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Learning to Be Lean
April 30, 2008
A look at training's role in driving continuous improvement
By Joe Panebianco
Shortly after World War II, a small manufacturer of trucks embraced a culture of continuous improvement that focused on quality, elimination of waste, and employee empowerment. Half a century later, this same manufacturer has become one of the largest and most respected automakers in the world—Toyota. Companies around the world try to emulate its dogma of solving problems creatively and cost-effectively, understanding and meeting customer needs, learning from failures, and always seeking to do better—to continuously improve—at every level of the organization. These same principles that have made Toyota great today form the basis for a culture of lean that depends on continuous improvement (CI).
Any company that wants to transform itself into a high-performance, competitive organization quickly discovers that continuous learning is at the heart of continuous improvement. And because learning and continuous improvement are deeply connected, training is a necessary tool for driving transformation to a CI culture.
In "Building the Learning Organization," Michael J. Marquardt states, "A culture of continuous improvement is clearly a learning one." By choosing to adopt a CI culture, organizations are fostering an "always room to learn" mind-set with employees. They accept failures as valuable lessons in what went wrong and what must be done differently next time. They celebrate their successes by saying, "That was good—now how can we make it even better?" This attitude is reflected in the 14 management principles Dr. Jeffrey Liker reveals in "The Toyota Way." Principle No. 14 is "Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement." The idea of perpetually reviewing everything the organization is doing, regardless of whether or not the company is doing exceptionally well or facing tough challenges is daunting. But, as Marquardt points out, "Change is constant, and the need for learning is never finished."
What is learning then? It is an activity that increases the capacity and willingness of individuals, groups, and organizations to acquire and productively apply new knowledge and skills. Such learning empowers individuals, expands their world, and increases their ability to shape that world.
The way to increase a person’s capacity for learning is to set objectives that are beyond the individual's current limits of knowledge. If this sounds familiar, it’s because a CI organization also operates by setting "stretch goals"—goals that are well beyond the current abilities. If you don't set the bar high, then you are less likely to achieve those goals. The same applies to learning.
For individual learners, the organization must set behavioral objectives that will motivate or create a willingness to apply what has been learned. When applying this strategy to a company, both the learning and behavioral objectives must be aligned with the organizational objectives.
This is important in any organization, but especially in one that is implementing LeanSigma. Not only are there the many concepts and principles of LeanSigma that must be learned and applied by everyone in the organization, but as processes change and improve, the jobs and skills needed to perform them also change, which then requires additional learning by members of the organization. Marquardt points out, "Specifically, this means that learning organizations practice and improve learning skills and principles throughout the organization, as well as up and down the business chain."
Training is an invaluable tool for creating a CI culture. Through training programs, companies communicate the roots and culture of CI and the organization’s commitment to that culture. In this way, training programs serve multiple purposes: Not only do they provide necessary skills to employees, but they also serve an important "public relations" role. An employee's first indication of how seriously a company is embracing a CI culture may be new training required for his job. A company willing to spend time and resources training its employees on lean principles signals that its investment in CI is substantive.
Organizations that desire to undertake a lean journey and become learning organizations must develop a means to enable their employees to learn the skills and methodologies required by a CI philosophy. A comprehensive training program first will provide employees with the knowledge and tools needed to launch a lean initiative. This includes introducing concepts that may be new to your employees—ideas and tools such as value-chain mapping, cost performance metrics, managing for daily improvement (MDI), and more. In a CI culture, all employees must be trained on these concepts so everyone speaks the same language, sees themselves as stakeholders in the LeanSigma process, and understands how lean tools can be integrated in their work to improve operational results at all levels.
After employees have mastered lean concepts and understand how to use them, training then provides hands-on opportunities for the employees to use their new skills. Once workers have obtained the knowledge, they want to apply it immediately to solve problems. We are all competency-based learners, which means we want to learn a skill or acquire knowledge we can apply pragmatically to our immediate circumstances. Life- or work-related situations present a more appropriate framework for adult learning than academic or theoretic approaches. Adults respond especially well to simulations, especially those that present students with a scenario built around situations or tasks they can relate to in their personal or professional lives.
So how do we approach training? Training can be delivered in many ways, but one way that continues to gain popularity is e-learning: training delivered via a computer. E-learning can include text, spoken words, graphics, animation, video, examples, interactive exercises, and assessments to convey course material just like traditional classroom instruction. In the case of e-learning, all of these learning aids are delivered via a computer connected to the Internet.
In the corporate world, most training programs fall into one of two categories—those designed to inform employees of information relevant to their jobs and those designed to teach employees how to perform a task needed on the job. In the transformation to a CI culture, your training program becomes an important vehicle for communicating lean values and principles, as well as providing employees with necessary new job skills. E-learning is a medium well suited for accomplishing both of these objectives, and can be broken into three categories: awareness, skill development, and skill mastery.
Awareness training is designed to introduce the concepts of LeanSigma to various parts of the organization to prepare everyone for the lean journey ahead. Skill development courses are designed to advance people's skill sets and internal capabilities, with the end result of cultivating a critical mass of employees who can act as change agents. Skill mastery further enhances the skills of your organization's change agents to help create and sustain a CI culture. Another Web-based mechanism known as the user conference encourages experiential learning and networking with people who share the trials and successes they have had on their lean journeys. The lessons, tools, and relationships created at LeanSigma events encourage a sense of community with fellow lean practitioners and provide the support needed to maintain a CI culture.
A benefit of e-learning training is the flexibility it provides. Training can occur synchronously, asynchronously, or in a blended format. Synchronous learning occurs in real time, though the instructor and learners may be in different physical locations. An example of this type of learning is the Webcast, where employees log into a class at a specified time to interact with the instructor via the computer. In asynchronous learning, delivery of training materials occurs at different times for all of the students involved. Self-paced and self-directed computer-based courses are examples of asynchronous learning. Lastly, blended learning is a combination of synchronous and asynchronous approaches. Technology-based materials and face-to-face sessions are used together to deliver instruction. TBM Consulting Group's Lean Certification course is an example of blended learning. In the program, students participate in a synchronous element through four weeks of traditional classroom learning. They work asynchronously on their projects during the certification process. The students also are exposed to an online component to the training where they demonstrate and quantify their skills retention by taking tests through a learning management system. This blended approach ensures that the most effective delivery method is being used for the material being presented.
If you are embarking on a lean journey to become a continuously improving organization, then you must develop a means of training your employees so they have the necessary skills required. When an organization starts down the path of CI, it commits itself to constantly reviewing, evaluating, and monitoring all of the activities within the company. Training and learning reinforce the organization’s values and commitment to CI. Using the technology available today for e-learning can be a valuable and cost-effective means of building the knowledge foundation on which your CI culture is based. Employers also can realize economies of scale—training their workforces on more topics and at a faster pace than ever. Training employees via e-learning is an effective way to build awareness and understanding across a broad base. Most important, it can serve as a vehicle for rapid change.
Joe Panebianco is director and team leader, TBM LeanSigma Institute, TBM Consulting Group, Inc.
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