Ease into (Lean Project) Cold Water — Not!
January 10th, 2008 by HalOur inclination is to ease into new situations. We take baby steps thinking that it is the safe way to engage in something new. Two of my sons just went sky diving. There's no reasonable way to ease out of the plane…particularly when you are jumping tandem. There's no reasonable way to ease into cold water. How do I know? I've tried it. I suspect many of you have tried it too!
"…incremental change promotes a parochial outlook and attitude"
Lean practices are as shocking as cold water. There's no sense easing into lean. It only extends the pain. We know that lean thinking is superior to conventional wisdom. What most people don't know is how to engage in the new lean practices. Jump in!
In Like Pulling Off a Band-Aid, Marshall Lager interviewed Benham Tabrizi, author of Rapid Transformation. Tabrizi argues that transformation is easier than incrementalism.
"Although incremental change (kaizen) should be a routine part of any good manager's — or leader's — job, it promotes a parochial outlook and attitude in the rank-and-file if it becomes too routine…Through incremental change, the thirst for out-of-box thinking is lost."
He goes on to say that significant change can happen in 90 days when we get in the cold water.
Rapid Transformation reminds me of Radical Leap, by Steve Farber. Both authors call for dramatic sustained action…often counter to our common sense. From my experience, nothing less will succeed.
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January 11th, 2008 at 9:50 am
To continue the skydiving metaphor, when you make that leap out of the plane, you have complete faith that the parachute will open. Many lean transformations never get off the ground because management wants to “stick their foot in the water” by doing small pilot tests of this lean tool or another. Because lean is a system approach this never works. As in skydiving, you can’t just take small incremental steps, you have to make a leap of faith. In my mind, a company that is serious about transforming themselves needs to do the same. They need to make the leap and never look back. Yes, it is scarey and requires courage and discipline and is not easy.