Eight Steps to Changes (2)

I had posted sometime ago about 8 Steps to Transforming Organization, a model develop by Prof. John P. Kotter. This model is still very popular among those who involving in change management. Lately, on Havard Business Review website there is a poll asking "which step is the most challenging one for your organization?". This morning result show as seen below:

Lean Transformation Journey, where are we now?

After 5 years of transformation effort into TPM way of working, I found 36% of leader level feel that they losing the sight of the shore. The "Vision" what change will really bring is feel missing among almost 40% of change agent. This definitely will result in "confusion" according to change matrix below! The rest follow by "lack of skill" "resource" which mean we in the position of "Anxiety" and "Frustration" respectively.

Change Position Matrix

?	C	R	S	P	=CONFUSION
V	?	R	S	P	=REJECTION
V	C	?	S	P	=FRUSTRATION
V	C	R	?	P	=ANXIETY
V	C	R	S	?	=PLAN

V = Vision, C = Commitment, R = Resource, S = Skill, P = Plan

What is you feel you are missing in your lean transformation journey? Please visit the poll on the side bar and share wit us if you like.

8 Steps to Changes

Iam not sure if I am the only lean thinker who believe the eight steps to transform your organization developed by Prof. John P. Kotter is applicable for lean transformation journey

His eight steps model adopting from his book on "The Heart of Changes - the Real Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations"

Step 1: Establishing a Sense of Urgency


Step 2: Forming a Powerful Guiding Team


Step 3: Creating a VISION/Get the VISION right


Step 4: Communicating the VISION for buy-in


Step 5: Empower Action


Step 6: Create a short-term wins


Step 7: Don't let up


Step 8: Make change stick

Enterprise Change Model, Lean Thinking and Others

Lean, TPM, Operational Excellence, Agile Manufacturing, Six Sigma, WCOM, TQM, TOC

Lean six sigma probably the most probably change model that being adopted by many businesses. According to Bozdogan in his research on A Comparative Review of Lean Thinking, Six Sigma and related enterprise process improvement initiatives, he had summarized in the table below.

Change Model	Lean Thinking	Total Quality Management	Six Sigma	Theory of Constraints	Agile Manufacturing	Reengineering
Goal	Create value for multiple enterprise stakeholders and build dynamic competitive advantage	Meet customers expectations, improve profitability and increase share holder value	Increase customer satisfaction and create economic wealth (higher profitability and share holders value)	Improve netprofit	Enhance enterprise competitive	Improve enterprise performance
Strategy	Eliminate waste with goal of creating value	Improve product quality	Reduce variation in all enterprise operation	Remove constraints to throughput in production operations	Anticipate and meet customer needs, provide high quality, low cost, innovative new products, deliver individualized customer solutions	Radical change in processes for dramatic improvement
Focus	Enterprise value stream (all enterprises process, function, and people)	Business unit; production operation (products and process)	Enterprise operations (all enterprise processes)	Business unit (production operation)	Extended enterprise (all enterprise processes, functions, and people)	Business unit (business operations)
Implementation Method	Value Stream Mapping and analysis	Statistic process control (SPC), quality circle, quality engineering	DMAIC cycle - define, measure, analysis, Improve, Control	Improving throughput ("drum-buffer-rope")	Integreate customers, suppliers, and internal processes; from virtual organizations; create adaptive, flexible, efficient manufacturing system; pursue continueous process improvement	"Clean sheet" process design - mobilisation, diagnosis, redesign, transition process
Improvement Process	Evolutionary systematic change	Continuous incremental change	Process-specific incremental or radical change	Continuous incremental change	Continuous incremental, as well as radical, change	Radical change
History	Since late 1940s	Since early 1980s	Since mid-1980s	Since mid-1980s	Since early 1990s	Since early 1990s

What he had not discussed about is "TPM" here which also one change model adopted by many businesses such as Uniliver, Nestle, Heineken, Tetra Pak. TPM here refer to Total Productive Management not Total Planned Maintenance which is so much different.

So what is TPM?

TPM is about the contiuous effort to eliminate losses/waste through out organization through the total participation of employees at all level

So, the main concept is "Continous Improvement" or Kaizen, "Elimination of Waste", and "The people participation". Therefore, TPM change model if look further detail cover Lean thinking, TQM, Six Sigma, and if fully apply will extend into Agile Manufacturing. I will try post more on what is TPM

What does it take to "Going Lean"?

J

ust say it "Let's going lean". But the next question will be "How" and probably "why need to be a lean organization?"

I think later question must be answered first by senior management team leader, I am talking about CEO or VP Operation level. Because, I believe only lean transformation process is support and drive by the top management level otherwise there is not going to be a real lean organization. Let's talk about real lean later!

Usually, there are a lot rush to answer the "how" question BUT I prefer, from my personal experience, that this have to be answered step by step. Remember that the lean transformation process is a "journey" and the speed of the process vary depend ranging from culture to personality and to the DNA of an organization. It is always good to set the time line for change to happen, realization of "goal" but to use the speed from one place as benchmark to other, I think it is a mistake.

Let's back to the subject, what does it take to going lean and who should drive it? My believe is that CEO should drive the lean transformation process thought there are lots of arguments that CEO have lot other thing to do than just driving lean. Well... If lean manage properly, it will have the impact on the bottom line whether it is about "Profit" "People" and "Planet", the popular "triple P". Taking the recommendation of Prof. Porter in his article "What is strategy?" published in HBR, whether you are "low cost" or "differentiate" or both at the same time, your strategies are still vulnerable to be copied. Therefore, I believe taking your whole organization/business into lean way will make it almost impossible to copy. Therefore, you will always ahead of competitors.

However and whoever is going to drive this lean transformation process should equip themselves at first a skill in managing change transformation process supposing he/she already a leader. The 8 steps to transforming your organization model developed by Prof. Kotter and published in his HBR article "Why Transformation Efforts Fail?" is so striking me and I am highly recommend those who will driving change to come across his research. Also the theory "E" and "O" develop by Prof. Beer and Prof. Nohria in their HBR article "Cracking the Code of Change". Find out more on the right side bar for more downloadable link to change management!

So my closing remark here is, it take first the " need" for going lean by senior management and "change management" skill by the driver.