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March 2016 • The PCB Magazine 27 It appears that one major factor for this fail- ure, among others, is that the tools we use to teach frontline workers to optimize their sys- tems are intimidating for many. When I taught the most basic statistical process control (SPC), the foundation of these and other legacy qual- ity programs, people's eyes would glaze over. Fear and trepidation were normal reactions for many workers. People do not learn easily or well when they are afraid. Something had to be done. I spent a year or two reworking basic SPC tools to make them user-friendly, simple, fast and even more effective for most Western com- panies and workers. With these new tools, we can have workers, middle managers, and even C-suite personnel doing good systems opti- mization work in a day or two. Gratefully, we have found that these tools also significantly enhance most standard implementations of Six Sigma, Lean, Lean Sigma or other systems opti- mization programs. The real breakthrough in the application of these new tools is that frontline workers em- brace them. Use of these tools becomes the way frontline workers do their jobs, problem solve and constantly improve their results. Notice that it is the frontlines, not the quality depart- ment, IT or compliance, which is implement- ing systems-based improvement. Only when the front lines embrace systems optimization as their own will an organization create a qual- ity, systems-based culture. It is through this im- provement on the front lines where the work is actually being done that the potential for in- creased profitability is greatest. The Four New Agreements for Leaders and Managers In 2002 I wrote a book called The New Agree- ments in the Workplace [1] , and in 2006 I wrote an- other, The New Agreements in Healthcare [2] . These books speak to what I believe is now an evo- lutionary next step in leadership and manage- the four new agreements to explode profitability Figure 6: Demonstration of the new Agreements Tools.