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You'd think that I would know what I was doing...
However, even after 30 years of using the world class manufacturing tools & techniques, including a 10 year stint in automotive working directly with Toyota, Nissan & Honda, I had the same mistaken perception that many Lean practitioners have, that Lean is about a collection of complicated, engineer-driven tools. The flipcharts, graphs, audits and workshops might be effective at making a short term shift in performance but are about as inspiring and fun as a trip to the dentist. Their lasting impact on the organisations where I worked, was always questionable and it always felt "hard" to sustain.
Thankfully, I had the good luck to discover 2 Second Lean in 2019 and realise that Lean is a people first endeavour. Without a focus on growing and developing people, your organisational change efforts will be built on sand. Without culture, the tools have nothing to "stick to."
Simply put, it all works when Leadership embodies Lean principles. Not "do what I say, not what I do" but actually lead by example. In fact to be a "triple x Leader" - an Extraordinary, Exceptional, Example every day. When they exhibit that behaviour, and take that level of responsibility, it is practically impossible to fail. When you build "Improvement Starts With I" as a principle into your organisation, Lean will fly. If you allow "expect everyone else to do it but not you?," forget it!
After this epiphany, I worked with different companies on delivering Lean culture transformations and developed a simple framework to deliver Engagement, Improvements and Results with a 5 step plan that, when followed, will put the stabilisers on your Lean Journey, and help you avoid the potholes into which countless other companies have fallen.
These days, I'm busy growing Lumen Electronics, our engineering and manufacturing activities, as well as our Lean software, GembaDocs. Even so, I still make time to support other companies do Lean properly. It's one of the things that brings me most joy!
Read the book and if you apply the principles you will go a long way to getting this right. If you've read the book and still feel like you need help, get in touch.
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