Lean Quote of the Day, May 14, 2010

On Fridays 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.

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."
- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, 1749-1832, German Poet, Dramatist, Novelist

This quote is really about the tipping point between analysis paralysis and just do it.  The tipping point is when an idea, trend, behavior, product, or message creates enough critical mass crossing a threshold where change becomes unstoppable. It is this epidemic of change that many seek to make their Lean journey sustainable.  In the post The Tipping Point of Lean Culture the three rules (or agents of change) by Malcolm Gladwell are explained in terms of creating a Lean culture.  These elements are essential in all transformations.

Many organizations are waiting for the optimum time to change.  Unfortunately, tomorrow never comes.  If you allow it you will always find another distraction.  There is never a better time to start than now.  We really must invest everyday in our future since you can't get back lost time.

To make this transformation possible the workforce must have the ability and expectation that they can make changes for the better.  This requires committed leadership to act now and remove all obstacles and excuses prohibiting change.



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The Lean Farmer: Desirable Attributes of a Lean Coach

Leadership is regularly discussed whenever the subject is organizational change.  Lean conversions and leading the ongoing lean operation require determined leaders and effective leadership. Successful leaders behave in a particular way with certain desirable attributes.

This leadership role has many names.  Whether you call them a sensei, champion, coach, or leader; the role is no less critical for the organization to be successful.  I am not one that pays much attention to titles but for this post I chose Coach because it is so fitting.  A Coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a team or of individual.

The following characteristics are desirable for a good Lean Coach: 

1. Active-learner open to new ideas
2. Natural problem-solving skills
3. Basics technical skills (comfortable with spreadsheets, graphs, data, etc.)
4. Keen Observer
5. Hands-on
6. Passionate about improving processes
7. Leadership skills
8. Strong interpersonal skills
9. Excellent communicator (writing & speaking)
10. Systems thinkers (able to understand process flows, etc.)

These characteristics alone don't make a Lean Coach.  The Lean Coach must have technical knowledge in the lean tools and tacit knowledge from experience.  Nobody is born knowing these principles and how to implement them.  Everyone has to learn them through practice, trial and error, and coaching.  Success is not based on who you are but rather on what you do. Behaviors can be learned and unlearned. 

Being a teacher is the most important aspect for a Lean Coach.  They are not the ones to come in and do it for you.  They are the ones to show you how to do it with confidence so that you will be able to do it for yourself.  A Lean Coach must be relentless in teaching and expecting learning through actual practice.

The best analogy of a Lean Coach that I have heard is related to agriculture. The Lean Coach is a farmer not a hunter.  Farmers take the long view, and win in the long term.  Hunters take the short view, get early gains but ultimately die out.  Farmers are shepherds.

What characteristics of a Lean Coach do you find desirable in your experience?

If you enjoy this post you may want to connect with me on Linkedin or follow me on Twitter.  You can also subscribe to this feed or email to stay updated on all posts.  For those Facebook fans join A Lean Journey on our facebook fan page.

5 Questions Answered by Tim McMahon

Kevin Meyer and Bill Waddell from the blog Evolving Excellence have a series called 5 Questions.  This is where you can learn more information on some of the lean manufacturing and business transformation thought leaders.  The 5 questions are:

1. Who are you, what organization are you with, and what are some of your current lean-oriented activities?

2. How, when, and why did you get introduced to lean and what fueled and continues to fuel the passion?

3. In your opinion what is the most powerful aspect of lean?

4. In your opinion what is the most misunderstood or unrecognized aspect of lean?

5. In your opinion what is the biggest opportunity for lean in today's world?  How can that be accomplished?

Yours truly answers these questions so you can learn more about the man behind A Lean Journey.

1.  Who are you, what organization are you with, and what are your current lean-oriented activities?

I am the Founder and Contributor of A Lean Journey Blog. This site is dedicated to sharing lessons and experiences along the Lean Journey in the Quest for True North. The blog also serves as the source for learning and reflection which are critical elements in Lean Thinking.

