DailyKaizen

It¹s Friday. End of the week and completion of the first cross-functional team effort that took place in my office. I just completed the 5S of that space ­ putting away post-it notes, moving chairs out, putting coffee cups in the trash. It was an interesting personal ceremony, doing a quick change of the space from a group work area to a solo work area. The ceremony allowed me to reflect on what happened this week ­ we were given a challenge by our leadership to solve, and carried forth from discovery, analysis, to a solid discussion of our options and an action plan.
I would like to see this space do a quick change back into a cross functional team huddle space again soon. The culture is changing. We never would have done this before LEAN.
Even here, not everything has been tried before.

 Over the last couple of months senior leaders throughout the organization have pledge their support and commitment to LEAN.  I believe this is a positive step, but not sufficient.  We may have “buy-in” from most leaders, but I am not sure it they understand what it is that they are buying into.  Proclaiming ones support for something is not strong enough to move people to change.  What is truly needed is active participation from leadership.  We need senior leaders throughout the organization to follow the saying, and make their “actions louder then words.”  There are many managers and staff members that are on the edge about LEAN and the best way to gain their support is to do so by example.  By participating leaders will also have the opportunity to gain an understanding of what this is all about and how it can have a positive impact on their work and the organization. 

 
Don’t get me wrong, we have had many leaders come to training events and participate in Kaizen.  On Monday the CEO signed up for a Kaizen.  So for all of the leaders that are skeptical about LEAN or have not been able to find the time in their busy schedules I challenge you to take the plunge.  Block a week off from your schedule and see what it is all about.

It was an opportunity that could not be passed up, but not without a small price. We had a project that needed work with a deadline looming. Clearly, the old batch and queue technique was not going to get us results. So…we decided to take my office, always 5S’d and ready for quick changeover, and turn it into HQ for a week long cross functional team. So I am without an office this week, and proudly so. The amount of space I had to myself seems much more reasonably used by a team of experts working together in concert to crank through a project. I hope I get kicked out of my office a lot more often.

Recently I took part in a LEAN meeting where we were kicking off a major project. To build support for project we invited a senior leader to come in the morning to talk about the importance of the project and to thank the team for learning/applying LEAN. To my dismay the leader spent most of their time in front of the audience talking about how LEAN is “powerful tool” that can improve processes. The leader continued by stating LEAN is “just a tool” and “merely a tool.” These statements really surprised me, because our leaders have undergone a significant amount of training.

When an organization applies LEAN as just a collection of process improvement tools they are only able to make small, incremental improvements that rarely span departments. The impact at first may be positive in terms of efficiency, but has little positive effect on the customer (patient). Over time the tool approach becomes ineffective and momentum is lost because systematic barriers are never addressed. To successfully apply LEAN it has to be applied holistically within an organization and not only change processes, but also management practices, budgeting and accounting techniques, the role of management, etc. LEAN is not a tool; it is how you run your business. It can not be part of your business strategy; it has to be the business strategy.

Today I had the opportunity to float between two projects. One is being done in a LEAN way. One is not. There is nothing wrong with this. It is a function of a transition that is happening, with people along the way asking how they can apply LEAN principles in both projects. It is odd to be saying this now, that there is a transition happening. But there is. That¹s the great long view.

DesMoinesRegister.com

Last week the Des Moines Register published an article detailing the successes a dozen Iowa hospitals have achieved since they began applying LEAN principles.  Highlights include 10% increases in patient satisfaction, 90% reductions in patient walking and reductions in patient waiting.

It is great to see that healthcare organizations throughout the United States are realizing the benefits of making a LEAN transformation.  The courageous few like Group Health and these Iowa Hospitals will pave the way for a larger industry transformation.  This is because the healthcare industry is evidence driven and risk adverse.  By engaging in LEAN early on we are living up to our organizations values of having a pioneering spirit and creating transformational healthcare.  Thus our success will provide the proof other organizations need that they should join in on the journey to improving healthcare for all patients.

I saw two things today that made me think that we are getting closer to what’s in the attached image. First, a presentation this morning on our business focus, that included as part of it a robust LEAN process.

Second, on my way to another meeting, a workshop in progress on LEAN tools. The participants were a cross section of leaders and managers who will reduce waste in our system.

Each experience reminds me that every day there will be more knowledgeable people about what LEAN is. It will not happen overnight. At the same time, it allows me to take the long view and recognize that each day, there is another person I meet in the organization that understands what LEAN is. The short view is that not enough people understand it - that’s not the correct one. I am seeing the commitment to improving every day. It’s nice to see.

 I thought I would talk about measurement today since it is fresh on my mind after spending most of my Sunday struggling through stacks of meaningless data looking for the rare nugget of information that I can use on one of my projects.  In today’s business world there is a focus on providing more and more information often in real time.  In my experience this often results in a large quantity of reports and data, but very little information that is useful.  Measurement should only be collected if it provides information that is actionable.   

In my organization, just like most organizations we tend to focus almost exclusively on outcome measures.  As a result, we have a lot of information on the ends, but very little on the means.  For the project I am working on I can tell you exactly how we performed on any given day.  I can also tell you that we are not hitting our targets in terms of time or quality.  Yet, in the absence of manually collecting process measures and observing the process I can tell you nothing about what we should do about it.  With each LEAN Kaizen we complete we leave behind a process measurement system and we train the managers on how to use the information to continuously evaluate and improve their processes.  My hope is that these measurement systems not only remain intact, but spread throughout our organization. 

I have decided to make Friday Quote day for the LEAN blog and will use this day to share some of my favorite quotes.  I also believe that others have always said things better then I can so I will steal without shame.  I am sorry to have posted this late, I have been so busy lately that I need to stay more organized and remember to make my post on time.

 
I like this quote because I believe that it hits on the most important factor in any LEAN transformation: that LEAN lives and dies with the strength of an organizations leadership.

 
“Without a good leader, nothing changes.  As you embark on your LEAN journey, learn all you can about the concepts, practices, principles, and tools of LEAN. But remember, above all, the goal of LEAN is change—and change hinges on your ability to lead.  So get out there and lead!” 

 
–Dennis Pawly

CEO Pawly Industries