Lean Journey to the Centre of Excellence
Let’s be clear, being Lean is a way of thinking, a journey with no destination – it is not a one-size-fits-all fixed model with a distinct set of controlled steps. Begin a Lean journey with a predetermined end date and the endeavour will ultimately fail. Establishing a Lean centre of excellence is about nurturing a mindset that enables and empowers Lean thinking and repeatable activities to flourish from within, allowing the people involved in a process, practice or solution to take ownership and learn how to be instinctive thinkers, effective problem solvers, assured decision makers and focused experimenters. Lean is not managed from the top-down, but steered from the inside out with clear recurring feedback opportunities that allow for small, continual practice, process and solution improvements to be identified and implemented in a flexible culture of learning that is open, resourceful and responsive to change.
While there is no prescriptive model or predetermined steps to success in a Lean journey, there is, of course, a loose roadmap to follow that organically changes with the landscape as a result of the continual feedback and improvements that are core elements of Lean.
Vision and Principles
Current business jargon refers to a Burning Platform, from which there is little option but to jump – the catalyst for change. The Burning Platform is often used as the impetus to begin a Lean journey, the argument against organisational stagnation that is ultimately damaging. However, I consider the Burning Platform analogy is suggestive of an urgent and sudden leap into the unknown with no plan or vision, yet like any great or lengthy journey, good planning is essential if the journey is to be a success. A Smouldering Platform seems a better analogy to me, as this suggests a) doing nothing is not an option, b) the root cause is investigated, c) a post-improvement vision of the Platform is determined, d) a plan to improve the situation is prepared and implemented, and e) further continual improvements to the Platform are needed to prevent the situation from reoccurring.
Any organisation embarking on a Lean journey should firstly review its core values, the flowery set of dreamlike statements that are expensively prepared by marketeers and used by an organisation as the principals to which its employees are expected to adhere. These core values should be reviewed and rewritten if they are inconsistent, lack integrity, do not align with organisational or management behaviour, or do not represent how employees work and interact on a daily basis.
By its very nature, a Lean journey has no starting point. A beginning could simply be, for example, reviewing the state of current processes, practices or solutions to determine the necessary improvements needed. However, a Lean journey requires dedicated time, so an initial management task could be a review of all current activities and projects to determine what is wasteful, what is not focused on addressing the root cause of problems, and what is a workaround or quick-fix that will leave a residue debt of time, effort and cost to be repaid later. All of these activities and projects should cease immediately and the time reallocated to a Lean journey.
A genuine interest, comprehension of the road ahead and long-term commitment by management to embark upon a Lean journey (and associated Management Systems) is needed before departing. This assurance prevents a Lean journey from being perceived as insincere or the latest in a long line of management whims. Coaching employees in the Lean journey roadmap and how each individual is empowered to take responsible for his or her own process, practice or solution is also vital at this stage.
One of the most important processes to embed, for example, is A3 Problem Solving (or SPS - Systematic Problem Solving), a structured approach to problem solving that actively engages employees in a number of steps that are represented on a single sheet of A3 paper. The inability to swell beyond a single sheet of A3 paper is indicative of a Lean journey: creating excessive reports and presentations that nobody wants or reads is waste. Furthermore, it is also vital to embed Leader Standard Work, which shifts the focus of leadership away from the control of employees into a coaching, mentoring and empowering role. Leader Standard Work is achieved through regular and frequent interaction with employees, during which listening and learning is fundamental to implementing improvements and responding quickly to any defect.
Hoshin Kanri and Strategic Intent
Hoshin Kanri (方針管理) is the Japanese term for Policy Management and is used on a Lean journey as a systematic approach to strategy and goal planning that engages the entire organisation in an iterative refinement process called Catchball. This back-and-forth approach to strategic planning, followed by daily, monthly and annual reviews throughout the organisation, allows goals to be cascaded to all employees quicker and easier, and it is proven to have a more significant impact than traditional methods.
Once the strategic intent is defined, communication and complete engagement of employees is needed to ensure the Lean journey is a success. Lip Service should be avoided. Workshops, newsletters and other mediums can be fully utilised to clearly communicate both a visual plan and the organisational vision, in which everybody is encouraged to be involved so the goals of the Lean journey can be realised.
