Lean: radical change or continuous improvement?

Some smart businesses in today's tough economic reality want fast cost reduction (that means radical change)but they also want to reap the benefits of Lean teamwork and continuous improvement going forward.  It can be done, and has been done, but only with much careful commitment by management.  To understand how it is so we must look at the difference between radical change and continuous improvement and how they live together as a part of the Lean Enterprise.

Lean uses both continuous improvement/Kaizen (CI) and Kaikaku (radical change or more politely, process re-engineering) one after the other unendingly.  The order in which a company adopts each of these tools from the start can dictate the initial pace of change, and the level of support management requires along the lean journey. The two tools (Kaizen/Kaikaku) are complementary and when Kaikaku is used after successful  implementation of continuous improvement, radical change will not be very hard (or risky) to manage at all, because the employees are ready for it. They will probably even welcome it. Kaizen involves employees part time at all levels and focuses on incremental improvement of specific work processes.  It is slower but overall a gentler start to the Lean culture change. Kaikaku, on the other hand involves much more intense, hands on involvement by managers in the change of org structure and job design. Team members will be required full time over a condensed period to properly implement Kaikaku.

Radical change through technology, and/or the sudden imposition of new working methods maximizes the sense of urgency and is more demanding and stressful on the management and workers, hence resistance to change is also strongest. Therefore a change management strategy is necessary because Kaikaku literally "upsets the apple cart" and rebuilds it as a fruit stand or supermarket. Clearly business process owners cannot leave the development of value stream maps and implementation of future state vision to the workers on the floor. Avoidable misunderstandings and rumors can be very damaging to the company improvement strategy .  Also workers will not have the skillset needed at the start of the journey either.  Managers that have the support and authority to make radical changes must be involved at the earliest point of the lean journey. This leadership group must take the future state vision, think through its implementation, and make any hard decisions up front.

Success on the continuing lean journey depends on the involvement of the workers in Kaizen.  The workers' involvement is quickly lost when the Lean journey is interrupted by job loss, or shadowed with uncertainty. When Kaikaku is necessary at the start of a Lean Journey management must be up front about job losses. Get the changes done quickly in an orderly planned manner. Have a communication strategy. If possible use innovative tactics like carrying full time Lean teams composed of displaced workers until your new lean enterprise can reabsorb them into productive roles once again. By demonstrating their integrity, vision and preparedness management will gain employee trust and keep the lean journey on track even through tough times.

Radical change and continuous improvement can go together in the Lean Enterprise when management leadership is strong and well supported.

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