What are the best practices for engaging and empowering your team members in waste elimination activities?

Identifying the value stream entails mapping out the sequence of steps that convert inputs into outputs for the customer. This involves detailing all activities, resources, and information flows within the current state of your process. By analyzing the value stream, you can pinpoint sources of waste such as overproduction, waiting, defects, inventory, motion, transportation, and over-processing. Tools like value stream mapping, spaghetti diagrams, or 5S can aid in visualizing and organizing this process, enabling effective waste identification and subsequent improvement efforts.

In practical terms, identify waste (muda) and resolving doesn't have to be complicated. Consider a '2 second lean' mindset where people can identify points in their day which can be slightly improved and have long term gains. Example: an employee in assembly noticed they go back-and-forth from a tool bin between product shifts. By having the toolsets they need at their station, they remove the 5 minutes per shift of wasted time - with 2 shifts per day, this is 10 min saved = 50 min per week = 2,600 min (43 hours) of saved time and effort.

Beyond feedback, really empower people to make changes within their own sphere of influence. Whatever their role, if the person has been doing the work per company standards for X amount of time (a month, 3 months, or whatever the baseline is prior-to accepting alternative suggestions to the process), let employees try small changes to improve the work. The only rule with change: if waste is identified and change is attempted, don't go back to the thing that wasn't working. If an implemented change doesn't work, try something else in its place until you find something that reduces/removes the waste.

Some leaders only want people on improvement projects that have a large projected return-on-investment (ROI). Projects are fine, but research from Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder has shown that, very consistently, about 80% of the improvement potential is found and realized in small improvements that are driven by front-line staff. When you allow employees to work on many small improvements, there's a cumulative impact of benefits — not just financial — including safety, quality, customer service, and more. Secondly, as a heard a Japanese hospital CEO say, the best way to find ideas with a large impact is to look for many small ideas. Don't ignore the small ideas!

A small shift will have a negligible affect on the overall process and reduces risks associated with change as the shift in behavior/work/etc. can readily be altered if the change isn't working. With changes remember the KISS rule --> Keep It Simple & Sustainable. Tracking the change is important so shifts can be observed (checked) to see if they could be implemented in other areas for similar improvements.

Adam Savage said it best, "The difference between screwing around and science is writing it down." We understand what we track. Many times changes can't really be appreciated in the moment, but rather are see over time as the metrics prove out the change has had an overall positive affect on the work and process. Many small '2 second lean' changes especially are only noticed over time as the shift cumulatively has some great savings in time, material, effort, and cost.

Standardizing and sharing best practices in waste elimination are key to maintaining progress and consistency. Documenting successful methods and training team members on new standards fosters a culture of continuous improvement. In my experience, incorporating these practices into the Scrum framework by using sprints to test and refine waste elimination techniques has been effective. This approach not only ensures that improvements are sustainable but also empowers team members by involving them directly in the process. Recognition and feedback are crucial, as they boost morale and encourage ongoing engagement. Utilizing visual aids and checklists can further clarify expectations and support adherence to best practices.