The most difficult group to engage in LEAN in any organization is middle management. Yet without their enthusiastic support the LEAN journey will be difficult.
This group of managers and supervisors are the ones charged with the responsibility to get the work done. They are set in their ways and can be very reluctant not to change but to be changed. They view any imposed change as a threat to their departments and units. They may feel threatened personally, feeling that this new way of doing business will diminish their role and value in the organization.
How can we overcome the resistance to being changed? I do not believe that people are resistant to change. I believe people are resistant to being changed. When they don’t understand the benefits to themselves, to their part of the organization, and the organization as a whole r substance to change occurs.
We can never assume that everyone in the organization understand our vision and the positive change moving to that vision will bring. It is our responsibility, as senior managers, to help our staff understand the why we need to become LEAN. Once they understand why we need to change the way we do business, understanding the what becomes much easier. We need to constantly be taking about the why:
– why we are not as successful as we could be
– why we need to get better at what we do
– why we need to change
– why not changing will result in losing market share and other consequences
– why we need to set goals
– why being held accountable results in reaching our goals
– why we need to hold our staff accountable for meeting or exceeding key performance indicators
– why we need to empower our staff for results
Once middle managers fully understand the why of what we are doing, they are in a position to answer these same questions to themselves, their staff and launch LEAN.