Reaching the fifth step of our Lean Office transformation
journey doesn't mean we are done. In many cases you will find that as customer satisfaction is increase, in performance and cost, demand should increase.
5. As value is specified, value streams are identified, wasted steps are removed, and flow and pull are introduced, begin the process again and continue it until a state of perfection is reached in which perfect value is created with no waste.
The teams that reside up and down the value stream have been working hard to improve the internal processes used, linking those improvements to what is important to our customers needs, improving the reliability from our suppliers, and removing the systems that are not working how we want. It has been a busy couple of years, but we are stronger as an organization and sales are really picking up.
It's easy just to pull onto the next off-ramp, close your eyes and watch everything run perfectly, but this is not going to be the case. Although you thought that you had successfully fired Murphy, he will show up again. It may not be with this team or branch, but someone will pick up the Murphy flag. These instances will test the system we developed; our visual controls, and our team's ability to find root causes and tweak the standard work.
One popular tool is the After-Action-Review (AAR). This is a method that can be completed in a short amount of time, usually less than an hour, compared to a 12 month Six Sigma project or a 6 week Kaizen event. The AAR asks four questions; 1) What happened, 2) What was supposed to happen, 3) Why did it happen, and 4) What can we do in the future to keep it from happening again. Using this technique teaches teams to become Learning Organizations, as opposed to only groups of individuals working interdependently on the same product and using the "Hope for Change" to get good results.
At the same time we go back to step one in the journey to decide what product needs help next. While we are learning to see the interactions in the enterprise, opportunities will begin to fill the suggestion box. This helps to further enhance the "Respect For People" aspect of transformational change. I'm sure we have all seen the signs that say "People Are #1" and listening to them proves it.
During this journey you will find people who need to be in Leadership positions. Those Leaders will need to be charged with the duty of developing the next generation of Leaders the ability to think about the long-term costs of inaction. This is a skill that has been lost over the years that needs to be reclaimed and it is up to us to do that. They are the teachers and mentors in the Learning Organization.
Question everything, why is performance bad or why is performance good? Learn it, share it, and apply it.
5. As value is specified, value streams are identified, wasted steps are removed, and flow and pull are introduced, begin the process again and continue it until a state of perfection is reached in which perfect value is created with no waste.
The teams that reside up and down the value stream have been working hard to improve the internal processes used, linking those improvements to what is important to our customers needs, improving the reliability from our suppliers, and removing the systems that are not working how we want. It has been a busy couple of years, but we are stronger as an organization and sales are really picking up.
It's easy just to pull onto the next off-ramp, close your eyes and watch everything run perfectly, but this is not going to be the case. Although you thought that you had successfully fired Murphy, he will show up again. It may not be with this team or branch, but someone will pick up the Murphy flag. These instances will test the system we developed; our visual controls, and our team's ability to find root causes and tweak the standard work.
One popular tool is the After-Action-Review (AAR). This is a method that can be completed in a short amount of time, usually less than an hour, compared to a 12 month Six Sigma project or a 6 week Kaizen event. The AAR asks four questions; 1) What happened, 2) What was supposed to happen, 3) Why did it happen, and 4) What can we do in the future to keep it from happening again. Using this technique teaches teams to become Learning Organizations, as opposed to only groups of individuals working interdependently on the same product and using the "Hope for Change" to get good results.
At the same time we go back to step one in the journey to decide what product needs help next. While we are learning to see the interactions in the enterprise, opportunities will begin to fill the suggestion box. This helps to further enhance the "Respect For People" aspect of transformational change. I'm sure we have all seen the signs that say "People Are #1" and listening to them proves it.
During this journey you will find people who need to be in Leadership positions. Those Leaders will need to be charged with the duty of developing the next generation of Leaders the ability to think about the long-term costs of inaction. This is a skill that has been lost over the years that needs to be reclaimed and it is up to us to do that. They are the teachers and mentors in the Learning Organization.
Question everything, why is performance bad or why is performance good? Learn it, share it, and apply it.
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