Today i was at a conference by Niklas Modig on lean. As always it is difficult to find one purpose for using lean concepts. What is lean? Some had say that, and other might feel that they have already used all the methods and tools of lean. And thats where the catch is!!
As I understand it, there is no such thing as lean. There is no such thing as one method or one tool, but there is got to be one value and one purpose behind everything else - 'Reduction of waste and complexity'.
In Niklas's words, it is increasing your flow-efficiency and increasing your resource efficiency that leads you to the path of success. You could always ask what is success? What is it that we are trying to achieve? Being a customer relationship person, the idea that most resonated with me was the idea of driving customer satisfaction. Well !!! Brrrrrrrrr!! wrong answer.
Isn't this just common sense. Which company would drive or do something that increases customer dissatisfaction? At least the ones in their sane minds wouldn't. So yes, this is a high level truth. But the goals behind implementing lean have to be more implementable and tangible in nature. For instance - find out if you want to lean out your physical products flow, or information flow or knowledge flow or ? + make sure that the process, the advantages/disadvantages and the results/progress are visible to everyone up to the bottom line each day of the business.
Thats the true meaning of lean. Simplify, simplify and simplify !!
One of the interesting things that came up during the discussion in the round table was the supporting eco-systems that need to support anything that we do to ensure that we become better each day. These are like life support systems - performance management and incentives & Trust + team work. Without these life support mechanisms, businesses will choke to a slow and steady death, if I can say so!!
Not to paint a bad picture, the important thing is to ensure that the values and principles of a business at the top level of strategy are aligned with what we try to do at the business strategy and operational strategy level. In absence of this alignment, the change would be so incongruent that it would never stick!!
As I understand it, there is no such thing as lean. There is no such thing as one method or one tool, but there is got to be one value and one purpose behind everything else - 'Reduction of waste and complexity'.
In Niklas's words, it is increasing your flow-efficiency and increasing your resource efficiency that leads you to the path of success. You could always ask what is success? What is it that we are trying to achieve? Being a customer relationship person, the idea that most resonated with me was the idea of driving customer satisfaction. Well !!! Brrrrrrrrr!! wrong answer.
Isn't this just common sense. Which company would drive or do something that increases customer dissatisfaction? At least the ones in their sane minds wouldn't. So yes, this is a high level truth. But the goals behind implementing lean have to be more implementable and tangible in nature. For instance - find out if you want to lean out your physical products flow, or information flow or knowledge flow or ? + make sure that the process, the advantages/disadvantages and the results/progress are visible to everyone up to the bottom line each day of the business.
Thats the true meaning of lean. Simplify, simplify and simplify !!
One of the interesting things that came up during the discussion in the round table was the supporting eco-systems that need to support anything that we do to ensure that we become better each day. These are like life support systems - performance management and incentives & Trust + team work. Without these life support mechanisms, businesses will choke to a slow and steady death, if I can say so!!
Not to paint a bad picture, the important thing is to ensure that the values and principles of a business at the top level of strategy are aligned with what we try to do at the business strategy and operational strategy level. In absence of this alignment, the change would be so incongruent that it would never stick!!
