Creating a Lean Culture

Culture can be defined as the day-to-day experience of the ordinary worker.  Many think culture creates successful results but the contrary is true.  Performance drives culture.  If there is success, people tend to exhibit enthusiasm for change, great support, great teamwork, and great management.

Although Lean often involves revolutionary change, culture change is evolutionary, day by day.  A "Lean" culture is characterized by two learning elements: Humility and Respect.

Learning begins with humility.  The more you strive for Lean, the more you realize how little you know, and how much there is yet to learn.  A sure sign of impending failure is a manager who claims to "know it all" or says "we have tried that…"

Respect is to make every effort to understand others, accept responsibility, and build mutual trust.  Respect for people is the second pillar of the House of Toyota and means recognizing the value of your people through developing them. 

Leaders need to be mindful of their role in creating culture change.  Here are seven ways to initiate this evolution and learn respect and humility, day by day:

1. Really Listen.  Look at people when they talk.  Give them your undivided attention. Ask follow-on questions during the conversation.
   
   
2. Don't waste time.  If you keep employees or customers waiting you are saying to them "your time is not as important as mine"
   
   
3. Go to the Gemba.  Go see for yourself at the place the work is done.  If you allow a worker to use a machine that produces defects, you are in effect telling the worker their work does not matter.
   
   
4. Develop people.  Encourage learning, teamwork and continuous improvement.  Build knowledge in problem solving thinking and countermeasures.
   
   
5. Acknowledge the accomplishments of others. If things go well, give away the credit. If things go poorly, take the fall. This humble approach will ensure your team rallies behind you.
   
   
6. Temper authority. Don't use authority just because you have it. Encourage your people to make decisions, set their own goals, and take responsibility as often as possible.
   
   
7. Promote others often. Grooming talent is good for your organization and for you as a leader. Promote people around you, giving them opportunities to match or even surpass your success.
   
   

Achieving a Lean culture with humility and respect requires constant demonstration over a long period of time.  Remember the shop floor is a reflection of management.  You can't listen and learn if you don't go to the Gemba.

Quote of the Day December 11, 2009

On Friday’s I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.


Feel free to share some of your favorites here as well.

"Continuous improvement is not about the things you do well - that's work. Continuous improvement is about removing the things that get in the way of your work. The headaches, the things that slow you down, that’s what continuous improvement is all about." - Bruce Hamilton
 
If you like this quote then check out an earlier post about Bruce's video "Toast Kaizen" and learn how making toast can teach you about lean.

Simple Visual Poka Yoke at a Hotel

While staying at a hotel recently I noticed a simple visual poka yoke. Poka yoke is the Japanese term for mistake proofing. In this case a two cable phone jack is color coded and labeled to indicate the phone line and the modem line.

This picture is a little hard to see but the phone line is colored black and the modem line is colored red. Below you can see the red line or modem line connecting into a desktop port.

This visual prevents mistakes of plugging the phone or a computer into the wrong line. The simplicity of this poka yoke illustrates that solutions don't need to be costly or complicated.  I am impressed to see the hotel management embrace problem solving in a way that allows their employees to get involved.  Now any employee can reconnect the lines should they become disconnected. 

Many of us have lines at our home or office that we could use a technique like this to prevent plugging devices into the wrong lines.  What type of poka yoke solutions do you use in your work and living spaces?

Coping with the Resistance to Change

Conditions within and outside organizations are constantly changing.    It follows, therefore, that the way work is organized and accomplished must change periodically to cope with changing conditions. The only constant is "change" itself and successful organizations by definition do this better than anyone else.

Anyone who has worked in or led an organization's transformation understands change is not easy.  People tend to resist change naturally.  This is especially true with organizational and infrastructure type changes.  To cope with resistance one needs to understand why it occurs and how it can be overcome.

Here are the most common reasons why people resist change:

1. Self- Interest – People fear that change will cause them to lose something they once had.  For example, when a corporate president decided to create a new vice presidency for product development, the existing vice presidents for manufacturing and marketing resisted because they feared losing their right to approve or veto new product decisions.
   
   
2. Misunderstanding and Lack of Trust – A change starts as a vision in the mind of its sponsor.   If people don't trust that individual, they will suspect that she or he has hidden and harmful motives for proposing the change.  For example, a union opposed a company's proposal of flexible scheduling (flextime) because they didn't trust the personnel manager who suggested it.
   
   
3. Different Assessments – When people view a problem from different perspectives, they will perceive different causes and cures for it.   Therefore, they may see a change as tackling the wrong cause and proposing a fruitless solution.  For example, sanitation department employees felt their pick-up delays were due to equipment breakdowns so they resented the city replacing their supervisor – they felt the planned change was inappropriate.
   
