When you're in a (Lean) Hole, stop digging

Imagine a scenario whereby you employed a builder who you’d heard through recommendation was really good at building swimming pools. On the first day the builder arrives with their team and you inform them that they are required for two weeks and that they should start digging a hole in the back garden. Whilst the builder is rather bemused at the request, you are quite insistent that they should go and dig the hole and so the builder takes their team and does what they've been told. During your research you’d read that digging is a key part of ‘swimming pools’ and so you want to ensure that the builder is focussed on it.

The Builder and their team work tirelessly for a week but, upon your return you’re disappointed to find a rather deep, small diameter hole in the corner of the garden, something that looks nothing like a Swimming Pool and is located in the wrong place. After heated discussions with the Builder, it soon becomes clear that, whilst digging a hole might be essential to swimming pool construction, there are many other elements required to assure its successful completion.

After ironing out this confusion and answering some of the Builder’s questions about the requirements for size, style, usage and budgets, you are informed that the Pool can be constructed in 6 Days and are given a quotation that is within budget. However, you are also given an invoice for the Seven Days of work that the Builder and their team have spent digging the original hole.

Whilst the above may seem a little ridiculous, it is analogous with many scenarios that I have experienced when a ‘Lean Expert’ has been requested to support a team or project. It is surprisingly common that the requester’s motivation seems to be that they have been told that they need a Lean Expert by someone (maybe their boss or a colleague who’s had great results utilising Lean Thinking) or that they’ve heard that they should do a Value Stream Map or run a Kaizen Event before executing the Project. It is not unusual in this type of scenario that the Lean Expert is requested for a fixed period of time and expected to be available to facilitate the application of whatever tool or technique it is that the team may believe necessary.

Inevitably in this situation, the team experience a similar disappointment to that of the swimming pool metaphor, with some form of Lean Tool or technique having been applied (a hole having been dug) but the business outcome that they desired (the swimming pool) being far from sight. This results in both the team members’ and the Lean Expert’s frustration and is deleterious to the relationship and to the credibility of the Lean Program in the organisation.

This often happens because both the requestor and the Lean Expert have forgotten to start with the why and instead both parties have focussed on each of their versions of the what, resulting in confusion over the how.

Whilst all of our team members are accountable to properly define the why of an activity, the Lean Expert must take a leading role in assuming the responsibility not to simply ‘dig holes’ where they are asked to but to instead ensure that a clear ‘Problem Statement’ has been defined in order that the objectives of the activity, project or event can be defined and the Charter agreed. This ‘A3 Thinking’ approach is core to Lean Thinking and will ensure that the appropriate intervention and Lean methodology is selected and that the team, including the Lean Expert, are fully aligned on why they are doing what they are doing, what they aim to achieve and how they will go about doing so.

Often, taking the time to challenge the request for one’s time can be difficult for the Lean Expert for a number of reasons, including where hierarchically senior people have made the request, due to the momentum of the associated project or program or simply because of the time required in the short-term to adequately think about the why (Plan) rather than simply reacting to the request (Do). However, ensuring rigour around the planning part of the process always results in a better outcome and so these barriers must be overcome.

Lean Thinking is more than just the application of the toolkit and being a Lean Expert is more than simply knowing the Lean Tools. It is therefore essential that the Lean Expert acts as a Lean Thinking Coach to the organisation, determining where their time can be best spent and re-focussing the welcome requests for their help to maximise the impact. This shouldn’t and mustn't be done in a distanced or parochial manner but instead through partnering with the requestors and taking them through the development of the A3 Charters.

The well-worn saying goes; “When you're in a Hole, stop digging”; and for the Lean Expert, and their colleagues, it is critical that they avoid digging holes where they’re not needed.

For more information on ‘Start with Why’, please see the following links:

1. Simon Sinek’s Video
2. Simon Sinek’s Book

This article was first published on my personal website in May 2016.

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I am an experienced Senior Operations and Business Transformation Leader with over 15 years experience delivering value and improvements globally and a track record of Lean Transformation within a Global Blue Chip Organisation. I am passionate about delivering Operational Excellence through Lean Leadership and enjoy sharing and discussing my experiences with others.

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