The Best Improvement Ideas Come From those who do the work

From my experience practicing Lean, it’s common for knowledge workers (senior leaders, managers, engineers, sales, marketing, etc.) to implement improvement ideas and create standardized work for production processes without ever going to the Gemba or even speaking with the operators who do the work each day.

This approach rarely ever works. New standards are forced upon the front-line employees by individuals who do not understand their current state or feel their pain.

Time and time again, the people who actually do the work come up with more practical, impactful, and sustainable ways of working.

Case-in-point: Dwight and the Gang from “The Office” drop by Dunder-Mifflin’s warehouse:

As Toyota Motor Company’s former president Fujio Cho used to say, “Go see. Ask why. Show respect.” This method is the best way to create a culture of continuous improvement. One where knowledge workers and leaders support and collaborate with the money-earners to deliver exceptional customer value.

#servantleadership #leanthinking #respectforpeople #continuousimprovement