Imagine you’re running a marathon. You’re about halfway through and you realize you’ve been carrying a 20 lb backpack the whole time.
Or…
Imagine you’re cooking a meal at short notice, and halfway through prepping the meat, you realize that you haven’t sharpened your knife in months!
That’s what it’s like for companies that haven’t implemented Lean Management.
In simple words, lean management is a way to make business processes – for example, manufacturing operations – simpler and get rid of wasteful steps, in order to make the process work better and faster.
That’s it – LEAN MANAGEMENT is all about cutting waste and continuous improvement.
It makes perfect sense why lean management is so popular, especially in today’s fast-paced business world where every second counts and every revenue dollar matters.
A classic example has always been Toyota, known for its successful implementation of Lean Management principles in various stages of its manufacturing process, from product development to assembly line, and logistics.
Why Lean Management Doesn’t Always Work?
But here’s the thing: When you think of lean management but only focus on processes, that can be harmful to your team or company in the long run.
Because your team or company doesn’t run only on processes, it also runs on PEOPLE carrying out those processes. So when you lean-manage processes but ignore people…
It’s like trying to fix a leaky faucet by replacing the pipes but neglecting the fact that the water pressure is too high. Or… It’s like trying to fix a slow website by optimizing images while neglecting the fact that the server is overloaded.
Sure, you can patch up the obvious, surface-level problem in the short term, but the underlying issue still remains.
For example, say you are running a manufacturing company, you implement an improved process that cuts out a lot of steps to cut manufacturing time and it’s working great. But did you take into account the fact that your employees are now working at a breakneck pace, causing them to burn out?
Or consider that you run a sales company and you cut costs by moving into a smaller office. You save on rent, but you just neglected the fact that the smaller, cramped space will negatively impact the morale and productivity of your employees.
The moral of the story is that lean management is great for streamlining processes and increasing efficiency, but it’s important to also focus on the people aspect; otherwise, it can cause more harm than good.
Your people are the backbone of your team/organization, so don’t neglect your ‘human capital’.
How Can You ‘Lean Manage’ PEOPLE?
Now, if you say, “Okay, Sneha, I am a big believer in lean management, and I get your point. So how can I lean-manage my people?
First of all, lean management of people doesn’t mean laying them off, okay? I am NOT advocating for that!
But let’s look at how we can apply the principles of Lean management to the management of human resources within a team or organization.
Just to recall: LEAN MANAGEMENT is all about cutting waste and continuous improvement.
1. Cutting Wastes
FIRST – How can you simplify and reduce waste in the ‘human-processes’ in your team/organization? Here are five examples:
- Increase Autonomy: Reduce the bureaucracy and lengthy, meaningless approval chains for developing new projects. Where possible, make employees owners of executing their ideas.
- Reduce Meeting Fatigue: Only have meetings that absolutely need to happen and only with those that absolutely need to be a part of it.
- Stop Micromanaging: Your control of employees’ work makes them feel more conscious of themselves or resent you. Neither will help with productivity.
- Provide Clarity: If everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority. Consider helping employees prioritize so they reduce stress and focus on high-impact low-effort projects first.
- Decrease Bloating: Identify inflated salary structures and consider market adjustments for leaner salaries. Also looking at overstaffed teams might reveal hiring problems to avoid.
Now, an extreme and immediate way to reduce waste would mean laying employees off from these overstaffed teams. But before you do that, let’s explore the SECOND part of lean management:
2. Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement of your employees basically means leveraging their full potential. And here are five examples of how you can do that.
- Make Teams ‘Fluidic’: Before laying employees off, first consider if they could be plugged into other teams where they could thrive. By retaining existing employees who are already knowledgeable about your organization, you can reduce turnover costs.
- Empower Employees: Involve your employees in decision-making, encourage them to suggest improvements, and recognize and reward those who make positive contributions to the organization.
- Invest in Employees: Provide your employees with opportunities to explore, learn and grow within the organization by providing them with training and development programs, mentoring, and cross-functional assignments.
- Develop a Growth Mindset: Help your employees focus more on IMPROVING rather than proving themselves. Set clear performance targets, provide regular feedback, and coach employees to improve their skills and performance. Instead of or in addition to annual reviews, consider having continuous performance conversations.
- Increase Automation: Last but not the least, this is an often ignored idea when it comes to continuous improvement. Automate tasks that are mechanical and don’t need your employees’ valuable skills. This is perfect for dreary tasks like time tracking, interview scheduling, meeting note taking, email sorting, data entry, and project task reminders, which will free up your employees to do what actually matters – help generate revenue for the business.
An Effortless Work Culture
Remember, Lean Management is not just about processes, it is about people too.
Many people criticize the idea of referring to people as machines. “People are not machines!” Why do machines get so much shit? No, people are not machines in the traditional sense, but they are LIKE machines in many POSITIVE ways.
Don’t think of your people as machines to simply push them to work at breakneck speed and exhaust them. But think of your people as machines to get curious about how to decrease their inefficiencies and optimize their potential.
Just like a machine, people have specific needs and preferences that, when met, can improve their productivity. By exploring and understanding what internally motivates them (DRIVE) and what type of work environment they naturally thrive in (AUTHENTICITY), you can help your team work more effectively and efficiently, like a well-oiled machine.
… And that’s a good thing. 🙂
I Can Help!
Do your teams suffer from one or more of these six corporate problems?
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Low Engagement Scores
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Constant Organizational Change
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Wasted Potential
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Reduced Productivity
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Weak Collaboration
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High Turnover
I am Sneha Mandala. I work with leaders to create an EFFORTLESS work culture for their employees.
I help leaders ditch the common …hustle-and-grind mentality… and instead create a FLOW STATE at work for employees.
My signature 3-step process helps leaders REDUCE burnout, ENGINEER peak performance, and TRANSFORM employees into an engaged powerhouse!
If you too want to find the sweet spot between happily engaged employees and extraordinary business results, book your discovery call today!
