Lean thinking is not new. Lean manufacturing principles are the foundation of most production facilities around the world but this thinking is effective in any function and any industry.

Lean production methods were pioneered by Toyota in Japan and include the use of tools such as; the seven wastes, 5S, Kanban, TPM, Rapid Changeovers and 6 Sigma.

The key tool though is the value mapping process and the ability to identify waste and attack that waste systematically. It is this element of Lean thinking that is being applied in service organisations both in the public and private sector and is extending to functions outside of manufacturing.

Why?

Understanding consumer values, their decision making process and how they spend their disposable income is going to become the foundation for business strategy and management policy in 2010.

Add to that the fact that in a standardised world where things are increasingly similar the world over, people are the difference and employee engagement is going to make the difference.

Lean working is about understanding and meeting the needs of the consumers more effectively. For most organisations it will be about meeting those needs in a better, faster and right first time way – eliminating waste, reducing costs, enhancing value.

The theory is simple:

• Define value from the perspective of the consumer
• Map the flow of activities that create that value
• Design the most efficient way of achieving it

In the next 6 stages the framework for delivering a Lean Programme are identified and the implication on people exposed.

Stage 1 – Vision

The starting point is to be able to visualise and identify value from the perspective of the consumer.

Do you really understand what activities really add value for your customers?

Will Lean help to deliver the organisations strategic business objectives?

Do the Leaders and Managers understand the cultural and organisational change gap?

Adoption of Lean thinking is a cultural and organisational change project and as such requires top level buy in, and understanding of how much commitment you are willing to make and the benefits that you want to see delivered.

Stage 2 – Communication, communication and communication.

Lean affects the organisational structure in very different ways.

In stage 1 we have taken the visionary leaders of the organisation and clarified the reason for delivering Lean. Once this is done and communicated the process switches to being a bottom up driven approach.

Why?

The best way to eliminate waste is to be close to where it is created. Of course this raises a number of issues:

• Are the doers in the organisation capable of working in process teams rather than functional teams?
• Are the Managers able to facilitate and support the process without influencing?
• Are you putting employees in a position where they may “eliminate” their own role and reason for being?

The impact on the people in the organisation is significant and the message communicated at this stage is critical.

A big question at this point is; does your organisation know more about its customers than its employees?

Are you able to have an adult two way relationship between leaders and managers and managers and workers?

Engagement and involvement are critical in managing change in the work environment. Many of the barriers to the success of change projects are people related. This is compounded when implementing Lean, where the involvement and engagement of the workforce is essential.

Aligning the adoption of Lean with an Employee Engagement programme can be a winning combination. Communicating both together allows for positive reflection on a change that is not being done to the workforce but is being delivered by the workforce.

There is increasing evidence that individual’s skills are being under utilised at work, which is a significant source of disengagement for the individual concerned and it also signifies significant waste.

Carrying out a people and talent audit will provide a foundation stone for Lean and ensure that the cultural and organisational change is clearly understood, helping the journey to be sustainable.

Stage 3 – Deliver a current state value map

To move forward you must know where you are coming from.

Can you define your end to end value chain?

As previously mentioned this needs to be done by creating process teams. In some organisations these will be cross functional and in others cross functional and inter-company.

Many organisations will have gone through years of Value Adding, so it is natural at this point for there to be a level of cynicism about a new focus on the elimination of waste.

It can be helpful at this point to bring in some external co-ordination to limit the potential for smoothing of the existing process born by a fear of becoming victims of the process.

Stage 4 – Disruption!

The fun bit! An unreasonable challenge on what is done and why. The dependency is being far enough down the Employee Engagement Process that there is a real desire and passion to find the better, faster, right first time route to what the consumer wants.

How?

Follow the Google theory; “give the proper tools to a group of people who want to make a difference and they will”.

The purpose here is to invoke positive emotions from people taking personal responsibility, giving them freedom to make decisions and organise their work.

The changes in the social structure and impact of the economic downturn have left many people wanting more than a pay packet. More people are taking personal responsibility for themselves and others in their everyday lives and are less willing to abandon their desire for self determination when they enter work – engaging this side of the workforce is key to successful Lean implementation. There are consequences though…

Managers used to having responsibility and control over a clear function may struggle with the behavioural change associated with this type of transformation. Supporting them with coaching and mentoring will ensure that conflict is managed positively and will ultimately deliver a management group who can facilitate change and eliminate waste effectively.

Stage 5 – The Transformation Programme

The results of the disruption process will require packaging into manageable projects that will link together as part of the Lean Programme. The ideal situation is to have the Lean Programme sponsored at Board level, with the Board becoming a Steering Group for the overall timeline and delivery of benefits.

Each project will then have a Manager level sponsor and a Project Manager responsible for delivery of the Lean initiative through the process team.

It is very likely that as a result of disruption the value chain identified will cut across the traditional functional structure. This will result in the need for restructuring of functional responsibility focusing on major business process activity.

Stage 6 – Sustainability

It seems sometimes that the desire, excitement and commitment to business transformation only exists when the programme is in full flight. It is common now in many organisations for new transformation programmes to start up as one is finishing off and that energy is some how transferred to the new initiative with the belief that this programme has delivered…

BIG MISTAKE!

Creating sustainable change takes continued effort and improvement. Organisations who feel the job is done at the end of the programme have usually not aligned goals and strategic benefits correctly and more importantly are not measuring success.

Performance monitoring at several levels; results based, process based, team and individual is critical in not only quantifying the benefits of Lean working but ensuring that hot spots are identified and the philosophy of continuous improvement is maintained.

Lean is not a one hit wonder. It is a business process change that if done correctly will change the organisational design, focus, culture, behaviour and way of working for the organisation.

There are a number of HR specific considerations to ensure sustainability of Lean:

• Performance related appraisal scheme
• Commitment to challenging poor behaviour
• Designing rewards that encourage the type of behaviour and action required to meet business aims

Values driven engagement:

• Improved team working
• Mutual support
• Greater personal responsibility
• Autonomy
• More focus on collaboration and influencing

The 21st Century Workplace is going to need to focus on; flexibility, change and continuous improvement. There will be more emphasis on attitudes, behaviours and outcomes. This will be measurable and correlated with performance. Lean provides an umbrella to do all of that and generate some tangible financial benefits by focusing on what your consumer wants to see and finding the simplest way of delivering it.

Lean, just for manufacturing? Not in our experience.