10 Ways to Adopt a Lean Culture Today

Building a Lean culture is not an easy task. A Lean culture starts with managers who understand and believe the implications of the system’s view and know the necessity of serving customers in order to succeed. The result of that understanding is a culture where a positive internal environment and the creation of delighted customers go together. It is a culture that naturally emphasizes continuous improvement of processes, one that results in a healthy workplace, satisfied customers, and a growing, profitable company.

The best leaders understand the present is nothing more than a platform for the envisioning of, and positioning for, the future. If you want to lead more effectively, shorten the distance between the future and present. Inspiring innovation and leading change call for more than process– they require the adoption of a cultural mindset.

Implementing Lean Thinking is a cultural change that requires leadership…because in the end it’s all about people. Here are 10 things your leadership can do right now to change the culture:

1. Define Your Vision and Values

A clear vision and values can guide your organization. A vision statement shows how your company sees itself in the future, complementing the mission and values you've developed. Your vision should describe your purpose, goals, and ideal state. Your values should reflect your principles, beliefs, and expectations. Communicating these throughout the business:

•           Gives employees information about why and how to optimize company processes or protocols
•           Helps employees understand the value of their specific contribution, which builds feelings of appreciation

2. Leaders Must Lead the Way

The leadership of the company has a significant influence on the company culture. For this reason, the leaders must be the ones to lead the way, open the conversation, and make examples. An important point here is that leaders in Lean manage the work, not the people. Focusing on workflow management will also create an environment of shared leadership, where everyone collectively contributes to the end result.

3. Challenge the Process

Continuous improvement encourages teams to question the status quo, seeking ways to optimize processes and minimize waste. They use Lean Thinking to look for innovative ways to improve the organization. In doing so, they experiment and take risks.

Don't miss the opportunity to identify the actions you need to improve the improve the process, while also being open to the knowledge and skills you need to develop. Challenging the process, particularly by searching for opportunities and experimenting and taking risks, is a key behavior to adopt in a Lean culture.

4. Eliminate Fear of Failure

Experiments will not always bring exceptional results. Not every new idea will be a winning move. For this reason, in a Lean culture, it is essential to show tolerance to failure. Otherwise, extreme criticism can create fear in your people and block experimentation.

A Lean culture is a learning culture, so it is of great importance to extract learnings from failures as much as from successes. Promote small-batch testing to minimize potentially harmful results from unsuccessful experiments. Also, as a company leader, make sure to speak openly about your failures and the learnings from them to give an example of how they should be analyzed and built on.

5. Empower Employees

Empowering employees is a key aspect of a Lean culture. This means giving employees the authority and resources they need to make decisions and improve processes. By empowering employees, organizations can tap into their knowledge and experience and create a culture of continuous improvement. This can be achieved by providing training, coaching, and support, and by creating a culture of collaboration and teamwork.

6. Train Employees

Training in Lean is essential for employees to understand how they are expected to work in the new culture. This cannot be a one-off activity though. Ensure they are taught specific Lean philosophies and Lean tools and supplement this with periodic training to help them stay current with the latest developments in Lean methodology. Leaders can go a long way to reinforce training by talking to employees about the training they have attended and how it has enabled them to be better practitioners of Lean.

7, Foster a Learning Environment

Continuous improvement depends upon employees learning and choosing to optimize their performance. In a Lean culture, company leaders help every employee continually learn new skills and advance their careers. This commitment to development usually encourages employees to be proactive about continually improving organizational processes. Strategies for fostering an environment of continuous learning and improvement include:

•  Developing internal training opportunities, such as courses or job shadowing
•  Sending employees to industry conventions, workshops, or conferences
•  Providing ways for employees to make suggestions about their department or the company
•  Soliciting anonymous feedback about aspects of the organization

8. Make Change Everyone’s Responsibility

Continuous improvement requires the participation of everyone in the organization. This includes the executive suite, management, and line workers. The continuous improvement program becomes effective when employees are engaged in developing the culture and are proactive in identifying areas for improvement. To do this, everyone should understand their role and contribution to the company’s continuous improvement program. Only by “rowing” together can the goals of the improvement program be achieved. Part of working together on this effort is sharing the responsibility of the program across the entire organization.

