When there is a leadership change in an organization, there is always a broad idealistic plan on how things are going to change. Invariably, one of the first things a new leader will state as a goal to get things on track is to change the culture’ of the organization. Culture change is an ongoing battle, across all industries and institutions. Unfortunately, culture change is usually one of the first things that simply and quietly falls by the wayside after the initial period of change in lean leadership. There are many reasons why culture change doesn’t work in an organization, but the fact is that all goes back to leadership. Effective lean leadership is the key to success in any organization. When considering quality improvement initiatives and methodologies, changing the culture is crucial to the success of the process.

There can be no doubt that to change the culture, you must change the way the organization thinks. To make that radical leap, everyone in the organization must clearly understand the commitment, vision and focus on the new way. This is the most crucial hurdle a new leader faces. You can give inspiring speeches, send out inspiring emails and cheer the staff on, but if they don’t believe your commitment, then the existing culture will remain firmly intact. Here are a few points to consider when implementing a culture change in an organization.

• Stop Playing With Toys – Across an organization applying lean methodologies, you will find the tools of the trade. Kaizen submission cards, A3 forms, visual management boards and 5S checklists will be scattered across the organization in various forms. Without the proper focus and application, they are seen as toys’ or time-wasters.’ People are just going through the motions using them. There are no results. Leaders must show commitment to their use and demonstrate to the staff that they work! They must see that they provide true value.
• Doing It Cheap – To build a business, you must invest in the business. Training must never be compromised. Get your people training and make sure the training they are provided is the highest quality possible. Ensure that everyone, through proper training, is speaking the same language and focused on the same goals. Leaders must be willing to invest in the future of the organization to get results. There is a difference between cost effectiveness and just being cheap.
• Speak Well – Communicating change and commitment requires character and integrity. It is all in how you say it and you better be ready to back it up. The term or else’ can never be spoken if you are going to build trust and empowerment. Staff must understand that you committed and that you will follow through. Clearly communicate that you will train them, empower them and let them succeed. Leaders are not there to be micro-managers. They are there to train, empower, and eliminate road blocks to success. It is about trust and mindset.

Changing an organization’s culture is tough. It requires lean leadership that is up to the task. They must have a focus and commitment that is unparalleled. There can be no excuses. The only way this can be done is to have a leader that is truly leading from the front. You cannot effect change from your desk, behind a laptop, issuing orders. You must be out among the people who really count. Everyday, you make a little change when you are out there, watching, listening and acting. This will quickly build trust and empowerment which leads to the change in culture you are seeking.

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Self-development

This is one one in a series of 4 articles about Toyota’s Stages of Leader Development

Being a leader means that you’ll be responsible for driving the company forward or at least some part of it and helping those below you grow. However, a critical component of leadership (that often gets ignored by those comfortable in their positions) is the need to develop your own skills.

This is a critical component of Toyota’s kaizen as well, and it should be one of your top priorities when pushing the organization towards constant improvement. Just remember that this improvement starts with you.

Streamlining your own work

One of the best ways to ensure that you’re always on the right track to self-development is to avoid cluttering your workflow with unnecessary details. Ideally, you should have a completely standardized working environment, where you always know exactly where everything is. That way, you can occupy your mind with only what’s truly important, attaining new skills and distributing them down the chain.

Another way to look at this is that you should always strive to apply lean principles in your own work. Look for waste and remove it. Is there some process that you keep repeating on a daily basis, but can be automated or where waste can be removed? Are you wasting any time on daily communication that can be summarized in weekly or even monthly e-mails? It might only take a minute or less each day, but those little struggles can stack up incredibly fast and leave you cluttered with senseless details, never able to look up to the big picture.

Learn from others

If you’re not at the highest position in the organization, there is someone above you who can teach, coach and mentor you. It’s important for you to show an active interest in those coaching sessions, and take as much as you can from them. Ideally, you’ll want to establish a mentor-like relationship with one specific person.

Even if you’re the top leader of the organization, you can still find someone to guide you through the mess ahead of you, and to coach you how you can do something truly good with your current potential.

Don’t forget that those useful tips don’t necessarily have to come from someone above you either. Sometimes, an employee sitting below you in the hierarchy can give you some surprising insights. Don’t disregard them, and make sure that you always take as much useful information from the world around you as you can.

Challenge yourself

Last but not least, it’s important to remember that you’ll never be able to truly grow without challenging yourself constantly. If you never get out of your comfort zone, you won’t learn anything significantly different from what you already know, and you’ll stagnate. And with you, the organization will suffer as well.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should take unnecessary risks, or put yourself in a position where you can’t complete a task because you “bit off more than you can chew.” But by adding onto your work in appropriate increments (like training at the gym),  you should see some noticeable results in your ability to grow and learn.

Another way to challenge yourself is to ask others to rate your performance, and actually take their feedback into consideration. Many leaders let these comments slide past their ears unless they’re positive. Often the negative remarks from people who report to you can open your eyes to something critical about your way of working that you might have missed before. Never underestimate what you can learn from those below you, as we pointed out above, and always show them that you respect their input and value it.

Conclusion

As long as you’re willing to sweat and struggle along with everyone else in your organization, you’re going to see obvious results in your self-development. And as each individual makes improvements, the whole organization is going to grow and move in a positive direction.

Don’t ever fall into the trap of thinking that you’re in a position where you can’t improve anything else about your way of working. That’s a surefire way to limit your career. When you’re in a place where an entire organization depends on your thoughts and decisions, it’s a completely irresponsible attitude to have.

Read about the other stages of leader development at Toyota >>>

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