Whether You Think You Can Or Can’t, You’re Right

Thank you to www.shmula.com for the photo and an interesting article why lean transformations fail. Thank you also to Henry Ford for the title of today’s blog post.

The picture tells a very interesting story. 70% of transformations fail because of ourselves. We are are worst enemies when it comes to change. None of use are really a stranger to the concept, how many times have we told ourselves “I shouldn’t eat that” or “I’ll do that work next week.” My personal favorite is “I like it the way I’m doing now!”

The reality is that the actual bolts and nuts of a lean transformation are the easy part. The hard part is looking into the company mirror and asking “is my company going to make it through the transformation.” From experience I know that whatever you think you can do is what you will do. The main question with a transformation really becomes how do I make sure I’m culturally ready for a transformation.

The truth is that there is no 1 right way but there are some rules of thumb that you may want to follow.
1) Upper and middle management must be on board and understand how to be lean managers
2) Your metrics will dictate behavior. Change your metrics to make your lean transformation successful.
3) Never stop training or you may regress on the progress you’ve made
4) Have a beacon (aka lean sensei) that will be your guiding light and voice of reason through a transformation and beyond
5)Reward good behavior and ignore (and in some special cases punish) bad behavior.
6) Stay the course.

These guidelines will help you through your journey. BON VOYAGE!