Total Flow blog

Much has been written about leadership; what it is, who should be doing it, how they should be doing it, what models work in which situations and how companies might apply those models for organisational effectiveness.

Much has been written about lean thinking; what it is, how it works, what the tools, techniques and concepts are and how different companies can translate those concepts into working models for their business.

Both leadership and lean thinking are seen as enablers for organisational success and yet…

The final 3Cs are compatibility, connectivity and creativity and in conjunction with capability make up 4 key elements to consider when recruiting, training and developing people to deliver value for and to your customers. At the front line of value are the sales and commercial teams who are accountable for the customer relationships and order taking part of your brand proposition. To differentiate your service offering they need to be more than transactional; they need to have an enterprise mindset.

COMPATIBILITY

This morning I read The State of Lean in 2007 an article by Jim Womack. The article gave a brief history of lean, what has worked, what hasn’t and in Womack’s view why lean has more often than not been seen and applied as a series of tools rather than a whole system or total management system.

Many of you have probably been victims of initiative overload or on the receiving end of your executive teams need for “the next big thing to transform our business!”

* Why is it that the application of a total system is so rare?
* Why is it that taking a whole system approach to applying the principles of lean is the exception rather than the rule?
* Why are so many organisations creating more waste rather than eliminating it altogether
* Why is that the difficult decisions are ignored or avoided?