9. Create New Habits

Creating a continuous improvement culture requires changing people’s habits. Habits are the set of things that people do subconsciously on a daily basis. They are in fact very difficult to change. Part of the challenge of starting and sustaining a continuous improvement program is identifying a set of desired behaviors and continuously reinforce them. This can include training and retraining employees, helping people understand when their behaviors are misaligned with the continuous improvement efforts, and giving positive feedback to those who exemplifies the desired behaviors.

10. Celebrate success

Continuous improvement is hard. It requires employees to critically think about their work and examine potential ways of improving it. As your continuous improvement program begin to gain more momentum it is important to remember the people who make it possible. One way of sustaining the process is to regularly share success stories and recognize those involved. Many employees take pride in their work and are intrinsically motivated to improve them. They are simply looking for recognition and praise for a job well done.

Constant change is a business reality, and organizations must continually adapt to their environments to stay competitive or risk losing relevance and becoming obsolete. For each change, leaders must define it, create a vision of the post-change world, and mobilize their teams to make it.

Fundamentally, a change of culture occurs when people start behaving differently as a result of a change in the climate of the organization. There are many different models of how an organizational culture is shaped by the prevailing climate and how it can be assessed.

Leaders who protect the status quo through control must surrender to change in order to secure the future for their organization. Don’t be the leader who rewards herd mentality, and me too thinking. Don’t be the leader who encourages people not to fail or not to take risks. Be the leader who both models and gives permission to do the exact opposite of the aforementioned – be a leader who leads.

Lean success requires a change in mindset and behavior among leadership, and then gradually throughout the organization. So it follows that success in Lean implies a change in what leaders reinforce—a change in leadership behaviors and practices. Change begins when leaders start acting differently. It’s that simple (but not that easy).

Foster a Culture of Accountability in a Lean Organization

Lean leadership emphasizes a culture of accountability where individuals and teams are empowered to take ownership of their actions and outcomes. This fosters a continuous improvement mindset within the organization, driving efficiency and effectiveness.

Lean management is a leadership approach that supports continuous improvement through collaborative problem solving. Rather than leading from the top down, Lean managers strive to actively engage their teams in the improvement process in order to promote personal and organizational success.

The basic components of Lean management are:

• Standard work (SW). Tasks are broken into a series of steps that are followed by all team members. Standard work is continuously adjusted to decrease waste and add value until a state of perfection is reached.
• Visual controls. Team members have an opportunity to track their own performance in real time and adjust.
• Daily accountability process. The group comes together to review progress, refine processes and chart next steps.

Daily accountability throughout the organization, especially at the leadership levels, is the key to sustained transformation. Here are four reasons why accountability is so important to Lean management.

Accountability Builds Trust

Perhaps the most important result of accountability is trust, which is essential in any relationship.  Being accountable to something means that you’re willing to make commitments and be responsible for your own actions. This promotes trust between you and the people around you. When you allow yourself to be accountable to this trust, you’re effectively telling people that you’re going to admit it and make amends when the trust is broken.  In effect, you’re emphasizing how important and committed you are to the strategy.

Accountability Improves Performance

Accountability eliminates the time and effort you spend on distracting activities and other unproductive behavior. Research shows that some people have the tendency to engage in ineffective behavior. Without accountability, you may only catch these behaviors when mistakes and errors have already been made and your organization has already suffered the loss. By building a culture of accountability on the onset, you rid your organization of ineffective behavior, put the right people on the right jobs, and send the message that you’re serious about excellent work.

