Reflections of a Lean Innovator
I've been a "Lean Guy" my entire adult life (even before the term was coined). The first time I ever heard of W. Edward Deming was as an 18 year old Private First Class at Fort Lewis, Washington. I was serving as a PLL/TAMMS Clerk in the 2nd Forward Support Battalion, 9th Infantry. My boss, a 30-year Master Sergeant was an early Deming disciple having studied with him in the early 80's, and he made sure that the use of Quality Circles, an early Deming method, were very much standard operating procedure.
More decades than I care to think about since, I have been proud and fortunate to participate in many efforts, and I have worked and been trained by many of the most renown experts in the field of Lean. It has kept me curious, challenged and continually thirsty for more.
Quality circles and a PDCA disipline led to (to name a few and in no particular order) shop floor kaizen, 5S, waste identification, value stream mapping, A3 problem solving, Business Process Improvement, Lean New Product Development, Risk Mitigation and Lean Innovation.
Lean Innovation. Almost by definition, Lean Innovation is a redundancy of terms. In the spirit of the discipline, Lean is Innovative. It is, to me, that willingness to question the status quo and make continual improvements. But let’s be honest, as a discipline, the Lean field is too often crowded with so-called experts or authorities that unfortunately only have a couple tools in their arsenal. Too often they create an environment of, “when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem you see is a nail.” Not innovative at all.
What Lean Innovation means to me is being courageous enough to shift my thinking and approach when/as needed. It means keeping room in my toolbox for the solution-to-the-problem tools that have not yet been invented. Most importantly, it means maintaining a drive to work with my clients to develop their best approach. That may mean instilling a formal Innovation Lab, or it could be instituting Brainstorming or Mind Mapping events. It could also be working with individual contributors to fast-track their ideas from good thoughts to great improvements in everyday work.
US President Harry S. Truman once said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” I couldn’t agree more.
