The Moment you know it's not going to work
The situation was really awkward: A special meeting was called by the continuous improvement group, after several months of work with the business unit on a project that was supposed to deliver a significant performance improvement. At that point in time it became obvious for us that the objectives won’t be met, so we were trying hard to help the business realize the gap and make the required adjustments.
The mood in the conference room was not great, you could actually see dark clouds above people’s heads. No one was smiling. Although working for the same organization, there was a clear separation: the business unit camp and the continuous improvement camp.
As we started expressing the concerns (we’ve even elaborated a slick Power Point), the immediate reaction from the business unit leader was questioning and bringing counter arguments, so, even the ones sharing our point of view (during corridor discussions) started questioning our concerns… The exchange continued in the same manner for the entire duration of the special meeting, with arguments flying from one camp to the other camp and ending with no conclusions. Sadly, at the end of the meeting, both camps kept their initial position.
That was the precise moment when I knew it’s not going to work, that no adjustments are going to be made and things are going to stay as they are.
Instantly, I made a promise to myself to never end up in this situation again.
Yet, it all started on the right foot: scope of work defined and agreed, corresponding schedule agreed, allocation of resources done, continuous improvement project manager set in place, roles and responsibilities defined. Additionally, there was a dedicated conference room for the project with visual management covering the walls, where daily meetings took place to assess progress and highlight issues. With such a set-up, what could possibly go wrong?
Well, after we performed the self-reflection exercise it became apparent that the engagement with the business unit missed two essential points:
- We failed to understand the business units’ tacit values
- We failed to make obvious to the business unit what is required to achieve significant business benefits
The combination of these made it such that the level of engagement was not at the appropriate level, leading to following the form rather than the substance of Lean. Low attendance in workshops and training sessions, part time business leadership with weak response to issues translated into poor understanding of Lean principles and ended up with solutions addressing the symptoms, not the root causes. End result: marginal improvements, far from the targeted objective.
Low attendance in workshops and training sessions, part time business leadership with weak response to issues translated into poor understanding of Lean principles and ended up with solutions addressing the symptoms, not the root causes.
Since then, I’m being true to my promise, making sure that the two points are clarified and addressed before any type of work gets done.
Did you go through moments like this, when you realized it’s not going to work? What was your key takeaway? I’d love to hear your story.
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Business Improvement Specialist
5 年Sometimes the CI teams over-commit on the potential benefit and the business is all too happy to go along. I have found too many times that poor data in the early days of a business case sends everything off. Another good post so I am now following Ovidiu.
Managing Director, COO
6 年Ovidiu Contras, yes. If you’ve spent any real time in lean & you haven’t had these moments... well... maybe you haven’t been doing much. I’ve had a few meetings like what you’ve described... but I’ve also had a few that looked like it would never work & something broke through during that critical meeting & everything fell into place after... sometimes you don’t know. A recent one: I agreed to work with an organization that put me through hoop after hoop of “what is your approach?” “What do you think?” “How would you...?” “Give is a plan for transformation...” & after successfully jumping through each higher & more stringent hoop, they finally brought me on board to assist them. I don’t know what I was expecting, but about two days in, I started hearing rumors of all the people brought in who failed before me. Hmm... not good. So I start digging in a bit. I find my approach is quite different from the last two people who failed to bring change to the organization. Red flags and sirens are going off in my head, but the business leader seems enthusiastic and is listening, asking good questions. He’s excited! But... Nothing is changing. The promised resources are delayed. Can you help with this urgent Quality audit?
Helping companies manage energy, improve process, and save money.
6 年You're speaking as if this was the exception.? I only wish it were so.
Thought Leader, Consultant and Coach guiding Lean Continuous Improvement, Change Management and Business Transformations
6 年Ovidiu, Well, there are those of us who have had this experience and there are those of us who have, but may perhaps not want to admit it. If all we share are our successes, we are not contributing to the greater body of knowledge and as a group we contribute to future failures of others. One of my most memorable experiences earlier on was a meeting which was intended to complete a value stream mapping project. It was a global meeting conducted via Skype. All attendees had agreed to attend. As the meeting began, it was evident that certain key subject matter experts were not present or had been substituted with SMEs who lacked key knowledge required to participate effectively. It was not going to work, so we had to cancel and regroup. In one case, a key participant was told that he was not cleared by his management to discuss sensitive problems outside of a ‘siloed’ group (one might say that the RC was the fact that silos existed at all). In another case, a key participant, from an outsourced team, did not attend because his management felt that, after second thoughts, his participation was not “really required”. My thinking is that these are learning experiences which have less to do with elements or qualities of Lean or any other methodology than they have to do with issues of deployment and up-and-down the organization management messaging, supported by elements of a robust Hoshin Planning process and related, enforced management accountability.? #leanmanagement #leanthinking #leantransformation
The risk of living in poverty has been reduced from 94% in 1820 to less than 11% in 2018.....progress is hard to see with tinted glasses!
6 年A recent Lean wave I was involved in echoes some of your experience. Workshops were cancelled due to other resource demands. Management must show that the company is 100% committed to the lean methodology. The idea that Lean will be done 'when there is time' is not the right driver for a successful Lean transformation.