I finished watching the Playbook and I want to develop a plan for implementing the management system. Where do I start?
There is no perfect sequence for implementing the Lean management system but I can offer some general advice.
Your first step should be to assess the current level of trust within your organization using the Trust Assessment Tool. If you feel good about the results, you can start with techniques to make the work transparent or to standardize the work. However, if you have concerns about the results, you should start with working on your partnering skills by doing gemba walks.
A good way to start making the work transparent is to organize a workspace using the 5S technique. Standardizing the work should start by choosing a relatively simple process and breaking it down into steps. In order to get others involved in applying these techniques, you can download and distribute the 5S Event Guidelines and the Process Breakdown Worksheet.
If you want to try out the practice of continuously improving work, you can get most or all employees involved by teaching them about waste and how to recognize waste signals. The Waste Signals Chart could be downloaded and distributed to employees as a learning and reference document. It is not necessary to jump right into Flow Improvements because many small improvements often become obvious just by recognizing the waste signals.
If you send me an email request at David@HindsandAssociates.com, I can give you more specific advice about how to get started.
Could the Playbook be used to support weekly training sessions?
The book chapters could be easily covered in six weekly lunch-and-learn training sessions as follows:
Session 1
INTRODUCTION
PART 1: BUILD CULTURE OF TRUST
Chapter 1: Mutual Trust
Session 2
Chapter 2: Partnering
Chapter 3: Gemba Walks
Session 3
PART 2: MAKE WORK TRANSPARENT
Chapter 4: Workspace Organizing
Chapter 5: Visual Controls
Session 4
PART 3: STANDARDIZE WORK
Chapter 6: Standard Work
Chapter 7: Stand-up Meetings
Session 5
PART 4: CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE WORK
Chapter 8: Waste Assessment
Session 6
Chapter 9: Flow Improvements
We have already tried out a number of these techniques and I would like to know if we are making progress?
Here are some useful questions to ask yourself and others to assess the extent of your progress in each of the four practice areas:
Build a Culture of Trust
Do your employees seem a bit more engaged?
Are you asking them more questions? Are they asking you more questions?
Do you feel a little more willing to trust your employees?
Make Work Transparent
Are you beginning to see more of what is going on?
Have you been surprised to learn about how some of the work is actually getting done?
Are your employees able to see more of what is going on with the work?
Do they have any new visual controls like white boards on the walls of their workspaces?
Standardize Work
Have you created a formal standard work document for at least one process?
Are your employees aware of and following that standard work?
Continuously Improve Work
Have you seen any particular improvements in how the work is performed?
Did these improvement ideas come from managers or from employee suggestions?