Pitfalls To Look Out For On A Lean Transformation Journey

By Author: Greg Lane
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Roughly defined, ‘lean’ is a way of eliminating waste and non-value-added activities through continuous and consistent improvement. Lean is not a cost-reduction program but an approach, a way of thinking and behaving adopted by an organization with a vision and a purpose, based on certain key principles. Lean transformation is the moving away of an organization from an old way of thinking to lean thinking. This is a long-term process which requires right perception supported by patience, persistence and perseverance.

Lean transformation involves a changed thought process resulting in the evolution of an organization over time. Hence, the journey of lean transformation for any organization is time-consuming and fraught with pitfalls. Unless these pitfalls are avoided, it would be near impossible to achieve results, and if achieved, to sustain them. The following are some of the snags or hurdles that a company has to watch out for and avoid to make sure its lean transformation is complete and successful.

Inconsistency of purpose and lack of strategy deployment: Strategy is the long-term plan of an organization ...
... that helps the organization to achieve success with sustainability. This is possible only through optimization of resources and skills while keeping both the stakeholders and customers happy. Strategy deployment is what connects the strategies of a company to its improvement practices and projects. Inconsistency occurs when there is a gap between communication and understanding, or between communication and action.

Absence of cultural transformation plan and implementation: Culture is a set of guidelines based on which the members of an organization behave in a manner that is suitable for the organization and that matches the organizational expectations. If an appropriate organizational culture is not implemented, organizational members would behave in a manner unacceptable to the organization, creating chaos in the organizational environment. Cultural framework connects human resource policies to the behavioral expectations of an organization. This is enabled by leadership, communication, empowerment and teamwork.

Lack of distributed leadership: Though organizational transformation occurs when the top or senior management drives the change, it cannot occur without commitment equally spread across the organization from top to bottom. For this, the organization needs to distribute leadership across different levels which will all need to work together to bring about the change.

Absence of mentoring relationships: The struggle of performing and achieving targets on a daily basis comes in the way of the managers at the different levels, especially those at the front level, applying their insight to develop thought processes that are essential to make the change happen. In this respect, mentoring relationships are an absolute necessity, to guide the managers constantly for a sustainable change.

Non-supportive management behavior: Where management is more directive and commanding, they leave it to the lower level managers to bring about the change. Lower ranks are held accountable for problems and responsible for solving them. Efforts are not rewarded, only results are. Moreover, lack of knowledge on how to leverage improvements will result in the organization not receiving the expected results from improvement.

Resistance to change: A few people in the organization who are resistant to change is enough to spoil the efforts of the rest of the organization. Continuous mentoring and monitoring can help the entire organization keep focused on the goals while constantly evolving.

The above are some of the most common pitfalls that organizations face in their journey towards transformation. It is absolutely essential that the senior management of an organization should be aware that these pitfalls exist and have an insight into how to tackle them right at the beginning of the journey. These issues are easily addressed if thought ahead of time.

Greg Lane has owned and successfully transformed his own company, He offers lean management and lean training services. Discover everything about Lean management, lean Training, and job shop lean management.