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| Lean CultureJuly 1, 2004 Culture A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way you perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. –Edgar Schein- If you expect
to get the promised benefits of lean manufacturing, employees need to understand
the vision and behaviors necessary to get there.
Without that, your improvement efforts will fall short. With an
empowering lean culture, employees can be proactive, energized, and drive rapid
continuous improvements, bringing in dramatic bottom-line results. Companies
that have successfully instilled a lean culture consistently realize: ·
More
innovative, team-directed solutions ·
Lower
employee turnover ·
Better
success at sustaining improvements ·
Greater
numbers of improvement actions Experts estimate that 80 percent of becoming a lean enterprise is culture related. An organization’s culture dictates how people work, their attitudes toward work and change, their relationships with each other and management, and the way change is introduced, embraced and tackled. Culture is a driver of company health. Any company that wants to make sustainable improvements can benefit from a lean culture. Having a lean
culture means several things; among them is that the company encourages
employees to actively seek and act on solutions to problems. To have a lean
culture, companies need commitment from the top.
Management needs a clear vision of how they want to grow their business.
This will help translate the vision so people understand how they can support
it. Employee
turnover costs companies between 25 percent and 150 percent of that employee’s
annual compensation, according to the National Institutes of Standards and
Technology (NIST). Companies cannot afford to accept turnover as a fact of life.
Many organizations fail to involve people in continuous improvement to eliminate
waste by implementing programs from the outset. Companies must first stabilize
the current workforce through employee-involved improvements. A few
improvements make a big difference; employees are excited about initiating
change in the company. People are
more a part of the team, and they are more involved in making suggestions and
decisions. People are full of great
ideas and will see the benefits of improvement, not only for the company but
also for them. Manufacturing companies experiencing turnover problems
shouldn’t hesitate to do something about them. Turnover is costly, and if you
can keep your employees at work and keep them happy, it is a big plus. Companies
will experience a decrease in turnover expenses in a short period of time. Lean culture
also improves morale. Fixing this problem is difficult but important because
improvement projects go nowhere without employee support.
Employees need camaraderie with their coworkers, and complaining about
work is something that can bring them closer together because they are sharing
the same experiences. As we conduct Kaizen events and training, we almost always
see that people have a natural tendency to grumble. Once you get them working on
solutions, they have less to complain about and the morale improves. A lean
culture encourages employees to make suggestions and changes in the company,
empowering employees to take control and ownership of their work and make it
better. Employees care about their work, their coworkers, and their
workplace. Consequently, the
company sees improved morale. Addressing
leadership behaviors, from the office to the line, is also a key component of
implementing a lean culture. Traditional authoritarian behaviors will not allow
you to see the results you want when you want people to think for themselves.
Leaders need to do more asking and get people involved in finding
solutions. Making
changes is difficult unless everyone is focused on the right goals.
It is also challenging to sustain changes unless you work on culture,
too. Develop strong internal teams
to help steer the company and to evaluate and streamline processes.
In many organizations business grows rapidly but improvements are slow to
follow. Improvement projects are
started but rarely followed through to completion.
Successful companies work on teambuilding and internal communication to
improve the culture and realize continuous improvement. Part of
revving up your company includes harnessing all the brainpower your employees
might otherwise keep to themselves. It
takes a good coach to bring this out and foster a continuously learning company.
·
Recognize
that everything that happens is a learning opportunity and make people aware of
that. ·
Help
employees find answers to questions rather than just giving them answers. ·
Encourage
people to try new things and take risks. ·
Don’t nail
them if their risks don’t pan out. ·
Catch people
doing something right, praise in public, and criticize in private. ·
Give people
the tools they need to find their own answers, and to succeed. Sustaining any changes can be an uphill battle without the right company culture. It is easier, however, to change your culture while putting lean techniques into practice, mainly because it’s easier for everyone to see the changes that lean causes in the company. The lean culture, through its team involvement, makes positive changes more evident to all employees. Changing the way a business runs is more than just moving machines: it means working with people too. Click here to subscribe to our free e-newsletter Learning to Lean and receive three articles like this one each month. About
the Author David McBride is co-founder of EMS Consulting Group (http://www.emsstrategies.com), a Carlsbad, CA based engineering and management consulting firm. David has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio State University. He has a successful track record in the development and implementation of FMEA and Design for Manufacturability programs at several organizations and has greatly reduced Manufacturing costs through the utilization of Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen Events, and Manufacturing System Analysis. He has also been highly successful at developing and executing New Product Introduction processes, and Staffing and Capital Equipment Plans. To contact David about this article, send an e-mail to davidm@emsstrategies.com. | ||||||||||||||
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