Fun Lean is NOT Fun at All!

"My work is not work itself, but improvement of the work."

I heard this quote in the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Lean Conference in Winning, June 2018.

I am wary of using it here because someone may say, 'huh, who will do the work then?' Well, that would be my question too. 

I have said elsewhere that we need stable procedures and changes must be regulated. In a repetitive manufacturing environment random changes are a disaster.

However the idea of "2 Second Lean" of Paul Akers and book of that title is continuous improvement. I agree with Paul Akers that there is always a better way, and keeping the mind open for the better way at all times is a good idea.

Paul quotes the scenario in his manufacturing business when he thought he was doing well, he hired a consultant Tracy, who said the shocking news : "You don't know anything about what you are doing."

I heard the same 'aha story' from Jim Lancaster of CEO of Lantech when he hired a Sensei (coach) and was told more or less the same thing Tracy said to Paul.

I bought both the books because these were interesting stories of turnarounds and I thought in my role as a management coach this was going to be very useful.

Indeed both of the above gentlemen had incredible humility in accepting their position and in telling the world about it.

These gentlemen went on to make their companies great, so the stories have good ending. And the way they re-engineered themselves and their companies is by using what is known as LEAN.

What is LEAN? While working at CN Rail, I asked this question to a Craftsman who had been part of 'Lean Initiatives' for number of years. He had no clue.

Then I said to him, taking two real example of people: "It is like the blue man, not the red man." And then he couldn't stop laughing!

Mark Preston calls LEAN as LIVING ENGAGED ATTITUDE NOW.

Paul Akers calls LEAN fun! Come on, really? I realized also that the Sensei and Tracy in the above stories are either fictional characters or were incredibly lucky to get away with their enlightenment of their employers. CEOs I have known, unfortunately, don't take such a critique at all! More about that later.

Let me conclude with the human aspect of the aha moment. What if a Sensei or Tracy we're to look at X, Y, Z person's life and say, "You have no idea what you are doing with your life." Going by all the stories of suicides, even juvenile suicides, I think most people will agree with the Tracys! Weird! Why else would Bradley Cooper's Jackson Maine commit suicide in the 'Star is Born' movie? 

There is always the possibility of assessing and realigning the purpose of life, and of continuously improving it, I think!

Think? Okay, I believe!