You have learnt how Lean can shape your company’s future, and understood the benefits of integrating it into your company’s culture. The main issue arises in identifying the areas where Lean implementation is required. Hence, here is a guide to preparing your Lean manual, which will make the process much smoother.
KEY AREA #1: Know When, Where, and How Lean Implementation Can Work
- My company doesn’t practice Lean implementation, can I still carry it out? – Yes, you can.
- How? – Apply Lean in your work area. Furthermore, implement its concepts to your key performance indicators.
- But other people are involved in the work I do. I do a part of the whole. So, to make my work successful, can I still carry out Lean concepts? – Yes, you can. Make your ‘partial’ work right the first time, and on time, using Lean concepts.
- I don’t know what my company’s current year’s goals and objectives are. What do I do? – Ask your boss. If they do not know, ask their boss, or seek information from your peers or human resources representatives. You will know them if one exists. However, if your company does not have them, you will not get to hear one. If your company has not defined them, you can define what quantifiable results you wish to achieve in your work area! For example, increase production per hour per day. Additionally, increase the accuracy percentage or do the work in 25% lesser time than usual!
- Can I use Lean in research and development? – You can. You should research and find a good book to read on it.
- There is ‘fat behaviour’ in my place! How am I to carry out Lean concepts if people around me display fat behaviour? – You cannot change it alone. However, you can change yourself! Do not get influenced by the fat behaviour around you. Focus on your work and its deliverables. At the end of the day, you are appraised of how you perform in your work area. Moreover, you have a choice to not take part in office politics. Hence, be self-motivated and do not allow your environment to influence your actions. Most importantly, choose an improvement area that is mostly in your control. If others are involved, try to win their trust and active participation in a positive way. Learn Lean concepts by applying them in your work area first. If you can produce your own success story, people around you will notice a change in you and your work! Therefore, your success will ensure you lead by being an example for others to follow.
- Do I need to complete a ‘project’ to get ‘Lean Certified’? – Yes. Nevertheless, it is not about getting certification alone. You need to do several projects to gain a good understanding of Lean tools.
With the baseline doubts cleared, here are the next 2 areas that you need to focus on:
KEY AREA#2: Know Your Company’s Current Year Goals and Objectives
- Do you know your company’s current year goals and objectives? – If your answer is ‘no’, find them. For instance, ask your supervisor, investigate your company’s website, or ask someone. Do something! Lack of knowledge of your company’s current year’s goals and objectives is certainly not an option
- Do you know your key performance indicators? – If you do not have them, ask your reporting supervisor or someone from the HR department. Furthermore, your key performance indicators (KPIs) should be quantifiable. Define your key performance indicators and list them.
- Align your key performance indicators to your company or department’s goals and objectives. – Identify the KPI’s that relate to the goals and objectives the most! Hence, improving these could be your starting point. However, if your KPI’s do not relate to any of the goals and objectives, seek clarity with your supervisor on them. Ask your supervisor what they want you to improve on.
- Prepare a table like the one shown below. –This is a good starting point! For example, Sujatha works as an operation executive in a business process outsourced firm. She fills up the table as shown below:
Know how your KPI align with G&O
KEY AREA#3: Imbibe Guiding and Supporting Principles in Your Daily Work
Lean is about people. Specifically, it is about how you transform your personality from the current to the future state! Unless you question yourself, you will not know where you stand on necessary guiding and supporting principles in Lean. Use the following two columns–the right one to recognize the current state, and the one on the left to define the future state. Most importantly, there are no universal standards – you define your own.
Do you follow these principles?