Accountability Promotes Ownership

When you make people accountable for their actions, you’re effectively teaching them to value their work.  Through positive feedback and corrective actions, they learn that their behavior and actions have an impact on the team. They’re not just floating members without clear roles to play – they’re important to your organization. When people know that they’re valued and important, they’re more driven to work hard. They learn to have a sense of ownership in what they do.

Accountability Inspires Confidence

When done right, accountability can increase your team members’ skills and confidence. Don’t mistake accountability for controlling behavior. The key is to provide the right support – give constructive feedback, improve on your members’ suggestions, give them freedom to decide, and challenge them to think of better solutions as a team.  When people know that you’re listening and concerned about their performance, they’re more likely to step up and do their best.

Given these reasons, it’s important that you build a culture of accountability from the start.  Remember that accountability is building a culture of trust and not fear.  Your goal is not to punish and look for errors and mistakes. Instead, you seek to open multiple feedback mechanisms, fill in gaps, improve on solutions, reward productive behavior, and remove unproductive ones. As a leader, you yourself should hold yourself to the highest level of accountability.

7 Steps for Leading Lean

Embarking on the journey of Lean is akin to setting sail into a vast ocean of continuous improvement and relentless pursuit of excellence. It’s a voyage that demands not only a steadfast commitment to the principles of Lean but also an unwavering dedication to fostering a culture of empowerment and respect within an organization. Lean leadership is not merely about streamlining processes and eliminating waste; it's about nurturing a mindset that embraces change, values employee contributions, and continuously seeks ways to enhance value for the customer.

Leadership commitment and support is critical for successful process improvement initiatives. Fortunately, it is not particularly complicated to make a difference. Here are seven steps that leaders can take to support Lean process improvement efforts.

1. Set Goals

Create a vision of the future state and determine where to focus your efforts. Lean is often surmised as doing the right things at the right time and cost. Set concrete goals with a time frame for when you want to achieve those goals.

2. Get Started

Successful leaders start immediately. They don’t drag their feet or put it off. They act on a goal right away, because they understand the power of momentum. They may not do the whole thing at once, but they do take a big step to get started. There is never a better time than now to get started.

3. Think Positive

This is the half-empty, half-full syndrome. Lean leader are optimists and believe the cup is always half full. They aren’t pie-in-the-sky types, but they see the positive side of an opportunity, and they believe in their ability to achieve their goals.

4. Take Action

Those who are successful take action, even on partial information. Too many people wait around until they think they have all the answers. But if you do that, you may wait forever. Lean leaders don’t proceed blindly, but they know that, once they have the critical details, they can make a decision and act accordingly.

5. Be Determined

Implementing Lean is no easy endeavor. There are so many variables that it is impossible to determine how things will proceed. You don’t know what will happen once you take the first step, so the only constants are the end vision and your determination to get there, even if the path doesn't unfold exactly as you envisioned.

6. Lead by Example

You must hold yourself accountable before you can hold anyone else. A leader implies followers are doing just that, following. If you want to be a leader, you must go to the source and see the actual condition from those that make it happen. It is from the Gemba that you have the best opportunity to coach improvement.

7. Learn From Your Mistakes

To be a good leader you have to take calculated risks, and you will certainly make some mistakes along the way. Admit them. Learn from them. Don't repeat them! Mistakes are a necessary part of the learning process.

Being a good leader may sound simple, but it is not easy. It requires tremendous strength of character. Almost all successful leaders will tell you that being extremely focused on the outcomes they wanted to create, trying many different approaches to achieving them, and staying the course all add up to success.

The journey of Lean leadership is one of transformation, both personal and organizational. It's a path that requires patience, humility, and a genuine desire to serve others. By embodying these principles and practices, leaders can guide their teams to achieve remarkable results and create an enduring legacy of excellence.

How Can You Be a More Effective Lean Leader

Lean thinking is fundamentally transforming the way organizations operate. The Lean principles of continuous improvement, respect for people, and a relentless focus on delivering customer value are making teams and organizations rethink the practices that might have guided them for decades.

