We Changed our Goal???

That's right, we have changed the goal!

In the last blog I outlined the goal, the principles, and deliverables. Our goal was to "embed the lean culture at Genoa". Since then, we've met to discuss an upcoming consortium meeting and to review a lean poster we are working on which includes the goal. Gina thought the goal was vague so for some time we discussed what it should say, debating the key ingredients of a goal.

The goal needed to be specific, measureable against standard criteria, and attainable. "Embed the lean culture at Genoa" just didn't stand the test. Another importantant characteristic of our goal was that employees could form a "mental image" of what the goal looked and felt like as we were moving forward and when we got there.

So, after much discussion and numerous lessons from Gina on english languge sentence structure, such as you can't end sentences with prepositions, verb tenses, and something about linkages, we changed the goal (I'm sure Gina is cringing at my sentence structure as she reads this). We finally caught on to what Gina was getting at.

So the new, improved goal is; "Attain an 80% World Class Rating as Measured by Lean Diagnostics".

A couple of things to note here:
1.) Most of our employees will not have a "mental image" right now of what that will look like or feel like when we get there!
2.) How do we measure where we are right now?

We do know that the goal is specific, measureable against standard criteria, and attainable. It's up to us to ensure that our employees become aware of what 80% looks and feels like. They plan is to have employees, through communication and training, become informed and be involved in working toward the 80%.

So how do we measure? A lean diagnostic in December 2003 scored 37% and in April this year, when I arrived, I scored another diagnostic around the same. Does that mean Genoa hasn't improved in 3 1/2 years? Not at all. It is more likely that I was tougher with the diagnostic because of my mental image of what lean looks and feels like or those who scored in 2003 were more generous.

The lean diagnostic tool, which measures performance in 13 categories related to lean, is available for employee viewing on Genoas network in the lean folder (Lean Diagnostic Tool.xls), for those outside Genoa you can contact HPM at http://www.hpmconsortium.com for information on viewing or acquiring this tool.

What we will do next is survey our employees using the same criteria on the diagnostic asking them to score based on their understanding of the criteria. Does it matter that they may not even remotely understand what the questions are asking? Not at all. We will ask them the same questions every year and adjust the communication and training plan to ensure they are getting the "mental image" needed to understand what lean at Genoa looks and feels like at 80%.

We are currently discussing modifying the criteria on the diagnostic to represent Genoa's production environment because it differs from traditional production. I'm pushing for not doing that. My logic: We use the same criteria as everyone else, that way we can measure our World Classness against our competitors and others on the lean journey. It'll be up to us to figure out and show how each of the criteria relates to Genoa's world.

That's enough for now.

Here's the 13 categories on the Lean Diagnostic if you want to review them; Management Support, Culture, 5S, Value Stream Mapping, Set-up Reduction, Total Productive Maintenance, Pull Systems, Production Flow, Plant Layout, Standard Work, Mistake Proofing, Continuous Improvement, Safety.

Ken Hogan
Lean Guy at Genoa