Centre of Excellence
Forming a Lean journey Centre of Excellence that consists of selected employees from all areas and levels of the organisation should happen early in the Lean journey, as these people will be the drivers who can coach, cross-train and mentor in the key principles of Lean, such as identifying problems and suggesting improvements. External people who are familiar with the route of a Lean journey can also be involved in knowledge-sharing so mistakes and blind alleys are avoided. The Centre of Excellence will meet regularly to steer the organisation along the proper path on its Lean journey.
The Centre of Excellence will advocate and embed the proper tools necessary for the Lean journey. The number of available tools is large, but there are a certain number of tools that are established within Lean, such as 5S (organising the work area), A3 Problem Solving (structured problem solving), and Value Stream Mapping (highlighting waste and opportunities for improvement). Information about all the Lean tools can be found online.
Value Streams
In a nutshell, a Value Stream is the series of steps (process, practice or solution) an organisation follows in order to provide value to a customer or consumer. There can be three types of Value Stream: Enterprise (both internal and external organisations; from raw materials to product on the supermarket shelf, for example), Organisational (only the core steps in an enterprise Value Stream undertaken by a single organisation, usually your own) and, most commonly, Process (a breakdown of each core step, or sub-step, in an Organisational Value Stream).
A Value Stream Map is the visual representation of a Value Steam that includes all the necessary metrics to quickly identify waste and opportunities for improvement. The Centre of Excellence will engage with employees to coach and mentor everybody in the skills needed to identify waste and consider the necessary improvements. More importantly, the Centre of Excellence will ensure mapping activates are not undertaken to extremes, as a Lean journey is taken steadily step-by-step rather than through high-speed acceleration; improvement activities are successful when addressed in a systematic manner with time for review and reflection, and too many improvements happening simultaneously with little time for thought and evaluation is unproductive.
At the beginning of a Lean journey it is advisable to create an initial Organisational Value Stream Map, and one or more major Process Value Stream Maps, so the most problematic processes, practices or solutions can be considered for early improvement activities.
Kaizen
Kaizen (改善) is the Japanese term for Continual Improvement and is used on a Lean journey as a systematic approach to removing waste from a Value Stream. Once the initial Value Stream Maps have been created and assessed, it is recommended to sort the problematic processes, practices or solutions in order of expected effort to improve, from easy to difficult. It is best to begin with harvesting the low-hanging fruit on a Lean journey – deal with the easy improvements first – so that improved processes, practices or solutions create capacity for further, more demanding, Kaizen activities.
In parallel with initial improvement activities, communication about results, progress, findings and next steps is vital to increase momentum and engagement. This also reaffirms the strategic importance of the Lean journey. Active feedback and employee connection at all levels of the organisation is also important. Further coaching, mentoring and education about the Lean journey should also be prevalent, so all employees understand the positive benefits. The most important thing people need to be assured about is why a Lean journey removes wasteful activities that add no value, and, therefore, increases employee capacity to progress and improve personally: be involved in other areas, learn new skills, and increase personal value. A Lean journey is not an exercise in reducing employee numbers, as more employee capacity aligns with business success and growth that creates more opportunities.
Following the initial Kaizen activities, widespread communication and active feedback, the organisation’s impetus, drive and energy to move ahead on the Lean journey should be evident. Further Improvements and kaizen activities will be continuing apace, and a self-sustaining cycle of Lean thinking will develop. Because it is a journey and not a destination, the cycle of improvements and kaizen activities will never end. The organisation will gain a level of Lean maturity that increases value by continual improvements and waste reduction; all employees will get better at getting better.
Enjoy the view
Once the Lean journey is underway, there is nothing else to do other than maintain a level speed, avoid acceleration, avoid deceleration, enjoy the view and continue learning to effectively deal with bumps in the road, detours, obstacles, and other hazards encountered on the journey.
There is one final impediment to achieving optimal velocity: the Anchor-Draggers, the employees who perceive negative consequences and barricade themselves against Lean. Acknowledging the anchor-dragger concerns is important because these are the employees who will be the biggest Lean supporters once they recognise it is wasteful processes that are flawed, not Lean, and it is a failure to embrace improvement that risks both the organisation and their job-security. Fearing a loss of tribal knowledge and skills is understandable, as is a fear of job simplification that results in pay-cuts…or worse! However, by engaging the anchor-draggers, coaching and empowering them to undertake the necessary trails and tests to discover the benefits of Lean themselves, it is easy to overcome the resistance. Almost all employees recognise waste in their processes, practices and solutions, and after engagement and experimentation they acknowledge a Lean journey does actually remove waste that throttles organisational growth and competitiveness, which would ultimately prevent the organisation from sustaining its employment levels.