The ability to really change organisations lays with the senior team. We've all heard of the need for a "burning platform" as an ignition for change - put who at the top will "admit to failure" if a burning platform exists.
We're immediately into a conundrum, which locks most management teams into continuing with what they've always done - after all, it got them into their succesful senior management positions in the first place.
It takes a great leader with real courage to see this, work on the failures, learn from mistakes, to implement fundamental change, and reach for new levels of success. These leaders are few and far between.
The question we should ask is how can we create more inspirational leaders?
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Toyota may well train their employees, but the real investment is allowing these employees to engage their brains at work - giving them time and space to make continuous improvements. And yes, they may well need a little help in learning how to do this.
The "investment" here is time away from immediate productive work - which in the short term results in cost. But time taken today, saves time for the future, and the return on investment is achieved.
This requires a long term view. When the pressure is on, especially in an economic downturn, we look for the simple ways to cut costs - training budgets, biscuits in the meeting rooms, and a general reduction in investment. In a flash, we begin to move in the wrong direction through the Deming cycle - quality drops, costs increase, competitiveness decreases.
In difficult times, we must re-double our efforts in improving quality, not cut it out - and it starts with making sure the whole team know where they're heading, fully focussed on purpose.
There is always more to learn - and when it comes to understanding the work place from a Lean Systems Thinking perspective, new learning seems to change the learning of yesterday. May be because there are always new ways to improve, and each situation has it's own unique set of circumstances.
This is a good article from Bill Trudell on Relentless Excellence - click here.
