Enterprise Lean Transformation -
the Change is Never Over
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For any organization leading a change or transformation program such as Lean,
work is never over. This is similar to working continuously to achieve your most
ambitious and desired personal goals in life. Every arrival point of a change in
the organization is a departing point. By this, I do not mean drifting away from
the objectives set for the long-term. I mean departing from the old habits that
stifle productivity, innovation, company growth, and employee morale to finally
embrace change.
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When employee morale is down, people are not quite willing to participate in the
change movement. They tend to resist the change or move to other organizations.
This causes an inevitable change in company culture that might have a negative
impact on its growth. To minimize this negative impact, you must generate enough
enthusiasm to create a belief in the company, particularly, in the employees
that “the need for a change is greater than the resistance to change”. And you
must relaunch the drive for change periodically to keep the momentum going
forward as the company undergoes cycles of strategy, marketing, and organization
and technology changes. But what is really essential for a successful change
program or Lean transformation and how can we sustain the program throughout the
existence of a company? |
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As you may know, implementing change is a significant challenge. A company needs:
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- a clear and compelling case regarding the need for change;
- leadership commitment;
- employee engagement;
- solutions that are offered with a clear understanding of the root cause and preventive
measures;
- ability to weather internal or external ‘distractions’
- ability and capability to minimize the effect of cycles of strategy, marketing,
organization and technology changes;
- linking the Lean activity to the strategy and a better understanding of the customer;
- linking the Lean metrics with financial measures;
- a solid communication plan; and
- finally, a training program that covers all of the above, including both the softer
and harder elements necessary for successful Lean transformation
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For any company that has recently undertaken an enterprise-wide Lean
transformation program, first, it is imperative that senior leaders in this
company are aligned with each other and acknowledge that Lean helps achieve
competitive advantage as it focuses on the bottom line. Second, commitment from
senior leadership is critical to a successful deployment of Lean. Third,
leadership must also review results and success stories from similar industries
and acknowledge that process improvements driven by programs like Lean and Six
Sigma have enhanced employee productivity in the past.
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Leadership is aware of the fact that as competitive pressures keep increasing,
there is not only a need to change and transform the organization, but there is
also a need to accelerate that change. This means that transforming an
organization to adopt Lean is not enough. The adoption has to be accelerated to
gain a competitive advantage. To succeed in this feat, the leadership must also
be aware of the fundamental concepts of Change Acceleration Process or CAP. CAP
provides a framework to understand the need for change, it combines technical
strategy and organization or cultural strategy to deliver a change initiative
that is focused on customer needs. CAP brings tools for acceptance to Lean
methodology to achieve effectiveness in the change solution. |
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Accountability from key people in the organization is as important as the
commitment necessary from senior leaders. Many change initiatives such as Lean
have failed due to the fact that the entire responsibility for the initiative
rested with far too few leaders and the number of people at every level who make
committed contributions to organizational success was too small. A larger
percentage of employees need to care deeply about the organization’s motive to
change. These feelings of deep commitment and willingness to face challenges
with acceptance and a positive attitude are synonymous with employee engagement.
Employee engagement leads to more commitment, passion, and energy, which
translates into high levels of effort during the change, persistent follow-up of
the most difficult tasks, taking initiative and accepting change. Engaged
employees can create and sustain Lean transformation, and the engaged employee
is a valuable business asset. But these are softer elements necessary for
change. |
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Change program such as Lean Transformation can demand many improvement or change
projects to be initiated within the organization. These projects cannot find
their way up through a charter unless companies address harder elements, or the
common denominators of change. A 225-company study conducted by Boston
Consulting Group revealed a consistent correlation between the outcomes (success
or failure) of change programs such as Lean and four hard factors: project
duration or time between project reviews; integrity or the capabilities of
project teams; the commitment of both senior executives and the staff most
affected by the change; and the additional effort that employees must make to
contribute to the change. So, an organization’s ultimate success in an
Enterprise Lean transformation program not only relies on the senior leaders'
understanding of CAP tools and addressing the softer elements of change, but
also how it addresses harder elements of change and its understanding of how
each employee connects himself with the Lean initiative.
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One of the several ways to connect an employee to the Lean initiative is through
a well-designed and implemented training program on Enterprise Lean
Transformation. There are several executive workshops and numerous internal
courses already being delivered by companies on Change Management. However, for
a successful Enterprise Lean Transformation, the awareness of change or CAP
among mass employees, level of education, and probability of success of the Lean
program should be assessed. The Lean transformation journey should begin with an
awareness and education of employees and senior executives. For this purpose, a
more formal and effective training program or course should be designed and
rolled out. This course should at a bare minimum include modules that cover
topics 1-9 mentioned above. The course should also teach leaders how to measure
and assess levels of change because unless you know how deep rooted the change
in your organization is, you cannot take actions to guarantee its
sustainability. Finally, the course should be modified or refined periodically
as the company undergoes cycles of strategy, marketing, organization and
technology changes. |
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Hence, change is never over since some activities associated with it must be
constantly refined and relaunched. An organization with an Enterprise Lean
transformation program should always seek new ways to sustain the change by
introducing and implementing CAP, addressing softer and harder elements of
change, continuously updating the training course, and performing timely change
audits or assessments to gauge success of the change. Based on audit or
assessment results, Change Champions and senior leaders should take immediate,
proactive actions before the ‘transformation train' is derailed. |
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Here are some initial questions that might stimulate your thinking. Your answers
can help companies shape and design the Lean transformation or change program. Your
comments are most valuable.
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- What is the compelling reasons you think would allow you to embrace change positively?
- As a leader what would be your top priorities to transform the organization to accept
change?
- As an employee what would you expect from your leaders?
- What will make a change initiative like Lean stick according to you?
- How would you proactively address resistance to change?
- How would you measure success of a Lean or change initiative? (Annual audits? Assessments?)
- What should be the role of Lean transformation or change management training and
awareness programs?
- How should the training program be structured?
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Hemant Gham is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, and a Director/Owner of an Enterprise Lean Six Sigma Management Consulting company.
Hemant’s areas of expertise include Strategic Planning, Business Process Improvement, Lean, Six Sigma. He has successfully deployed number of enterprise-level Lean Six Sigma programs in various companies as well as mentored and managed complex, large-scale cross-functional projects utilizing Lean, Six Sigma, Change Acceleration Process in manufacturing, software, public sector, IT and telecommunication industries. Hemant spearheaded many initiatives that required detailed assessments at Strategy, Operations and Process levels. He initiated and managed several business transformations in leading private and public organizations. Hemant has been helping these organizations improve their business performance through incremental and radical changes to business processes.
Hemant is also a facilitator and has experience building custom tools specific to program needs that enable smooth transition of a business from current state to new state. He has authored an Idea Management System that helps business leaders align and prioritize their mission critical projects and activities. Hemant has been an ASQ member since 2007.
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