   
4. Low Tolerance For Change – People sometimes resist change because they fear they will be unable to handle the new conditions competently. They also may resist breaking up comfortable social relations with co-workers.  For example, individuals have turned down transfers and promotions because they weren't sure they could handle being supervisors and they didn't want to give up the friendships with co-workers that had developed over the years.
   
   

There are five major ways this resistance to change can be dealt with.  Each is especially appropriate when certain conditions exist as shown in the table below: 

When this occurs:	Use This Method:
Employees poorly understand or have little or inaccurate information about the problem.	Provide, in advance, as much information as possible about the change and your reasons for it.
You don't have all the information needed to design the change and where others have considerable power to resist.	Allow the people who will be affected by the change to participate in deciding what needs to be done and how to implement the changes to be made.
People are resisting because they feel put out and inconvenienced by having to change from familiar to new circumstances.	Help people adjust to the new conditions by making the change as comfortable as possible.
Someone (or a group) clearly will lose out in a change and they have considerable power to resist.	Negotiate with them so they feel somewhat compensated for what is to be lost due to change.
Speed is essential and you have considerable power to enforce your will.	Announce and enforce the change with certainty and firmness.

These methods usually are used in combination and they are successful when employed with realistic awareness of the situation in which change is to occur. 

The infrastructure of an organization often changes in a lean transformation.  When trying to empower employees in a flow environment it is necessary to break down traditional organizational silos and hierarchical structures.  If you understand people's resistance to these changes you will be better equipped to prevent their resistance to change.

Quote of the Day 12/4/09

On Friday’s I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

Feel free to share some of your favorites here as well.

“There are three kinds of leaders. Those that tell you what to do. Those that allow you to do what you want. And Lean leaders that come down to the work and help you figure it out.” – John Shook

Take Xtreme Lean's 5S Quiz Then Try the Videos to Learn More

I recently came across a great little 5S quiz to test your knowledge on 5S. You can even get a certificate of your accomplishment. How well do you know the 5 S’s?

This quiz was created by Jeff Hofstetter. Jeff is the President of Xtreme Lean Consulting with over 24 years' experience in Lean and Six Sigma Consulting. On their website you will find valuable information about Lean Business practices, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma Quality, and how to implement solutions to improve your business

While checking out the Xtreme Lean Consulting webpage I came across a number of engaging and simply illustrated videos that everyone can comprehend. The animated videos cover a wide range of topics including 5S visual workplace, six sigma tools, and lean business.

Check out Jeff’s newest video on water spiders. Water spiders is a lean manufacturing techniques used to keep value added tasks functioning in an efficient and effective way.

How to Make Better Decisions

Decision making is an essential part of business in all organizations. In traditional companies this power is typically held by few managers at the top of the organizational ladder. Lean companies however strive to empower their employees to make decisions at all levels through access to data, knowledge of evaluation methods, and defined standard processes. Nevertheless, decisions are necessary in all organizations and the following these guidelines can be beneficial.

1. Timing. Neither making snap decisions nor always having to “sleep on it” is the best approach to the time factor involved in making decisions. Make your decisions based upon the circumstance and the time available. Within the realm of practicality, give yourself enough time to take the following decision-making steps.


2. Define the problem. Be careful not to confuse symptoms of the problem with the real problem.


3. Identify the options. Try to get at least four alternatives. Since you may be too close to the situation, seek others’ input.


4. Gather the facts. In order to evaluate your options, you must gather the facts about the ramifications of choosing each option. List both the pros and cons of each option.


5. Evaluate the options. Usually this will include a comparison of costs, time required to implement and the expected end result of each option.


6. Choose and put into effect. Key, and often neglected, aspects of implementing decisions are to communicate the decision to the affected parties, outline why the decision was made, why the particular option was picked, what actions are required on their part and what beneficial results are expected.

There are several common pitfalls in decision making that should be avoided if you want to be effective.

1. Deciding alone. There are many benefits to consulting with others on a decision: gaining different perspectives, more resources to draw upon and more commitment to the decision by those consulted.


2. Every decision a major decision? Not every decision requires a lengthy decision-making process. Don’t get bogged down with minor problems. If they’re minor, make a reasonable decision and move on.


3. “The last time I was wrong was when I thought I made a mistake.” No one is always right. If you’ve made a bad decision, admit it and get started on fixing it. Remember – it’s impossible to force a bad decision into being a good one.


4. “Boy! I sure wish I hadn’t.” Just the opposite of pitfall #3. Because no one can be right all the time, don’t waste your energy regretting bad decisions. Get on to current issues.


5. Failing to use past precedent. Maybe the same problem has come up before and been effectively solved. Perhaps, if it has come up enough, there is a company policy that covers it.

Not every decision will be right but if you avoid these pitfalls and follow these six guidelines you will find you have many more right decisions than wrong decisions. Remember, the only thing worse than a wrong decision is no decision.