This is the second of what will be nine posts about the main reasons why Lean Improvement Programmes fail.
Some years ago, when I was running the government's Lean programme for Manufacturing in a number of UK regions, I was lucky enough to be able to research a wide range of organisations who had been through Lean programmes and they broadly fell into nine categories.
Well, one of these (how Lean programmes are Operated) has already been published here (see below) and this post explores why organisations seem to sometimes 'Plan to Fail' by highlighting the top ten problems with the way that organisations plan and prepare for improvement.
1. Not Allowing Sufficient Resource
If you want to make fundamental change to your organisation you will need to allocate enough time, money and people to make it happen. As someone used to say to me, "You cannot get an omlette without breaking eggs." The first mistake is thinking there is some 'magic bullet' which will fix all your problems in a morning.........unless you know otherwise, I have never found one!
2. Not Scoping the Problem Correctly
Failing to think about the change correctly often creates subsequent failure. Scoping the Improvement is vital to the success of your Lean project. If you wanted to email me (markeaton(a)amnis-uk.com), then I will email you a typical Scoping Paper that you could use as a template.
3. Not Involving the Right People
If you are going to improve an area, a process or an organisation, it will often involve people from different areas, processes or even organisations and failing to involve these people can lead to you introducing improvements which creates problems either upstream or downstream of where the improvement occurs.
4. Moving Too Slow
Plans are great - but worthless - until they are enacted. Moving too slow will kill a programme of improvement dead as everyone will believe it is just 'not important'.
5. Failing to Coordinate
If you have multiple improvement programmes to run it can often be a problem coordinating them effectively. Having dedicated resource who has the competence and experience to lead Lean improvements will help to counter this, but only if they are involved in setting and scheduling all improvement activities.
6. Designing Rigid Plans
I like to say 'Plan to celebrate success, but accept occasional failure' and having rigid plans can create excessive stress on your improvement programme and slow it to a halt.
7. Not Being Clear Enough
This is different to number 2 above in that this is about being clear to your team about the plans and ensuring they have an understanding of what is required of them. It is all very well have well formed plans in a desk, but it is in the operational areas where it counts.
8. Simply Not Planning
Yep - lots of people do some training and then move straight into action, which can of course be great in terms of short term wins in small areas but trying to move from a 'one day 5S training course' into changing an organisation is often a flight of fancy, but it still happens!
9. Not having a focused planHaving a 'wishy washy' plan that lacks punch, even a well formed plan, can simply just fail to get off the ground through simple apathy. Plans need to be compelling, engaging and meaningful.
10. Not tackling the issue that counts
Having a plan that does not address the issues that your team perceive need to be addressed will lead to subsequent problems with engagement of the team, but more importantly - your people often know what the real issue so failing to take this into account is a potential route to failure!
Hopefully you have found this useful. In later editions we will explore the remaining 7 areas of Lean failure.
I would love to hear your problems with the way you have planned improvements.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Top 10 Mistakes
In all there are generally nine main reasons why improvement programmes fail to deliver the results that are expected. I recently had an article published by the IOM on the nine areas which can be read here and wil be available as a PDF download shortly from the IOM Website.
One of these nine areas of failure is the way in which the Lean Improvement Programme is 'Operated' and I have listed below what I believe are the top ten mistakes made in this area:
1. Failing to allocate the right resource
Perhaps the most common mistake is to fail to allocate the right resource (mostly people but also the right time) to the improvement programme, making it difficult to get going.
2. Thinking there is a 'magic bullet'
A second problem is thinking that one quick event can solve an entire organisation's problems - and as one Swallow does not make a Summer, one Lean event does not solve every problem.
3. Using the wrong tools
Just because I own a hammer does not mean I need it for every job. In some cases applying the wrong tool to an improvement programme can be as much a disaster as not using one at all!
4. Not involving the right people
The act of improving a process must include people from across the entire value stream. Picking people from only one area will mean they make upstream and downstream mistakes.
5. Lack of consistency
An improvement programme should be looked at as an improvement programme not a few events interspersed with normal activity - as this does not embed the changes made!
6. Failing to review and audit the process
Having made an improvement it is important to monitor whether it has occurred effectively through audits and continuous improvement, something people only forget.
7. Failing to prepare effectively
Similar to failing to allocate the right resource is failing to ensure the people in the area are prepared for the change and that the area can suffer the disruption of the change process.
8. Choosing the wrong Change Agent or Advisor
Although this could be argued as being a function of one of the other nine categories of Lean failure, it also affects the operation of the improvement programme. In the words of Toyota, 'Be careful who you learn from!'
9. Too Fast or Too Slow
Too much acceleration on an improvement programme can leave unacceptable 'casualties' in the form of disaffected people. Too slow and the programme runs out of steam very quickly!
10. Wrong Process
Perhaps the most damaging (if not the most common) mistake is to apply the wrong process to your improvement programme. We use the PRISM process which is described as:
One of these nine areas of failure is the way in which the Lean Improvement Programme is 'Operated' and I have listed below what I believe are the top ten mistakes made in this area:
1. Failing to allocate the right resource
Perhaps the most common mistake is to fail to allocate the right resource (mostly people but also the right time) to the improvement programme, making it difficult to get going.
2. Thinking there is a 'magic bullet'
A second problem is thinking that one quick event can solve an entire organisation's problems - and as one Swallow does not make a Summer, one Lean event does not solve every problem.
3. Using the wrong tools
Just because I own a hammer does not mean I need it for every job. In some cases applying the wrong tool to an improvement programme can be as much a disaster as not using one at all!
4. Not involving the right people
The act of improving a process must include people from across the entire value stream. Picking people from only one area will mean they make upstream and downstream mistakes.
