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Organisational Enablers for Lean
The tools of Lean are blind. What that means is that alone they can neither add to nor detract from the success of an organisation’s Lean efforts. Whilst it is true they can be implemented badly, the difference between success and failure in a Lean programme is far more associated with relationships, culture and leadership than it is on tools, techniques and approaches. In total there appears to be five organisational enablers that underpin the success of transformational change activities such as Lean and in this short article we focus on the first two of them;
Organisational Resilience
In any organisation, problems arise. Individuals can choose how they respond to these issues with responses being either positive or negative. Positive responses to problems include using them as learning experiences, being prepared to put together realistic plans to overcome them or simply acknowledging they have happened. Negative responses to problems include hunting for those to blame, hiding the problems, distorting the facts, over-reacting and even aggression.
Resilience in the context of a Lean programme is concerned with the organisational response when (and we mean when) problems arise, be they unexpected resistance, a poorly executed Lean programme or anything else. A resilient organisation will face up to these issues, for example not giving in at the first sign of a problem and being ready for the inevitable knock at the door from a senior member of your team who objects to the approach used by Lean. Further, the resilient organisation will recognise that problems are inevitable and that actually, the mantra, “Fail quickly. Fail often. Succeed sooner,” is absolutely essential to success.
Organisational Focus
In any organisation both front line teams and senior management face a dynamic and ever changing environment. With new initiatives and changing requirements bombarding most organisations every week it is easy for senior teams (and front line teams) to fall into the habit of jumping from one thing to the next without ever dealing with anything effectively. A good analogy is plugging holes in a leaky dyke. You can try to keep up fixing and stopping each leak that opens up, but untimely you just need to build a new dyke. If you treat Lean as ‘something else to be done’ it becomes just another leak to be plugged. It will go into the ‘to do’ pile for when they get a chance to do deal with their ‘Lean project’, but there will rarely be a ‘right time’ to start.
Focus is critical to an organisation wishing to change its culture, and make Lean a part of every operation. Focus is needed to establish the organisation’s strategy and long term goals. It’s also needed to avoid pitfalls and deviations from the plan as time goes on. Focus is about being clear about the type of organisation you want to be, and how Lean fits into that strategy.
Without focus, improvement programmes such as Lean quickly fragment and die and projects are started and never completed. Teams become confused because of changing priorities and quickly lose patience with the process.
Focus does not mean inflexibility as successful Lean organisations need to be able to respond to external changes and issues, but in a controlled and methodical way.
If you work in a manufacturing, logistics or public sector organisation and would like to know more about the organisational enablers for Lean contact us via info@amnis.uk.com.