ABSTRACT

Many managers and supervisors are chosen for their role because of a demonstrated ability to get things done. Rather than checking off benchmarks attained on a to-do list, the emphasis must be on creating a place where common beliefs are shared and demonstrated, initially by leaders and eventually by almost all employees. As a recovering engineer this was a revelation. The lean managers have heard stories of sensei from Toyota that insist clients master 5S for two years prior to moving on to more advanced tools. Their reasoning is that the visual nature of 5S makes it obvious whether the generic improvement process of identifying an improvement, standardizing the improvement, and following the new standard is hardwired into the organization. The third ingredient, often referred to as the culture of the organization, is the most difficult to assess and perfect. Think of culture as the collective emotional environment of the organization.