It’s common for organizations to begin their Lean journeys focusing on production, operations and Lean tools. It’s only after toiling at it for a couple of years that they realize they should’ve focused sooner on the human capital aspects of creating lasting change. Commonalities between operational improvement and managing involvement are significant, particularly with regard to three critical work streams often overseen by the Human Resources (HR) arm of human capital [Read more]
Raising awareness of ROWE and Lean, redux
May 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Where ROWE is cool, and I mean really, really cool – is when it acknowledges the people side of things – that there are concerns outside of work that might keep me from being in the office, and if you let me take care of those things when I need to, I will pay you back with interest. THAT is a good thing. But when the people that do the work are left entirely on their own to organize themselves, without anyone to oversee the process, that is not good management – that is the acceptance of bad management as some kind of innate, inevitable truth. Yes, we need to be much more centered on allowing people the freedom to perform without paternalistic, demeaning oversight. Even the best of flocks need shepherds to guide and direct the herd, though. When the humanistic approach gets elevated, everyone wins. When it gets glorified, everyone loses.
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Position Yourself for Performance Transformation through a Fact-based Plan
April 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
By the time we meet most organizations, they want to get going with their transformation immediately. They often want to rush to implementation without a roadmap, resulting in the classic gotcha of “activity vs. action.” However, without clear direction, activity often swamps out action and fritters away resources fast. Few then remain to make a positive difference, and no lasting benefits accrue. To be effective, organizations need an implementation approach that predictably advances what their enterprise should be doing. [Read more]
It’s all in how you look at it – current state to ideal state
April 10, 2012 By 2 Comments
within all the reasons why a process can’t be changed, won’t be changed, or why it did not work last time lies a vital component necessary for overall improvement to begin – a definition of the current state. What all those protestations are giving us is the perception of the current state that is held by the people who are living with whatever process, as suboptimal or utterly broken as it may be.
What the person sees is their reality. A reality where both people and things don’t work. What they are sharing, when they complain, is their knowledge of the way things really work around here. When improvement concepts are introduced, they tend to take the tone of “Here’s the way things can or should work around here.” When poorly introduced, the new ideas sound condescending at best, and threatening at worst. What those ideas represent, however, is the ideal state – the concept of the way things should work, even if we don’t know how to get from here to there.
So, how to overcome the reluctance and resistance? [Read more]
Unlimited vacation, unlimited responsibility….for management
March 28, 2012 By 2 Comments
The true burden for making unlimited vacation work rests not on the workers for knowing what’s coming down the pipe and, therefore, which days they can take off. The burden rests on low-level managers who are aware of not just the workflow – but also have an emotional connection to the individuals placed within their area of control. The role of management in an environment that supports unlimited vacation is a crucial one. It necessitates that managers have a handle on the value stream and the ability to establish multiple workaround paths and redundancies to ensure work continues no matter who is in the office or on the shop floor. [Read more]
Respect for People is not Respect for Person, just ask Clint Eastwood
March 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
On my mind lately is the concept of “Respect for People” that is at the core of Lean and one of the fundamental building blocks of the Shingo Model.
I remember just about 3 years ago, as I was first introduced to Lean via the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership, there was a video in which Bruce Hamilton mentioned that, sometimes, leaders need to tell the late adopters to get with the program. “Wait a minute…” I thought. “Doesn’t that contradict the need for management to show concern for each of their charges, and guide them to accepting new ways of thinking & doing?” [Read more]
A ROWE & Lean chat on business901.com, and the weekly rewind
March 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I had a chat with Joe Dager on the business901.com podcast a couple weeks back, and we discussed ROWE and Lean,and where the two approaches line up, and where they differ. Click the link to hear me discuss how what ROWE’s creators advocate might help to expose what Bob Emiliani calls “Fake Lean” or what Mark Graban calls “L.A.M.E” and create better focus for those whose Lean aspiration have gone astray. [Read more]
ROWE: An attempt at achieving the Lean Ideal?
March 15, 2012 By 4 Comments
In the past few months that I’ve been blogging about ROWE, I have been poking at how the two concepts might help to reinforce each other, with the premise that ROWE-thinking could help to enable Lean-thinking by overcoming the tools-based focus that is so prevalent in Lean implementations and, instead, returning the focus to the culture where I believe it belongs. fter stirring the pot and looking for the common ground between the two, I am now wondering if my original theory – that ROWE could enable Lean – was a bit backwards. [Read more]
Results-Only Live: ROWE & Lean discussion today
March 13, 2012 By 3 Comments
TODAY AT 1:00 EASTERN
Lean author, consultant, speaker, practitioner and all-around guru Mark Graban has been a significant part of the discussion on how ROWE and LEAN fit together…or don’t. As a Lean expert with background in large-scale manufacturing at General Motors, and the application of Lean principles in healthcare settings, I thought Mark could offer a lot of perspective on Lean and ROWE. I introduced him to the folks at CultureRX, the company created by ROWE’s founders, and they invited him to be a part of their radio show. Hear Mark today on Results-Only Radio.
Guest post on GoROWE.com, Lean & ROWE radio show, plus the weekly rewind
March 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Guest Post on GoROWE.com: My on-going discussion looking for the common ground between ROWE and Lean continues today, with a guest post right at Ground Zero of the Results-Only movement. I have a post discussing where ROWE and Lean tend to differ, and where to find some reinforcing attributes. Clearly, there is a single [...]
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