“Go and See, Ask why? & Show Respect“, says Bob Wood, the executive lean expert in the book “The Lean Manager”, by Michael Balle and Freddy Balle. This is a novel come textbook on understanding Lean and implementing it into our everyday working situations.
These three sentiments are repeated many times throughout “The Lean Manager” book, as well as a reminder that every lean system must be supported by management behaviours that help to create a lean culture in your company.
Go and See – every problem needs to be understood from the shop floor, where the problem is created. No problem has ever been successfully solved from a conference room; you need to go to where the work is being done.
Ask “Why?” – involve the operators who are working the processes every day and who see when things aren’t right. Asking why both allows a root cause to be delved into and also to get a common understanding of the problem. It is impossible to solve a problem if the problem itself can’t be agreed upon.
Show Respect – management and support people need to ensure respect is shown to every person connected to the process as each persons role is important in adding value to the products to get them to the customer.
The question to consider today – how many times today have you acted on these three simple phrases – Go and See. Ask “why?”. Show respect.