5. Lack of consistency
An improvement programme should be looked at as an improvement programme not a few events interspersed with normal activity - as this does not embed the changes made!
6. Failing to review and audit the process
Having made an improvement it is important to monitor whether it has occurred effectively through audits and continuous improvement, something people only forget.
7. Failing to prepare effectively
Similar to failing to allocate the right resource is failing to ensure the people in the area are prepared for the change and that the area can suffer the disruption of the change process.
8. Choosing the wrong Change Agent or Advisor
Although this could be argued as being a function of one of the other nine categories of Lean failure, it also affects the operation of the improvement programme. In the words of Toyota, 'Be careful who you learn from!'
9. Too Fast or Too Slow
Too much acceleration on an improvement programme can leave unacceptable 'casualties' in the form of disaffected people. Too slow and the programme runs out of steam very quickly!
10. Wrong Process
Perhaps the most damaging (if not the most common) mistake is to apply the wrong process to your improvement programme. We use the PRISM process which is described as:
- Prepare (the organisation)
- Roadmap (the improvement)
- Implement (the improvement)
- Sustain (the improvement)
- Maintain (the momentum)
Friday, February 09, 2007
Is there such thing as a magic bullet?
I was discussing with one of the team yesterday about whether or not there is such a thing as a magic bullet for organisations to solve all their problems through 'one quick fix'........I would be interested in any views you have about this, but for me - I don't think there is such a panacea!
This is not to say that there are not 'quick wins' that will generate immediate improvement but we need to differentiate these short term gains with long-term sustainable change and one does not automatically lead onto the other (whilst you can make a rapid improvement you may not fully realise the potential benefits that are possible).
As for the 'magic bullet' that converts sticky mud into rivers of gold and which converts poor performance into sustained improvement, if you know where to find it can you let me know please?
This is not to say that there are not 'quick wins' that will generate immediate improvement but we need to differentiate these short term gains with long-term sustainable change and one does not automatically lead onto the other (whilst you can make a rapid improvement you may not fully realise the potential benefits that are possible).
As for the 'magic bullet' that converts sticky mud into rivers of gold and which converts poor performance into sustained improvement, if you know where to find it can you let me know please?
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Has Lean lost its cachet?
We had a management meeting yesterday and we were discussing the word Lean and how, in some areas, it has lost its value because people associate it with 'a bit of process mapping' and when this fails to deliver results, they want to move onto 'Agile' or 'Leagile' or 'Lean Sigma' etc.
We had a long discussion around whether we should look to change the message we put out to Manufacturing businesses and the NHS, partly because most good Lean people use a 'hybrid approach' which will draw appropriate tools from Lean, Six Sigma, Agile etc as required by the situation.
After a circular discussion we reached an interesting conclusion which was that we needed to maintain the word 'Lean' in all our work, but start stressing that it is a hybrid approach, as without the Lean word people would struggle to 'pin down' what you are doing.
However, it never fails to amaze me that people are so quick to write off improvement approaches so quickly, just because they have had problems with it themselves - and how quickly even the approaches with the highest impact (such as Lean) can quickly lose their cachet with some people.
What do you think?
We had a long discussion around whether we should look to change the message we put out to Manufacturing businesses and the NHS, partly because most good Lean people use a 'hybrid approach' which will draw appropriate tools from Lean, Six Sigma, Agile etc as required by the situation.
After a circular discussion we reached an interesting conclusion which was that we needed to maintain the word 'Lean' in all our work, but start stressing that it is a hybrid approach, as without the Lean word people would struggle to 'pin down' what you are doing.
However, it never fails to amaze me that people are so quick to write off improvement approaches so quickly, just because they have had problems with it themselves - and how quickly even the approaches with the highest impact (such as Lean) can quickly lose their cachet with some people.
What do you think?
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Admin equals Production
I am preparing to run a Value Stream Analysis process in a trust next week focused on the discharge process and communication with the Primary Care Trusts.
As I sit here bringing my materials together I was thinking about how closely the aspects of Lean in Healthcare Admin are to Lean in General Healthcare.
Much as Lean has started migrating from the production areas in manufacturing into the service and admin areas, we are starting to see the same shifts in Lean Healthcare.
We are also finding that the same problems occur - admin processes are even more 'people focused' than the operational areas (wards etc) and the same sensitivities occur as when we are looking at (say) Theatre lists.
However, it never fails to amaze me that despite the fact that Lean seems to work in every area of every organisation, everyone believes it will not work for them. Now, I realise that a lot of people have been 'Lean'd' by someone inexperienced in the past and therefore have recollections of ineffective Lean, but I look forward to having to go through the normal stress associated with the first day of a Value Stream Event (VSE) which will start with trying to convince people Lean works and facilitating sceptics, only to find that by the end of the day we have created another group of converts!
What is your experience?
As I sit here bringing my materials together I was thinking about how closely the aspects of Lean in Healthcare Admin are to Lean in General Healthcare.
Much as Lean has started migrating from the production areas in manufacturing into the service and admin areas, we are starting to see the same shifts in Lean Healthcare.
We are also finding that the same problems occur - admin processes are even more 'people focused' than the operational areas (wards etc) and the same sensitivities occur as when we are looking at (say) Theatre lists.
However, it never fails to amaze me that despite the fact that Lean seems to work in every area of every organisation, everyone believes it will not work for them. Now, I realise that a lot of people have been 'Lean'd' by someone inexperienced in the past and therefore have recollections of ineffective Lean, but I look forward to having to go through the normal stress associated with the first day of a Value Stream Event (VSE) which will start with trying to convince people Lean works and facilitating sceptics, only to find that by the end of the day we have created another group of converts!
What is your experience?
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