The impact of Lean leadership

Good and effective leadership results in successful Lean initiatives. But when are you a good Lean leader? To answer this question, we will tell you everything about the principles of Lean leadership and how you can get the best out of this role.

With the integration of Lean, work processes fundamentally change within organizations. Work processes are continuously optimized, respect for colleagues is highly valued, and the focus remains on delivering value to the customer. This forces organizations to reconsider their existing strategies and also requires a transformation in the way leadership is approached.

With the right approach, where the principles of Lean form the foundation, you, as a manager, create a culture of continuous improvement. A culture in which you do not put out fires, but identify problems at an early stage. You provide guidance to your colleagues and ensure that they apply the Lean mindset in order to continue delivering value to end customers. You also prevent possible resistance from colleagues, identify potential setbacks in time, and prevent Lean from eventually suffering a “silent death” within your organization.

To give you an idea of what to expect as a Lean leader, we discuss:

• The principles of Lean leadership

• How to become a Lean leader in 4 steps

1. Hold up a mirror to yourself, your team, and your (work) processes

2. Create a work culture in which people are allowed to make mistakes

3. Always take customer value as your starting point (Gemba)

4. Continue challenging and developing yourself and your colleagues

5. Always keep your eyes on the dot on the horizon

Are you considering starting with Lean within your organization? Then our Green Belt training may be interesting for you! Curious about what this training involves and how it can help your organization move forward? Request our free brochure.

Lean management is not a method or tool, but a philosophy with a long-term approach to systematically and gradually improving business processes. Your task as a leader is to continuously optimize the processes, together with your team, that deliver value to the customer.

The above requires a change in mindset: you no longer act as a supervisor, but as a mentor, teacher, or coach. You align your team around a shared goal and ensure that all team members have the right knowledge and resources to achieve that goal. Your mutual relationship is based on trust in each other’s skills, knowledge, and experience. This is strengthened when you encourage your colleagues to use their talents and when you listen to their ideas.

As a manager, you do not deliver direct value to the end customer, but indirect value. After all, you create the best possible work environment in which your employees can perform at their best and create value for end customers. Therefore, you do not manage costs, but the creation of value.

But how do you create the best environment for your team?

By holding up a mirror, you can provide feedback more quickly on the functioning, effectiveness, and efficiency of the existing (work) process. You do not wait for the result of the process over time, but take action more quickly on (potential) problems, deviations, or errors.

Giving (and receiving) feedback may not always be enjoyable, but it is essential in optimizing processes. Only then can you determine whether a process is running correctly or incorrectly. You identify what can be improved or perhaps what should be done completely differently. If you create a work culture in which giving feedback is the standard, it benefits both your team and the company’s results.

Dare to look in the mirror, because making mistakes is not a problem, as long as you see mistakes as learning opportunities.

This offers the following advantages:

• People make deviations (mistakes) visible more quickly

• People search more effectively for the potential causes of these deviations

• As a result, people suggest improvements more purposefully to eliminate these causes

• People implement improvements that truly have an impact

• People continue to work from their strengths through mutual trust in shared success

You achieve the above by not doing the work yourself as a manager or by micromanaging. Instead, you delegate responsibilities and empower your team members by increasing ownership of their work.

Tip! Position yourself as a coaching and servant leader, not as someone who exercises power within an organization.

In the case of operational issues, go to the Gemba, “the place where value for the customer is created.” This is the place where you use the mirror for reflection, continuously implement improvements, and further develop yourself as a leader.

You do this by, among other things:

• listening to your team members and taking every reported problem seriously;

• asking them the right questions to better understand the work and value streams;

• and removing obstacles that stand in the way of customer value.

In this way, you maximize value for customers. You make decisions based on information from the source rather than from reports and other summarized forms of information sharing. In addition, you identify problems in time, before they become new obstacles.

Tip! Always ensure that your team members have access to the most up-to-date information so they can adjust their work in time.

Do not put out fires, but identify problems at an early stage. Turn your team into Problem Solvers instead of firefighters in 4 steps:

• Verify the problem, deviation, or error

• Identify the (possible) causes

• Eliminate the main causes

• Measure the success of the improvement

As a leader, you are a role model for your team. By continuing to develop yourself, you set the right example. In this way, you do not tell them how to do their work, but encourage them to improve their qualities.

As a manager, you must translate policy from top to bottom. This policy is entirely focused on achieving the mission (in other words, the objective) of the organization. Therefore, always keep your eyes on the dot on the horizon by:

• mapping out the extent to which value is added by every role within the organization;

• making every team member aware of their contribution to the bigger picture;

• understanding in detail how the organization, processes, and people work together (manage the systems and processes!);

• and continuing to focus on improving and respecting team members.

Tip! Challenge your team members by giving them personal, ambitious (but achievable!) long-term goals and shift the focus from individual performance to team performance.

And last but not least: celebrate successes (for the very best motivation)!

Are you ready to get started with Lean? Then our Green Belt training may be interesting for you! Curious about what this training involves and how it can help your organization move forward? Request our free brochure.