Can Lean be driven by Middle Management?

Paul Yandell: I speak to middle managers, I was a resident with them. I think most of us have been middle managers and understand those frustrations. I hit on a theme of a guerrilla manager, years and years ago, and I’ve actually given a similar talk to a number of national and local forums. It really resonates with people, because people stuck in the middle are trying to figure, “What do I do? How do I be effective?” Many of them are waiting for leadership. I’ve also done a lot of teaching, and I find my students are the same way. They say, “I’m learning Lean tools, but how do I put them to use?” I’m trying to say, “Just go right ahead. Don’t wait for your CEO to say, ‘We’re going to go down this path.’ Just start leading the company from the middle and you can be quite effective.” We did that at Dimension One Spas, and we completely turned around the culture and transformed the company to a Lean company. We ended up winning a regional Shingo prize. It was a validation of our efforts.

But it was really like a middle management revolt, if you will. The owner, like many small business owners, didn’t take a strong interest in manufacturing. They want to make sure there’s no problems in manufacturing, but they’re not really sure how to build things. They’re more sales people or finance people, generally. When they see someone getting traction, they generally say, “OK,” as long as you’re getting top management support, you don’t need top management leadership. I think many people think they need leadership. There’s a big difference. I think you can lead from the middle if you have support from the top.

Joe Dager: You’re singing my song, Paul. I’ve already started the podcast, I thought what you just said is golden.

Paul Yandell of Value Stream Focus is my podcast guest next week and we discussed one of my favorite topics – Middle Management. Paul Yandell, led a lean transformation that won the 2007 Pacific Northwest Silver Medallion Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing. Business Week called the Shingo Prize the “Nobel Prize for Manufacturing”.