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The LEAN e-NEWSLETTER: #001
February, 2008
President's Corner
As we have gone around the world helping organizations to implement Lean Manufacturing Practices we have continually run into one problem over and over again...Leadership. We are being asked to identify the leadership skills that are needed to first implement Lean, and secondly sustain the gains made from it. While the Lean Practices are relatively easy to teach, the Leadership portion is much harder to teach. Part of this problem can be recognized in the old parable “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink”. With Lean we can teach you the basics and get you started, but without a burning desire to make it successful and the initiative to follow through, there is no way we can ensure your sustainability from implementing Lean. So this month I will discuss the need to measure, coach and lead the implementation of Lean Practices at your organization.
— Mike Wader
Leadership Needed to Implement Lean Practices
The days when a supervisor could walk into a factory and demand that processes be changed and habits reversed are gone. Today the workers are too educated and too sophisticated for that type of leadership to work. The workers want to know why things are being changed and want a voice in the establishment of new habits for them to follow. This is not to say that we do not need supervisor’s involvement. In teaching Lean we often demonstrate both the dictatorial style of leadership and the “hands-off” style to show that neither way is the best. Somewhere in-between those two styles lays the leadership style that will produce the best results.
When you are trying to implement Lean Practices within your organization it is important to get “agreement for change” from your Senior management first. This will set the ground-work for your efforts to be built upon. Next Senior managers need to be trained in the basic fundamentals of Lean Manufacturing so they understand their role in supporting it. Their role will include identifying and discussing potential problems areas and opportunities for improvement. They must be willing to commit time and resources to those Lean projects that fall under their area of responsibility. They will have to help you defend your proposal when it impacts the production in processes outside their area of responsibility, but will improve the overall organization. In other words, they need to become the Champions for Lean that you can turn to for suggestions and help when needed.
So what habits do they need to develop to become this Lean Champion? First of all, they need to “lead by example” and start by making sure their own areas of responsibility are 5S’ed and well organized. What does their office look like? Is everything in it’s proper place and are things labeled so that they can be found easily? Are there a few visual controls in their office or a computer “dashboard” with key production indicators that are kept up to date and are easily understood? They need to avoid being hypercritical and asking others to keep their production areas clean while their own areas are less than organized.
Secondly are they asking numerically quantifiable questions? It is not enough to just ask, “How is the production going?” Instead they should be seeking numbers, percentages, and quantities that indicate trends and results from changes that are being made. Are they participating in the 5S audits or Total Productive Maintenance reviews occasionally? They need not be involved every day in these activities, but their periodic participation should be mandatory. Their unscheduled walk behind and around equipment on the shop floor will have a much greater impact than the daily stroll down the main aisle to say hello to the operators. The workers can still have their face-time with management, but they should also be proud of the overall condition of their equipment and welcome this visit from senior management.
Senior managers should be looking for “good things” to point out and verbally reward their workers for a job well done. Unfortunately some managers only go to the shop floor when there are problems. Senior managers should know how to read a Value Stream Map (VSM). Their job should not include helping you to identify problems at the “micro” level of VSM, but instead they should be able to explain how departments upstream and downstream, from the vendors to the final customers, will be affected by fixing your problems. They need to understand and be able to explain the overall “macro” level Value Stream Map.
These Senior managers will have to give you the support needed when production needs to be stopped or slowed down to allow for Total Productive Maintenance to be started or implemented. Preventive Maintenance schedules will cause Production Managers to complain about loss production and Union shop stewards to argue about new work habits needed for workers. Senior managers need to stand up and be able to explain why these things are needed to ensure long term organizational success and how they will improve the competitive position and overall strategy of the company.
Lastly but no less important, these leaders need to make sure their meetings start on time and finish on time. Thousands of productive hours for Mid-level managers are loss every year because they are waiting for meeting to start late or they are delayed from their own meeting starting on time because of meeting conducted by Senior managers running overtime. All of this loss time is inexcusable and deprives these critically important Mid-level supervisors from spending the time on the shop floor with the workers that is needed. Simply multiply the cost in salary for these managers by the total minutes per year that are wasted and quickly you will see that the impact this can have on your organization.
Leadership can be taught and learned, but only by those who have a burning desire to help their organizations and the unselfishness to know that helping others be more successful will also help them to succeed.
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