"How Human Resource Departments Can Help Lean Transformation"
Target
2006, Third Issue, pp. 5-10 (available online at www.ame.org)
The authors of this article conducted a survey of 72 managers and 154 non-supervisory employees at 72 different sites. Five key variables predicted successful lean implementation:
- Development of teams as a supporting structure—Teams need both the capability and the skills to manage themselves. There should be high agreement about how the work should be done. They should employ common language, principles, and tools. They should agree on vision, metrics, and goals.
- Calculation and communication of metrics—The metrics of a scoreboard should be owned by the team. Metrics should support daily decision making. Management must support the metrics. The metrics must "point in a steady and consistent direction toward the ideal state."
- Communication across boundaries—Communication must be vertical, horizontal, and two-way. Functional boundaries should not get in the way of the most efficient and effective communication for the customer.
- Communication to employees regarding their role—Roles change dramatically in lean organizations. Management must communicate clearly about these roles, and employees must learn how to ask questions and elicit feedback about their roles.
- Acknowledgement and celebrations of successes—Since lean is a never-ending journey, "...leadership must balance recognition of the success achieved with maintaining the tension for future progress." Tangible rewards may be difficult to administer, and the authors of this article feel that the best reward may be listening to and acting upon people's ideas.
The authors provide the following recommendations for HR departments of Lean organizations:
- Create a lean culture to address the five predictors above
- Recruit the character traits needed for the above five predictors
- Create a reward structure considered fair by the employees
- Develop, choose, and maintain "Lean" leaders
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