I am always interested in how to get people started on their lean journey and also how different cultures and companies behave, learn and progress on their journey. What I have seen working in India and here in US is that many times people get intimated by the change when you throw in all the lean jargon and fancy Japanese words. I learned about lean for more than a year at the beginning of my career without knowing that it is called “Lean”. It was just systematic application of common sense to solve problems and improve every day.
Many people start on the journey and few continue long enough to realize organization-wide transformation. Reasons may vary from place to place. The most common one is lack of commitment to continuous improvement from the top management. Other one which may not be realized by many trying to transform the company is the change in the management from traditional to Lean management. The biggest, and also least known, reason for not continuing is not being able to transform the mentality of the people involved.
Most people start on their lean journey because there is a desperate need. This may be increased cost, very long lead times which ultimately may lose a customer or close the whole business. This is their “Burning Platform”. This is often the motivation that gets many people started on lean journey but if they fail to transform the management to lean management and managers to lean manager, then they will go back to their old ways once the problem is solved. Burning platform is the opportunity to get into everyone’s mind because that is the time it is open for change. This change is possible by changing the habits, one the tools to facilitate this change is Leader Standard Work. You religiously do the right thing every day till it becomes a habit.
