Many organizations start practicing the tools of Lean and fail to understand that it is the people side that makes Lean effective. I have seen where organizations will develop the skill set of Value Stream Mapping, A3 Problem Solving or even Hoshin Planning. But spend little time developing a Lean attitude around the most basic concepts of Visual Management, Overlapping Responsibilities or Individual Kaizen. As a result, they simply do not act like a Lean Company. They are a collection of their tools not a collection driven by culture. The mistakes that you were trying to correct by instilling Lean continue to happen. Teamwork is non-existent and individual silos remain. How do you change that?
The Lean Concept of Respect for People was the topic of my recent podcast with David Veech (@leansights). After reading the transcription of the podcast (below), I realized how much we talked about individuals and how they perform within teams. David has some great points. This transcription is well worth the time to read.
You can find David at The Lean Way. David is also a founding member of the Institute for Lean Systems and serves as its Executive Director. He is a faculty leader for Penn State University’s Smeal College of Business Executive Programs, and is a guest lecturer in The Ohio State University Fisher School of Business Masters program in Business Operational Excellence.
David has a knack of getting to the point, which he demonstrates in this excerpt, Can Standard Work be fun and lead to Enthusiasm?