Lean tool mindset versus Lean Business – You decide.

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Lean tool mindset versus Lean Business – You decide.
Most lean implementations take an overly simplistic, single dimensional view of lean – what we call a “lean tool mindset.” This limited view of lean focuses on cross-functional teams, use of some lean tools such as value stream mapping, Kanban systems, Kaizen, etc., and lots of talk about “culture and behavior change.” 

This is not lean.

Lean is a way of running a business first and foremost. Most leaders sponsoring lean implementations get excited about “driving waste out of production processes – thus operating more efficiently, but they rarely make the link to operating the business differently. The link between lean and the need to redesign their organization is not made. Yet, successful implementation of lean demands an organization redesign.

Done correctly, integrating and embedding lean practices into a business requires front-line staff to take greater responsibility and accountability for driving waste out of the core production processes. To achieve an organization that is capable of doing this, there are universal critical success factors that include:

• Leaning out the end-to-end, core value creating processes
• Greater localized decision making
• Flattened structures to support localized decision making
• Replacement of functional boundaries with end-to-end, value stream boundaries
• Re-aligning of roles, responsibilities and ways of working to fit with the redesigned process and structures
• Major shifts in information flow, access to information and key metrics
• Drastic changes in line, middle and executive managers roles
• Change in reward and incentives to reinforce the required behaviors

As you can tell by the points above, lean is a significant change initiative. But with any real culture change – either you deliberately design for the culture you want or you end up with a pseudo-culture change program via training programs – that ultimately don’t stick or deliver the expected return-on-investment.

All too often, our customers (before talking to us) have learned this the hard way, counting on us to use our 20+ years in successful organization design and transformation work to fix the gaps in their lean efforts. But a careful and measured approach to lean implementation with an organization design “lens” applied can significantly increase the success of your efforts quickly AND provide a sustained ROI. If you get stuck or want to know more about the relationship between Lean, Organization Design and Business Transformation -- you can “lean” on us with any questions you may have as you move forward.