Your team is resistant to Lean principles. How can you ignite their motivation?

Desde la perspectiva de transformación, formar y entrenar es el primer paso para que todo el mundo comprenda el proceso que se inicia, sin embargo, la experiencia me dice que no genera impacto directo en la motivación. El interés que puede despertar en algunas personas es bajo y siempre preferimos ver resultados tangibles para creer en los beneficios del sistema.

When implementing a lean manufacturing system, focus on explanation and motivation. Explanation: Clearly communicate why transformation is necessary, deeply personalizing the message. Instead of focusing on financial losses of an organization, highlight specific challenges individual employees face, such as extra labor, uncomfortable environment, or dangerous working conditions. Motivation: Create a fair motivation system for participation, which could include material stimulus like bonuses or a share of economic benefits or moral motivation like personal recognition and pride in contributing to improvements. With clear explanations and strong motivation, resistance to change reduces significantly and often vanishes.

While education has to happen - It is the cost of admission - We have to find ways to immediately involve them in the process. Don't be offended by the eyeroll at first. I believe there should be one until the organization proves otherwise.

To overcome resistance to Lean principles within a team, it's essential for us to gradually build motivation and buy-in through a strategic approach. We should begin by educating the team on Lean's benefits, using real-life examples and hands-on workshops to demonstrate its value. Understanding and addressing their concerns with empathy will help us reduce resistance and gain trust. Involving the team in the Lean transformation process and highlighting quick wins can further encourage adoption. Consistently applying Lean practices and leading by example reinforces their importance, ultimately helping the team view Lean as a valuable tool for improving efficiency and their work experience.

1. Educate on Lean Principles: Ensure your team understands Lean Manufacturing and its application to their work. 2. Define Waste: Explain that Lean focuses on eliminating waste, or "muda," including excess inventory, waiting times, unnecessary transport, overproduction, defects, over-processing, and unused talent. 3. Host Workshops and Training: Provide sessions that break down Lean concepts and showcase real-world examples of its benefits. 4. Demonstrate Impact: Show how Lean principles can make work easier and more efficient to reduce resistance and foster enthusiasm.

Get a whiteboard or a wall somewhere, gather them together, everybody grabs some posted notes and with no condemnation put all of your reasons up on the wall as to why you don’t wanna do this, why you don’t think it will work, etc. and then let’s think of data that we can collect counter your objections. This way they feel heard and are also part of the plan to counter the negative concepts.

Physical experiences drives our beliefs. If PowerPoint is main vehicle for demonstrating value, you are walking down the wrong path. Find a few specific ways to get your team involved in the improvement. Improvement projects and departmental improvement boards are great ways to walk the talk and gain credibility. But ensure the benefits are relevant to them. Make sure they are targeted at removing waste from their day or making it easier to deliver value to the customer. Launching a board to "engage" the team in solving the overtime problem of your department won't drive engagement...

Show them the wins. Start with quick, visible improvements that make their work easier. When they see the value firsthand, they'll buy in. Keep it simple, celebrate successes, and let the results speak for themselves.

1. Show Tangible Value: Demonstrate how Lean Manufacturing can directly benefit daily tasks. 2. Map Current Processes: Identify areas of waste by mapping out existing workflows. 3. Involve the Team: Engage team members in creating streamlined workflows to eliminate inefficiencies. 4. Highlight Benefits: Show how their input leads to less stressful work environments and more manageable workloads to encourage openness to Lean principles.

1. Encourage Ownership: Involve your team in decision-making and problem-solving related to the Lean transformation. 2. Empower Problem-Solving: Allow them to identify issues and develop solutions. 3. Value Expertise: Show that their expertise and input are appreciated. 4. Foster Investment: When team members feel valued, they become more invested in Lean initiatives, turning resistance into a proactive drive for improvement.

You'll want to define specific metrics to measure your changes. This is how you know if things are improving. Creating a visual management board (or system) is also a great way to help visualize this and foster collaboration. The team member(s) that are closest to the activity should "own" the update and presentation process. You can have multiple team members supporting one board however, each metric should have only one owner... @LeanFocus

Mentoring and coaching are important for continued growth and adoption. A lean environment is about continuous improvement so, my #1 coaching tip is to management team - learn to "celebrate the red." We should get excited or celebrate our teams when they discover a new problem. While okay to ask questions and better define the problem, we should not be upset with the team or person to uncover it. Remember, we cannot fix a problem we can see! @LeanFocus

To overcome resistance to Lean principles within a team, we need to create a supportive and open environment. Here, we need to encourage employees to freely share their concerns, suggestions, and feedback about Lean initiatives. This transparency would enable us to identify areas of resistance early and address them promptly, making team members feel heard and valued. By nurturing a culture of open communication, we can build trust, reduce anxiety about changes, and increase overall buy-in for Lean practices.

Celebrar en entorno profesional es sinónimo de reconocer los hitos logrados. Si bien esta celebración no genera un impacto directo a corto plazo sobre la motivación de las personas cuando tratar de llevar una transformación lean, ayudan a explicar a todo el colectivo la importancia de este proceso de aprendizaje, y ayudan a crear involucración a medio plazo.

1. Set New Goals: After initial improvements, continue to challenge your team with new efficiency targets. 2. Maintain Dialogue: Keep discussions about Lean principles ongoing and encourage regular process reflections. 3. Focus on Benefits: Highlight the continued advantages of Lean to keep motivation high. 4. Embed Culture: Engage your team regularly to foster a lasting culture of Lean thinking beyond the initial implementation.

Effective communication is crucial for successful Lean Manufacturing implementation. Organizations must consistently and transparently convey the rationale, benefits, and impacts of Lean initiatives at all levels, promoting ongoing dialogue rather than one-time announcements. Tailoring communication to address the specific concerns of different organizational segments—such as strategic benefits for executives and job security for employees—helps reduce resistance. Real-world examples, like Toyota and General Electric, demonstrate that inclusive strategies such as town hall meetings, regular updates, and open Q&A sessions are key to demystifying Lean principles and encouraging employee buy-in.

So many organizations tried to impose lean tools rather than promote lean behaviors. Lean behaviors are based on values that resonate with most of humans - and any lean implementation needs to begin with these values.