How do you introduce lean principles and manage resistance?

Lean is all about the people. It’s not about how much harder we work, but working smarter. Lean is about common sense but utilizing it well. Once people understand what’s in it for me, they really jump on board. Lean is a pull system where people want to learn more once they see their lives and jobs getting easier each day! Long live lean!!

This critical stage can make or break a project. A poor assessment and lack of user involvement can be project killers. While the end user might not be the decision-maker, they play a pivotal role in pushing forward ideas that could significantly benefit their current situation. Get your warriors involved from day 1!!!

The top leader needs to demonstrate, to the workforce, enthusiasm for both the goal of the activity, the methods of improvement, and it all fits into the vision of the organization's strategy for success. A specific area of focus should be selected that represents a high probability of success. Start in a specific clearly delineated area to achieve measurable viable success for positive initial momentum, a "foot hold" to continue more improvements to continue more improvements. Part of criteria to select the this first area is the people within that area. There should be a mix of experienced people and new people who will have positive attitudes and credibility with the general workforce.

Introducing lean principles involves clear communication of benefits, training staff in new methodologies, and emphasizing a culture of continuous improvement. Managing resistance requires addressing concerns empathetically, involving employees in decision-making, providing support and incentives for change, and showcasing successful lean implementations to inspire confidence

The path to implement Lean is not easy and requires a lot of time and effort, but I think this can be a good start: Understand Lean Principles. Ensure that you and your team have a deep understanding of lean principles, this mean, training is required. Create a Clear Vision. This means, that the CEO or the Head of the operation or the business is fully commited that Lean is the strategy and not just an initiative. Start Small. Implement lean principles on a small scale, Lean Daily Managment can be a good start for many organizations. Engage Employees. Involve employees in the process. The experts must be involved, the best ideas come from them. Celebrate Small Wins. Acknowledge and celebrate small successes along the way.

Lean is not about cutting costs. Lean is about eliminating all aspects of waste in our life - waste of our time. From manufacturing perspective, operators must understand that lean implementation will simply make their life better and work on the line less demanding. For site leaders it will ultimatey lead to decrease of cost but for a frontline workers most important benefit is a better day! That’s why you change culture and implement lean. Never message it as a cost savings program. Start with your people and what’s in it for them.

Like all Strategic Initiatives, Lean also succeeds if there is a REAL teamwork in the company. To align the people towards lean, you can consider the following: 1. Show the Big Picture - Educate the team about the benefits of Lean. Remember, Lean is not about Reducing Manpower. People should not worry about Job Security while implementing Lean 2. Create a cross functional team with all levels of employees - to drive the initiatives 3. Top Management should review the activities regularly. Give space for people to share their ideas and Suggestions 4. You can use Gamification tools to create and sustain the enthusiasm of the members - check out my profile to gamify Lean 5. You can also tie Rewards and Recognitions for the team members.

In my experience of 37 years during which time not only I had the opportunity to learn, practise and implement TPM principles but also had the opportunity to develop an Operational Excellence Culture in a new organisation. 1. Made several presentations on the Lean concepts and explained with the examples the journey & the benefits 2. Initially encouraged people to understand the concepts and explore the implementation opportunities. 3. Developed Guide for understanding the concept of Kaizens & generation in their own areas 4. Was able to effectively communicate to the team on how to identify pain areas in their work impacting Productivity, Quality, Cost, Delivery , Safety, Information & Morale. 5. Projects for big targets got formed.

- Very important. Have a clear Vision for the business and for the operations - Get your top leadership team aligned to it - have a well planned promotional campaign to get the message to the grassroots level

A great ambition, isn't it? I've seen training a key group of people, seen a focus on particular projects. Sustainability must have more. It's a culture, a foundational structure, which can only be established through top down leadership. But, frankly, the leaders must believe in the system and know that this is a long path. With turnover and loss from retirees, it is a hard road. Design a plan, commit to the elements, build and spread belief in the systems and the future of an organization will foster a culture of safety, lean, and superior OEE. All are foundational and need constant effort to assure strength.

As Neuroelectrics' Production Director, I introduced Lean principles to enhance efficiency. Resistance was natural, but we tackled it together. We educated the team, addressed concerns, and initiated a small-scale pilot project to show results. With transparent communication and a commitment to continuous improvement, Lean became part of our culture. We initiated a pilot project in one production area (TPLAT & assembling), focusing on reducing setup times and eliminating non-value-added steps.Today, we enjoy reduced lead times, improved quality (reduction of 15% of failing QCs), and a more engaged workforce, proving that embracing Lean principles can drive lasting positive change in our medical device manufacturing.