Since I believe you should practice what you preach, my day job is a Lean practitioner with more than 10 years of Lean manufacturing experience.  I currently lead continuous improvement efforts for OFS, a high tech manufacturer fiber optic cables and assemblies for several plants in the Northeast.  Currently a major focus is teaching problem solving skills, lean countermeasures, and how to see opportunities for improvement by actively learning, thinking and engaging our workforce.

I have also been supporting the AME Northeast Region Board of Directors as the Social Media Lead. This role is to identify how to best leverage social media tools for increasing networking within AME's Northeast Region. Social media tools include LinkedIn, Twitter, Slideshare, YouTube, Facebook, etc. I contribute with others on AME's Social Media Council to build AMEConnect, a members-only online networking site, and build presence and content on Facebook and Twitter channels.

You can learn more about me on LinkedIn - Tim McMahon, follow me on Twitter - @TimALeanJourney, or be a fan on A Lean Journey Page.

To see my answers to the remaining questions head over to 5 Questions-Meet Tim McMahon on Evolving Excellence.

You can also visit the About Me section of A Lean Journey Blog to learn more.

Lean Quote of the Day, May 7, 2010

On Fridays 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.

“Kanban is like the milkman. Mom didn’t give the milkman a schedule. Mom didn’t use MRP. She simply put the empties on the front steps and the milkman replenished them. That is the essence of a pull system” – Ernie Smith, Lean Event Facilitator in the Lean Enterprise Forum at the University of Tennessee

While many organizations utilize kanban systems for pull production they still rely on ERP/MRP  for purposes of planning.  How do you know if your ERP system is working for you? 

Check these 10 warning signs to see if your ERP system is killing your business.


1. The ERP system can’t integrate mission-critical business data.
2. Changes to the system are costly and time-consuming.
3. Your disaster-recovery plan involves tapes.
4. Beefy PCs or “fat clients” are needed to run the system.
5. Maintenance fees are high.
6. You can’t access the data easily if you are traveling.
7. Upgrades are disruptive to the business.
8. Trading partners can’t easily interact with the system.
9. New employees need time to learn the system.
10. Globalization is too difficult.

Now, if you are unsure of the issues that a poorly run ERP system can cause then I suggest you revisit CIO.com's brief and semi-chronological history of 10 famous ERP disasters, dustups and disappointments as a warning.

I believe that ERP and Lean are compatible and beneficial if done correctly. The problem is we often let the ERP solution run our business instead of making the software suit our business needs.

Removing Resistance to Change

This is a guest post by Tony Manos a 5S champion at 5S Supply. Tony is a business advisor with Profero, Inc., Inc., where he provides professional consulting services, implementation, coaching and training to a wide variety of organizations, large and small, private and public, in many industries focusing on Lean Enterprise and Lean Healthcare. He is also the co-author of the book "Lean Kaizen: A Simplified Approach to Process Improvement", author of many articles on Lean and its allied subjects and presents at many conferences each year. Tony contributes to the 5S Supply Blog and you can follow on twitter at @5SSupply.

While contemplating the 5^th S, "Sustain" of 5S I was thinking about resistance from people that seems to be prevalent when trying to implement a solid 5S system. We all know about change management and how important it is to have management's commitment for a program like this.

I think we need to take it even a step further, down to the individual's level. Let's discover why there is resistance and see what we can do to eliminate or reduce it. Then it dawned on me that I could use one of the tools from my days as a quality manager to help look at the forces involved with a change like this called Force Field Analysis.

The purpose of using Force Field Analysis

From the Memory Jogger II it says "To identify the forces and factors in place that support or work against the solution of an issue or problem so that the positives can be reinforced and/or the negatives can be eliminated or reduced." I think this is a great application of this tool to help people understand what they may be facing with their 5S program.

How to use Force Field Analysis

Draw a large "T" on a piece of paper or flip chart with the left column for "Driving Forces" and the right column for "Forces Against Change". Write the proposal in the middle at the top. For example, we can say "Having all our employees actively engaged in our 5S system." Now with your team, brainstorm ideas or reasons why people would be for the change or against the change. Have the team come to consensus on the intensity of the force based on a scale of 1-5 (1=low, 5= high). You can total the numbers at the bottom of the column and see if you have net support or resistance. It is critical at this point that you have the team brainstorm ideas that will either help support the forces for or mitigate the forces against. You can write these next to the item in the column. Finally, using these ideas put together a plan to implement these items.

