In today’s modern world where creativity, ingenuity and pursuit of the “new” and “different” rule our psyche, do we hastily devalue classics? Are the Proven, Tried and True too often passed over for the unique “new thing” that nobody has thought of yet?

The risk that we need to avoid here is looking for the ‘’breakthrough’ in one big step. Not only is this almost always impossible, but it is dangerous. A new term has recently been added to the lean vocabulary: Kaikaku. While kaizen is a focused incremental change for the best, Kaikaku means making fundamental and radical changes to a production system.

I want to take a moment and challenge you to look at the why first as opposed to the what. Often when driving a lean continuous improvement project you can hit some negativity or proverbial wall which is hard to pass thru. When this happens, shift your focus from looking at what went wrong and what changes we can make to prevent it from happening again but rather to the why value proposition. Starting with the why process is important to further the relationship and impact to the real value added. By focusing on the why before looking at the 8 wastes you are in a better position to define real value and lead the team to find the what.

I love to take analogies from sports and apply the successful concepts to lean and continuous improvement. This one may require you to stretch your mind a little, but I believe you will agree consistency of commitment over time is critical in all that we do to be successful. It’s an old cliché you hear repeated over and over, “Defense Win Championships”. The thing about defense is that it doesn’t take superstars, but a group of teammates with well-choreographed movements who end up eventually stifling the offense. Everyone loves the flashiness of offense, high scoring is more exciting, but in the end it comes down to defense.

Can I give you a hand with that? When I hear this always-welcome offer to lend assistance, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that help has arrived. Hands are truly helpful, and it’s no surprise to me that the hands were the part of the human anatomy selected over all other parts to mean the same thing as “help” in this often-recited question. Here’s another popular acclamatory phrase that uses hands to symbolize praise: “Congratulations, let’s give him/her a hand!”

A good friend of mine, a safety professional, often tells me that his effectiveness as an ESH professional at his organization is coming to an end. You see, the company he serves has seen a fantastic improvement and they are nearing a zero-injury state. In my friend’s mind, his usefulness to the business for which he works is extinguishing as they approach achieving sustaining zero injuries.

Many leaders worry that their lean implementation efforts will not be sustainable. Therefore, let’s review efforts that will likely lead to sustainability of lean initiatives over time. Our first goal out of the box is to be willing to take pleasure in watching the development of the lean enterprise as it unfolds.

    Your task is to make an impact on the company’s office processes using lean tools and developing a lean culture, but where do you begin?

Shouting and arguing is no fun at all. One question that often leads to arguments between little kids is: “Who’s responsible for this mess?” This question is typically followed by little fingers accusingly pointing in different directions joined by shouting and arguing. I call this the “Blame Zone.”

Lean is a spirit of transformation done by people for people.  Its foundation is built upon fixing the problem, not affixing the blame. 

MAU Lean Manager Mike Boettcher discusses the foundation of lean and continuous improvement.