The journey to transform an organization requires strong leadership. When we think of strong leadership we tend to immediately think of the management team and specifically the senior team. While the dedication and drive to become LEAN organization, it is far more encompassing than that specific group.
Leadership does not mean administration or management. It means everyone in the organization. Everyone has “leadership qualities” – ambition, ingenuity, and initiative
The people doing the work are the “resident experts” and all work redesign is done by them. Culture is built on the LEAN method, a scientifically proven process model. Problem solving is done in the course of work by the people who actually do the work. All departments self-manage improvement efforts, that are documented on an A3. As small problems are handled, the big problems go away.
No change is made until there is a deep understanding of the way work happens now. Deep understanding is achieved through direct observation of work and documenting the process. All problems are stated as they relate to the customer.
LEAN is not a flavour of the month program. It is the new way of doing business that requires a different way of doing business and how e view our business. We need to base decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals. The right process will produce the right results!
A LEAN organization builds a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right from the start. It focuses on adding value to the organization by developing people and partners,
continuously solving root causes and creating and organization built on excellence in every facet of its operation.