It is important to follow-up with this to make sure you are on target. Check your results. Is your 5S implementation getting better? Do you have less resistance to change? Consider capturing "Lessons Learned" so you can improve the process for other Lean initiatives.

Wrap-up

Change management and leading change are deep and rich subjects that go far beyond what I could write in a blog. This is just one tool that could help us get more people onboard and to help us create a world-class 5S organization. Test it out, try it yourself and see what happens. I hope this helps. Let me know what you think.

Guest Post on 5S Supply Blog

Today I have a guest post on the 5S Supply Blog entitled Sustaining with Layered Audits.  The Layered Audit approach is especially effective in sustaining process improvements and institutionalizing key process steps because all levels of the organization participate. Layered Audits are tied directly into the fifth S – Sustain – and they are the means used in Lean Improvement Systems to avoid “backsliding” into old habits, creating sustainable culture change.  To learn more continue reading the article at 5S Supply Blog by clicking here.


5S Supply Blog is written by Tony Manos a 5S champion at 5S Supply. Tony is a business advisor with Profero, Inc., Inc., where he provides professional consulting services.  You can also follow Tony on twitter at @5SSupply.

Leadership: The Power of Influence

Leadership is about power.  A leader needs to lead and is only a leader with followers.  Getting people to follow you in a direction they are going anyway is not leading.  The challenge is to get people to follow in a direction they might not otherwise go.  Leaders must have a sense of direction, often referred to as vision.  They must share this vision and get others to buy into it and actively help achieve it.  If they can do this we call that power.

French and Raven, who authored "The Bases for Social Power" in 1959, are commonly cited in management texts for defining a model for how to influence people.  Here are the five significant categories of power:

Legitimate – The power of an individual because of the relative position and duties of the holder of the position within an organization. Legitimate power is formal authority delegated to the holder of the position.

Coercive – Power from the application of negative influences. It includes the ability to demote or to withhold other rewards. The desire for valued rewards or the fear of having them withheld that ensures the obedience of those under power. Coercive power tends to be the most obvious but least effective form of power as it builds resentment and resistance from the people who experience it.

Reward – The power to control some type of reward and offer it contingent upon being followed.   This could be a tangible reward like money or an intangible reward like praise. This power is obvious but also ineffective if abused. People who abuse reward power can become pushy or became reprimanded for being too forthcoming or 'moving things too quickly'.

Charismatic – When you have charisma, people simply want to follow you.  There is some sort of animal magnetism that exudes a force that moves people to do as you request.  A person may be admired because of specific personal trait, and this admiration creates the opportunity for interpersonal influence.

Expert – An individual's power deriving from the skills or expertise of the person and the organization's needs for those skills and expertise. Unlike the others, this type of power is usually highly specific and limited to the particular area in which the expert is trained and qualified.

As can be seen each of the powers is created by the followers belief, if the follower does not hold the requisite belief than then the leader is not able to influence them.

      - Legitimate power needs follower to believe leader has right to instruct them.
      - Coercive power needs follower to believe leader will punish them.
      - Reward power needs follower to believe leader will reward them.
      - Charismatic power needs follower to believe leader has desirable qualities.
      - Expert power needs follower to believe leader is an expert.

Whether the follower's beliefs are correct is irrelevant, the beliefs alone will determine the type of power, a leader has over the follower.

A good leader is apt to use all of these sources of power at one time or another.  I once heard a leader's use of influence is like singing.  If one only belts out one note there's no song. But if you have many notes, the song sounds like real music.

Leaders know how to lead, and leading means using power effectively.  Effective leaders learn over time how and when to use all of these sources of power.

What sources of power do you use?  Which sources do you find the most effective?

If you enjoy this post you may want to connect with me on Linkedin or follow me on Twitter.  You can also subscribe to this feed or email to stay updated on all posts.  For those Facebook fans join A Lean Journey on our facebook fan page.