Written By: Amy Townson

More and more, “Lean” is a buzzword coming back into popularity, especially within government sectors. While the concepts aren’t new – Lean was first introduced by Womack and Jones in 1990 and has taken off since then because it just makes sense – there is an increased awareness that Lean thinking and transformation can apply to more and more sectors. Does it apply to your organization? 

Understanding Lean  

To answer whether Lean applies to your organization, you need to understand what Lean is.   

Lean is a way of thinking and doing business that focuses on creating greater value for the customer while using fewer resources. You frequently hear phrases such as “lean transformation,” “lean culture,” or “lean thinking.” These phrases help to convey the extent of Lean.  

Lean is not a one-time program or short-term effort; it is a complete change in the thinking, culture, habits, and way of doing business within an organization. To truly become Lean is to look at how you conduct business and create value for your customers from a holistic, enterprise-wide, long-term perspective.  

Your growth and maturity as an organization, then, becomes a by-product of providing value to your customer.  

Lean follows the same basic process, regardless of the industry you are in or the process you are reviewing. It’s a circular process, though, because there is always room to improve.  

1. Identify the customer’s value. There is no value in your process or your bureaucracy. The only value in what you are doing is what your customer places on the output of your work. Your customer may be external if you are a public-facing operation. Your customer may also be internal if you fill a support role. 
2. Map the value stream. Map the work you do and the process you follow. For each step, ask whether that task provides or contributes to the value of the end product (remember that value is in your customer’s eyes) and get rid of those that don’t offer value.   
3. Make value flow. Look at the work process you have left after step two. Make sure it’s running smoothly from one task to the next.  
4. Let the customer pull value from you. Don’t try to anticipate their needs and build a stockpile of inventory. Incorporate “just-in-time” techniques and focus on making sure that your product is valuable to your customer.  
5. Pursue perfection. A Lean transformation is never truly “done.” There are always ways to improve, and continuous improvement needs to be part of your organization’s day to day culture.  

Sound great! Where do I sign up? 

I’m a huge fan of Lean thinking and try to incorporate it into the solutions I recommend to my clients. The typical reaction is initial enthusiasm. It is exciting! Lean offers you a way to streamline the way you do business and provide value to your customers. Lean can lead to more customers, a lower cost of doing business, more time to devote to special projects – the list goes on and on. 

When we start to dive in, the reaction changes: the team is still positive, but there’s a lot of trepidation going on. It’s the “uh oh, this is daunting!” phase. Clients don’t know where to start or how to begin the process.  

Take a Deep Breath 

Getting started with Lean doesn’t need to be complicated. You don’t need to spend days or weeks poring over project plans and perfecting a kick–off slide deck. Here are some tips that can help you get started – 

1. Know Your Why. You don’t need a grand strategy mapped out for the next five years, but you do need a vision. What are you striving for? What do your customers want from you? 
2. Build the Right Team. A Lean transformation is just like any other organizational change – you need change agents, and you need champions to promote your cause. With Lean, I also recommend having an objective subject matter expert with you – someone who knows and understands Lean and isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions.   
3. Assess Your Current State. Is your organization ready for Lean? Perhaps some teams are more ready than others. Do you have areas bleeding time or money? Are there quick wins you can capitalize on? What changes will create the most value for your customers?   
4. Chunk It Out – The adage is true – you eat an elephant one bite at a time. A Lean transformation is the same way. You don’t have to tackle everything at the same time. Chunk out the significant changes you’d like to implement. You can tackle more as you go.  
5. Take It Slow – Lean isn’t a sprint to get to efficiency the fastest; it’s a lifelong marathon of continually adjusting and improving processes. You don’t have to race toward the finish line – you need to be going in the right direction. 
6. But, Not Too Slow – Nothing ruins a change-ready team more than being told: “don’t start yet.” If you have a team raring to go, then let them fly. If your transformation is moving along at a snail’s pace, then you’re sending a clear message to your people that you aren’t serious about Lean. 
7. Plan Do Check Act – You know this cycle, and it’s eerily similar to the scientific method we all learned in school. If you tackle everything at once without any planning, how do you know what changes caused the improvements? I don’t recommend making multiple changes to the same task at one time unless it’s obvious that the changes are going to streamline things. You can tackle multiple changes at once if you address them with processes and teams throughout your organization. 
8. Just Start – Don’t plan out to the nth degree. Don’t question and research. Just start. It can be something small to get the ball rolling. I always see lean as a series of incremental changes regardless, so starting small would make sense. You don’t have to get it “right” right away, but you have to start trying and learning what works.  

Let‘s Go! 

Lean isn’t something to be afraid of, nor is it something to over complicate or overthink. You don’t have to get it perfect the first time – you need to get better each time. Continuous, incremental improvements will realize strong and sustainable results. Knowing where to start is a significant first step. Momentum consultants can provide value to you – our customer – and guide you along the way. Let us help you take the first step!