Lean is Unconscious

Lean is generally accepted to a be pro-active, disciplined and efficient implementation of standard work. A lean process is also reflexive meaning each action triggers the next action without requiring the costly burden of conscious thought. Lean in many cases is -unconscious.

The doctor's reflex hammer illustrates how unconscious action can work when he taps the Patellar Tendon. The resulting knee jerk reaction confirms that Alpha Motor Neurons are functioning properly. The triggering of this vital, reflexive muscle happens without actually requiring any actual brain activity!

Note: Alpha Motor Neurons are also a beautiful example of Distributed Cognition.

Automating our tasks, or by making them unconscious, we help to make a lean process. The more conscious thought required in a process, the more process verification required. The more process verification, the more process disruption, and lower yield. A good question to ask is, "What processes can be considered automatic -without process inspections". These are the automatic processes that are low enough risk to not think about - to be unconscious.

Note: A low-risk process = A process with high process capability discussed by Nikhil Razdan here.

Charles Duhigg expands the idea of unconscious action in his book The Power of Habit, referring to unconscious actions as "muscle memory" or habits. It's a fascinating area of study. Compound this with an understanding that 95-99% of all brain activity happens at an unconscious level, and it becomes easy to see that our ability to delegate what happens consciously to the unconscious or muscle memory is a very valuable endeavor. For those who recognize this, there are many insightful consequences that result.

Steve Jobs. One example of automatic tasking comes from the story of Steve Jobs' ward robe. Jobs, we know wore the same black turtle neck every day to reduce the number of frontal cortex decisions required to function during each day. He was effectively delegating repetitive tasks to his unconscious mind so that he could free up conscious resources for the much more important creative and critical thinking.

Taking advantage of unconscious thinking. Duhigg explains that habits (another word for unconscious thought) consist of a 3-step loop including a queue, a routine, and a reward. Once the habit is fully mature, the 2nd step routine, also perceived as the cost or expense of the process, disappears from our consciousness. Employees who understand this can obtain great job satisfaction because once the lean habits are standardized, employees only perceive the queues and the rewards! This is the recipe for extreme job satisfaction!

I'd be interested to know where others have implemented unconscious actions and standardized work into the manufacturing environment. And hopefully, this helps those who may not have thought of it.