Hiding behind 'Respect for People' - What your Lean consultants may not telling you

Complete article originally posted on March 9, 2024

Advocating for Digital Innovation in Business

Throughout my 10-year journey as a software engineer and CEO advocating for the introduction of innovative software products in the field of operational excellence, resistance has been a recurring theme. Despite the overwhelming evidence supporting the need to equip staff with robust software infrastructure to enhance their productivity and unleash their best work, my efforts to promote the integration of automation and advanced digital frameworks for streamlined process delivery are frequently dismissed as merely 'optional' by business leaders and consultants alike hesitant to change.

Despite the well-documented benefits of digital transformation such as accelerated efficiency, heightened time to competency, and enhanced knowledge retention, there persists a noticeable reluctance to embrace change, particularly when it involves disrupting entrenched processes and workflows.

In the realm of business management consulting, where the worth of your consultant is gauged by the calibre of effective management strategies they provide, it's perplexing to observe the striking absence of crucial topics like innovation and automation. Instead, the market appears saturated with consulting offerings that include keynote speeches at one-off summit events often featuring ‘award-winning’ authors promoting coaching and mentoring programs, all aimed at steering your business to success but speak little about how the program will be sustained in the long term.

Unfortunately, amidst these endeavours, the fundamental imperative of building a resilient digital infrastructure and management reporting package to support such such a structure in the years to come is consistently neglected.

In my exploration of various sources of information provided by the consulting community, whether through podcasts, webinars, self-help books, or consulting-sponsored events, one recurring observation stands out: the glaring omission of discussions surrounding process automation facilitated by robust investment in technology.

However, when such topics do emerge, they are often overshadowed by discussions on employee engagement and the famous ‘respect for people’ mantra. This creates a wide platform for naysayers, consultants and their clients alike to voice their opinions on why technology to automate processes won’t work in their industry or business, kicking the can forward to next year's agenda. It's as if the promise of technological innovation remains overshadowed by the allure of conventional wisdom, perpetuating a cycle of stagnation rather than progress.

The Path to Knowledge Empowerment Starts with Digitization of Processes

It's amusing to observe how readily people embrace innovation when it promises personal conveniences and fun, time-saving solutions. However, when the conversation shifts to automating business operations and digitizing workflows, objections and excuses to remain inactive seem to flow endlessly. Whether it's frontline employees, consultants or senior leadership, there's a pervasive reluctance to let go of familiar tools like paper and spreadsheets in favor of more sophisticated, knowledge-focused digital systems.

This reluctance is particularly concerning given the growing importance of digital transformation in today's competitive landscape. Without a solid digital foundation for process and change management, companies’ risk being left behind as their competitors embrace automation that widens their product and service offering while delivering with greater speed and higher quality. Moreover, relying on manual processes and scattered knowledge repositories leads to inefficiencies, slow training programs, and weak knowledge retention.

During the first half of my career, I had the privilege of working in the financial services sector based in six different countries with many of the most sophisticated and powerful banks in the world. Engaged in IT transformation projects, I repeatedly witnessed the operational strategies of successful companies, which emphasized the value of flexibility and resiliency. This experience taught me the importance of knowledge management, particularly in supporting internal job changes. Companies that promote internal mobility prioritize knowledge management to ensure that when new opportunities arise, talented individuals can quickly transition into new roles without leaving a gap in their former teams.

Digitizing and automating processes aren’t just about streamlining operations, it's about empowering teams with readily accessible knowledge and enhancing know-how retention. Those who continue to challenge the 'digital elephant in the room' often do so out of laziness and fear of taking on new initiatives, discounting the immense value that having intellectual property readily available to their team offers.

Over the years, this profound experience and revelation has deeply influenced how I engage our team in making our flagship operational excellence software offering knowledge-focused. It's high time to confront the big elephant in the room and prioritize the establishment of a digital foundation for business operations. Just as companies invest in physical infrastructure like buildings and machinery, they must also recognize the importance of investing in digitized intellectual property. We need to stop generalizing process digitization proposals as mere 'tooling' exercises. Automation and digitization shouldn't be treated as optional add-ons but as essential components of modern business strategy, perhaps even before hiring the first line workers.

As the younger generations and workers of the future, accustomed to complete transparency and effective digital tools, enter the workforce, they will be less-and-less willing to accept jobs reliant on archaic methodologies such as offline process management and spreadsheet-heavy administrative tasks. Embracing digital transformation is crucial to attract and retain talent in the modern business landscape.

Reshaping 'Respect for People' Amidst the Digital Elephant in the Room

Consultants play a key role in guiding companies through transformative periods. However, it's essential for them to grasp the pivotal role that technology plays in staying competitive. Reducing and labelling automation efforts to a mere "tooling exercise" undermines the necessity of constructing a robust digital infrastructure as the bedrock for organizational advancement. Consultants must ensure they don't relegate technology to an afterthought but seamlessly integrate it into their change management offering from the get-go.

With over a decade of experience as a software engineer, I've come to understand why the subject of innovation poses such a challenge; it's inherently complex, and not everyone is equipped to handle it. This is especially true for the fly-by-night consultant looking for a quick, high-paying gig.

Technology, akin to fine art, demands daily dedication, trial and error, and iterative refinement and focus to succeed. Most consultants, in theory, are often ill-suited for such endeavours as their primary focus tends towards quick victories, allowing them to swiftly move from project to project and client to client without delving too deeply into the intricacies. Ironically, this level of involvement is precisely what's necessary to construct a resilient digital foundation to underpin your management system.

In my humble opinion, much of the 'Lean Management' community frequently falls short as a leadership business partner in a counterproductive trend, often resorting to their celebrated mantra of "Respect for people" to sidestep delving into the wealth of data available that could be transformed into information that would then be harnessed to sustain continuous efficiency gains with a well-designed business management platform.

One may even go so far as to say that it's somewhat amusing how most ‘high-profile’ consultants, who spare no expense on digital tools for offering their pay-as-you-go online classes and vigorously promote their websites, social media, email outreach, and their award-winning e-books suddenly become champions to more human-centric, software agnostic approach when promoting solutions to clients with real business needs. It's as if they believe that respecting people necessitates keeping them tethered to antiquated processes and tools while the company waits for that magic silver bullet solution to come along and bring the company to its next destination in innovation.

To be blunt, the Lean consulting community needs a digital makeover. It needs to revisit what it sees as value and reevaluate its role as change agents in digitizing processes and making intellectual property available to enhance knowledge retention and reduce time-to-competency. It is here where their true value could flourish if embraced properly.

Establishing a culture that prioritizes accessibility and availability of critical resources fosters continuous improvement and empowers individuals to perform at their best, precisely when they need it. This can only be done with a solid digital framework supporting your management system.

In conclusion, embracing digital foundations for business transformation is imperative for companies seeking to thrive in today's dynamic market environment. By acknowledging the importance of technology and process automation, organizations can unlock new levels of efficiency, competitiveness, and innovation. It's time to address the big elephant in the room and embrace the digital future of business, and the modern-day consultant needs to be prepared to lead this charge.