The Problem with Tools and Techniques; Why Becoming a Learning - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Problem with ‘Tools and Techniques’; Why Becoming a ‘Learning Organisation’ is Vital to a Successful Lean Transformation.

Graham Canning BEng(Hons), MSc 14th November 2018

My Personal Lean Journey:

15 years in front-line Manufacturing jobs 13 years in Continuous Improvement Consultancy & Coaching

1990 1993 1999 2003 2005 2009 2012

GRADUATE MANAGEMENT TRAINEE SHIFT MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGER OPERATIONS MANAGER 6 SIGMA GREEN BELT FIRST EXPOSURE TO ‘LEAN’ GROUP LEADER INTERNAL TPS TRAINING DELIVERING MAS CONSULTANCY IN NW LEAN IN HEALTHCARE MSc IN MANUFACT’ING LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT SHADOWED MASAAKI IMAI ON 2 UK VISITS INTERNAL KI TRAINING INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT ASSOCIATE PARTNER WITH: OEE SA PARTNERS PROJECT 7 REDZONE LEAN IN FINANCIAL SERVICES

Why did I write this paper?

6+ years as an Independent Consultant Principles of the ‘Learning Organisation’ Mentored internal candidates at Visa Europe through LCS L1b and L1c Wanted to ‘test my knowledge’ of Lean and CI, and show capability for ‘original thinking’ Opportunity to advance the ‘debate’, even if

• nly slightly

The Catalyst to writing this Paper

LCS Level 3b:

Why this subject?

• “If businesses everywhere have given enormous attention to Lean management programmes

for over a decade, how is it that none succeeds as Toyota has at continuously improving lead time, cost, productivity, quality and – perhaps most importantly – financial performance year after year?” (Johnson, 2006)

• “…no firm evidence that Lean implementation improves performance at an organisational

level” (Burgess, 2012)

• In its 2007 Census of Manufacturers, Industry Week found that only 2 percent of companies

surveyed - that had a Lean programme - achieved the anticipated results. In fact, less than a quarter (24%) of all companies reported achieving significant results (Pay, 2008)

• Hypothesis for why such a poor track record of implementation:

– Lean seen as a suite of ‘tools & techniques’? – Is ‘linear thinking’ inhibiting the success of Lean?

Toyota and the Double-helix

Liker and Hoseus (2008) describe Toyota’s culture as being like the intertwined helixes of a DNA molecule, with one strand being the Product Value Stream and the other being the People Value Stream “Toyota does not really have any obvious solutions to offer us, but rather a means for us to sense situations and develop appropriate, smart responses” (Rother, 2010) Lean leaders at Toyota: “Realise that most ideas for improvement are simply good guesses and need to be verified through experimentation”. (Liker & Hoseus, 2008)

Syed

• Syed speaks of the reluctance of leadership (and

the wider Western world) to encourage a culture

• f experimentation, as there is an abiding ‘fear of

failure’. A desire to not lose face or admit mistakes, but to put ever more effort into reinforcing existing beliefs (‘cognitive dissonance’)

• Syed asserts that there are two components vital

for a learning culture to flourish. A system, by which learning opportunities can be identified and captured; and a culture (or mindset), that encourages learning through failure and experimentation towards improvement, even if there are many cycles of this before the ultimate goal is achieved. A ‘Growth Mindset’.

Senge

• Senge addresses several ‘cultural’ and

competing elements, which he calls ‘learning disabilities’, that prevent management teams from working collectively on the complex issues that might be affecting their organisation.

• He suggests that people are ‘hard-wired’

from an early age to never admit they don’t know the answer, and that corporations actively reinforce this lesson by rewarding people who most stridently advocate their own views, rather than taking time to inquire into complex problems.

• Senge says: “because we see the world

in simple, obvious terms, we come to believe in simple, obvious solutions. This leads to the frenzied search for simple ‘fixes’”

Rother

• So how does Toyota provide a ‘vehicle’ that

allows for rapid ‘organisational learning’ through trial-and-error, where teams are permitted to experiment (and indeed learn from mistakes)?

• Rother recognises the dynamic complexity of

real-life situations and posits the idea that ‘Kata’ - with its contingent approach to incremental improvement - allows for dynamic and unpredictable conditions

• It is Rother’s view that these iterations form

the basis for Toyota’s continued success in tackling systemic and complex problems. Rather than devise large-scale vehicles for solving complex problems, the ‘Kata’ approach moves gradually towards a vision, removing numerous obstacles along the way

Research Survey Details

• A research questionnaire was developed to

get the views of senior managers and change leaders across a range of organisations.

• 22 respondents
• 23% agreed that most people were involved

in improvement activity, at some point

• 27% said their improvement efforts relied on

external experts with ad hoc support

• Only 9.5% of respondents said they

specifically used a ‘Kata’ approach

• Cultural acceptance of a ‘trail and error’

approach was scored at 3.6 / 10

• Illuminating qualitative data on reasons why

this scored so low:

• “Healthcare culture is not aligned to

test and learn.”

• “Blame culture. Concentrate on who

rather than why.”

• “Annual performance incentives do not

encourage controlled risk-taking.”

Conclusions & Recommendations

• There are many ‘cultural’ barriers to

the adoption of the principles of a ‘learning organisation’, some of which are functions of the Western leadership style mentioned earlier, and others concerning issues such as ‘blame culture’

• Adoption of a ‘Kata’ approach isn’t

widely adopted, and is still seen as ‘marginal’ in the way that Lean is introduced

• A bold approach is recommended –

‘Ditch the Tools’ and use basic Lean principles to develop a ‘Learning Organisation’ culture of experimentation and deeper understanding

• This has profound implications for

the way Lean is trained , deployed, coached, and even codified

What Next?

• More research required

– I’m going to take this initial research and expand the data with support from the LERC in the UK – I’d be delighted to work with

• thers on this…
• Continue the debate

– How do we make a ‘Kata’ approach to improvement be on equal terms to process focused Lean tools? – Why is that approach so difficult to ‘sell’?

• Find and promote advocates of

a Lean ‘Learning Organisation’

Questions?