The 3 Most Powerful Lean Tools: They’re Not What You Think

One of the real joys of my role as a lean coach is introducing fresh minds to lean thinking through introductory training.  I start every class with a simple question:  Why are you here?”

The response?  Predictable. Irregardless of how experienced the students are or what industry they are from, the top few reasons are always the same:

 Our Obsession with Tools

Lean tools.  Without fail, the number one reason that people cite for enrolling in lean training is to learn “lean tools”.    (And yes, I really did have one individual who signed up for lean training seeking dietary advice.  But that is a topic for another day . . . .)

It doesn’t matter how many times that I hear it.  If you could look inside my head at the very first utterance of the phrase “lean tools” this is what you would see:

Externally, however, my response to the class is slightly more tactful.  In my younger days, I would try to push back against the hopes and desires of the students in an attempt to redirect their focus away from tools and towards the underlying thinking.  However, experience has taught me that it is better to go with the force of the opposition, especially when you are outnumbered, than try to resist it.  The results have been more than a little surprising.

Contrary to popular belief, lean thinking can indeed be taught very effectively with a tool-based approach.  We need only change our thinking about what is and what is not a “lean tool”.  In doing so, we may come to a very powerful realization:

The Problem with Teaching Traditional “Lean Tools”

Most introductory lean courses focus mainly on familiarizing students with the traditional “tools” of lean, such as kanban, stnadardized work, and value stream maps.  The problem is that, when we focus solely on these classical tools, we take away the single most important factor in achieving lean success: the foundation of lean thinking.

In general, a tool-based approach is a terrible platform for anybody to learn just about anything.  Take, for instance, the training of automobile mechanics.  What if a mechanic’s curriculum was based solely on developing expertise of the tools in the mechanic’s toolbox?  Undoubtedly, a mechanic in training would learn how to apply the appropriate torque to a hex nut, how to loosen a stripped screw, and the difference between a standard socket and an impact socket.  Unfortunately, when it comes to actually repairing an ailing auto, knowledge of the tools is inconsequential without first understanding deeply how the car works!

The purpose of a tool, whether in the garage or at the gemba, is to better enable a desired outcome.  Achieving a desired outcome, however, must be preceded by an understanding of what is undesirable about the current situation, why it is occurring, and what the desirable future state should look like.  The true skill of the master mechanic is not knowing how to use a wrench to tighten a nut; it is knowing which nut needs the wrench and why.

Similarly for the lean practitioner, the impact of a traditional lean tool such as takt time for example, is not in the number itself nor in knowing the intricacies of the calculation; the true power is the thinking behind the tool that tells us why the future state demands that we operate at takt time and what in the current state is preventing us from achieving it.

When we are taught to blindly apply a particular set of tools to achieve a desired outcome, we are circumventing the very thinking that our training should be helping us develop.

Heart, Eyes and Mind:  A Lean Success Story

Because of our obsession with learning the tools, I still find it necessary to train lean learners using a tool-based approach, just not in the traditional sense.  Allowing some wiggle room in the definition of a “tool”, I firmly believe – and preach to my students – that the three most effective tools in the imaginary lean toolbox are the heart, the eyes and the mind.  Consider the following case study.

Two weeks ago, I delivered a week-long introductory course on lean thinking to a class full of individuals from a shared services organization.  Prior knowledge of and exposure to lean thinking were slim-to-none.  As expected, many individuals cited a desire to learn the traditional tools of lean as their primary course objective.  Cue the double-face-palm.

Over the course of the five days, I did my best to emphasize the importance of lean thinking over lean tools.  Experience, however, has unfortunately told me that message is not always well-understood.  I concluded the class in the same way that I like to conclude all of my classes, by offering my continued support through mentoring and coaching to all of my students as they embark on their lean journeys.

The very next week, as I was exiting a meeting, I was suddenly grabbed tightly around the arm.  I whirled around swiftly to assess the situation.  To my suprise, before me stood one of my students from the previous week, bright-eyed and grinning from ear-to-ear.

“Do you have a minute?  I want to take you up on your offer!  I could use some coaching.”  I nodded, and was quickly whisked off to a nearby office area.  Hung across the back of a few cubicle walls was a 12 foot long piece of butcher paper adorned with a few hundred sticky notes.  I knew this scene well.

“The training course got me thinking about a process that one of my co-workers has been struggling with forever.  Every month, she spends 6 whole days performing a task that she doesn’t particularly like and that doesn’t add a whole lot of value to our department.  So, I thought I could use what I learned in the class to help her out.  I had her walk me through the process, and I watched while she showed me how she did all of the transactions on the computer.  As she went through it, we mapped them all out using the sticky notes and noted where the problems were occurring.  We then talked about how the process should work, and realized that most of the actions didn’t need to be done in the first place.  By solving a few simple problems, we were able to design a much more efficient process.  It should now take less than a day every month, instead of six days.  What do you think?”

The excitement in his voice was tangible, and I was equally excited for him.  But for the sake of learning, I held back my emotions as I asked him, “But what lean tools specifically did you apply in your analysis to make the future state so much better?”

He thought for a moment, and I could see his excitement subside.  “Well, none I guess.”  He paused.  “We just tried to focus on finding easier and simpler ways to get the work done, and to take away all of the things that she didn’t really need to be doing.  We didn’t really need any tools to do that.”

“But you did, I countered.”  He looked at me questioningly.  “It was your heart that gave you respect for your co-worker’s struggles and the courage to help her eliminate those meaningless tasks that were sapping her of five days of her life every month.  It was your eyes that helped you to go and see the waste in the current state at the gemba.  And it was your mind that led you to question outdated practices that were no longer needed, and map out a better way of doing the work.  So without realizing it, you’ve already demonstrated the ability to apply the three most important lean tools of all.  Not bad for your first week out of training!”

Lean Tools: A Few Last Words

It is not my wish to imply that we need not concern ourselves with the so-called “tools” of lean.  After all, lean is both a social and a technical system, and what we typically regard as the tools of lean are actually critical components of that system.  What I am saying, however, is that an introduction to lean thinking that is based on familiarization with these tools is ineffective, at best.

A major reason that we struggle to spread lean thinking effectively is that our traditional tool-based approach has removed all of the actual thinking.  Internalizing lean thinking requires that we first lay a solid foundation, which is enforced by the development of our hearts, our eyes and our minds.   Only once this foundation has been laid can we hope to erect upon them the system components, the traditional tools of lean.

Despite the now decades of struggle, this realization gives me hope that lean success is achievable by the masses.  Perhaps, it is just that our focus has been in the wrong place.  Rather than looking externally to understand the tools of model organizations like Toyota, we need to realize that everything we need to lay the foundation for lean success – our hearts, our eyes and our minds – is already within us all.

Editor’s Notes

The last chance to enter the first ever Lean Song Parody Contest for a chance to win a book of your choice from the Lean Book Shop is swiftly approaching!  Entries are due by September 30th.

Next week, I will be attending the 2014 Northeast LEAN Conference in Springfield, Mass.  If anyone in TheKaiZone Community is also planning to attend and would like to meet-up, please feel free to  use the Contact The KaiZone link on the main menu.  I hope to see you all there!