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.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Communicate or Die
Wow - I can't believe this is already the fourth of the nine posts about the key reasons why Lean (and other improvement programmes too) fail to deliver the results that organisations want.
So far we have already explored:
1. How the way the improvement is implemented leads to failure
2. Problems with the way improvements are planned
3. Leadership issues
In this post, we will explore the fourth of the nine major reasons for failure - this one concerned with issues surrounding the communication process. As ever, I would welcome your feedback either directly on the blog or via markeaton(a)amnis-uk.com.
Failing to Communicate 'Why?'
The most common communication problem is not clearly presenting the team with the reason for the change, what I would call the 'Compelling Need' (or sometimes the 'Biological Urge' for Change). Without this, the team will not be able to understand why they are being challenged to improve.
Failing to Communicate the Process
Another interesting problem is the failure to communicate the process that will be used (for example - 'We will do a series of Value Stream Maps looking at the X Pathway which will occur during XYZ Months and will lead onto a number of Rapid Improvement Events') Without providing clarity of the process (or without having the clarity) the team will struggle to understand where they are 'in the process' and the benefits achieved will be reduced.
Failing to Communicate 'Across the Pathway'
Here, I am using the term Pathway because it is very common in Lean Healthcare, but for Manufacturing people the term 'Value Stream' is inter-changeable. Specifically, this is concerned with problems about involving people from across an entire value stream (from End to End) as it is only through involving representatives from all the areas affected that you will get a true picture of the impact of the suggested improvements and whether they are going to introduce any upstream or downstream problems.
Communicating Failure
Not every Lean event will be successful and sometimes even successful events will not achieve the results that are expected - and communicating negatively (what you might say is about managers showing they are upset) will demoralise the team affected and, via the grapevine, will spread across the organisation. Always show how happy you are with the success in public and discuss improvements and changes in private.
Communicating Success
It is important to communicate successes of the programme to inspire others - and Lean becomes easier the more successes you have!
Failing to communicate and involve those Affected
This is different to the points above about involving people from across the pathway as even the best Lean project will not be able to involve every single person affected. This is about ensuring that people are not directly involved in the improvement project have the opportunity to discuss the improvements proposed, provide input and most importantly identify suggestions and changes. With no involvement there will be no 'buy in'.
I am sure there are many more reasons for failure but these are, I believe, the top six - if you think I have missed any then I would love to hear from you!
So far we have already explored:
1. How the way the improvement is implemented leads to failure
2. Problems with the way improvements are planned
3. Leadership issues
In this post, we will explore the fourth of the nine major reasons for failure - this one concerned with issues surrounding the communication process. As ever, I would welcome your feedback either directly on the blog or via markeaton(a)amnis-uk.com.
Failing to Communicate 'Why?'
The most common communication problem is not clearly presenting the team with the reason for the change, what I would call the 'Compelling Need' (or sometimes the 'Biological Urge' for Change). Without this, the team will not be able to understand why they are being challenged to improve.
Failing to Communicate the Process
Another interesting problem is the failure to communicate the process that will be used (for example - 'We will do a series of Value Stream Maps looking at the X Pathway which will occur during XYZ Months and will lead onto a number of Rapid Improvement Events') Without providing clarity of the process (or without having the clarity) the team will struggle to understand where they are 'in the process' and the benefits achieved will be reduced.
Failing to Communicate 'Across the Pathway'
Here, I am using the term Pathway because it is very common in Lean Healthcare, but for Manufacturing people the term 'Value Stream' is inter-changeable. Specifically, this is concerned with problems about involving people from across an entire value stream (from End to End) as it is only through involving representatives from all the areas affected that you will get a true picture of the impact of the suggested improvements and whether they are going to introduce any upstream or downstream problems.
Communicating Failure
Not every Lean event will be successful and sometimes even successful events will not achieve the results that are expected - and communicating negatively (what you might say is about managers showing they are upset) will demoralise the team affected and, via the grapevine, will spread across the organisation. Always show how happy you are with the success in public and discuss improvements and changes in private.
Communicating Success
It is important to communicate successes of the programme to inspire others - and Lean becomes easier the more successes you have!
Failing to communicate and involve those Affected
This is different to the points above about involving people from across the pathway as even the best Lean project will not be able to involve every single person affected. This is about ensuring that people are not directly involved in the improvement project have the opportunity to discuss the improvements proposed, provide input and most importantly identify suggestions and changes. With no involvement there will be no 'buy in'.
I am sure there are many more reasons for failure but these are, I believe, the top six - if you think I have missed any then I would love to hear from you!