For Lean to be truly effective, it needs effective Lean Leadership — to champion Lean principles, offer guidance, and ensure that Lean is being used to optimize the entire organizational system for value delivery.

Here are six things you can do to become a more effective lean leader.

Show Respect for People:

Respect for people is a fundamental principle of Lean Leadership. It involves creating a work environment where employees feel valued, empowered, and respected. Lean leaders listen to their teams, involve them in decisions, and support their growth and development with resources. Leaders create a respectful culture where employees can share ideas, skills, and knowledge to enhance processes and promote innovation.

Provide Vision and Purpose

Lean leaders need to establish a clear vision and purpose for the organization’s Lean journey. They should communicate the importance of Lean principles and how they align with the overall mission and strategic goals. A compelling vision provides direction and serves as a guiding light for employees, inspiring them to actively participate in Lean initiatives.

Lead by Example

Leaders must lead by example and demonstrate their commitment to Lean principles. They should participate in Lean practices like going to the workplace, solving problems, and making continuous improvements. By visibly practicing Lean principles and lean management tools, leaders inspire others and create a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

Go to the Gemba

A lean leader must go to the gemba as often as possible. They must be present on the job site on a regular basis, actively engaging with the people closest to the customer- rather than spending most of their time in the office or conference rooms. This, as a result, ensures that they are able to truly understand the real situation, allowing them to take effective actions to improve performance.

A true lean leader frequents the workplace both when things are going well, and when problem arise - otherwise, employees are less likely to communicate the real situation if their boss only shows up when problems occur.

Foster Collaboration and Communication

Lean leadership emphasizes collaboration and communication among team members. By fostering an environment of open communication and encouraging teamwork, you can promote idea sharing and problem solving. Consequently, this can lead to innovative solutions and a more cohesive team that is better equipped to achieve your lean goals.

Empower Your Team

Empowering your team is a key aspect of lean leadership. So, you need to give your team the tools and resources they need to identify and solve problems on their own. This means creating a culture of continuous improvement, where everyone is encouraged to contribute ideas and suggestions for improvement.

Lean leadership is all about commitment; commitment to your employees, commitment to the system and commitment to making changes towards improvement. The highest commitment in Lean Leadership has to be towards your employees; your people. In any company, the people working for it are it’s greatest asset. You need to listen to your people and ensure they have the right tools and knowledge to perform their jobs correctly. Lean leadership focuses more on working with your people rather than having your people work for you.

The Role of a Lean Leader

The Role of a Lean Leader: Building a Culture Beyond Tools

In many organizations attempting Lean transformations, there is a common—and critical—missing piece: lean leadership development. While Lean is often associated with tools like 5S, Kanban, or value stream mapping, these tools account for only a fraction of what’s needed for sustainable success.

Research by McKinsey & Company reveals that 70% of large-scale transformation programs fail, largely due to behavioral and cultural issues, not poor technical implementation. In Lean, that behavioral component is heavily driven by leadership. True Lean transformation depends not only on deploying process tools, but more importantly, on embedding Lean into the company culture—and that starts with leadership.

What Is Lean Leadership?

Lean leadership is a disciplined approach to leading people and managing processes with the aim of continuous improvement. It’s built on three core commitments:

• Commitment to people
• Commitment to the process
• Commitment to long-term improvement

Unlike traditional management, which often emphasizes top-down control and short-term gains, Lean leaders empower teams through Lean, foster trust, and build a culture of learning, experimentation, and collaboration. Their role extends far beyond management—they act as coaches, mentors, and enablers of success.

Lean leadership originated with Toyota’s Production System (TPS) in the mid-20th century. Toyota executives like Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo emphasized that leadership must be rooted in humility, respect for people, and a relentless pursuit of perfection. These ideals form the core of Lean culture, differentiating it from the traditional command-and-control leadership style.

