Lean Leadership

I tell people that all employees are managers – they manage at least one person. BUT not all employees are leaders. We need Lean Leaders. John Shook, Lean guru and Senior Advisor of the Lean Enterprise Institute gave a keynote address at the 2009 IW Best Plants Conference in Nashville. He had much food for thought on leadership.

He said the Toyota production system (AKA Lean) was born out of an economic crisis. At that time (1950’s) Toyota was trying to keep up with Nissan, it was barely able to produce 1000 cars per month (most car plants now do 1000 cars per day.) The banks wouldn’t loan Toyota any money. They had laid off many workers. (Sounds like today’s auto industry!) That’s when Toyota leadership issued the challenge to catch up with Detroit in three years. What a challenge! This caused Toyota to rethink how they did everything and to develop their Lean approach.

This included:

Reaching an agreement with the union to drive out waste thus guaranteeing jobs for the workers.

Creating a shared vision – Give the customer what they want, instantly with no waste.

Refining a leadership philosophy that differed from the leadership approach of that day, which was command & control and still differs from much of today’s leadership styles.

John says there are three types of Leadership:

Command – Dictator style – “Do it my way!”

Empowerment (came out of the 1970’s) – “Do it your way!”

Lean Leadership – “Follow me and we’ll figure it out together.”

Toyota teaches its managers to not give employees solutions to problems, but to give employees clear responsibility to propose countermeasures to the problems they own. Whenever you tell someone what to do, you take away ownership for the solution from him/her. The leader’s role is to ask questions to help the employee figure out the solution and allow him/her to implement it.

Shook feels the leader’s role is to:

Engage each employee to take initiative to solve problems and improve his/her job. This requires making sure the employee had the skills and training to identify problems and take action.

Make sure that each employee’s job and actions align with the company’s priorities and vision.

The chairman of Toyota Motor Company – Fujio Cho says that the role of leadership is three fold:

To Go and See – what is happening at the place value is created for the customer (Gemba) and look for problems. He said, “No problem.... is problem,” and also “No see problems — no need managers!”

Ask Why and ask why again – even 5 times. Managers’ role is not to solve the problems but to ask questions to help the employees figure out how to solve the problems. (If you give someone the solution they lose ownership in making it work.)

Show Respect – Showing respect to the employees includes engaging them in solving the problems they face.

As you think about your role as manager and leader are you a Lean Leader? What can you do to be more of a Lean Leader? When will you start?

The 5S’s is more than housekeeping

Bryan Lund has some useful ideas about the 5S’s. In regard to inventory he explains,



“When we lay the 5S system over the context of inventory waste, first we look for what is needed from the viewpoint of the customer. Once determined, we set things in orderly fashions so that inventory is ready for withdrawal. This is perfectly aligned with the concept of Just-In-Time thinking. We may use some tools such as kanban and continuous flow to achieve this orderliness, but regardless of the tools used, inventory is ready in the right amounts, right types, in the right place and the right time. When we sweep through the area or conduct a shine inspection, we are inspecting the system for contamination. In this example the contamination is inventory outside the acceptable kanban limits, or inventory in the wrong location, or defects in the finished goods. Like hand washing your car in the driveway, inspecting the workplace is a personal experience. You wash the windshield and see the wiper blade pulling away from the frame. You take corrective action now, in the safety and convenience of your home, not on the busy, snowy highway while you are on your way to a family gathering or important meeting. Sanitizing helps us avoid accidents in this way. It assumes everything is normal, if it is not, in the case of the wiper blade, the situation goes from safe to unsafe. So, do the same type of inspection in the workplace. Go to the inventory locations. Make the normal limits and levels visual in the workplace so your inspection is done within a series of quick glances. Are they within the limits? If no, your system is contaminated with variability: you must sanitize the system. You have gone from one state, "within control of cost, quality and productivity" to "out of control". This is why Ohno once said that the word 'sanitize' is a better term for seiso than 'shine' or 'sweep'. When U.S. managers say 'sweep' or 'shine' we lock ourselves into thinking that 5S is about cleaning. It is NOT about cleaning. The third S is about sanitizing, the extermination of contamination in all its various forms, from the process. From here on, I will always use the word 'sanitize' for the third S. If we use the word sweep, we think cleaning. As simple minded as this may sound to you, it is the biggest reason why 5S is a housekeeping campaign in the U.S.”



