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Lean Strategies

Lean Strategies for Handling Lean Problems

Frontline employees and managers face many barriers when trying to build a continuous improvement culture.

This list contains many of those problems that you may face on a daily basis in your Lean travels. It comes from the second half of my book, Whaddaya Mean I Gotta Be Lean?

Each strategy contains an overview of the problem (available to everyone), a section on what to do about the problem (much of this will be available to registered users), and finally, a section on why this strategy works (only available in the print version of the book). Knowing what to do gets you started quickly; knowing why the solution works helps you apply it in other related situations.

I hope you can identify some of the Lean problems you are facing in this list. And I hope that you can use our Lean strateies to help you solve those Lean problems.

CHAPTER 8

Thriving in a Continuous Improvement Culture

Strategies: Transitioning to continuous improvement values

Problem: You don’t know where the company is headed.
Problem: You don’t know why you have to do a particular task.
Problem: Continuous improvement, by definition, is never finished.
Problem: Leaders abandon Lean when the road gets bumpy.
Problem: A part of your job is harder than it should be.
Problem: Your coworkers are reluctant to help you out when you need support.
Problem: You worry that the bar is set too high.
Problem: You don’t participate in problem-solving because you don’t like conflict.
Problem: Quality problems and production issues from other areas show up in your workstation.
Problem: Your ideas don’t seem to get used by your leaders.

Strategies: Communicating more effectively

Problem: Your eyes glaze over when leaders start throwing around new terms and Japanese words.
Problem: You see problems that need fixing, but your boss just thinks you like complaining.
Problem: You don’t think a problem is getting the resources it needs to fix it.
Problem: You find it hard to get your boss to come to the same conclusions as you do.
Problem: One of the bigwigs asks how things are going, and you’re not sure how, or if, you should respond.
Problem: You need to air grievances with your manager.
Problem: You hear something different from what your boss has said.
Problem: Your boss doesn’t always follow up on promises.
Problem: You have no say in your company.
Problem: You don’t know what to expect with all this Lean stuff.
Problem: You can’t get your manager to understand how much a broken machine, dilapidated computer, or missing tool is costing the company.
Problem: You just don’t believe what your boss tells you about Lean’s capabilities.

Strategies: Improving relationships with peers

Problem: You see and hear (and maybe even make) lots of complaints.

Strategies: Using the tools

Problem: Your manager doesn’t seem to really understand the Lean tools, and your team is not getting good outcomes.
Problem: Demand picked way up, but staffing isn’t going to be adjusted.
Problem: You don’t like getting checked up on.
Problem: You aren’t sure what to do when demand halts production.
Problem: You think you have an answer, but other people discover evidence that contradicts your theory.
Problem: You don’t think a Lean tool will work in your area.
Problem: You see a repetitive problem.

Strategies: Upgrading your personal performance

Problem: Your mission each day at work is to survive until quitting time.
Problem: You don’t know how you are going to be evaluated now that you are Lean.
Problem: You worry that Lean reduces your job security.
Problem: You don’t know how to be Lean.
Problem: You can’t seem to remember what you learn in Lean classes.
Problem: You suspect you have started to get a bad reputation with your boss.
Problem: You constantly think about what is going on at work, even when you’re not there.

CHAPTER 9:

Set the Standard in Standardization

Strategies: Establishing Standard Work

Problem: Standard Work requires you to share your tricks and secrets.
Problem: Stopwatches are everywhere.
Problem: Your team can’t agree on who should be timed when developing Standard Work.
Problem: You keep running into problems while trying to time for Standard Work.
Problem: You unintentionally perform faster than usual when being timed.
Problem: When you fall behind in your work, coworkers have no way to help you out.
Problem: You and your boss don’t agree on what you do, or how much you do, making it difficult to set a standard.
Problem: Demand varies widely in the office, making staffing difficult.
Problem: You don’t think Standard Work is effective in the office.
Problem: Standard Work is not sticking.

Strategies: Keeping autonomy and variety

Problem: You need help finding ideas for improvements.
Problem: You don’t want to have to change how you do your process.
Problem: You are having trouble getting improvements to stick—whatever you change gets changed back by someone else.
Problem: You don’t know how to go about making changes to Standard Work.
Problem: Doing the same job the same way every day bores you.
Problem: Your boss just took away all of your personal space.
Problem: You don’t want anyone coming in and telling you how to arrange your workspace.

