Don’t get complacent. That’s a key message often issued once a lean implementation starts accruing gains. Without constant care and nurturing, those leaps in productivity and quality that raised such enthusiasm at the start of a lean journey can begin to erode. Improvements are not a signal to relax your efforts.
Dr. Mohamed Saleh and John Dyer, hosts of Behind the Curtain: Adventures in Continuous Improvement, issue a similar caution in this latest episode of their podcast, but their target is the leadership who sponsor lean.
Their message here: Don’t get complacent. Don’t assume executives who sponsor lean transformations in their organizations are committed for the long haul, the podcast hosts say. In some instances, those sponsors aren’t committed at all, the two note during this 25-minute segment that continues their series on lean, and sometimes Six Sigma, myths.
Early on, the podcast hosts outline the many headwinds that can derail executive sponsorship. Those headwinds include:
- Many leaders leap into lean without understanding what it is and what it requires, most notably the cultural and behavioral changes leadership and organizations must embrace. Dyer points out that lean challenges conventional notions of leadership.
Some “leaders don't know what they're saying’ yes’ to when they say ‘yes’ to lean,” adds Saleh.
- Lean or Six Sigma was introduced solely as a “silver bullet” to address a specific improvement effort or challenge versus instilling a cultural shift. Once leaders discover it’s a lot of work, they abandon it.
- Other leaders who don’t want to change exert peer pressure on the executive sponsor to get the lean initiative canceled.
Saleh introduces a four-phase model of executive sponsorship, which includes:
Phase 1: Very excited. Lean enthusiasm abounds. Lean posters may be plastered everywhere; lean leads town hall discussions; anticipation is high.
Phase 2: Learning. Leaders gain a better depth of understanding about what they signed up for.
Phase 3: Personal discomfort. Sponsors begin to understand they may have to change, and they become uncomfortable. “This is where most sponsorship begins to fade,” Saleh opines.
Phase 4: Transformation. “Leaders who accept changing themselves become the lasting sponsors,” Saleh says.
Saleh shares several stories of lean transformations in health care that illustrate how naysayers can undermine lean efforts that began with lots of enthusiasm and even significant success.
Dyer concludes the episode by saying that it’s important to continually work with leaders “to make sure they’re still on board; and nurture, guide and coach them” to sustain lean efforts.
