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How Long Does It Really Take to Transform an Organization?

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  Lean Nation, One of the most common questions I hear from clients is a deceptively simple one: “How long does it take to transform an organization?” It’s a fair question—and an incredibly hard one to answer honestly. Many consulting firms will confidently tell you three to five years . The problem is that history simply doesn’t support that claim. No organization that has truly transformed—culturally, operationally, and strategically—has completed that journey in such a short window. What many of those organizations achieved was improvement. Transformation is something much deeper. To understand why transformation takes longer than most leaders expect—and why so many efforts fail—we need to look at a few critical tests that reveal whether real transformation is actually happening. The Real Tests of Transformation 1. Can the organization survive a leadership change? This may be the most important test of all. I have seen many companies make impressive progress over three or four ...
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The Keys to Delivering Operational Excellence Transformation

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  Lean Nation, I have been very blessed in my life.  I have worked for and with many companies.  Some were large and some were small.  Some were publicly traded and some were private.  Some were union and some were non-union. Some were high tech with new products coming to market and lots of automation and some companies were low tech with lots of labor.  But most importantly, some had great leadership and some had atrocious leadership.  I am now convinced that every job was a steppingstone to something better, even though I couldn't see it at the time. This is a lean blog, though, and I am pretty sure no one cares about my work history.  But I took two important lessons away from these experiences. The signs had always been there, but they were never clear. The signs were solidified in a conversation with a 40-year senior leader and lean veteran.  I asked him what the keys are to creating a culture of improvement.  He said unequivocal...
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Measurement and Return on Investment in the Lean Organization

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  Lean Nation, It is nice to return to the blog scene which I have committed to doing monthly.  Today's blog is on measurement and developing a return on investment (ROI) using a lean improvement system.  In order to get to a return on investment, you must begin by measuring both your processes and your results.   Processes are operational indictors that tell you if your process is running as designed.  Results are what show up when your processes are robust and running well.  Before I go on, let me state that measurement is critical because it is the only way we can show improvement.  If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.  As we go further in this topic, I'd like to offer that measurement is "easy".  This statement is true once we have a good idea of what to measure.  Candidates for measurement in an improving environment comes from five dimensions. Quality, Delivery, Cost, Staff Morale, and Growth.   Collectivel...
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Explaining the Lean Management System Part 5 Leader Standard Work

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  Lean Nation, In this five-part blog series on introducing the lean management system, the series focuses on discussing some of the key elements of the daily management system. This work, completed by organizational leaders at all levels, is essential in having a thriving improvement system. Four elements are essential in engaging all employees, building the correct improvement habits /behaviors, and sustaining improvement.   These four include: 1) Process or production control - This is used to ensure standard work is performing as designed and to provide hourly insights into waste creeping back into the system 2) Daily tiered huddles - These are used to monitor outcomes of processes aligned to true north measures 3) Kamishibai task audits - These daily audits are used to satisfy your curiosity that things are operating as designed with special emphasis on key standards, best practices, compliance, safety, etc.  4) Leader standard work - This practice to d...
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Explaining the Lean Management System Part 4 Kamishibai

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  Lean Nation,   In this five-part blog series on introducing the lean management system, the series focuses on discussing some of the key elements of the daily management system.  This work, completed by organizational leaders at all levels, is essential in having a thriving improvement system.  I find four elements are essential in engaging all employees, building the correct improvement habits /behaviors and sustaining improvement.   These four include: 1) Process or production control - This is used to ensure standard work is performing as designed and to provide hourly insights into waste creeping back into the system 2) Daily tiered huddles - These are used to monitor outcomes of processes aligned to true north measures 3) Kamishibai task audits - These daily audits are used to satisfy your curiosity that things are operating as designed with special emphasis on key standards, best practices, compliance, safety, etc.  4) Leader stan...
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