Lean in difficult times - the opportunity for change

This is my very first blog post. The website is already live, but still in the development stage. The blog does not yet have a clear structure, but as it is known in the lean environment, you start the process with a prototype and test it. With the Lean Culture Blog we want to offer you the opportunity to provide ideas for your own Lean culture.

In my job as plant manager, the subject of change and the ability to change is an important topic. When, as a team leader and lean manager, I was first given the task of introducing lean tools or lean in general in one area, I was very enthusiastic and really wanted to share my specialist lean knowledge with my colleagues and had the feeling that they were the same excited about this topic as I am. The disillusionment came very soon after I noticed the resistance from many. Sometimes whole groups revolted against me. Actually, I just wanted to help and not selfishly to favor myself. After this disappointment, I figured they didn't understand enough and needed more explanation so that they could see the same thing as me. But my worldview was different from theirs and there was little I could do about that. The more I pushed, the more rejection arose. A large part of my plans were crushed. From a hierarchical point of view, I sometimes had nothing to say. I had the feeling that it was just because of that, but later, when I was their superior, the same issue was the case. It wasn't because me being in charge, or because I had a good idea or a solution to a problem, but because of the willingness to change.

It wasn't until I had attended a semester of psychology that I realized why. I had heard theories about how to drive change before, but I didn't realize how much we humans cling to old patterns. Some employees were never ready to change or adapt, even though their group had already developed further. For them there was not yet a big enough crisis and that is why they held on to what they had once learned and thus to what had once worked as a solution for them. That is of course a human protection. To survive, one must maintain behavior that worked. Otherwise you would try the poisonous berry, even though you have once learned that you are not allowed to eat it. People, and especially groups, change when there is a crisis. For example, when hunting and gathering is no longer enough, you have to find ways like agriculture.

That means, if the good worldview is no longer congruent with reality and one does not find an appropriate solution, then, yes, then the person is ready to embark on new paths. The well-known 3-phase model ″ unfzreeze, move, freeze ″ from Lewin comes into effect. The group has to be in a crisis to thaw, to be even ready to consider a new solution.

Now the big question arises, can you introduce lean even if you don't have a crisis? Basically yes, but the group needs a high level of maturity in terms of reflection. If the group understands the fundamental structures of learning then it is always possible. But if such ″ soft ″ topics are not lived in the organizational culture, then a crisis is the best approach to break new ground.

In a crisis, lean management helps to keep cash flow positive, to align employees to new goals, to offer customers added value and to get the most out of the minimum resources. I will write how to do this in a new blog entry.