Kaizen : A mindset for learning and adapting in a changing world
Lean management in times of crisis means learning to adapt constantly, learning to learn, integrating organizational learning as a vector of performance.
By changing the behavior and culture of individuals towards self-learning, a company that directs its strategy towards the continuous improvement of its processes by empowering employees will undeniably transform the collective culture of the entire organization and lead to a self-learning system.
A learning company is one that aligns its strategy, culture, and processes to create a system that learns from itself and adapts to changing environments. In times of crisis, this can be a source of competitive advantage and resilience. The learning company seeks to develop the skills of all individuals, it is one of the pillars of the Toyota house.
“The added value of such a system is that the sum of individual skills exponentially improves the overall know-how of the company.”
The promise of Lean is to establish a dynamic of organizational learning through continuous improvement practices. Lean companies are more efficient, competitive, agile in the face of crises.
Key factors that determine the success of a Lean transformation
Netland, (2015) identifies several success factors determining the success of a Lean management strategy: management involvement, training, information on the decisions taken by management in connection with the proposals of the field teams, forms of reward and of recognition.
The challenge is then above all not to push Lean tools inspired by the TPS (Toyota Production System) and simply to transmit good operational practices, but rather to lead to a new culture in which the system is redesigned and improved. by autonomous individuals and collective organizational learning.
- Management involvement: Leaders need to be role models of the Lean mindset and behaviors, such as visiting the gemba (the place where value is created), coaching teams, and supporting improvement initiatives.
- Training: Employees need to be trained not only on the technical aspects of Lean, but also on the soft skills, such as problem-solving, communication, and collaboration.
- Information: Employees need to be informed about the strategic goals and decisions of the company, and how their improvement proposals contribute to them.
- Reward and recognition: Employees need to be rewarded and recognized for their efforts and achievements in implementing Lean practices and improving performance.
These factors help create a culture of learning, where employees are motivated to seek feedback, experiment with new ideas, share best practices, and learn from failures. A learning company also leverages its collective intelligence by creating a knowledge base that captures and disseminates the know-how of its people. This way, the sum of individual skills exponentially improves the overall capabilities of the company.
Gemba efficiency: The key to increasing value
Managerial piloting in the field, “gemba“, allows managers to observe how project teams can react dynamically to different ways of working and delivering performance.
Researched waste, “Mudas hunting”, improves team efficiency by small incremental changes. This managerial practice offers in times of crisis an opportunity to make working methods progress faster than competitors throughout the value chain (VSM), especially thanks to the fact that in Lean, the approaches are participatory and on the ground.
“Lean management in times of crisis means learning to adapt constantly, learning to learn, integrating organizational learning as a vector of performance.”
Like a virtuous circle, the time saved by the hunt for waste allows employees to devote more time to dedicated training. These improvement systems also need time to mature.
How to implement a Self-Learning system that improves over time
Isn’t the goal of a Lean approach then to design an autonomous and self-learning system for the quest for performance?
Define the problem and goal of the self-learning system.
What is the task or function that the system is supposed to perform? What are the inputs and outputs of the system? What are the criteria for measuring its performance and improvement?
The project teams (Agile, Sprint, Scrum) take into account hopes and problems on the ground and find solutions that will fuel innovation. They will thus formalize new know-how, the value of which will feed the global knowledge and skills base of the learning company.
There is therefore in learning companies at Lean maturity an alignment between the commitment of the teams, the strategic vision and the desire of the managers to implement an elaborate system. (Hoshin Kanri and declination of processes to visual indicators).
To manage a Lean strategy in times of crisis, it will therefore be necessary to have succeeded beforehand in getting on board and involving all employees and in particular the operators closest to the field in the vision and the missions displayed.
The challenge for managers is not to push Lean tools and practices onto their teams, but to lead them to a new culture where they can redesign and improve the system by themselves. This requires a shift from telling to asking, from controlling to enabling, from directing to facilitating.
In summary,
- Lean management can create a self-learning system that improves performance and adapts to changing environments.
- A learning company aligns its strategy, culture, and processes to develop the skills of all individuals and leverage their collective intelligence.
- The key factors that determine the success of a Lean transformation are management involvement, training, information, reward and recognition.
- Gemba efficiency and waste elimination can increase value and innovation by allowing more time for training and improvement.
- Kaizen emphasizes the importance of empowering and involving employees in the vision and missions of the company and leading them to a new culture of learning.
“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.”
Henry Ford
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