Sustaining Lean Practices

I was recently reminded about how difficult it is to sustain a Lean transformation and how critical senior leadership's role is in it. Backstory: Many years ago, an organization with an internal Lean team retained us for week-long visits four times a year. The purpose of our visits was general to begin with: to deepen the organization's understanding and application of Lean principles and practices. Once we got to know them, we were able to suggest pointed learning for each visit, which included mostly learn-by-doing improvement work, with heavy virtual prep, "homework," and follow-up (many calls and emails).

One of the areas they needed help with (as do most organizations) was building deeper problem-solving acumen and spreading it across the organization. We are fans of A3 Management for building internal capabilities and introduced it to them. We provided both virtual and onsite coaching. They did very well with the approach for the last two years of our engagement. Leadership and problem owners were thrilled with the practice and the results alike.

As we were winding down and preparing to leave the engagement, we were concerned about whether the client had "baked" in problem solving deeply enough for it to be sustained, especially during times of stress. Would they stick with a focused, disciplined approach to solving urgent problems once we weren't there to steer them to success? Had the internal Lean team become deeply skilled enough to do the work we had been doing? If so, would the culture support them enough to allow them to do the type of work we as outsiders had been able to do? And most importantly, were senior leaders committed enough and skilled enough to assure the ongoing discipline needed to sustain the practice that we all hoped that been baked into their organizational DNA?

Sadly, I recently learned that the answer is no, no, and no. The client has been struggling with a significant performance problem that we noted on the management reports we continue to receive and have been watching get worse over time. When I reached out to the executive who had originally retained us to check in and probe a bit about the problem we were seeing, I learned that they weren't using the structure that proper A3 management affords to solve the problem: no defined problem owner, no coach, no disciplined application of PDSA, no iterative A3 report to reflect the problem-solving process. This alone isn't the root cause for slippage as there are typically underlying reasons why organizations cease to follow management practices with which they've experienced great success.

Since we're no longer engaged with the client, we aren't in a position to help them mine for root cause and perform an appropriate intervention (the client believes its internal Lean team can and should be able to do the "forensics" work that seasoned improvement professionals can do). The senior-most leader said he'd go back to the leader who owns the greatest number of processes in the value stream and learn why A3 management wasn't being used to solve a critical problem.

I sense the client may never get back on track with problem solving until or if every single leader recommits to disciplined problem solving as an organizational value and operating with that value is a clear expectation for all parties and with all problems. Starting from the top. Someone--a leader--needs to be checking (as part of Leader Standard Work) to assure that the problem-solving work standards the organization designed and adopted are either being followed consistently or the standards are actively going through a round of improvement to address any gaps that may exist.

Seeking and sustaining excellence requires leadership to possess a fire-in-the-belly passion for it. Commitment needs to be rock solid. Otherwise, slippage ensues and mediocrity fills the void. I don't know if this client will rise to the occasion and reignite its commitment to excellence, or if perhaps they've consciously or unconsciously decided that excellence requires too much work. There are reasons why only certain athletes make it to the Olympics and why only certain surgeons rise to the top. Outstanding performance of any sort requires clarity, focus, discipline, and engagement. In the meantime, our former client's customers are suffering and I would imagine many in the workforce are as well.