My experience in lean manufacturing have learned me that the team must own the improvement initiatives. The key to success is all about the team having the right dynamics, competence, goals and authority to drive the improvements. Remove any of these part or tell the team rather than support with servant leadership and the improvements are deemed to fail.

First, make sure you get into the team`s world by practicing empathy and demonstrate you understand their constant challenges. Then you can give them the confidence = empowerment to decide how things could be done better as they are the closest to the on going procedures. Finally, keep building over the positive results.

I think the best way to engage employees is to get them involved in the above-mentioned Hoshin or Strategy Deployment process. Empowerment is something that needs more time. Like learning to drive a car it requires education, coaching, and a kind of "driver's license" to ensure safe and effective operation. Actually, learning to make correct decisions and solving problems to generate improvement is best learned on the floor doing the real work, just like learning how to drive a car. You may be interested in Toyota Kata to learn how to do this effectively.

Engaging & empowering employees during Lean implementation involves clear communication, involving them in decision-making, recognizing their contributions, and providing resources. Encouraging autonomy, fostering a learning culture, and celebrating small wins is the key. This approach encourages a collaborative environment where employees actively participate in process improvement, driving sustainable change.

When introducing lean thinking and overall CI tools it is always about the team. Continuous Improvement is a culture change, and this impacts team members / leaders if they are not involved it will not work. It is a well known fact the Toyota welcomed other OEM’s to their facilities many people went looked and learnt. They took away what they saw and implemented change, it failed. Reason was the team members were not engaged as they didn’t understand why they had to change.. culture changes takes years not weeks and months. A conversation won’t change this, involvement and time is critical.

Things that has worked well for me 1. Transparent communication - Reason for the change and understand the concerns 2. Training and Skill required - Mine the gaps and provide support 3. Small and incremental change - Manageable pace to overcome resistance 4. Feedback mechanisms - Very critical throughout the change 5. Recognition - Goes a long way

Introducing lean principles involves clear communication of benefits, aligning with organizational goals, engaging employees, testing with pilot programs, and providing comprehensive training. To manage resistance, address concerns openly, emphasize a culture of continuous improvement, celebrate successes, establish a feedback channel, and implement metrics to showcase tangible results.

Results overpower fear. When I have been successful in transitioning teams to embrace lean methodologies it has always started with small, visible wins. The 11x17 printed out shadow board that let's the assembler visibly check that all parts where picked - have them use it, show someone who is resistance and have the assembler talk about it. Rinse and repeat as needed, until the resistors have no place to hide and the "cultural immune system" gives them no choice but to become a believer

If you focus on the vision for the business and the strategic goals instead of focusing on Lean a lot of potential resistance will not surface. Embodying Lean while taking an active coaching approach to teaching how to make correct decisions and how to solve problems to generate improvement on the floor will remove a lot of potential resistance and fear as well. You just have to meet people where they are and start the joint journey from there.

My experience has been this is the stage where lean initiatives most often fail. The first pitfall is the initial lean project that fails. Projects should be chosen initially to show benefit with little to no risk of failure. Nothing is foolproof but first impressions have a lasting impact. The second pitfall is follow through and continued development. Lean is not a destination but a journey and should be communicated and developed as such. If people believe this is a flavor of the month or a pet project that will be gone as quickly as it was introduced it will be nearly impossible to get the participation necessary to succeed.

There is no such thing as "implementing" Lean. The word "implementing" shows a project-minded orientation instead of an orientation to Continuous Improvement. You will never be finished.

Initially, I facilitated comprehensive training sessions for the team, ensuring a shared understanding of lean principles. To foster ownership, I established cross-functional teams responsible for continuous improvement, empowering each member to contribute to lean initiatives. Regular performance reviews and data-driven assessments became integral, providing tangible evidence of the positive impact of lean practices. Acknowledging successes and celebrating milestones further ingrained the principles into our work culture. Moreover, I created a system for ongoing education and adaptation, ensuring that as market dynamics or design trends evolved, so did our lean practices.

