Employee engagement will make or break your Lean journey. For those that are interested in successful Lean innovation, I have a secret for you. Lean is about changing the culture of your organization and increasing employee engagement.
Ask yourself, how do I turn my employees into daily problem solvers? One success indicator of employee engagement is having them drive the Lean transformation effort within your company. You might ask yourself- How do you get there?
First, let’s talk about what the end state looks like. In the end state, you have developed a supportive culture that develops over the years. You want a support system that is driven from the bottom up.
Most organizations are top-down driven. It looks like a typical triangular organization structure. The top leader makes a decision, and everyone works to carry out those directives. This is a command and control organization and looks like the triangle below.
To drive culture change, you need to adopt a more supporting servant-leadership style of managing. Each level provides support to the one above it and employees are driving your transformation. It is a leader’s job to provide support and remove roadblocks. This style of organization is in the shape of an inverted triangle.
That’s great you might say. I can see from the graphic how it works, but how do I get there with my company? How do I increase daily problem-solving in my organization and change the culture over time? How do I embed Lean thoughts and processes into my company’s DNA so that this isn’t some flavor of the month program?
Here are five opportunities you can use during your Lean innovation to increase engagement and excitement about culture change.
1. Have a clear vision and present it to the workforce
Develop a True North and a Lean Management System. These items reinforce what is important to the company. After these are in place you can share company values and goals during daily employee stand up meetings.
2. Have daily stand up meetings
If you aren’t having daily ten minute stand up meetings, begin having them. This is a perfect time to review:
- Safety issues
- Quality issues
- Review elements of the Lean Management System.
As employees become comfortable in daily meetings, they will share improvement opportunities. Capture these ideas and act upon them.
3. Have all employees attend Lean training
This doesn’t have to be intense but provides training that introduces employees to basic Lean terminology. Cover a few key concepts like Value Stream Mapping, 6S and Rapid Improvement Events.
The key is to have everyone in the company take part in the training. This lets everyone know that you are taking the Lean transformation serious and it will not become a book of the month program.
4. Ensure the workforce is involved in Lean activities
Invite employees to develop Value Stream Maps, take part in 6S activities and be in Rapid Improvement Events that occur within your organization. Remember, one of the eight wastes is Not Listening to People’s Ideas.
You should include employees in all Lean activities. They are the ones on the front line every day. They know where the waste is in their processes. Engage them to make improvements within their areas.
5. Celebrate!
Make sure that at the end of every 6S event, Rapid Improvement Event or Value Stream Mapping event you have them present to the leadership team.
As leaders make sure you support and celebrate their efforts. Thank them for taking part. Recognize that they are nervous during the report out. Celebrate the fact that you have gotten 5-8 more people engaged in improving your company!
If you follow these simple steps, over time you will have a powerful and engaged workforce.
As always, it is an honor to serve you and I hope that you and your company are getting better every day!
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