You're not lean!

It seems like just about everyone in organizational life has been subjected to some kind of quality, continuous improvement or "lean thinking" effort. It makes sense -- given the competitive need to better serve our customers through "waste-free" and high-quality processes. No argument . . .

Everyone has had to get "lean" in some way.

The sustaining success of Toyota and other manufacturers has created an enormous demand for lean thinking in non‐manufacturing areas over the last two decades (e.g., distribution, services, retail, healthcare, construction, and government).

However, the migration of lean into the “other side of the business” ‐ has been characterized by poor adaptations, shoddy consulting practices and a total misunderstanding of what it means to be lean! Bottom line . . .

The return on expectations for lean has been dismal.

With my 20-plus years of experience at Toyota, I am often get the "can you fix this call." Well . . . maybe. A lot depends on an organizations capacity to create a people-centered approach that distributes leadership to all levels of the organization. Any kind of continuous improvement or "lean" philosophy will simply not work in a traditional "top-down" organization. Sure, you can get everyone to salute and fake the numbers . . . but you will never ever ever impact the business.

Here's the deal:

It’s people that make “lean” work – not the other way around.

There is a common misperception that it is the tools and practices of lean thinking that drive improvements ‐‐ with people pulled along by the powerful processes. (That justifies the high consulting fees.) The implementation focus gets lost in the concepts and the tools – instead of developing the necessary “lean thinking” mindsets at all levels of the organization.

Here's the other major problem: Most quality programs unwittingly reduce the variance in people (through a heavy focus on standardizing routines). Any successful approach amplifies the uniqueness in people. It may sound counterintuitive but it is the only way to get the kind of collaboration that can predictably drive business outcomes. Finally, here's the bottom line:

"Non-manufacturing" lean methodologies have evolved to become over-simplified, problem-focused, expert‐driven, and overly-dependent on consultants (and none of that is good).

Truth be told, I have only seen a few organization-wide change efforts that have actually produced "lean" and "adaptive" cultures. Now that is an interesting assertion to ponder!

Why is there so much investment -- and so little to show for it?