Lean Culture vs Traditional Culture: A Shift in Mindset

Aspect	Lean Culture	Traditional Culture
Leadership Style	Servant leadership, coaching-based	Top-down authority, directive
Problem Solving	Frontline ownership and collaboration	Management-driven solutions
Communication	Transparent, two-way dialogue	Siloed, filtered communication
Employee Development	Continuous learning and mentoring	Periodic training or performance reviews
Metrics Focus	Value creation and flow	Output and efficiency
Risk and Innovation	Encouraged, fail-fast approach	Risk-averse, blame-oriented

Embedding Lean into company culture requires shifting not just processes—but people's thinking. That transformation begins with leaders modeling the right behavior every day

The Leadership Role in Lean Transformation

Here are the key responsibilities and behaviors that define effective Lean leadership:

1. Coach and Develop Others

One of the most powerful forms of leadership in Lean is coaching. Leaders should see themselves as mentors—guiding team members through problem-solving, encouraging experimentation, and developing technical and soft skills.

According to the Harvard Business Review, companies that make coaching a strategic priority report 30% higher employee engagement and significantly better retention. When leaders coach effectively, teams gain confidence, autonomy, and the tools they need to solve problems at the source.

2. Empowering Teams Through Lean

Lean leaders do not hoard decision-making power. They empower teams to take ownership of quality, problem-solving, and innovation.

For example, at Toyota, production team members have the authority to stop the assembly line using the “andon cord” whenever they detect an issue. This is a profound statement of trust—and a direct method of engaging people in quality assurance and continuous improvement.

This level of ownership fosters employee engagement in Lean initiatives, which has been shown to boost productivity by up to 21%, according to Gallup.

3. Facilitate Teamwork Across Departments

Cross-functional collaboration is essential in Lean. Silos are replaced by networks, and teamwork becomes the primary vehicle for improvement. Lean leaders are responsible for creating the environment where different departments collaborate to improve processes and reduce handoff delays.

Encouraging shared goals and open communication enhances workflow, minimizes friction, and enables practical Lean solutions on the shop floor.

4. Go to Gemba: Lead Where Value Is Created

One of the most distinctive Lean leadership behaviors is the Gemba Walk—visiting the actual place where work happens. This principle teaches that insights don’t come from spreadsheets or dashboards but from observing work firsthand and listening to the people doing it.

A Lean leader who walks the floor regularly:

• Gains firsthand insight into process challenges
• Builds trust with team members
• Identifies waste and opportunities for improvement in real time

Historically, Toyota executives spent at least 30% of their time at the Gemba, reinforcing the idea that leadership must stay grounded in operations to drive real change.

5. Challenge and Support Simultaneously

A Lean leader must strike a balance between challenging the team to stretch their limits and supporting them through that process. This involves setting high expectations, asking critical questions, and creating psychological safety so employees can take risks and learn from failure.

Encouraging a fail-fast, learn-fast mindset helps create a dynamic where innovation thrives and team members continuously push for better outcomes.

Driving a Continuous Improvement Mindset

The true Lean leader inspires a mindset of kaizen—continuous improvement—across all levels of the organization. They:

• Celebrate small wins
• Encourage experimentation
• Reward learning over perfection
• Measure what matters—value, flow, and customer satisfaction

Instead of reacting to problems, Lean leaders build systems where problems are exposed, discussed, and solved collaboratively. They foster a culture where everyone becomes a problem solver.

Embedding Lean Into Company Culture

Successfully embedding Lean into a company’s culture is not a quick initiative—it is a strategic commitment that evolves over time. It demands:

• Repeated reinforcement from leadership
• Structural alignment (incentives, roles, systems)
• Behavioral modeling at all levels

Lean leaders play the anchor role in this cultural shift. When they model transparency, humility, learning, and service, the organization begins to reflect those values.