Strategies: Using Standard Work

Problem: Your boss is asking you to produce more than Standard Work says you should be able to do.
Problem: You have the urge to work ahead to prevent problems.
Problem: You have “workaround” processes that cover for problems.
Problem: You work slower than the rest of your team.
Problem: Someone on your team is not carrying his or her weight.
Problem: A coworker hides the gains that he makes.
Problem: You don’t have time to keep your equipment in tip-top shape.
Problem: Your boss is constantly asking you to do tasks outside of Standard Work.
Problem: Your boss can’t easily get you help during temporary peak periods.
Problem: A Lean office makes you more sedentary.

CHAPTER 10

Measure Up in Measurements

Strategies: Setting up metrics

Problem: You don’t know why something needs to be measured.
Problem: A measurement hasn’t budged in ages.
Problem: Your boss has piles of spreadsheets that he has asked you to take a look at.
Problem: You have identified a problem that should be evaluated.
Problem: The metrics in your area seem to drive the wrong behavior.

Strategies: Using metrics

Problem: Leaders are always stopping by to check on your production board, but you don’t even know what is on it.
Problem: The information your boss (or a project team) needs in order to make a decision about a problem is not available.
Problem: The data doesn’t match how you think things are going.
Problem: You never see the results of data collection efforts.
Problem: Important tasks that are not getting measured are not getting done.
Problem: Your manager is not appreciating the team’s hard work.
Problem: You think that no other team gets measured as much as yours does.
Problem: Measurements are taken over a short period of time, and don’t accurately reflect how your process normally operates.
Problem: You have more than one boss and they measure different things.
Problem: Bias is hard to keep out of a measurement.
Problem: You don’t get the impression that the teams that support you are interested in getting better.

CHAPTER 11

Be a pro at projects

Strategies: Adopting a project mentality

Problem: You are not quite sure how to begin your Lean adventure.
Problem: Lean is difficult because your boss gives you open-ended instructions.
Problem: You are stuck with a problem because you can’t get your boss to schedule a kaizen to fix it.
Problem: You seem to be doing everyone else’s job, as well as your own production work.
Problem: You never seem to have time to work on continuous improvement projects.

Strategies: Selecting projects

Problem: You don’t want your coworkers angry at you for making changes to the team’s process.
Problem: You’ve gotten stuck on a few projects that have bored you to tears.
Problem: Your project team just got together for the first time and spent most of the meeting arguing about goals and objectives.

Strategies: Being on a team

Problem: You get discouraged when teams have a rough time at the beginning of a project.
Problem: You think that friction from a project is ruining a valuable working relationship.
Problem: Your friends don’t seem to help you much on project teams.
Problem: You keep getting asked to be on project teams outside of your work area.

Strategies: Using good project etiquette

Problem: You have so much going on that you can’t seem to get to project meetings on time.
Problem: You can’t concentrate with all the side conversations going on in meetings and classes.
Problem: People on the team are treating each other disrespectfully.
Problem: Someone on the team uses sarcasm to be funny, but he is overdoing it.
Problem: Some of the tasks you have to do on a project team aren’t that fun.
Problem: You have a few people on the team that just won’t speak up. (One of those people might even be you!)
Problem: You are frustrated and worry that you might say something that you will regret.

Strategies: Performing on project teams

Problem: You can’t seem to get people to address your concerns in meetings.
Problem: Other people seem to have more of their ideas put into action than you do.
Problem: Lots of projects are happening, but things are staying the same.
Problem: Your boss won’t give you the money you need to buy something for a project.

Strategies: Dealing with projects in your area

Problem: Your work area is being kaizened, but you are not on the team.
Problem: You are an independent thinker and don’t like being told how to do your job.
Problem: You are an independent thinker and don’t like being told how to do your job.

Strategies: Coping with kaizens

Problem: The report out is coming up, and you are not looking forward to speaking in front of a crowd.
Problem: It’s 2:00 a.m. and you are still at work on the kaizen.
Problem: You pay a price for kaizens.
Problem: You think you are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to improvements.

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