In construction we need to do more to make sure the crews have the right material in the right place, in the right quality and in a way the make sit easy for them to get and install it. Keeping the crews installing is the number one priority. Sweeping can help.

Does Reliability matter?

Hal Macomber asks and answers the question: "Why does reliability (PPC) matter?"



“A good planning system will enable project team members to fulfill their promises just as they make them.



“Let's start with PPC. We recommend measuring planning reliability using the measurement percent of promises completed. Our thinking is if people can do what they promise to do, then the planning is good. It doesn't mean that the future should be just as we planned it to be. Life's not like that. But, if we're doing a really good job with our planning, then most of the promises we make for completing work will be kept. PPC is a measure of reliability.



“Reliability is an indirect measurement of the quality of the planning system. One of our goals of planning is to accomplish what we set out to do. Another way of saying this is, "I promise to get "x" done by time "y"." A good planning system will enable project team members to fulfill their promises just as they make them. Is this important? (I'm thinking to myself, "Hell yeah!") Reliable completion of our promises releases work for other performers. By keeping my promise, the next person in line is able to keep their promise. And so on, and so on. That is the nature of projects.



“When task completion is unreliable, then the completion of the project is indeterminable



“Eli Goldratt tells an instructive story in The Goal on the nature of the compounding of dependence with variation. It's a little game (using match sticks) that shows that when one action depends on a prior action that variance in the performance of those actions leads to an unpredictable completion of the chain of actions (covariance for the Six Sigma folk). In other words, when task completion is unreliable, then the completion of the project (chain of tasks) is indeterminable. That's why reliability matters. Being reliable on a task-by-task basis is the only way we can get our projects done on time.”



Source: Hal Macomber – Reforming Project Management Blog April 22, 2009



The Last Planner System * increases reliability.



* Last Planner System is a trademark of the Lean Construction Institute.

Learning Opportunities

You may be interested in attending one of these public training seminars:

• Oct. 6, 2009 - Lean Works in Construction – Milwaukee, WI – Sponsor: Plumbing Mechanical Sheet Metal Contractors Alliance, Contact: Dajen Bohacek at 414/543-7622 or dajen@pmsmca.com Must be a SMACNA member company, associate or sponsored by one to participate.
• Oct. 15. 2009 - Introduction to Lean in Service – Phoenix, AZ – Sponsor: PIPE & 469 JAC, contact Cathy at pipetrust@qwest.net
• Oct. 29, 2009 – Lean Construction Overview – Phoenix, AZ – Sponsor: Arizona Chapter of the Lean Construction Institute – details to follow

Contact Dennis Sowards if you want a customized workshop exclusively for your company.

Other Lean Construction Events:

• Sep 22, 2009: The Power of Lean: Tapping the Ingenuity of the Construction Workforce, Sponsor: LCI-NCR-Chapter Evening Meeting (Arlington, VA) For registration and more information
• Sept 24, 2009 - Integrated Project Delivery IPD Education Program + an Owner's How-To Meeting, Sponsor: LCI Los Angeles Area Chapter, with DBIA Western Pacific Region, Culver City, CA
• Oct. 14, 2009, Value Stream Mapping, Sponsor: Nor Cal Lean Construction Institute Chapter Meeting, Hilton Garden Inn, Fairfield, CA - 6:00 PM-9:00 PM - Pacific Time, Contact: Theresa Robinson at trobinson@tcco.com or 916.554.7944
• Oct. 13, 2009 - Kaizen Events – Improving Your Business’ Efficiency in Just One Week (A New Horizons Foundation Project), 2009 SMACNA Convention, Palm Springs, CA
• Oct. 20-23, 2009 - 11th Annual Lean Construction Institute Congress, Sponsor: LCI, Boulder, CO. register here
• Oct. 28, 2009 - The California Healthcare Facilities Project 12th Meeting. Contact Prof. Iris Tommelein with questions: 510/643-8678 tommelein@ce.berkeley.edu
• Oct. 29, 2009 – Lean Construction Overview – Phoenix, AZ – Sponsor: Arizona Chapter of the Lean Construction Institute – details to follow

A Quick Thought

People don’t go to Toyota to ‘work’ they go there to think.

- Taiichi Ohno

For more information about Lean applications to construction and especially the 5S’s contact Dennis Sowards at his office at 480-835-1185 or his cell at 602-740-7271 or at his web site: www.YourQSS.com

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