Is Lean Thinking for Everyone?

Is Lean Thinking for Everyone?

This question often comes up in Lean discussions. I think it has been best answered by W. Edwards Deming.

“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you are doing”
William Edwards Deming
October 14 1900 to December 20 1993

He’s maybe a little harsh in saying that businesses may not know what they are doing. However, we would argue that without being able to describe what you do as a process, your clients are probably having a different experience of your product or service depending on who they are interacting with.

Imagine being recommended the roast duck at Emilio’s by a colleague when visiting her town. After relating your mediocre experience next day, she said, “Oh no, you should have waited until Thursday. That’s when Emilio himself comes in and he can make a mean roast duck”. Marvellous!

There’s also been much talk lately about ‘process’ in sports. If any team is unsure of the process, then improvements are simply trial and error as opposed to building on what has already been established as best practice.

So, can we describe Marketing as a process? Finance? Purchasing? Retail? Hospitality? Healthcare?

Lean Thinking in the Business

Our argument would be that any function in any business needs to be understood as a process.

The individuals in that organisation need a baseline process and those individuals need to be supported to improve that process.

Errors, Complaints and Accidents should all be viewed as feedback and opportunities to strengthen the process.

Staff should be encouraged not to accept errors. They should be encouraged to highlight when they are unable to perform their tasks effectively. Everyone should be encouraged not to pass on problems.

This is a brave undertaking for any management team, but it is the start of the Lean journey for everyone!

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Submitted by our Lean Tutor, Steve Halpin