Two caterpillars are crawling next to each other. All of a sudden, a beautiful butterfly softly flutters by. “Well,”, said one caterpillar to the other and he pointed up, “you will never make me fly on top of one of those.”
A very important element in the lean culture, is the continuous improvement. According to Norman Bodek (the guy who brought us Lean literature), an average company in the States has a ratio of 1 idea per worker each 7 years. According to the same Norman Bodek, an average Japanese plant receives 2 ideas per worker per month. I do hope that the statistics are wrong. I really do. But, if they’re not completely but just slightly off… does it make it sound any better? I assume Japanese people are biologically quite similar to ourselves. Their brain functions like ours. What makes them generate such a heap of ideas? Why do they all want to be butterflies and not fly on top of one of them?
It’s all in the culture. In a system of continuous improvement, employees are encouraged to talk about and share their ideas. There is no box labeled “please pick up brain when returning home” outside the door. It’s a system where everything and everyone is in a continuous search for doing better. There is no time for dust to settle down neither… one idea might bring up another!
If you’re wondering how you could improve your own work (oh, and even top management in Japan files ideas to improve their work), do a little mental exercise. Imagine you have your kids (or nieces/nephews) coming along at your workplace. You have to explain what you do every day. They are looking at you with those big eyes… and you want to make them proud about what you do. What do you say to them?
Everything you don’t mention, could be waste or room for improvement. If you don’t take pride in some things you do, it could be because you don’t believe in them, it could be because you know it can be done better or easier or faster. But that’s exactly what is expected as part of the continuous improvement from you, as an employee. Shape your own environment!
Generating ideas just isn’t enough. It has been done in the past. It has been done all over the States, yet they’re stuck at that measly 1/worker/7 year result. Two things to remember… and these are for everyone in charge. First of all, every idea that contributes an improvement is a good idea. It makes no sense to “select”, at best there is prioritization. An idea that removes waste valued at 1 euro a day, still generates a lot if the horizon is for example 10 years (in Japan, some companies have strategic plans for the next 100 years), especially if you have many ideas. “Wow wow… implementing all these ideas is too much!”, I can almost hear it.
Let’s go to point two: make the suggester also the implementer. All these ideas are too much for one person. That’s why we are with so many. And if the idea is too big for one person, at least make him/her part of the implementation team, and give him/her an opportunity to learn.
The caterpillar will never fly on a butterfly. No one, not a single lean coach, can force someone to ride along on the wings of lean. But we’ll do whatever we can to make everyone realize that the change, the butterfly, is just inside yourself.