The Best Part of Lean

by BILL WADDELL

The best aspect of learning, embracing and pursuing lean principles was that I no longer had to check my personal, moral code at the door when I got to work.  The fundamental cornerstone of the Toyota Production System of 'Respect For People', upon which the management processes and operational practices are built, provides the solution for the conflict I was taught was a necessary element of 'business'.

Laying people off after directing them through a policy and rules driven command and control structure flies right in the face of the Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  None of us want to be directed and controlled.  We do not want to be 'headcount'.  And we especially don't want to lose the means of support for our families. No matter what our religious faith, some variation on the Rule is part of the fundamental ethic built into our way of life, yet doing all of those things we would dread having done to us was a fundamental part of being a business success. 

The Buddhists preach, "Putting oneself in the place of another". Confucius said, "Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself". Muhammad said in his farewell sermon, "Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you."  The Jews might have said it best: "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn." And as a Christian I learned early on the Gospel of Luke, "as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise".

We rationalized treating people as 'headcount' to be minimized and controlled with a 'good of the whole' justification.  We told ourselves the hard, but necessary and right thing to do was to throw 10% of the workforce out on the streets, even though they were good, had working people, in order to protect the security and the future of the 90% we kept.  Kind of like, we needed to throw the fat guy overboard to make sure the lifeboat didn't capsize and jeopardize the rest of the people in it.

And we even built a culture around it.  Macho men everywhere could relate to Michael Corleone in the Godfather when he said, "It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business."  Real men - tough business men - have to check their compassion for people at the door and make hard decisions and do hard things to people.  The alternative, we were taught, is to give away the company's money which is not ours to give, erode profits, put the whole business at risk.

I found it increasingly difficult to convince myself that the Michael Corleone philosophy was right.  When the judgement day comes, I wasn't so sure the explanation that my business life was an allowable exception to my morals and ethics was going to fly.  I recall being struck by Meg Ryan's line in You've Got Mail (as much as it pains me to admit that I watch the occasional chick flick).  When confronted with the Michael Corleone line, she said " "What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn't personal to you. But it was personal to me. It's *personal* to a lot of people. And what's so wrong with being personal, anyway? ... Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal."  It was a little unsettling to hear that line uttered because she was so right.

The best part of lean is that it proves the rationalizations are wrong.  We don't have to separate 'business' from 'personal'.  Treating people with respect and by the Golden Rule not only allows us to keep our moral code intact when we get to work, it proves that a strong moral code is the most important tool we have.  The company will make more money and everyone's job security is greater because we can - in fact we must - treat people with the respect with which we want to be treated.

That, for me, is the very best aspect of being a lean manufacturer.

Comments

[Sukru MINDAS]

Hello Mr Bill,

First of all I want to present you all the respect you deserve. I read regularly your articles. I agree completely with what you have written in " The hollow American Economy" wich completely transposable to France.
And I loved your article about "The Best of Lean" wich correspond exactly to what I am thinking about Lean.

Best Regards
Lean manager

[Tony]

Yes, I do wish all managers understood the importance of respect for people. I've seen that one bad manager can destroy a company (as all the good employees "vote with their feet").

OTOH, lean is not a "magic bullet". Sometime I'll go into more detail, but to give an example: Toyota might have great manufacturing, but in my eyes their design stinks (I have a Mazda).

And unfortunately, sometimes layoffs are necessary -- for example, if your market permanently shrinks by 30% and you aren't able to successful enter other markets (e.g. Optical networking after 2001 -- and it's not easy to succeed in other markets).

Finally, it's fun to compare your blog with the China Law Blog, which often has an unstated assumption that all companies need to use low cost Chinese manufacturing (like here: http://www.chinalawblog.com/2009/05/the_china_partial_buyout_its_h.html), but you might enjoy this post: http://www.chinalawblog.com/2009/05/pig_casings_swine_flu_and_acco.html

Tony - Thanks for the input. I can only say that, in the face of a global economic downturn that, as you say, shrunk the market by 30%, Toyota has not yet laid anyone off. tecchnically, they let 200 temps go from the Texas plant, but no employee has been laid off yet.

As for design, while I tend to agree with you, I think that Toyota proves that it is a much over rated element of the auto industry. Detroit is obsessed with it, while Toyota wins few design awards...But Toyota passed GM last year and sells more cars and makes more money than any other car maker. Apparently enough people think their designs are good enough.

The moral of the story, as far as I am concerned, is that good design with great manufacturing beats great design with lousy manufacturing hands down. (By the way, I drive a Buick)

Thanks for the China link

Bill

[Danie Vermeulen]

Hi Bill
Thanks - great post. I agree 100%.
Unfortunately, there is sometimes a misconception that managers must be objective, tough and able to make the "hard calls" and tough decisions. Thereby implying that managers cannot afford to be soft or emotionally attached ...
Respect for people will lead to mutual respect and for me that is the key to a great leader. As we know not all managers are good leaders ... but the only way to be a good manager is to be a good leader - to be a leader you need to earn the respect of your team.
It is also non-negotiable for me to reconcile my lean work with my personal priorities and goals. This is how I get real sustainable job satisfaction ... by making a real "difference" (meaning continuous improvement of course).
Best wishes from New Zealand!

[Tony]

Tom,

I think design vs manufacturing depends on the industry -- manufacturing is more important for high value items that should last (e.g. cars, white goods) than it is for, say, consumer electronics (see Apple's success). And, IMHO, with Mazda and Infiniti can I get both style and quality (but style is a very personal matter).

As far as Toyota goes, well, I'm not sure the auto market has really shrunk by 30%. If it continues at >-30%, I think Toyota will have to lay people off. Also, I believe that Toyota does some things during the "good times" (such as use a lot of overtime) that other companies don't do or can't do (e.g. chip fabs already always run 24x7).

BTW, here in Silicon Valley, a lot of companies are doing 4-day work weeks with reduced pay instead of layoffs or bigger layoffs.

[Joseph C. Samuel]

You said it Bill.

We have clever ways of separating things in water tight compartments, offical & personal, secular and spritual. We do that to avoid worrying about the finer side and the answers we have to give to the questions that may come if it were personal. Just were "just following rules" like Nazis officers said after the war or just taking the "tough decision" like the companies that lay off says.

With respect to others enshrined in the values of lean we are bound to answer it taking it to level of being personal. It calls for more accoutability for our actions.

Hearing often about employee motivation & loyalty I often wondered how it would be possible to have it without truly caring, truly accessible, truly protect, truly encourage. Discussions on motivation and loyalty is mostly to do with money and when it is not it is indirectly related to money. I rarely know a case in India, at least, where it is no.

There has to be a side that is personal, moral, ethical & spiritual as well.