Lean Leadership Approach

We define Lean as the systematic elimination of waste through a continual effort to decrease inefficiency; the lean leader strives to create a more efficient organization. Lean leadership is a philosophy. It is a consistent way of thinking and being in your role as a leader. The focus of this approach is on raising new leaders and help their team embrace a culture of continuous improvement. Learn what we mean by lean leadership style and its principles.

What is Lean?

Lean is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Lean is the systematic elimination of waste through a continual effort to decrease inefficiency. Lean is centered on preserving end customer value with less work. Lean manufacturing is a management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS).

What is Lean Leadership?

Lean Leadership originated in Japan from Toyota Headquarters. The idea of lean leadership was created to systematically eliminate “muda” or waste while streamlining production. While leadership involves soft skills that successful executives develop during their careers, Lean leadership requires us to leverage the “systematic” component of the Lean definition. The role of the leaders within the organization is the fundamental element of systematically sustaining the progress of lean thinking. It is the key managerial values and attitudes needed to sustain continuous improvement in the long run. It is a continuous way of being for all people in an organization, a never-ending search for a better way.

It is the ability of a leader to create an organization, department, or team that has the right combination of philosophy, people, process, and problem-solving that can create a lean organization. It is an environment of teamwork and improvement versus being a set of tools to be implemented. For lean leadership to be sustainable it needs to become a culture. Through a continual effort to decrease inefficiency, the lean leader strives to create a more efficient organization.

Characteristics of Lean Leadership:

1. Continuous Improvement

2. Lean Leader has a long term vision of the challenges one needs to face to realize one's ambition and has the ability to challenge oneself every day to see if one is achieving the goals.

3. Lean Leader understands that no process can ever be thought perfect and hence strive for improvement, innovation, and evolution.

4. Lean Leader has respect and an attitude of taking every stakeholder’s problems seriously and making every effort to build mutual trust.

5. Lean leader takes responsibility for other people reaching their objectives.

6. Lean Leader encourages engaging people through their contribution to team performance and strongly believes in developing individuals through team problem-solving.

7. Lean Leader has the experience of leading lean transformations.

8. Lean Leader has process-oriented thinking and they focus on building the right process to bring the right results.

9 Lean Leader has exceptional relationship-building skills and they focus on building trust.

10 Lean leaders are advocates of change. They are change coaches and know how to implement change.

Seven Types of Deadly Waste:

The seven types of waste that a lean leader focuses on include:

1. Delay:

Delay on the part of customers waiting for service or for delivery, time spent in queues or awaiting a response, or when the item/service was not delivered as promised. Also known as queuing, waiting refers to the periods of inactivity in a downstream process that occurs because an upstream activity does not deliver on time. Idle downstream resources are then often used in activities that either don’t add value or result in overproduction.

2. Duplication/Extra Processing:

When a staff member has to re-enter data, repeat details on forms, copy information or answer queries from several sources within the same organization. This type of waste refers to procedures that are made after the product is completed because of fabrication defects or bad storage and handling. Making too many inspections and not focusing on making new designs that could remove problems is also included in this type.

3. Unnecessary Movement:

Redundancy of movement within a process or poor ergonomics in the service encounter. This type of waste means having too many transports for a certain material or work in progress transportation. It also includes product deterioration or damage which occurs during transports and the prolonged transport times, in which there is no profit.

4. Unclear Communication:

Time spent seeking clarification, confusion over product or service use, and wasting time finding a location that may result in misuse or duplication. Also includes missing or misinformation, confusing goals & metrics.

5. Incorrect Inventory:

When inventory is out-of-stock, when the provider is unable to get exactly what was required, or when substitute products or services are unavailable. This refers to inventory that is not directly required to fulfill current customer orders. Inventory includes raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods. Inventory all requires additional handling and space.

6. Opportunity Lost to Retain or Win Customers:

This occurs when there is a failure to establish rapport, ignoring customers, or when the staff is rude to customers.

7. Service Transaction Errors/Defects:

This occurs when there are product defects, service errors, or lost/damaged goods. These are products or services that do not conform to the specification or Customer’s expectation, thus causing Customer dissatisfaction. These factors generate more production time and general dissatisfaction among both employees and customers.

Advantages of Lean Leadership:

1. Through creating a philosophy of lean leadership more and more organizations are able to identify problems quicker, design solutions accurately, and implement them at a rapid pace.

2. Lean helps in reducing their costs and increasing the level of trust based on relationships with their customers and people.