So here we are once again attempting to walk the talk of a Lean culture. Saturday I had the chance to work another 60 hour week and get into my lab to practice. Why do I like Saturday's so much? Let me inform you. Saturday nobody is around. Yes it is a day filled with manufacturing product, yet there is a different vibe in the air. Most of the time I have an "A" team who are the cream of the crop and enjoy what they do. Not only do I have the cream of the crop, there isn't any "senior team" individuals around to poke their noses into our skunkworks of an operation. Yeah, I know we shouldn't be a skunkworks, yet when my team and I are allowed the true latitude to search out the best decisions for the problems we face the creative juices start flowing.
As a front line supervisor it is so easy to just implement a solution to a glaring problem and be done with it. Though we have to think, is this truly the best way to go about solving issues? Pushing vs Pulling comes to mind. Oh no, here I go again sounding as if I know more than I do. I'm learning that to develop a Lean problem solving culture it is all about asking the right questions when observing a problem.
Saturday I noticed a rather large bottleneck in an assembly area. This disturbed me and I knew the answers to these problems because, well.... I just know. Then reality sets in, do I really know the best answer and would acting as an authority figure be the best course of action. My personal Yoda has people skills coupled with an understanding of Lean implementation that has led her to prominence within the Lean world. I being just a lowly padawan, well I've got a metric ton to learn before I can even begin to play at her level. Though a voice meanders thru my head, "Now, Cowboy... what problem are you trying to solve?" Ahh... yes it is all coming to the forefront. It is a flow problem and who better to ask than those having the problem, yes goto Gemba.
With this master jedi inspired insight, I walk to the line with the issues and start my line of open ended questioning using the What vs How. Yes, the what vs. how line of questions prevents your workforce from feeling as if they are being attacked rather than you coming to help them solve OUR problem. I gather up the individuals working on that line and begin my questioning. Using humor and also my listening skills. What WE decided was the line was unbalanced for the work being done. Yes... you heard that right. We the front line troops proved those pesky engineers wrong. WE redistributed workload, I even time studied assembly at certain stations that were causing the bottleneck and compared them against the SOE's those demonized engineers claimed was right and true.
The end result of this was a successful and productive day which could have turned into a disaster. Why was it a success, I listened to the individuals doing the work, I engaged the people, We decided on a solution, We did our own PDCA, ran the proposed model and BOOM!!!! To quote Borat "Great Success!!!!!" Now all grandstanding aside I have a very valid point I'd like to make here. We may be the "boss" We may even be the engineer in charge of the project/line/design. What we must always remember to do is keep the individuals doing the work actively engaged in the entire process, for it is they who are the technical gurus when it comes to assembly. They can show you how to shoot screws and tell us whether this layout is conducive to repeatable results. Yes, you may guffaw at me for being somewhat naive in not pulling out the manager hat vs the coach hat, but hey I'm just a cowboy on a Lean journey trying to get it right. Yes there will be hiccups in my methods, there may be some great stories of success. What we all need to remember is that Lean is a People based system and if we become self-righteous and indignant shutting out that side of things, blaming the people vs. the process we as leaders have achieved nothing, and possibly built animosity between ourselves and our workforce.
There you have it, a win for Saturday. More like a total win for Lean on Saturday, as bringing Lean to a culture devoid of Lean methods requires me to be an ambassador. Wow... an ambassador who doesn't know much yet is trying to teach at the same time. Gee... maybe there is a role for me in Washington as I don't think those individuals know muda from shineola.
Thanks for stopping by to read this post, as I learn with each new day what it really means to be a Lean practioner.
No comments:
Post a Comment