Lean, Lean Six
Sigma and Kaizen Success = People and Leadership First, Not the Process and
Tools!
By Tom DePaoli
Many
organizations make huge investments in disciplined approaches to problem
solving like Lean, Lean Six Sigma and Kaizens, which are labeled as “continuous
improvement”. There is usually a packaged approach to these methodologies.
Steering committees, various belt training levels, tools training, and setting
up a project office. Unfortunately, the focus is on process improvement not
people improvement or leadership skills. In a previous blog post, De-Mystifying Lean Six Sigma for Purchasing
Professionals, I explained how Kaizens are the simplest and most straight forward tool
for process improvement. I also recommended in another blog post that
purchasing or supply chain professions lead these efforts, Procurement Needs to Lead Process Improvement
Transformation.
Purchasing and the supply chain are hotbeds for possible
process improvement projects and a Kaizen approach is frequently used. More
often than not, they fail or cannot be sustained. As a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt,
who has conducted many Kaizens, the chief cause of failure is employees lack of
trust in management. Employees have had numerous bad experiences with
management “flavor of the month” programs that rapidly fade to oblivion. Many
of the companies that I consulted for with Lean, Lean Six Sigma and Kaizens
methodologies engaged in what I call “pretend” continuous improvement
approaches. They basically just gave lip service to the concepts and employees
could readily see through this dishonest approach.
Management needs to spend much more effort on improving
their credibility with employees and thus raising the trust level. The best way
to do this is to train many more employees in leadership and emotional
intelligence skills. When you concentrate efforts more on the tools and process
improvement you are doomed to failure.
After a successful or unsuccessful Kaizen, I often conducted
some lessons learned reviews. I have listed and discus some of the common
errors below.
Kaizen Champion Selection
Often
the Kaizen champion does not have a passion for the project or process to be
improved. Worst yet they have limited knowledge of the process or have never
“walked the process.” Team confidence is destroyed by this. Make sure the champion is strongly committed to the Kaizen
and walks the walk. If they have marginal leadership
skills, they will never be able to lead a small Kaizen team, the team for the
most part is very skeptical and often does not want to be involved in the
improvement process. They think that the Kaizen is just frittering away their precious
time that could be used for “real work.” Training the entire team to have
project management skills, soft skills, team building skills and dealing with
difficult people skills is a good start.
Lack of Kaizen Preparation
The Champion must realize that many pre-Kaizen event meetings must
take place before the actual Kaizen event just to get the tools roughed out or nearly completed. I recommend getting 80% of the
actual kaizen work done before the actual Kaizen event. I call this pre-staging
the Kaizen event. Most Kaizen teams hold three to five working meetings before the actual Kaizen event. In reality many of the Kaizen tools require a lot of grunt
work, homework,
and investigation that is tedious. Many Kaizen leaders or champions underestimate the amount of resourcing, logistics, meeting
planning, and time required for the Kaizen event. A
dry run or technical rehearsal almost always helps the event.
Motivation
The Kaizen Champion needs to spend time trying to motivate the Kaizen
team. Ignoring issues and
procrastination will not improve the process. Make
sure a marketing or communication
plan is developed for the Kaizen. Remember
that you have to communicate to
team members, stakeholders, and internal
customers. Make sure you have a
path for conflict resolution in case the
Kaizen team reaches an impasse.
Have a procedure in place for dismissing a
participant from the team.
Meeting
Organization-Keeping to the Agenda
If you want your Kaizen to fail,
just run disorganized meetings. Make sure
you have an agenda, stick to the
time limit, and publish minutes. Make clear
what you are going to deliver or
accomplish in the meeting. Keep the scope
tight. Avoid being
sidetracked and work hard to get a consensus,
but settle for 80% agreement on issues not 100%.
Make sure you are properly
resourced with a facilitator, timekeeper, etc.
Make sure you take or have someone
take good notes, and have all your
Audiovisual, IT resources and supplies in the Kaizen event room. Do not allow
interruptions, cell phones on, or any other
distractions. You must get the team to agree to ground rules; I recommend that you get agreement
before the event.
Do Not Go
Alone
Make sure the Champion has a capable assistant or deputy to assist in the Kaizen
event. My recommendation is that
this person be just as proficient as the
Champion
and understand the tools and the
process. All too often you may be stymied
or disagreement may arise, and
another person can make suggestions or provide
alternate ways to solve an issue.
They can also assist when a difficult team
member tries to derail the event.
Taking Too
Long on the Tools
Face the reality that some members
of the team do not want to be there
and may be very hostile. Do not
strive for perfection on each and every tool.
My rule of thumb is to make it 80
to 95 percent right and do not get bogged
down by the details. If you nearly complete the tools before the actual Kaizen event session, this greatly helps to alleviate this problem. People
respect hard work and diligence. I strongly advise pre-training the team on the tools before
trying to actually execute or use them. Trying to train people on new concepts or
tools and simultaneously trying to make sure the actual process is correct is
just too steep a learning curve.
Skipping Some of the Tools
Time
pressures will temp the team to skip or ignore some of the tools. This short-cutting
of the tools almost always leads to inaccuracies and implementation issues.
Stick to the Kaizen process and execute all the tools.
Delaying
the Implementation
Delaying the implementation of the
new streamlined process will destroy the
morale of the team. My advice is to
implement immediately if possible, or
within a week. If the new improved process is not implemented, you will have a
difficult
time ever getting buy-in to another
Kaizen event. Make sure the champion looks at the new process and to publicly
commits to implementation. If immediate implementation is not possible, agree to
a pilot but make sure it has a fair chance of being
successful and judged fairly. See my opinion of pilots below.
Pilots Are
For Doubters, Naysayers, and Obstructionists
New process or new initiative
pilots are good for certain ventures, but
don’t procrastinate or extend them
out ad infinitum. It’s a good way for the
resistance to kill off the improved process. The burden of proof is 51 percent
or reasonably prudent. It’s not beyond a reasonable doubt or a 100% twelve-to-zero
unanimous jury vote. If you use the latter criteria, you will never have a
successful pilot. Make sure that one person is accountable for the
pilot or beach head new process and can understand the total picture. Folks love experiments, but remember
that the first rule of experiments is to have controls and new metrics to measure it! If you get consensus in a Kaizen to change the
process,
change it right away! Do not lose momentum.
Summary
Too much focus on the process or Kaizen tools will derail
the kaizen event. The organization needs to trust management and their leaders
for the Kaizen to succeed. Organizations should concentrate on leadership
training, soft skills training and restoring employees trust in management.
Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ
