Lean Leadership Q&A

Many of our readers provided feedback on our Lean Leadership article that appeared in the Transformance Communiqué earlier this year. Some of the questions from our readers help emphasize how difficult it can be to lead the cultural transformation for any organization. The following questions and answers highlight some of the challenges:

Question 1: As the executive sponsor for a number of lean projects, I was pleased to see your recommendations on how I should track the accomplishments for each project team. I was discouraged at seeing the poor job I have doing in this critical role. I must confess that I’m not really sure how to probe my team to evaluate the effectiveness of their value steam mapping activities. Can you provide some tips of the trade? - KF, San Francisco.

Answer 1: Quizzing your team is a critical aspect of evaluating the value stream mapping activities of your lean projects. Some tips of the trade include:

Focus on the start and finish of the current state value stream map. What triggers the start in terms of information or materials? What constitutes the finish and what is provided to the customer of the value stream? These boundaries are critical for ensuring your team has the correct scope and you are comfortable with their understanding of the challenge.

Take a quick count of the number of activities on the current state map. My rule of thumb is 20 to 25 activities suggest the map is at the right level of detail. Fewer activities suggest the scope is too small or the team has not gotten to the level of detail where waste has been clearly identified.

For a current state map, ask numerous questions about what happens when there is defective information or materials at any point in the value stream. If the problems with defects are not clearly identified, then send your team back to the drawing board. I have done this numerous times with my teams as a map that does not identify the waste indicates that the team is not ready for the next step.

For a future state map, ask numerous questions about how the new methods will address the waste that was identified in the current state map. Also probe the team to ensure they have investigated best practices and are recommending a solution that leverages knowledge gained by exploring what others are doing. Be very skeptical of recommendations that call for complete automation through big investments in software or other technology.

Consider taking our Lean Leadership seminar. We developed this 4 hour event just for those in your situation. We believe this event provides the best “how to” materials for those seeking to leverage the “systematic application of executive sponsorship techniques”.

 

Question 2: I like your comment about everyone using the same cookbook. We have several lean “experts” at our company. They gained their experience at other companies and each expert seems to be using a random shotgun approach. This is causing confusion and wasted efforts. What do you suggest? - MB, Dallas.

Answer 2: Your situation is very common and it is critical for your company to teach everyone that lean is the systematic elimination of waste. The key term is systematic and you must get your lean experts using the same approach or chaos is inevitable. Some suggestions:

Be consistent in the description of the basic lean concepts you will leverage. For example – it’s the 5S System, not the 6S Program; it’s 7 types of waste, not 8 forms of waste, and the list of variations goes on and on. You must be consistent.

You should document the standards that your company will follow. At a minimum, you need consistent approaches such as the 6 steps of value stream mapping, the 4 elements of a lean supply chain, the format of standard operating procedures, and a number of other standard methodologies in the lean tool kit.

Your lean experts should all take a refresher course that aligns with what your organization is doing. It’s not an issue of different approaches being wrong; it’s the issue of confusing the message and wasting time during your kaizen blitz events.

Consider the requirement that every lean expert at your company must be a Certified Lean Master (CLM) and must practice the methodology prescribed in the CLM program. We have had several organizations send their experts through our CLM program for the exact situation you have described.

Question 3: My boss seems content to simply discuss our lean efforts during 10 minutes of his weekly staff meeting. This has led to a situation where all of our improvements are internally focused and we are not attacking the big cross functional opportunities. What should I do? - SS, Baltimore

Answer 3: Many lean programs become narrowly focused when there is a lack of leadership or when serious attention is not taken during development of the business case for each project. Some thoughts for you to consider:

Be cautious when your boss seems leery of going after those big cross functional opportunities. Is it your boss or does someone else higher up the chain have other priorities? Are these other priorities more important than taking on the big cross functional opportunities?

Schedule a one-on-one with your boss and seek clarification on why there is a low emphasis on lean efforts. What are the challenges that your boss has to deal with and how can you help?

Gather information on some significant opportunities and craft a discussion on how significant improvements can be made by leveraging lean concepts that focus on the systematic elimination of waste. Show some passion and let your boss now that you are hungry to work on an improvement that will deliver big results.

If your organization has a history of not building a solid business case for working on value streams that cross functional boundaries, then find a way for you and your boss to take our Lean ROI seminar. We developed this 4 hour event just for those who have trouble getting lean initiatives approved.

 

I’d like to thank everyone that provided feedback and questions. At Transformance Advisors, we are committed to helping organizations craft sustainable lean supply chains. We know how difficult the challenges of a cultural transformation can be; our educational events are designed to teach you how to succeed. For more information, please send an email to lean@emailta.com.