero defects. Subsequently selected to lead a Red X® program on the F35 fighter aircraft, which arguably contains some of the most sophisticated technology known to man. Over the next seven years, 65 projects were completed that helped save $1 billion and certified 84 engineers in Red X®.

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