Tools & Mechanics

Every year I like to make something for my kids (to mix in with the pile of bought toys) and as I worked on finishing one of them at the weekend I realised that I used a screwdriver, stanley knife, paint brush, cleaning fluid, hammer, nails, multipurpose coating, G-Clamps, glue, saw, sander and drill.

If we take these are the tools of improvement and we gave them to someone completely unaware of how to use the tools do you think they would use them in the right order or in the right way?

Something I have experienced a lot of is people who have been on a training course and learnt (say) 5S and have gone back with this blunt weapon and tried to apply it as they were taught - often in a very mechanistic way and then wonder why the results they achieve do not match the 'Here's one I made earlier' case study used on their training course.

This then leads to a feeling of disillusionment with the tools because 'obviously they do not work here'. In some key sectors, like manufacturing and the healthcare sector, a lot of people have gained some understanding of Lean and quite a few of these have tried to implement the improvements without success. This creates a cultural backlash to improvements, an unneccesary inertia, because of the previous failure to achieve lasting results.

The real trick to it all is to focus not on the blunt use of tools but on how and when to use the tools, in what sequence and using an appropriate amount of force to do so - something that a few days of training can never hope to achieve.

The real art of improvement, just like the old carpenter's apprenticeship, is to practice, make mistakes, learn and reapply your improvement 'art' until it is 'in the muscle' - but sadly, people often give up far too soon for this to happen!