Leading Courageously Leveraging The Transparency Of Lean

Teaching Process Waste Management Is Easier Than You Think. Use Lean Methodologies To Sustain A Continuous Improvement Culture Throughout Your Company

A study done by Sidney Yoshida later called “The iceberg of ignorance” concluded that senior level management is often so far removed from day-to-day business operations that they fail to understand the systems and processes that affect both employees and customers. The most alarming result of this study suggests that this can have an impact on company profits by as much as 40%.

The study also found that the very people who have the responsibility and ability to solve problems in most cases seem to be the very ones who don’t even know the problems exist.

This article is for growth-focused companies seeking to give subject matter experts the voice they need to collect and communicate business improvement ideas in a way so that middle management can analyse and present them effectively to the key decision makers required to act on opportunity in an accelerated manner.

Using this technique, we have helped our clients learn to approach innovation and continuous improvement with open arms. We do so by giving all levels of management a framework which defines and enhances roles so that there is no ambiguity among the staff.

With your staff focused on how to assist their leaders in making their company better, all that remains is the top-down mandate confirming Senior Management's daily presence and utmost support.

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GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Two ensure this model works, it is critical that the following two guiding principles are made transparent and always present in your company's culture

1. Everyone will be paid for continuous improvement: This means that each person from the CEO to the most entry-level staff members will have at least 1 written goal included in their annual performance evaluation that is measurable and will be revisted throughout the course of the year. It should be clear in this goal that the employee, regardless of rank, is responsible to identify and evaluate any potential opportunity to improve processes for which they are assigned and will be rewarded for their effort
2. Focus on the process, never the person: Unfortunately, it is often much easier to put blame on a person when things could be done better instead of diving deep into an issue's root cause. Lean uses the term 'respect for people' which plays a critical role in process improvement. To put a robust support system in place to drive this mantra, we use the 'Lean waste methodology' to give process owners the platform they need to frame each improvement opportunity and voice their opinions in a non-confrontational manner. TIMWOODS is a simple and great place to start for companies just beginning to explore this topic but can be tailored to fit the company's type of business and culture. What is important is that with every operational issue or improvement area, it is understood that it is the process that needs improvement and not the person involved.

Bringing It All Together

THE MARRIAGE OF THE P-D-C-A FRAMEWORK WITH THE R-A-C-I ACCOUNTABILITY MATRIX

With your senior management team on board and communicating consistently its intent to improve processes together with the staff's promise to be process-focused when approaching issues, ll that remains is providing the framework needed to allow for your staff to get the wheel turning.

This framework can be easily launched by leveraging this 5-phase P-D-C-A cycle to ensure process owners feel supported by their management team when bringing to light where chronic issues and process waste are creating bottlenecks.

By taking this five-step cycle one-step further, use the R-A-C-I accountability matrix to define the roles of each layer of mangement during each of the P-D-C-A phases:

1. ACKNOWLEDGE: Here is the mandate your staff needs to feel heard. Staff and their team leaders are responsible to identify where TIMWOODS waste is present and give indication as to what level of effort will be requiered to remove it
2. PLAN: Middle Management is now getting hands-on with their team leaders to better understand where and why process waste is slowing them down. Once all the analytical activities are complete, Middle Management will agree (or not agree) to allow their process experts to launch the proposed process waste reduction projects
3. DO: Process owners together with their team leaders execute on waste removal activities
4. CHECK: Middle Management ensures that the waste removal project was executed correctly
5. ACT: Senior Management ensures that successes are celebrated in real time and that any best practices or lessons learnt have been communicated throughout the company and that other departments are in a position to launch similar exercises if applicable

Example

Here Is Your Free Field Guide

Continuous improvement is not only about process improvement but it is also about the people that support those processes, the tools and frameworks they have at their disposal to do their job, and their understanding about their organisational structure and its management strategy. Continuous improvement is about discipline and performance.

If you would like to try using this methodology in your company, we are delighted to offer you this field guide with detailed examples that we have used over the years when helping companies get the most out of their people, processes and technology.

Please let us know how you get on, join our tribe and stay in touch during your journey!

Best wishes for a healthy, prosperous and continuous improvement-focused 2023!

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