Focus on waste. Lean is all about eliminating waste. Help employees identify and eliminate waste in their work. Make it visual. Use visual tools, such as value stream maps, to help people understand lean concepts. Keep it simple. Don't overcomplicate lean. Focus on the basics and make it easy for people to understand. Make it fun. Lean can be a fun and engaging process. Find ways to make learning about lean enjoyable. Make it a habit. Lean is not a one-time event. It is a continuous improvement process. Help employees make lean a part of their daily work.

Hey Folks, We must understand that the first thing that has to happen is the evaluation of the scrap factor and why scrap is bad … Educate, educate , educate .. you have educate and you must know your audience, educate at their level , and proceed at their pace .. when the staff starts to ask questions with the new language, your gaining ground … Don’t over expect , over educate and proceed when the team can grasp the expanded knowledge . You don’t know what you don’t know … Educate before you expect … and it will take hold and watch it grow !!! Fancy terms and making your team feel embarrassed with only cause failure … Most people don’t even know how much scrap is being generated on an hourly, weekly, and monthly mode. Baby steps.

Celebration is one of the most important parts of the change management process. More often this area gets the least priority as the next target is already set. Celebration of the success will create a winning culture and many individuals are willing to go beyond their limits to achieve even out of scope. This has been practiced on many occasions, and the team felt more belonged and inclusive in the change management process. As the leader, he/she must appreciate the work done by teams/individuals and give the credit of the achievement as a part of the celebration...

Im my experience, once celebrating success on lean mfg implementation becomes part of the organisational culture, then teams are much more engage and willing to suggest and champio change. Celebration also means recognition for individual contributions.

NLP is a marvelous way to impress physiological responses to the collective. Recognizing behavior over personality is the key. #Growthmindset is another form of dynamism, which is the dynamic interplay between goals and failures. If you recognize the person instead of the behavior they exhibited, you will undermine the person's work ethic and thereby, cause them to coast through the behavior in the future. Human attention, when directed toward a goal and recognized through behavior will manifest more results. Yet, leaders must be conscious situationally in order to adapt their leadership styles to match performance readiness. If this is not emphasized and applied properly, Lean, or any transformation stops. Recognize behavior over titles.

Achieving success has its own endorphins-driven celebration. If you take a proper approach to coaching people to pursue goals that are beyond the Threshold of Knowledge, an endorphin rush will be inevitable. A welcome side effect of an endorphin rush is the longing for another one.

Comment. Share your “successes” with stakeholders. Can’t have it both ways! Should be “ours”. This is the problem of buy in! And who benefits! You should have as a minimum within your business a QA management system and approvals by audit. Before even starting on Lean. Then the culture is set.

Comment amener une personne à adopter de nouveaux comportements? L'approche Lean va obligatoirement entraîner une nouvelle façon de faire. Dans un bon exercice de gestion de changement, l'humain doit être au coeur de la démarche. Pour ce faire, les grandes étapes sont connues (ex. Modèle de Kotter): 1- Expliquer le POURQUOI? 2- Mettre en place un pilotage 3- Définir la VISION 4- Etc. Le défi est d'accomplir ceci tout en continuant nos activités 'normales'. D'où la difficulté de réussir sans un accompagenement d'experts.

The true challenge for continuous improvement is its autonomy. Be patient. Do not seek perfection, remember a bad standard is better than no standard at all. Connect with everyone and build trust, demonstrate the power of continuous improvement with examples of success and share it!

Lean principles are a systematic approach to eliminating waste and improving efficiency in processes. They emphasize customer value, continuous improvement, and minimizing non-value-adding activities. Key concepts include just-in-time production, reducing inventory, empowering employees, and optimizing workflows. By focusing on these principles, organizations aim to deliver higher quality products or services, reduce costs, and enhance overall productivity.

Ask your team, “what would make your job easier?” I can guarantee that most of the “issues” fall into/can be fixed using lean principles. Start by fixing those issues and their will be much less resistance to implementing other aspects. Your team needs to drive the change.

Start with a clear vision and goals. What do you hope to achieve by implementing lean principles? Communicate the vision and goals to all stakeholders, and ensure that everyone understands the importance of lean. Assess your current state. Identify the areas where waste is occurring, and prioritize the areas for improvement. Use lean tools such as value stream mapping, 5S, and waste analysis to gather data and identify opportunities for improvement. Involve your team. Lean is not a top-down initiative. It is important to involve your team in the planning and implementation of lean initiatives. This will help to ensure that everyone is on board and that the changes are sustainable.