Despite what the experts might suggest, successfully deploying and sustaining a lean initiative begins with a committed culture.
This is not meant as a caustic remark, nor am I suggesting that shifting and aligning organizational culture is a trivial matter; quite the contrary. But cultural engagement is where most organizations consistently miss the boat. They focus efforts on introducing and using the process and tools for implementing lean, but fail to consider the importance in having a culture that is committed to building and sustaining the initiative.
Culture, for example, is the reason that Toyota continues to reap the benefits of lean whereas General Motors has not. Different cultures; different results.
Any facility I have ever visited that has a long-standing and successful lean program also has a culture that embraces change and continuous improvement. In these organizations, good is never good enough, and new ideas, concepts and theories are captured, challenged, tested and, where it makes sense to do so, applied.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.
Our approach to implementing lean has always been quite different to that of most organizations, mainly in that it starts and ends with people. Without people, and in effect a culture of commitment, lean will fail. Period.
Here are the top three ways in which we prepare an organization’s culture to embrace and achieve success on the lean journey.
1. Dispel any sense of mediocrity.
Lean is a way of thinking and requires the commitment of everyone involved in order to deliver the desired results. Lean has gained traction in some organizations and fallen by the wayside in others (refer back to my earlier comments regarding Toyota versus General Motors). In Toyota, for example, there is no such thing as “good enough” and this message resonates throughout the organization. Contrast this to most other organizations and you will find management touting the benefits of lean (mostly in front of customers) while employees have a completely different perspective.
If you have a culture that embraces the existing mediocrity, then you must focus on convincing employees of the benefits lean will provide to them. Employees should be clear on what lean will do “for them.”
2. Go viral.
You have likely also heard that creating the right culture requires internal “Champions” to build excitement and momentum. Forget the champions — you need to find and engage the persuaders and the influencers, regardless of their position or authority in the organization. If there are road bumps, and there will be, these are the people who will persuade others that the initiative has been a waste of time. Get them engaged at the outset to ensure that the right message is carried throughout the organization, and to ensure they have some skin in the game. Bumps will quickly smooth out into gentle rolling waves if their reputation is on the line.
3. If at first you don’t succeed, you’re screwed.
First impressions are everything, and lean deployment is no different. Start small to achieve positive results before you jump in with both feet. If your first initiative out of the gate fails, you might as well hang up your skates. Success out of the gate is an absolute necessity if you are going to build employee engagement, and more importantly, once you achieve success to any degree, make sure you tell everyone about it.
Success with lean requires momentum and staying power that produces long-term results. If you are allergic to a bee sting, you can take bee pollen regularly to build up tolerance. This same concept must be applied to building a tolerance against lean deflation. Start with the thing that which is most likely to hurt you. Focus on engaging the culture and your initiative will be sure to succeed. Then again, you can just leave it all up to the consultants; I am sure that will work.
© Shawn Casemore 2013. All rights reserved.