Final Thoughts

The success of Lean doesn’t lie in how many tools your team has implemented—it lies in how deeply Lean leadership behaviors are ingrained in your company’s culture.

Leadership in Lean is not about control—it’s about creating conditions for people to succeed. Through lean leadership development, organizations can unleash the full potential of their workforce, empower frontline problem-solving, and sustain meaningful transformation over time.

In a world where adaptability, innovation, and engagement define competitive advantage, Lean leadership is not optional—it’s essential.

Insights from GE CEO Larry Culp’s Annual Report

Larry Culp, CEO of GE, their first outside CEO in 125 years has been leading their transformation using a Lean mindset. Many Lean practitioners and business leaders have been following GE’s performance. Recently Larry released the annual report and I really appreciate the lessons I found within. You can read the full report here.

1.     Grounded in purpose, values, and responsibilities.

GE’s purpose of building a better world beholden to shareholders, customers, and society.

This document always has been about more than our financial performance, though. It’s told the continuous story of GE’s culture and how our values are embedded in the purpose of building a better world. We remain acutely aware of and humbled by our responsibility to shareholders, customers, and society. And we recognize that our team still, and always, strives for results.

2.     Tackle challenges head on with clear goals.

Companies are in business to make a profit, so this is not a surprise but goal two is really about how they expect to accomplish goal one. Lean will ensure their efforts are both sustainable and culture changing.

We embraced reality head on, taking disciplined and deliberate steps to tackle our challenges while investing to protect what made GE special. We set two clear goals: One, improve our financial position to deal with our debt load. Two, improve our operations to strengthen our businesses. Lean, with its relentless focus on the customer and pursuit of continuous improvement, makes our efforts sustainable and is leading to lasting culture change.

3.     Embracing a Lean philosophy rooted in kaizen.

We’ve been taught there is always an opportunity for improvement and embracing the spirit kaizen will propel your business forward.

Belief in a better way has propelled this company forward since our earliest days. Today, in an ever-challenging environment, GE employees are embracing a lean philosophy rooted in kaizen, “change to make it better.” They are delivering for our customers by listening, learning, and executing. Step-by-step, one process at a time, they are advancing safety, quality, delivery, and cost, in that order, serving our customers and each other with deep respect.

4.     Empowering people leads to results.

When you combine compelling purpose with problem solving people within lean systems in my experience you’ll find increasingly better performance.

The merging of great people with great purpose. The connecting of plans and performance.

5.     Kaizen is the magic that frankly becomes addicting as the improvements build on themselves and grow.

Like the example below my experience is the same. Improvement begets improvement. It is infectious.

Enter lean… through a kaizen event at our Lynn, Massachusetts, plant… Our goal: Take that 75 hours down to under 32, with one mechanic working at a time.

By the end of the week, engineers and operators working together on the floor identified opportunities both big and small; saving hours of prep time by using a heat gun instead of an oven to treat a compressor rotor, for example. The result was reducing build time to just 11 hours with one operator, all the while enhancing safety and quality.

75 to 11 is the kind of change that takes your breath away. But to me, the best part was the fact that on Thursday of that week, the team was already talking about how they were going to do better than 11; what they could do next.

That is the spirit of lean and kaizen. Always getting better. Your mindset shifts to look for opportunities at the most granular levels, day in and day out, to enhance performance and eliminate waste.

These steps, scaled and compounded across our teams, help customers and support our own businesses. This “power of the ‘and’”, as Jim Collins would say, is the magic that frankly becomes addicting as the improvements build on themselves and grow.

6.     People are our passion.

Respect for people is a key pillar of the Toyota Production System intentionally as they solve problems. They are the solutions. They create opportunities. They are the lifeblood of the company.

With unmatched passion and talent, the people of GE remain at the heart of our efforts, including reinventing ourselves. Challenges can become opportunities when humility joins with optimism, leading us to believe that a better way is possible.

