When Problem Solving Is the Problem: Warning Signs That Your Lean Initiative Is Going Off the Rails, Part 3

Solving problems may be fundamental to lean, but what if the problem is problem solving itself?

In this episode of Behind the Curtain: Adventures in Continuous Improvement, hosts John Dyer and Dr. Mohamed Saleh continue their discussion of common signals of a lean initiative headed off the rails. This week’s conversation tackles the symptoms of shallow problem solving and centralized continuous improvement teams.

Shallow problem solving

What is shallow problem solving? In short, it’s failing to find and permanently solve the root causes of problems. Saleh and Dyer discuss a host of reasons why it happens, including resistance to change and a desire for quick answers.

“People are very impatient to jump to solutions. They want a solution now,” Saleh says. “That is a very clear symptom when you’re in a meeting, people are problem solving, and you’re seeing solutions come up, and no one’s actually trying to get to the root cause.”

Adds Dyer: “I would much rather have a problem-solving team dig into an issue for six months, and it gets permanently resolved so it never happens again, than one that works on a problem for six weeks, but puts a simple solution in place that is a Band-Aid that breaks in a month or two, and now the problems come back and we're starting all over again.”

Saleh goes even further, asserting that three common root causes are, in fact, “very shallow.” They are:

• Communication
• Training
• Human error

The two move into a discussion about how problem solving is deployed within an organization: Is it pursued as a learning opportunity for the employees, or does it become an exercise in filling out paperwork?

Not only should problem-solving teams be learning more about the problem at hand, but also, they should be learning how to work together as a team to use the tools to get to the root cause.

“The better you are at this, the more likely you’re going to be able to solve other problems down the road,” Dyer says.

Centralized continuous improvement teams

Saleh strongly emphasizes centralized continuous improvement teams as a symptom of a lean initiative bound to go off the rails—with a small exception.

“Centralizing a lean office initially to standardize it across the globe, and then decentralize it afterwards has its merits. But, if it’s ever solid to the corporate team, it falls apart,” he says. “Because it’s my agenda now, not the site’s agenda.”

The duo delves into additional reporting structures that are signals of a lean effort in trouble:

1. Demoting the influence of the continuous improvement professionals by moving them down in the reporting structure and further from decision making.
2. Creating a hierarchy of continuous improvement professionals via belts or other certifications, and then requiring these certifications to do certain projects. “It becomes this elite system that you create where continuous improvement is for the elites, not for the general,” Saleh says. What happens then? “The frontline starts to disengage from actually solving the problem because the CI person has all the answers,” he notes.

The question, says Dyer, is: “How do we set up a structure that says the teams of people closest to the process, they're at the top, that's who we're supporting, and what are the resources we can give them to help them flourish?”