• Current Issue • Ad. Rates • Writer's Guidelines • Archives • Circulation

Minnesota Technology Magazine - Winter 2007

MTI News

Cultural Values

Looking to build a lean culture? MTI can help.

The first definition of “culture” given in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is not related to social life or the arts, but to farming. Culture is tillage or cultivating, the dictionary says, and that is a good way for executives to think about their implementation of lean enterprise principles. Growing and nurturing a lean culture requires hands-on labor, and like farming, the work continues season after season.

Image of construction “The change in culture to lean is profound,” says Mary Connor, an MTI business services consultant whose background includes extensive work in strategic planning. But it is not an automatic—or necessarily comfortable— change, and the transition to a lean culture takes time and effort. MTI now offers three newer tools to help companies as they nurture a lean culture.

LEAN TEAMS

The most popular—and most far-reaching in its effect—is a 16-hour program on building teams for lean enterprises, says Connor. The process helps team members see the importance of sharing leadership and using conflict in a positive way. It focuses on building understanding within a team of individual styles and strengths as well as shared goals. “Companies see the most growth from this program because it spreads lean principles throughout an organization,” she says, adding that a six month lean culture project of weekly team meetings often will dramatically accelerate lean benefits within a company, particularly as cross-functional teams begin to see new ways to work and make improvements.

Companies that have embraced lean principles in their organizational culture exhibit several key differences from more traditional operations, Connor explains. First, everyone in the organization understands that it is his or her purpose to eliminate waste. Participation is not optional. Second, in a lean culture, people want to hear negative feedback—whether it's from employees, customers or prospects—because hearing about a problem means it can be solved. Finally, lean enterprises revolve their work around teams, reward teams, and give teams and employees the authority to make improvements and changes.

How do companies develop—and sustain—a lean culture? The process is gradual, says Connor, and involves policies, practices, and language that shape the behaviors of workers at all levels. “Leadership comes from many people in a lean organization, but it starts at the top,” she notes. “Workers cannot exercise their creativity and problem-solving ability when management unwittingly restrains their initiative with policies and procedures that are inconsistent with lean.”

MAKING THE JUMP

To help companies and their leaders make the jump to a lean enterprise and sustain it, MTI offers a lean leader development workshop, which provides managers and supervisors with tools and techniques to manage an empowered workforce. Lean organizations, says Connor are “people-centric, because only employees can identify ways of improving the current state.”

The workshop addresses common points of resistance to change—among workers, supervisors and managers. “Lean cultures demand leaders who understand the benefit of challenging and empowering the entire workforce to participate in continuous improvement,” says Connor. “The changing roles of managers and supervisors in a lean environment require new leadership skills of the team leaders and the emerging leaders.”

MANAGING CHANGE

For organizations that have already implemented many lean changes, MTI offers a one-day workshop devoted to building lean culture while managing change. Companies often experience significant improvements in the early stages of a lean implementation, but in times of change or stress, slip into old patterns. Sustaining lean improvements is 20 percent technical and about 80 percent cultural, Connor says. This workshop offers specific methods to develop leaders throughout the organization and techniques to sustain lean over time. “Cultural changes rely on implicit learning,” she says. “It can start in a classroom, but it is best done at the place where the work occurs, so teams can develop real-life charters and accomplish meaningful projects.”

Nurturing a lean culture has significant bottom-line effects. When companies sustain a lean culture, they have greater flexibility, adaptability, and agility. They take a more scientific approach to change management and are able to tap into the underused skills of all of their employees. Good ideas are not merely discussed, but implemented and sustained. Most importantly, companies with a lean culture become stronger competitors. “In this time of global price pressures and rapid commoditization, culture can be a strong weapon that differentiates a company from its competitors,” says Connor.

For more information about the full range of MTI’s lean offerings, click here or call
612-373-2900 or 800-325-3073.