LEAN and Leadership Lessons

Why should you read this? Because get it wrong and LEAN will demotivate your staff, upset your customers and increase your costs. Get it right and it can transform your organisation.

I recently reviewed the 160 page 2014 LEAN Management Enterprise Compendium, together with other books about LEAN and extracted (below) what I think are the key points. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to get feedback on the States of Jersey LEAN-Programme and note a number of common themes.

Key points from LEAN Management Enterprise Compendium

LEAN goes beyond deploying LEAN tools (eg 5S or 8W) ostensibly for process improvement and cost saving initiatives

LEAN is about alignment of mission, vision, goals, people, projects and technology so that LEAN is does not become a fragmented, silo based series of initiatives or un-co-ordinated projects.

LEAN is about simplicity (doing the right things) and the creating of a culture that pursues that simplicity, efficiently and effectively (doing things right) always from the customer perspective (doing only what is valued)

LEAN is not about targets (which can distract or misdirect resources) but instead about service, this means avoiding silo success and instead focus on end-to-end outcome.

LEAN is about regular, frequent communications via dialogue. The 15 min daily huddle around a whiteboard is essential to constant awareness of todays, tomorrows and future goals, challenges and successes and your people’s engagement and contribution to these.

LEAN is about coaching over managing and about constant learning more than task completion . This means LEAN is never “done” it is constant and evolving as a behaviour rather than a project.

LEAN is about getting out from behind the desk and talking with your people and your customers. It means fewer memos and emails and more understanding and empathy.

LEAN is highly visual: everyone should be able to point to whiteboard which clearly states todays, tomorrows and future goals, challenges and successes without clutter.

LEAN is about helping the organisation identify and solve problems in a blameless way. It is not about avoiding tricky issues or regarding them as someone else’s domain.

Key points from States of Jersey LEAN-Programme

LEAN has more success when it starts with Leadership and a senses of purpose and priority, without this it’s an unwelcome low-priority task

LEAN can be transformational when it is customer focussed, x-functional and high profile, otherwise it becomes a parochial process change and not a service improvement

LEAN works where understanding the customer trumps silo interests and customer value goes across the organisation not up and down “command and control” chains

LEAN must have commitment and emphasis and there should be regular (quarterly?) reviews to remind and maintain behaviour + action, otherwise the next item in the in-tray gets attention.

LEAN must be participative and interesting for it to “go viral” and so it is important to reward involvement as well as celebrate improvement, otherwise why bother?

LEAN must start with the willing, able and excited; the reluctant remainder can join the party later.

LEAN succeeds where there is alignment of competence, capacity and desire and it is therefore as much about HR (attitude, appraisal, personal development etc.) as it is about Projects (tasks, processes and outcomes)

LEAN needs to be part of the “service journey” rather than a “station” and should flow. An excellent station does not make a wonderful journey! Bring people and luggage with you (combine projects) and make it an exciting expedition.

LEAN leaders need to be crystal clear about priorities and be able to recite their “top 5” of projects, behaviours, customers, KPIs. If you don’t know your “top 5” how can you (or any of your team) achieve them?

As part of ciChange I have been working on pulling together a seminar/workshop on LEAN and Leadership. I am hoping to get Greenlight, Marbral, Mission, 3DPerformance, Leadership Trust, Richard Rolfe, Kevin Keen and many more to present their experiences of transformation and change in a TED Talks style, 20 minutes each. Please contact me if you are interested in participating. timhjrogers@cichange.org @cichange Mob 07797762051




ABOUT CICHANGE

ciChange is a not-for-profit forum for ideas and discussion, about all aspects of Change Management, including people, processes, teams and leadership. It is a place to share and exchange models, papers, ideas and information about change. We’ve run a number of FREE, well attended Breakfast Briefings.
ciChange is sponsored by Total Solutions Group http://www.tsgi.co/

Tim HJ Rogers

Mob 07797762051
Skype timhjrogers


Web: http://www.cichange.org/
Linked-In http://www.linkedin.com/groups/CI-Change-4301853
Twitter: www.twitter.com/cichange @cichange