Lean Works

Its not new that companies fail to show bottom line improvement numbers immediately with a lean initiative. It is a large undertaking to change a mindset and to introduce a phylosophy where the people doing the work are accountable to not only perform the work, but to improve the work as well. Most companies are looking for experts or silver bullets to introduce that change.

In most companies I work with, it takes about a year before the management with the accounting people step forward to say "we hear things are better, we see improvements in flow and a reduction in WIP (work in process) but we don't see the savings in the bottom line".

If you are a lean leader in your company, you should do some research on lean accounting. Sooner or later you will be asked the question. Its best to get the accounting and financial group on board at the start. Traditional accounting does not support lean. The truth is that if you are using traditional accounting methods, it will appear as though your unit cost is increasing in the short term with lean.

If your lean consultant cannot explain this to you - get a new consultant. Otherwise, within a year this will kill your lean initiative - regardless of the improvements that your production folks claim they are seeing.

Norm

www.leanjourney.ca

How to Achieve Greatness Through Gratitude

In the business arena, especially today, two simple words – thank you – have given companies and individuals a serious edge in the marketplace. A simple heartfelt thank you message can create a huge competitive advantage.

Think about it - when was the last time you got a personal greeting card in the mailbox? When was the last time you had a handwritten card on your windshield, on your door, or even on your pillow? A little better than an email, eh?

Consider the example of Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mark Kay Cosmetics. She build a $1.2 billion cosmetics empire because she understood the importance of gratitude. Her personal philosophy, which she taught to her sales reps , was to send out three hand-written thank you notes every night before bed. This practice not only expressed her gratitude to the people she met and did business with, but also allowed her to maintain a positive attitude all day long as she sought out people to whom she’d send these thank you notes. Today Mary Kay Cosmetics has 1.5 million sales people in 32 countries. She knew how to harness the power of thank you.

Clearly sending notes and cards isn’t the only way to say thank you. But it just might be the best way.

A phone call is nice, an email does the trick, but it’s the actual note or card that sets you apart - big time. Think about it. You hang up the phone. You delete the email. But what do you do with the card? How many old greeting cards do you have around that you’ve saved – for whatever reason? There’s something about a heartfelt note or greeting card that makes a person feel special.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

When is it too late to say thank you? The answer is: Never

"The challenge these days seems to be in finding the time". Right - that's a poor excuse for inaction. Fortunately, I found a service that makes sending out cards quick, easy and painless. Jump on the website, choose a greeting card, personalize it and hit the send button. No running to the store, buying stamps and licking envelopes. The card is sent for you - for less than than you'd pay if you did it all yourself.

Check out their website and see for yourself. (And yes, this link is an affiliate link to my partner site)

Best success and say thanks!

Norm www.normanbain.com

Cruise toward Lean

NBI is offering a strictly limited number of seats to learn about Lean on a cruise of the Mediterranean Sea!

Check it out by Clicking Here

Norm www.normanbain.com

Hansei and Paradigms

I enjoyed another interesting week as I introduced several new companies to the concepts of lean thinking. When I present these concepts, I like to begin by introducing paradigms. If time permits, I’ll introduce Joel Barkers film “The Business of Paradigms” … its such a powerful presentation. Paradigms are rules that we enforce upon ourselves that often block our ability to see alternative ways forward. I have caught myself doing this on many occasions – as recently as this past week!

I like to end these sessions by conducting a hansei. Hansei is a new concept to North Americans. Reflecting on events and giving group feedback to improve is uncomfortable and foreign. North Americans are more comfortable giving anonymous feedback using feedback forms and surveys. Inevitably, someone comments about the introduction of Japanese words, like hansei – “ why don’t you just say what you mean and use English words”. Jon Miller talks about that on his blog. Because this is such a foreign and uncomfortable concept, there is no simple English translation that does hansei justice. As uncomfortable as it is when started, the results of the hansei are powerful and immediate if acted upon. This single concept is perhaps the most fundamental and powerful in lean – reflecting and learning on what we did, saw, or heard. It is the Check in the PDCA cycle. I encourage my clients to adopt this concept at the end of every “formal” meeting. It can quickly transform the time together to become more effective and it teaches participants the art of reflection and providing feedback.

My presentations never contain a sales pitch (unless, of course, the presentation itself in its entirety is a sales pitch). Outside of one slide introducing who we are and what we do, I like to keep the content focussed on the subject matter. If participants need help with implementation, we can connect as a followup to the session. In one session, during the hansai, a participant commented that they liked the introduction to lean but got lost when I started talking about what I would do for the company as a consultant. The presentation included a segment on Hoshin Kanri – Strategy Deployment, and how this lean tool builds on the company values, mission and vision to become a powerful execution tool. Its interesting how narrow a view there is of lean. The concept of lean enterprise is in its infancy. Applying lean outside the shop floor (lean manufacturing), the office (lean office) or the design studio (lean product development) is not widely accepted. Using Hoshin Kanri, office Kaizen and a Lean Management System for leaders is still quite foreign. It goes beyond the current paradigm.

I’m now thinking about how I can adjust the presentation for better flow to transition from the basic fundamentals of lean thinking to more advanced concepts (like Hoshin Kanri and a Lean Daily Management System). Perhaps this is beyond a lean introduction. Perhaps I have not reflected enough on ways to make this improvement.

In either case, the hansei, reflection and continuous improvement is firmly engrained in my process.


Norm
www.normanbain.com

Lean Tools Crossword

Looking for a diversion? Need some training tools?
Try our Lean Tools Crossword.

Just print it out and have some fun!
http://leanjourney.ca/LeanCrosswordPuzzle.htm

For those who get frustrated, we've provided a link to the solution.

Norm
www.normanbain.com

Find a systems thinker for your organization

In most industries, leaders put up barriers when they see someone from outside their industry looking in. Whether hiring workers, consultants, trainers, managers or engineers, they put the blinders on and look for someone who has done that particular job before.

When thinking lean, we explore how we do the work. We break tasks out to discover what skills are required, what equipment is required, what tools are required, what material is required, what information is required. We look at how all of this fits together to create flow. Where we can’t flow, we introduce pull. We level out the work and install visual queues to see where the problems are. We engage people in fixing the system.

In doing all of this, it does not matter if he are building cars, treating patients, making ice cream, digging coal, making paper, designing spaceships, building skyscrapers or making vaccine.

Every task in any business can be broken down into a system. Lean thinking is applied to the system. We work on how we do the work and eliminate waste in the process. Lean is all about continuously improving the system to deliver customer value.

More companies should realize that while they are “unique” in what they do, they are simply using systems and processes to create value for the customer. Hiring someone who has a systems background and understands lean thinking can be a huge asset to any organization. Put these people to work!

Norm
www.normanbain.com

Standard work for leaders

One the fundamentals of lean is the concept of standard work. Where there is no standard work, there can be no kaizen. Kaizen roughly translates to “change for the good”. But our people must establish, agree on, and become proficient at the current method before they can improve it.

Its fine to ask our newest people to raise the flag and ask “why” we are doing things a certain way. But if everyone does things differently, how do we make any improvement at all? The answer is to adopt a standard way, then improve on it. Our peoples job is to do the work and to improve the work.

Have you looked at standard work for supervisors, for managers, for team leaders? Perhaps if we adopt standard work for our leaders, our improvement initiatives will be smoother. What is it that our leaders should do every day to help us succeed? How do we know they are doing it?

The links below are some templates for thought starters. I’d be pleased to hear your success stories with leader standard work!

Team Leader Standard Work
Supervisor Standard Work


Norm
www.normanbain.com