7.     Challenge just good enough culture.

Status quo must be challenged. The just good enough culture must be challenged.

Our goal has never been good enough, or a company that’s just better off. It is to build a world that works better. Period.

8.     Leadership, humility and gratitude.

Embrace every opportunity. As a leader your making a mark on the lives of others and the community you serve.

I’m grateful for the opportunity of a lifetime to work each day alongside this team.

9.     Larry Culp’s Photo (see above)

Many CEO’s would have a professional board room headshot but Larry has a photo from the Gemba. He’s on the shop floor perhaps in a kaizen but at least seeing where the value is created. More CEOs need to do this and set the example for their leadership teams.

It’s great to see both examples of Lean and leadership in the workplace and no less together. What do you think? Are there companies that can learn from Larry Culp and GE’s new approach with Lean? I can think of few in the news recently.

5 Ways to Accelerate Your Lean Roadmap

Many organizations have begun the journey to make their businesses lean. Some have reported early successes while others have struggled or fallen into the rut entitled "flavor of the month." As is usually the case with this kind of organization change, implementation precedes understanding. What follows are missteps, rework, confusion, organizational angst, and the aforementioned "flavor of the month" criticism.

As you continue your Lean Journey here are 5 ways to accelerate your roadmap:

Start With Lean Training for Everyone

The key to implementing any new idea or concept is training. It must be top down training so that everyone is on the same page. The more understanding of what lean manufacturing is all about, why you are implementing it and the expected benefits from it, the more likely you are to get buy-in.

It is very important that everyone in the company become committed to lean culture. In order to make the culture successful, managers and employees need to be aware of waste within the company and be prepared to attack and eliminate it. Making sure that the employees are empowered to do this, not just pushing the job off on someone else, is imperative in the proper function of lean culture.

Ensuring everyone is on the same page will help to avoid conflict. At the same time, it is important to ensure people have the space in which to think about what improvements they think need making.

Use Daily Management to Engage Employee in the Gemba

Lean organizations make use of Daily Management systems, a structured process to focus employee’s actions to continuously improve their day-to-day work. Daily Management empowers employees to identify potential process concerns, recommend potential solutions, and learn by implementing process changes. Daily Management, if done right, can be a critical tool in any organization’s toolbox to engage frontline staff in problem-solving and to deliver customer value.

Lean Daily Management includes three components: (1) alignment of goals and effort; (2) visual data management, daily huddles, and problem-solving; and (3) leader standard work.

Focus on Problem Solving

One of the most common mistakes that companies make when embarking on a Lean transformation is trying to do too much at once. These “boil-the-ocean” initiatives are long, costly and often end up stalling under the weight of their own ambition.

The PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act) is a simple and effective framework for lean problem-solving. It guides your employees through four steps: defining the problem and its scope, implementing a solution and testing its results, evaluating the outcome and identifying any gaps, and standardizing the solution and making further adjustments.

Empower Improvement with Kaizen

Kaizen events are a powerful improvement tool because people are empowered to come up with new ideas to help the business. Employees are isolated from their day-to-day responsibilities and allowed to concentrate all their creativity and time on problem-solving and improvement.

The purpose of kaizen is to involve everyone, everywhere, every day in making simple improvements. These small improvements add up overtime and result in an extraordinary and never-ending transformation of processes. Companies which use Kaizens have found they generate energy among those who work in the area being improved, and produce immediate gains in productivity and quality.

Seek Expert Help from Lean Sensei

A Lean coach or sensei provides the necessary guidance, support, and expertise to help organizations navigate their journey successfully. They guide teams in adapting to new ways of working and help them overcome any challenges encountered in the process based on their extensive experience and knowledge of Lean. They help organizations identify inefficiencies in their processes and implement effective solutions.

The challenge with lean is that, despite its attraction to many executives who want to cut costs and increase productivity, a lean process doesn’t happen overnight. There are plenty of obstacles to overcome.