Welcome to the next instalment in our series of posts about why Lean fails and in this short post we explore the way that organisational systems contribute to Lean projects either falling short of expectations or failing completely.
Systems cause failures through three things:
1. Rigid computerised systems that are built to support faulty processes
Many computerised systems are built around 'common' processes and are difficult to customise for specific changes after installation, and anyway the training required to learn how to operate these systems creates problems with resistance to changes and organisational inertia. This is not an easy thing to overcome and after creating a 'Future State' for your organisational processes may need some additional investment to modify the system to make it 'fit for purpose' and able to support the proposed 'Future State'.
2. Faulty operating procedures which degrade improvements
In making changes to an organisation's value streams you will often find procedures, operating conventions and procedures which need to be changed either by changing what is written or changing behaviours. Obviously there is a need to ensure standards of compliance are maintained but many procedures and practices were designed to operate under the 'Current State' and need to be changed to be suitable for the 'Future State'. Failure to address these issues will bring the change programme to a halt with a bump.
3. Measurement and reward systems that are designed for the 'old way' not the 'new way'
The way that processes are measured and people are rewarded/recognised can severely hamper organisational success with Lean. This is a particular problem within larger groups where corporate finance teams impose certain reporting restrictions that force a certain type of behaviour whilst it is not uncommon to find that Lean can be seen as a penalty or a cause of teams finding it harder to achieve key performance measures - something that will kill it stone dead!
Anyway, if the terms 'Current State', 'Blue Sky State' or 'Future State' are new to you - drop me an email to markeaton(a)amnis-uk.com and I will send you some notes on Value Stream Analysis.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Train 2 Fail
In this series of (what will be) nine posts on why Lean fails, we have already explored failures due to the way Lean is operated, planned, led or communicated.
Having explored these four issues, the fifth reason for failure can normally be found in problems to do with how individuals and teams are trained and there can be a number of critical problems with these areas, including:
Insufficient Training
Not giving those involved the skills to enable them to lead Lean improvement programmes is perhaps the primary reason for failure under this category. Sometimes it is caused by inexperienced leaders and trainers thinking Lean is something 'easy in the head and therefore easy in the hand' and sometimes it is down to the speed of implementation, but whatever the cause it can demoralise teams, remove confidence and delay/stall progress.
Over-Training
The complete opposite of the first problem is the application of never ending training and failing to ever move to action.
Incorrect Training
The Japanese Lean Sensei have a saying, 'Be careful who you learn from' - there are a lot of 'Lean Jockeys' who have read a book, been able to see someone at work and done a couple of events and then set up in business as a Lean consultant - check your references for trainers!
Inappropriate Training
Giving people skills in (say) Jidoka when the processes they will be improving need little more than a bit of 5S(+1) and Kanban is both an inappropriate use of time and demoralising to a lot of people. Make the training appropriate and progressive so the higher skills are learnt at the point they are needed.
To counter these sorts of problems, we focus on developing Change Agents who have higher level skills, along with varying levels of skills and awareness of people directly involved or affected by the change process.
We also run a number of open workshops which can be found listed on our website (www.amnis-uk.com) or you can email me for details of the on-site training programmes we run by sending an email to markeaton(a)amnis-uk.com.
One final thing - we are also running a series of workshops with the IOM and you can download the brochure HERE.
Having explored these four issues, the fifth reason for failure can normally be found in problems to do with how individuals and teams are trained and there can be a number of critical problems with these areas, including:
Insufficient Training
Not giving those involved the skills to enable them to lead Lean improvement programmes is perhaps the primary reason for failure under this category. Sometimes it is caused by inexperienced leaders and trainers thinking Lean is something 'easy in the head and therefore easy in the hand' and sometimes it is down to the speed of implementation, but whatever the cause it can demoralise teams, remove confidence and delay/stall progress.
Over-Training
The complete opposite of the first problem is the application of never ending training and failing to ever move to action.
Incorrect Training
The Japanese Lean Sensei have a saying, 'Be careful who you learn from' - there are a lot of 'Lean Jockeys' who have read a book, been able to see someone at work and done a couple of events and then set up in business as a Lean consultant - check your references for trainers!
Inappropriate Training
Giving people skills in (say) Jidoka when the processes they will be improving need little more than a bit of 5S(+1) and Kanban is both an inappropriate use of time and demoralising to a lot of people. Make the training appropriate and progressive so the higher skills are learnt at the point they are needed.
To counter these sorts of problems, we focus on developing Change Agents who have higher level skills, along with varying levels of skills and awareness of people directly involved or affected by the change process.
We also run a number of open workshops which can be found listed on our website (www.amnis-uk.com) or you can email me for details of the on-site training programmes we run by sending an email to markeaton(a)amnis-uk.com.
One final thing - we are also running a series of workshops with the IOM and you can download the brochure HERE.
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