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I’d go in another direction after the 4th why. Why are the top managers waiting for others to do just because they asked?

Because:
-they expect things have been always done like that (I guess they never go on the gemba: in my company, few managers actually do as their superior told them, because new fires occult what’s been said in the past – no risk of being caught!)
-nobody told them hard and long enough that they should gemba walk and sustain the management system.

What’s your opinion? (this is precisely what I’m experiencing here, and I’m about to devise a plan to involve top management further.

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I will hazard a guess that many of us implementing Lean are somewhere in the middle of the ranks: we are manufacturing engineers, quality engineers, consultants, technicians, etc. that are constantly trying to speak two languages, management speak and production speak. They are two very different languages. Now, if I’m being asked to lead, I will do my best. I will do everything I can to support, coach, cajole, invite to dinner, you name it…at some point I will get that person to the edge of the cliff, where they can jump into the world of lean thinking and never look back. To get a person to this point involveds training, involvement and little bits of harmless lean: 5S, TPM, etc.,….BUT, at somepoint a person must finally get to the edge of the cliff…the leader above that you have worked so hard to gain “buy-in.” That person MUST be willing to take the leap. If he/she doesn’t, what does that do to the culture of the company? As the old saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” So, without holding a gun to the horse head, how do you make him drink? And then, when the horse doesn’t drink, do you pull the trigger? Is our inability to fire the concrete heads of the world; NOT the ones that will get eventually, but the ones that will refuse to get it, part of our cultural organizational problem? Aren’t these people truly obstacles? Or can everyone be saved?

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My understanding of 5-whys (and I admit to being only an amateur compared to you and your readers) is that we should begin with an observation. So how about “Workers often take a while to locate their tools.” Why? “Because they are left in random places.” Why? “Because putting them away in the ‘right’ place takes too long.” Why? “Because …”

This kind of reasoning, different from the “person Y didn’t do Z” kind, will lead us naturally to ask for time/cost trade-offs between 5S and not-5S. So instead of using blame and dogma, we can bring senior management around with a compelling analysis.

The agile software community has discovered that management resistance or disinterest is our problem, not theirs. 5-whys can be a great tool, but only when we avoid using it to point fingers.
Regards, Kevin

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Seems to me that by saying we should apply the 5 whys simply means we approach the problem with a questioning attitude, and keep digging for the root cause. That applies to every problem at every level.

I don’t have a copy, but the Toyota Way shows a good example of tracing dripping oil from a machine back to the purchasing agent’s apprasal. It’s in the back near the funnel graphic.

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But, most of us don’t have the training or access to such a tool. Would make a great PhD dissertation!

My question about the 5 whys is meant to prompt people to at least think one level of “why?” further than “so-and-so won’t buy in.” It’s a real challenge to take it all the way through 5 whys and that might not even be necessary. Let’s just look past blame.

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can the “real” reasons for miserable implementing of lean really be unsurfaced?

I think the system that’s causing the mostly unsuccessful change towards a “lean enterprise” is way too complex to grasp with just asking “5 Whys”.

“5 Whys” are familar to most of us (as we all are more or less “Lean Thinkers”, but does it really lead us to “the” root cause? Companies are complex systems built of processes, run by people and influence by human thoughts, attitudes (you could call it culture). Some info is open for everybody, such as the missing bolt is causing a faulty machinery which causes scrap products. What about career plans in people’s mind, that cause not spending the money for spare bolts due to a promotion dependend on budget savings? Would you know that?

Prof. John Sterman, Head of the System Dynamics Group at MIT Sloan Management School talks about that and what are the implications of complex system in the following speech: http://videocast.nih.gov/ram/ss032207.ram

It is actually given at a healtcare summit (Mark that’s probably interesting for you!) but can be applied everywhere in business.

Why not use the ideas and techniques to bring “Lean” to the frontline?

Just my comments on the excellent posting giving a new direction to the discussion?!

Cheers,

Ralf

PS.: For anybody interested in further information on the field have a look at http://www.systemdynamics.org. Next week there will be the 25th Conference of the System Dynamics Society held in Boston.

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Maybe a general roadmap:

1) Define problem/opportunity (why lean?)

2) Acknowledge & remove fear

3) Involve them in the process (what is lean, how to do it?)

4) Show benefits (tie back to why)

5) Reinforce (proper measures, rewards, etc.)

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From my perspective, one way to help get employee buy-in is to show them how lean principles can make their lives easier. Lower inventory, fewer defects, more efficient work flow — sure, these are vital issues for the company. But those are issues that first affect the firm, not the individual worker. From an individual’s perspective, lean processes are just something new and different — and by definition, scary.

When I show people (office workers, not line workers) how to apply lean principles to their work, they immediately experience the benefits: lower stress, greater sense of control, and a clearer mind. Getting buy-in is easy, because they can feel the benefits.

Backsliding is still an issue, of course: habits are hard to break, and most people’s work habits have been set over years of work. But there’s very little resistance to implementing lean ideas.

So I would ask the following question: how do you help line workers experience the benefits of lean immediately?

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