Lean Manufacturing – Is It Talent or Process That Prevails?

“Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt. Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your talent.”

Nolan Ryan

Companies and those that lead them spend decades building and fine tuning processes. Those processes are developed for one purpose¦to create the success and wealth of the company. When the established processes collide with the talented workforce, inevitably, the workforce is forced to yield to the process. No matter how talented or brilliant the workforce is, their talent is pushed aside for the greater good of the company. Good people come to work for a company and have a collision with the processes. Some of those collisions are more violent than others.

Lean has a vast amount of tools that are process focused, from process mapping to standardized work. However, the biggest misconception is the relationship between Lean and process. Simply, it is overstated. Most believe that believe Lean is all about process, and anything that makes processes better is inherently Lean.  An industrial engineer will tell you they are fully versed in Lean because of their focus on processes. But process, while vital, is not enough for success.

Consider the operation of a professional sports team. Every part of that organization is about process. From the front office, to the support staff to the players, they wake and sleep on processes. But the fact is, those sports teams will not win one game during a season based on their finely tuned processes. Talent is the magic potion that makes a winning team. It is required and must be respected. In Mercer’s 2016 Global Talent Trends Study, 90% of organizations surveyed anticipate that the competition for talent will increase significantly over the next few years. The study found that a lack of development, outdated processes, and discontent with the role of managers are the three main drivers of worker dissatisfaction.

Lean is about processes, which recognize the value and talent of the workforce. It is a synergy that depends on the brightest and most talented to care for the processes that build success and wealth within a company. Lean is a process that gets its strength and value in a company from the talent within.