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Rolling Out Lean Principles in a Business or Organization

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A brief outline of the steps to rolling out Lean in the work place. Bear in mind that I believe success depends upon leadership and mentoring instead of supervision.
First, listen and teach. Set up brief training sessions using classroom time, Gemba walks, 5S, and identifying waste. Teach the group to use Lean tools to recognize opportunities while walking their work space. Frame what you teach in terms of the listeners’ value proposition. This is to gain trust. As a leader, you should be selling instead of telling. Teach basic tools they can use right now. Have the group document a list of opportunities.
Second, lead the group into a baby step project.  If they haven’t done so already, have the team create a list of opportunities and chose which they want to tackle as a project. At this point they become a team instead of a group of individuals. Teach them tools for use in their chosen project and go out and get it done. As others see the team’s activities, you may see the number of individuals interested in participating increase. Allow this to happen. You may have to create more than one team depending business circumstances.
Third, after a successful project, have the team re-evaluate the list they created earlier. It will change based upon what they have learned. Tackle another project from the list. Get some momentum from successful projects. This increases trust. Encourage the team to take on smaller projects in their own work space. Act as a facilitator and a supplier of resources. Lead instead of supervising. Again, as others see the team’s activities, you may see the number of individuals interested in participating increase. Allow this to happen. You may have to create more than one team depending business circumstances.
Forth, you are now in the midst of a Lean rollout. You may want to christen the rollout with a name that is unique to the team or teams. Be careful about asking the team to follow you in the Lean implementation on a larger scale. You don’t want the team(s) to see the process as a “program” they are doing for someone else. They need to see it as something they are doing for themselves (remember the value proposition they started with). The team(s) need to “own” the initiative. There will come a time for them to see it on a larger scale.
Fifth, you don’t have to use special names for tools and projects. This can create pushback. Listen to the people you are working with and they will indicate when, if ever, it is appropriate to start adding special names. The main thing is to keep in alignment with the overall value proposition of the business and in alignment with the team’s value proposition.
Sixth, “keep the main thing the main thing” by not allowing the effort to become personally yours. The effort belongs to the group and the business as a whole. As much as possible, stay in a leadership mode instead of a supervisory mode.

Six Sigma Success

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The roll out of a process improvement initiative like Six Sigma is always a cultural event.  It requires a cultural change.  The problem is that many executives do not have a clear understanding of how to change a culture in this way.  Not because they do not have leadership skills, but because it requires leadership without the use of position power. It is sales related.

Six Sigma process improvement initiatives that are inflected on an organization inevitably fail.  An organization must be led through the cultural change. If the individuals on the front line (sales, operations, repair, janitors, etc) don’t buy in, the culture will not change.  To them it will become the “Program of the Week.”  Unfortunately, many consulting firms do not focus on this important aspect of Six Sigma cultural change.  It is senior management that writes the checks and as a result it is senior management that becomes the focus.

Do yourself a favor.  Do not focus on a prescribed number of Six Sigma Black Belts and Green Belts.  Do not focus on the number of full time Six Sigma employees. Neither of these criteria are determinant of success.  They are the sales leverage of the consultant that is more concerned with their fees, or they are not knowledgeable enough to be handing your Six Sigma roll out.  Instead, try a single department roll out.  Let their success create excitement with others in the organization. Cultural change starts with the “grass roots” of the organization. If you agree with this statement, than this will become your area of focus in Six Sigma. Senior Management buy in is essential, but different from the buy in of the rest of the organization.