The Executive Guide to Lean Culture Change: Using a Daily Management System

By Steven Leuschel

Lean Culture Change is a practical, hands-on field book with real-world Lean healthcare examples that can be adapted and applied to any industry.  As a go-to source for leaders coaching a systematic, long-term approach to continuous improvement, Lean Culture Change explains the first steps of how to change an organization using techniques o

• Language: English
• Publisher: Align Kaizen
• Release date: Aug 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9780999189702

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THE EXECUTIVE GUIDE

TO LEAN CULTURE CHANGE

THE EXECUTIVE GUIDE

TO LEAN CULTURE CHANGE

USING A DAILY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

STEVEN LEUSCHEL

ALIGN KAIZEN PUBLISHING

INDIANA, PA

Copyright © 2015 by Steven Leuschel in Lean Culture Change

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2015 in Lean Culture Change ISBN: 9780692-48106-6

ISBN: 978-0-9991897-4-0

ISBN: 978-0-9991897-0-2 (e-book)

Align Kaizen Publishing

Indiana, PA 15701

www.alignkaizen.com

This is a summary book of Lean Culture Change Using a Daily Management System.

CONTENTS

Foreword by Mike Hoseus

Preface

Introduction by Rodger B. Lewis

Chapter 1: Getting Started with the Curve

Chapter 2: Daily Huddles

Chapter 3: Problem Solving One

Chapter 4: Annual Planning and Balanced Scorecard

Chapiter 5: The Improvement System

Chapter 6: Safety and Workplace Organization

Chapter 7: Summary of Phase One Level A

References and Resources

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Foreword by Mike Hoseus

Co-writing the book Toyota Culture has given me the opportunity to travel to many parts of the world and come into contact with many organizations working on improving through Lean management. I have observed many misunderstandings of what it takes to be a Lean organization. Most organizations view Lean as a program to eliminate waste and cut costs. Operations are Leaned out, and the assumption is that if well-trained experts properly implement the tools, the efficiency gains will be self-sustaining. Unfortunately, these companies are missing the very essence of the Toyota Way.

The Toyota Production System aims to intentionally expose problems and engage all members in solving them. These two points are usually missed in the common Lean implementation, where leadership delegates Lean to a set of champions and then asks them to report results. Leadership goes about business as usual and the champions are out cutting costs through implementing some of the Lean tools. The problem is that most times these tools are used to reduce people. This results in both losing a valuable resource in those that leave and losing the trust of those that stay. Meanwhile, the improvements that were made do not usually last, because they did not include the people doing the work and were not systematic improvements.

Toyota’s approach is much more broad and holistic. It starts with a philosophy that the strength of a company is based on continuous improvement and respect for people. Measurement of success is multidimensional, and that is what respects the success of the enterprise, not specific projects. The leadership hierarchy is not there to delegate improvement to specialists; rather, leaders at every level play an integral role in daily improvement, and leaders are teachers who develop team members. There are a broad set of methods available for improvement, but the unit of improvement is primarily at the level of the work group, led by a group leader. The group leader is supported by hourly team leaders who facilitate kaizen at the team member level. Improvement is not focused only on large Lean projects, but numerically more on small improvements led by team members, which yields a strong ownership of the process and results. Over time, continuous improvement by identifying and solving problems strengthens the company, which can be regarded as a learning organization.

An effective Lean transformation taps into the potential of your entire organization. Strong leaders are important, but more important is their ability to build the systems that engage the entire organization. People want to be part of a larger vision and purpose and they want to be involved. Everyone