Crossing the Chasm

By Pascal Dennis

The past twenty years Lean has gone from strength to strength.

Lean thinking started in automotive, spread across manufacturing, into construction, financial services and health care.

Each of these industries have exemplar organizations that are redefining what's possible in terms of Safety, Quality, Delivery and Cost.

What lies ahead?

I believe we're about to "cross the chasm".

The organizations described above have largely been run by men and women for whom Lean thinking is entirely natural.

"Of course," they say, "this is just common sense and good business!"

They are the innovators and visionaries, the so-called early adopters, who usually lead any profound change -- and they comprise 10 to 15% of organizations.

To cross the chasm and enter the "majority" we'll have to adjust our approach.

Later adopters tend to be very pragmatic. They favour references, structure, standards (and even certificates).

"Show me -- prove it works" is their attitude.

Here at Lean Pathways, we've responded with

1. Brain Booster Pocket Cards and apps,
   
2. Webinars and Images,
   
3. Training materials, and
   
4. Pascal's books
   

We connect newer clients with existing clients, often visionaries who've achieved and sustained breakthrough.

The trick is to sustain the soul of Lean -- that profound merging of East & West -- as we cross the chasm.

The Wizard of Oz gave the Scarecrow a diploma.

We can give people a Lean certificate, but can we give them a brain?

Of course no -- but we can and must help them learn to think, which is what Lean is all about.

Cheers,

Pascal

Why Lean in Sales?

By Pascal Dennis

Why indeed? Isn’t Lean a factory thing?

Well, no…

Lean is a business system comprising the entire enterprise.

The Toyota Business System, for example, addresses the three critical “loops”:

1. Design
   
2. Make
   
3. Sell
   

Guess which one is considered most important? Sell – because it’s closest to the customer.

Sales are about information. What features does the customer want? At what price point? What promotions does he respond to? How does she want to receive her products or service?

How was our last promotion perceived? And so on...

Production (Operations), usually our most valuable & expensive asset, runs on information. We only make what our information tells us to make.

If our information is wonky, our most valuable asset is unlikely to operate in its sweet spot. Result: overproduction, inventory and all the associated ills.

So how do we introduce Lean in Sales?

Here are some questions to get you started:

1. What is value in Sales? (Who are our internal & external customers and what do they need from us?)
   
   
2. What is waste?
   
   
3. What are some core mental models in our Sales department?
   
   
4. What are our current processes for delivering this value?
   
   
5. How aligned are they to delivering the value our customers expect?
   
   
6. How do we improve them?
   

Lean is harder outside the factory – because our product & processes are typically invisible.

If you make scrap in a factory, everyone can see it. “Hey, we made a whole pile of junk yesterday…”

In business processes, by contrast, you can’t see the scrap. A good forecast & a bad forecast look identical…

On the plus side, sales folks are usually smart & creative. If you introduce the fundamentals with finesse, they run with them.

For more, check out The Remedy – Bringing Lean Out of the Factory to Transform the Entire Organization, and our Lean Leadership Brain Booster suite.

That’s all for now.

Pascal

Why Images?

By Pascal Dennis

As you may know, we've worked hard to illustrate Lean Thinking, Tools & Leadership with doodles.

We've developed three corresponding suites of Brain Booster Pocket Cards, as well as an App (& more to come).

We're lucky to have a gifted artist in Dianne Caton.

But even the humblest drawings (like mine) can be interesting.

My latest book, The Remedy, is full of my scribbles, which Di transformed charmingly.

Images go directly to the limbic brain -- the timeless world of direct experience, memory & intuition -- where learning happens.

The rational or Left brain is helpful in processing and applying learning.

But we learn largely in our limbic brain.

Our limbic brain likes stories, images, drama, emotion...

Disengaged students don't learn. Accident victims, who tragically have suffered damage here, also struggle to learn.

So...in our own modest way, we're trying to connect with the seat of learning.

Humor also helps. It's a grim world -- the "Light Touch" has always been my ideal.

People learn best when they're laughing.

Cheers,

Pascal