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Lean Team Management

Before we sold Miller-Howard Consulting Group to Towers Perrin in 1998, the core of our work was implementing team-based organization. We had two workbooks that defined our process and enabled our clients. These were the Team Management manual and Change Management or Whole System Architecture manual.

Because teams are the core social system, the foundation, of lean organizations I felt it was more than past time for a new team manual that updated the essential components of implementing teams and incorporated the language and links to lean organization. So… I am happy to announce that I have completed work on Lean Team Management which is now in the printing process.

It is my intention to provide a courtesy copy of this manual to any former Miller Howard client who might wish one. Just email me. In addition, I have created an online survey that is based on ten cultural characteristics of lean organizations. For any former client, current client, or purchaser of more than 20 copies of the workbook, I will be happy to provide access and scoring of this survey at no charge. Again, just email me.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Gaining Understanding and Perspective

1. Family Farm to Lean Team Management

2. Lean Culture: Characteristics of High Performing Organizations

3. The Process of Change

Getting Started – The Basics

4. Defining Principles, Purpose and Goals

5. Organizing and Developing Your Team

6. Leading Effective Team Meetings

7. Defining Customers, Suppliers and Team Goals

Managing and Improving Performance

8. Defining Customer Requirements

9. Developing the Team Scorecard

10. Mapping Your Team’s Work Process

11. Analyzing Variances

12. The Basic Method of Problem-solving

13. From Debate to Dialogue

14. Motivation and Human Performance

The Role of Leaders

15. The Job of Leadership and Management

16. Leadership by Design: Aligning Systems and Structure

Appendices:

· Pre/Post High Performance Team Self-Assessment

· Group Process Self-Assessment

Index

Introduction:

The team in an organization is like the family in a society. It is the fundamental building block of trust and competence. Lean organizations are a social system, a culture, as well as technical system. At the heart of that social system is the small work group, the team, both at the front line level and at all levels of management. It doesn’t matter whether your organization is entirely comprised of knowledge workers sitting at desks, a not-for-profit service organization, or a manufacturing plant, the most effective organizations are all built on the foundation of effective teams.

“What are the truly important organizational features of a lean plant – the specific aspects of plant operations that account for up to half of the overall performance differences among plants across the world? The truly lean plant has two key organizational features: It transfers the maximum number of tasks and responsibilities to those workers actually adding value to the car on the line, and it has in place a system for detecting defects that quickly traces every problem, once discovered, to its ultimate cause….So in the end, it is the dynamic work team that emerges as the heart of the lean factory.”[1]

The majority of companies implementing lean organization are not achieving the results they could achieve because they are primarily focused on the technical things, the JIT, Kanban, etc. All of the technical arrangements of work and materials amount to no more than half of what creates the genuine competitive advantage of lean. The other half is the human side, the culture of the organization. This is the hard part because it is about you – how you think, feel and behave. It is about the relationships between team members, between different functions and levels in the organization. It is about trust. This is the hard part.

This manual is an attempt to present the most essential practices and skills of effective workgroup and managing teams. It is intended for teams at every level of the organization. It is based both on knowledge of the Toyota Production System as well as the history of and learning developing self-managed or high performance teams. It in no way includes everything that might be useful for teams to know. There are dozens of problem-solving techniques and methods that can be added into the training and skills of teams. This manual simply provides the structure, the essential skills, and the system that is the foundation of lean organization. That foundation is an organization in which everyone serves on teams that manage their own work; serve the customers who receive their work; give feedback to their suppliers; and continuously seek to improve their process. The goal is to empower every team by making them the “world’s greatest experts” in their own work.

It is important to understand what Lean Team Management is and is not. Lean Team Management for most companies is a change in culture. It is a culture of responsibility for performance at every level of the organization. It is a culture that is very focused on data, the facts of performance. It requires everyone to know and serve their customers, internally and externally. It is a culture of competence in decision-making and group problem-solving. And, perhaps most important, it is a culture that must be practiced by managers as well as employees. Each of these characteristics is true of any genuinely lean organization. Lean is not a set of problem-solving techniques. Lean is a culture that is practiced top-to-bottom, left-to-right, in the organization.

There is no question that Lean Team Management works. It is the backbone of how Honda and Toyota manage work. It has been implemented in companies as diverse as Chick-fil-A, newspaper offices, petroleum exploration and production organizations and non-profit organizations. But, it doesn’t work automatically. When it does not work, it is almost always because it was poorly implemented and there was a lack of what Dr. Deming called “constancy of purpose.”

What I hope I have provided in this manual is the essential process, structure and skills required to create this change in culture.

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