The Culture of Lean

[Rick Maurer]

If you'd like to join this discussion, just let me know. I will post my first question to all of you within the next couple of days. - Rick

[Tom Stratton]

Hi Rick.  Count me in.  For those serious about Lean (as opposed to OD or Change Management) a good, quick and easy read is The Gold Mine by Michael and Freddy Balle.  It is a Shingo Prize winning book and is written in the form of a novel or story.  It has behind it a model of change evolved by Toyota primarily.  Good read and a book we have used extensively in our Lean program as a book club study.  We have global teleconferences for about 45 minutes to discuss books chapter by chapter.  Part of creating awareness and a shared language, the "field" if you will from which Syngenta appropriate "figures" emerge.  In some ways we are having a globel "LPS" dialogue as we work to discern appropriate paths forward.  Tom

[Rick Maurer]

Glad to hear that you hold The Gold Mine in such high regard. I read it a few month ago and found it to be a good initiation into Lean. I like the chapter by chapter discussions. Sounds like a great idea.

[Kay Hall]

Hi Rick - I am now working as an internal consultant in a health care system embarking on Lean using the Toyota Production Method.  I have already seen a lot of change management issues - some managed well and some with hind site we would do differently.  I am very interested in being part of this conversation

[Rick Maurer]

Glad yo are interested. I used to do a fair amount of work in health care, so I will be interested in hearing about your experience with Lean in that environment.

[Mike Smith]

Hi Rick. I would like to take part in the discussions, hopefully to learn about how to connect the lean movement to a topic or issue, in this case "culture." Studying and researching ethnography has consumed most of my time in retirement. So discussing culture excites me. I look forward to you posing the first question. Mike

[Jim Stone]

Hey Rick,

Stone here.  I am in!

We used Pascal Dennis' book Getting The Right Things Done a couple of years ago to begin our Straegy Deployment/Lean Transformation on a very large program.  The book helped us emphasize that all things fall into one of five areas, Safety, Quality, People, Delivery and Cost.  We read the book together as a team, one chapter each week.  I have also used this book as we work with some of our international suppliers.  I will be interested in hearing how others keep the Leadership team focused amidst various tactical crises!

[Rick Maurer]

Here’s my suggested plan for our conversation. One at a time, I will pose a series of assumptions about what I think makes Lean successful. You respond to me and to each other by amplifying my assumption, disagreeing with it, or tweaking it and making a clearer or more robust statement. Since I am a novice to Lean, I expect to make wrong assumptions, so feel free to respond with, “What were you thinking, man?”

 

While I will stick with throwing out assumptions (I’ve got a list of five at this point), I expect that you will move the conversation into other issues related to Lean that interest you. My goal is to learn, so wherever we go, my little brain should be pleased.

 

Assumption #1: The most senior executives in the organization must be champions of Lean. They must put Lean high on the corporate agenda so that everyone knows this is a top priority. They must provide budgets, protect people‘s time, make sure that production goals support Lean, and use the performance review process to ensure that people work toward the goals of Lean production.

 

Thanks.  - Rick

[Tom Stratton]

I suspect with some, it is more than an assumption.  From my limited interactions with sensei's of Toyota descent the view is the only way is the way illustrated in the books "The Gold Mine" and "The Lean Manager".  In these one sensei works with one key executive and through this interaction Lean takes root and grows.  The idea is that, like the practice of marshall arts one can read books, study videos and practice the moves to reach one level of understanding and "enlightenment" re the practice.  It is with the subsequent learning "at the feet of a master" that one deeply learns the practice and not just the movement..."grasshopper" (If you are under 50 you may not get the grasshopper comment...sorry.).

 

Learning "Lean" from the wide range of consultancies working in pockets of the organization can give small incremental change.  Nowever, this "incremental" change does not capture the heart of the practitioners nor result in financial benefit to garner the executive support Rick speaks of in his "Assumption #1". 