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Leading Lean Failure
In the third of our series of nine blog posts about the reasons why change programmes based on Lean and Six Sigma fail to achieve the results organisations are looking for.
This post focuses on the top ten ways that leadership action or inaction brings down programmes. I would welcome your thoughts on these points:
1. Failing to engage the organisational leader
If the organisational leader (CEO, MD or other) fails to engage, the process will grind slowly (or quickly at times) to a halt!
2. Failing to appoint a board level sponsor
In some cases this will be the organisational leader, but in larger organisations it will be an operational director who will take on the role of sponsoring the improvement programme - without this board level person the improvement project does not have a voice in the organisation.
3. Not setting an effective scope for the improvement
All improvement programmes have to be scoped effectively to focus the organisation and also ensure that by making one change it does not impact negatively elsewhere in the organisation. It is the role of Leadership Teams to help shape the scope of improvement.
4. Failing to communicate the reasons for change
Simply not communicating the reasons for the change will lead to unexpected resistence from the front-line teams.
5. Penalising failure (or complaining about perceived failure)
Failing to support the team by either demonstrating displeasure with their efforts or penalising mistakes is a sure fire way to disengage the staff.
6. Changing things from on high
If the team have designed a solution, having a leader change it back or to something else without consultation will demoralise the team. If they did not have all the facts then the project was not scoped properly or the wrong team were chosen!
7. Failing to celebrate success
When the team do have a success, the role of leadership is to support them, celebrate it and set them the next goal. Sometimes, leaders fail to even show up for closing briefs - just imagine the impact on the team!
8. Not releasing the resources or setting unrealistic timescales
Massive improvement can happen with minimal budgets but the most important resource in the improvement process is the human resource and failing to allow people the time to make the change will doom the team to failure. Making big improvements requires effective resources to be available!
9. Creating mixed messages
If an organisation commits itself to improvement via (say) Lean or Six Sigma and then chops and changes (for example 'We don't have time to do the Lean project this week' or just imposing change) will send mixed messages to the team and demonstrate a lack of faith from the leaders in the improvement process.
10. Too Fast or Too Slow
Individuals take time to adjust to a changed way of working - don't drive them too fast! They also like to feel a certain amount of tempo and to feel that things are actually changing therefore don't drive it too slow.
Well, these are the top 10 ussues from our experience - what are yours?
This post focuses on the top ten ways that leadership action or inaction brings down programmes. I would welcome your thoughts on these points:
1. Failing to engage the organisational leader
If the organisational leader (CEO, MD or other) fails to engage, the process will grind slowly (or quickly at times) to a halt!
2. Failing to appoint a board level sponsor
In some cases this will be the organisational leader, but in larger organisations it will be an operational director who will take on the role of sponsoring the improvement programme - without this board level person the improvement project does not have a voice in the organisation.
3. Not setting an effective scope for the improvement
All improvement programmes have to be scoped effectively to focus the organisation and also ensure that by making one change it does not impact negatively elsewhere in the organisation. It is the role of Leadership Teams to help shape the scope of improvement.
4. Failing to communicate the reasons for change
Simply not communicating the reasons for the change will lead to unexpected resistence from the front-line teams.
5. Penalising failure (or complaining about perceived failure)
Failing to support the team by either demonstrating displeasure with their efforts or penalising mistakes is a sure fire way to disengage the staff.
6. Changing things from on high
If the team have designed a solution, having a leader change it back or to something else without consultation will demoralise the team. If they did not have all the facts then the project was not scoped properly or the wrong team were chosen!
7. Failing to celebrate success
When the team do have a success, the role of leadership is to support them, celebrate it and set them the next goal. Sometimes, leaders fail to even show up for closing briefs - just imagine the impact on the team!
8. Not releasing the resources or setting unrealistic timescales
Massive improvement can happen with minimal budgets but the most important resource in the improvement process is the human resource and failing to allow people the time to make the change will doom the team to failure. Making big improvements requires effective resources to be available!
9. Creating mixed messages
If an organisation commits itself to improvement via (say) Lean or Six Sigma and then chops and changes (for example 'We don't have time to do the Lean project this week' or just imposing change) will send mixed messages to the team and demonstrate a lack of faith from the leaders in the improvement process.
10. Too Fast or Too Slow
Individuals take time to adjust to a changed way of working - don't drive them too fast! They also like to feel a certain amount of tempo and to feel that things are actually changing therefore don't drive it too slow.
Well, these are the top 10 ussues from our experience - what are yours?
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Planning to Fail
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.
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.
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?
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