Page 26 - AIMA : Foundation Day Souvenir

more about people, and hence, it is more of a social transformation. It is about developing competence and behaviour
in people to see waste, solve problems, and make improvements. This is a new way of conduct and has to be taught by demonstration till it takes root. So, the question is how to do it and where should one begin?
lead lean From The Top
My tryst with lean started when I was reassigned from business development to head of operations, at a time when (we) knew nothing about lean (we called it JIT) back then. I learnt by practising on the Gemba for most part of two shifts every day. Understanding what does not work, failing sometimes, always teaching workmen and staff, leading the kaizens, improvising, focusing heavily on the process and never on the monthly results, learning when to use which tool or technique etc. Demonstrating by example, this not only helped me develop the next level of leaders, but leading by example helped change everybody’s behaviour and attitude towards work. Our new work-related mantra, behaviour, and description itself of the job had quietly changed to:
When any abnormality was observed, it had to be corrected and restored back to standards. We discarded accepting with deviations. Drawing was the master and compliance to it alone was mandatory.
We solved problems every day (kaizen). Solving problem to us meant preventing reoccurrence. We would exchange with each other every day, the number of problems identified and how many were solved. Seeing me leading the kaizen effort, the workmen and staff dived deep into it. That is how high motivation levels were. Once a problem had been solved, we set new, higher standards and went after achieving them, aligned to overall company goals.
In short everybody’s daily work was: strictly complying to standards, bring abnormalities back to standards, eradicate reasons that caused problems at their grass root level, setting higher standards and get to achieving them...and we were in a hurry!
Work starts with the leader who does not have to be an expert, but needs to commit to getting good at it and improve continually. It is necessary for him to know the principles, philosophy, tools and techniques of lean, and to be able to make conversations on the subject. Success or failure will depend on the leader’s involvement. Period. The transformation or change cannot be managed or delegated. The leader needs to be hands-on and lead the change. It is not a talk and instruct thing. Even if people follow the top down orders, it will not change the culture, for instructions may be followed but attitudes and behaviour will not change if there is no ownership. There is an old, Indian Vedic proverb that says ...
यथा भूमिस्तथा तोयं, यथा बीजं तथाऽङ्कुरः ।
यथा देशस्तथा भाषा, यथा राजा तथा प्रजा ॥
It means, as the land so the water; as the seed, so the sprout.
As the region, so the language; as the king, so the people.
So, if you want to build a lean culture, the leader needs to think, speak, act, and behave in compliance with lean necessities. Only then will people choose to follow the leader’s behaviour, take ownership, and change their attitude that will help build the new culture.
Communicate and the ‘how to’
It is necessary to tell every member about why you intend to become lean and how you intend to proceed on this journey. The goal of lean is not to reduce head count, so it is important to alleviate any fears of retrenchments. When we decided to implement the Just-in-Time system three decades ago, we had a reason why we wanted to become lean. There must be a reason why any company wants to become lean. Explain these reasons to the people, let them know why you are asking for a change. Tell them the broad strategy of how you intend to implement it, when will you start, what can they expect, and what is expected from them. The language must all be ‘let us do this’ and not ‘you do it’. This communication must come from the leader to the workmen and staff, and must not
26