 

I always try to remember and to share with my colleagues, we do not have to be perfect....we just have to be better than our competitors.

 

Lean is currently quite "figural" in the business world.  Like "TQM", "Business Process Reengineering", "Globalization", etc. is is becoming "the water we swim in" and Lean practices will become, and is becoming standard in business.  I review lots of resumes of college graduates who speak to having "Lean" experience.

 

So, to your assumption.  As you describe it, it sounds much more like a Six Sigma approach versus a Lean approach.  Additionally, the emphasis on top management, organization wide priority sounds like a lot of OD/Change Management theory....this, of course, is congruent with our beliefs.  What might be different about Lean?  Good question. 

 

I look forward to other's wisdom on the topic.

 

Tom

[Kelly Moore]

I don't have any wisdom, only opinions.  I read and re-read Assumption #1, listening for what resonated with me and what provoked more thought.  The assumption as stated seems to suggest that Lean is the end result. Rick said ‘production goals support Lean’- what were you thinking, man?     I would offer that Lean is not the end but a means to an end.  We use Lean to support our site’s production goals not the other way around. 

 

I agree that senior executives need to be Champions but they need to be much more.  They need to have an understanding of Lean manufacturing and an agreement (if there is a team of senior executives) on what can (and cannot) be accomplished with this type of culture.  As with any culture change, we need a clear vision and strategic goals that describe how we can achieve success using lean thinking.   I’m not a fan of Lean being part of a corporate agenda – historically this translates to another corporate initiative added to everything else we’re already doing.

 

With this said, the actions proposed in Assumption #1 are very tactical actions that I would not want senior executives to mandate.  These actions  (completely excluding production goals supporting Lean) appear to be more appropriate at a local organizational level. 

 

Tom asked what could be change management theory could be different with Lean.  I believe Lean will become more successful when senior executives stop managing Lean and begin leading Lean.  Leading Lean would include modeling Lean principles, such as using Leader Standard Work to drive accountability through the organization rather than relying on traditional performance reviews once or twice a year.  Leaders would allocate resources not to show importance but to demand Lean’s success, realizing any culture change takes much effort to sustain forward momentum.  Lean leaders inspire.

-Kelly

[Brian Buck]

I agree that Leaders need to practice Lean in their own management processes AND to remove waste from the system.  Just delegating Lean and stating support of Lean is not going to provide the long-term improvements needed with Lean.  Leaders need to "get their hands dirty".

 

I would also add that through practice of Lean is to really embrace Plan-Do-Check-Act.  Leaders need to use data and observed current state (gemba) as basis for decsions and then check on thhe results to see if their hypothesis was true.

[Mike Smith]

Rick stated, "senior executives in the organization must be champions of Lean" What does this mean?

Does it mean that the leaders of the organization must be knowledgeable and experienced leaders of lean culture or does it mean committed to a Systemic Lean Culture which would involve all employees and production processes? I ask because "Champions of Lean" may mean different things to different people.

Mike

[Sharon Richmond]

I'm in this one, too, Rick. I am extremely new to Lean also, and am very curious to consider how Lean practices and principles are and are not like the change mgt/leadership principles and practices that I have found essential.

 

As for your first assumption, I don't hear anything that sounds unique to Lean in this. It sounds just like what every proponent of any new 'methodology/perspective/paradigm/philosophy' would ask for. I have to assume that, like many others that have come before, Lean thinking/working will take root wherever in an organization there is passion. Clearly some funding must be available to build the teaching/learning environment required. So what am I missing in what you were saying?

 

I most resonate with Tom's mention of the sensei working with one executive and 'apprenticing' them. Such intensive coaching seems to me a requirement for permanent shifting of mental models, and hence behavior.  Certainly that is how we transformed the teaching of leadership at stanford GSB when I was there - intensive 1:1 and team coaching, practicing the new ways while conducting your day-to-day business, with real-time feedback from both coach and other learners about what's working, and what could be even better.

 

Really eager to hear more ideas!