Becoming Lean Isn’t about Lean
January 9th, 2007 by HalIt's not easy being lean if you can't manage the change project. "I don’t see organizations having a structured way to manage the daily activities of their change process and waste elimination. I don’t see organizations having a way to monitor and measure the influence or impact of their projects," Michael Kuta, in an iterview for Lean Deployment is Coming Into Its Own.
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January 11th, 2007 at 9:22 am
The very fact that they don’t have a “structured way” to handle change is a statement for the need, though. Standard Work is foundational and very few have standard work, even those who pass ISO9001-esqe certifications.
Higher order Standard Work for management is even more elusive.
One thing you have always modeled and taught well, Hal, is the need to learn. Lean allows one to learn as one goes along.
February 5th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
We always overlook that people resist change. People are no different at work than at home. People have habitual ways of doing things, and find it hard to change even when it’s good for them. That’s why it’s so hard to diet your way to weight loss for example. Lean is a different way to work. But those people at work have been doing things a certain way for years. They won’t change just because we trained them.
I love this post. To me it highlights the two facets improvement. On the one hand we need knowledge, expertise. Lean has methods, processes even tools that must be understood and taught. But that is not enough. Lean has to be introduced in a way that removes our natural tendency to resist change. Management cannot mandate Lean, because Management cannot mandate Change. A structured approach would be good. But I think it goes deeper then that.