Here are six critical steps to put you on the road to success with your lean efforts.

Hard work. Don’t believe in luck; believe in hard work. There has never been a case where someone accidentally created a booming lean culture, totally engaged staff, everyone making improvements that hit the bottom line with a factory the whole world wants to tour. Don’t kid yourself. The people who have created these type of companies might walk around them now doing tours, and it seems easy. Believe me, they put in their time. 

Remember the old saying “you reap what you sow.” Can you imagine how crazy it would seem that a farmer stares at his dirt fields yelling at them, stomping around complaining because they won’t grow a crop. Yet he has not taken the time to plant and nurture any seeds. Nothing comes easy friends.

Patience. Something we all tend to forget is patience. We see these amazing companies like FastCap (USA), Yellotools (Germany) or Seating Matters (Ireland) and we want so bad for our companies to emulate them. We show the videos to our team, and 10 minutes later can’t understand why everyone isn’t fully engaged.

Chances are, if you’re reading this article, you get it. Maybe you always got it or maybe something flipped your switch. Either way, getting everyone on board is no fast process. There’s a good chance, the companies we look up to have been doing this for 15+ years.

If you break that down, you have a few years to get the place cleaned up, a few years to get your Kanban working, a few years to make standards. That sounds insane to an impatient visionary, I know.  Doesn’t mean you can’t go faster, but all I’m saying is slow and steady wins the race. Be patient with your team, train them, not once, but over and over. Believe me, it will happen.  

Just remember: If you start losing patience, you are losing the battle.

Sacrifice. I’m afraid this one can’t be avoided either. It’s a little misleading, in that what you will have to sacrifice, only seems like a sacrifice. In the long run, you will come to learn it was the right thing to do in the first place. Although, creating that lean company may take some real sacrifice — weekends and evenings perhaps or time away from leisure activities or the people you love. It could be in the form of old habits that must change. That’s not easy. It could be in the form of people on your team who refuse to participate. They might be great woodworkers, but poison to your lean culture.  

Remember this saying, it will help you through the tough times: “If you don’t sacrifice for your lean transformation, your lean transformation will become the sacrifice.”

Consistency. When we decide to go lean, we are usually gung-ho for a little while, then things start taking wind out of our sails. It can be exhausting when you feel your team isn’t buying in. The best stress test for your consistency is the infamous “Morning meetings.” Most can establish them, do them for a while, but then the grind kicks in. The excitement is gone, maybe the meetings are getting a little boring and need spicing up. (Which is your job, by the way.) But getting really good at the boring stuff is the great separator. Whoever sticks with daily training, morning meetings, holding people accountable and more important, inspiring them day in and day out, that’s the person who gets it.  

Remember: Consistency is what transforms average into excellence, 

Discipline. This could be a sensitive subject. But my want for you to improve outweighs my need for you to like me. I don’t know what’s going on in the world today, but I can see a definitive line between the successful companies and the struggling ones.

For some reason we are normalizing and prioritizing “how we feel” over what needs to be done. As leaders we can’t get soft. Do you think 500 years ago the men “felt” like going out into the woods and not coming back until they hunted the food they needed. Surely, everyday wasn’t sunny and warm, not to mention the primitive tools they had. Do you think all our soldiers “felt” like going to the front to defend our freedom, knowing there’s a good chance they aren’t coming home? NO, and business isn’t much different. 

So, catch yourself every time you “don’t feel” like doing what you know needs to be done. Don’t let your feelings guide your actions. Take the right actions and nothing will feel better than the outcome you get. 

Remember: Motivation gets you going. But Discipline keeps you growing. 

Self-confidence. Lean thinking is not normal. You have found it, fell in love, and it’s hard not to want it for the rest of the world. Just keep in mind, the rest of the world hasn’t found it yet. So, they pretty much think you’re weird. You have to have confidence that in this case weird is right. Be confident! There is a whole community of people to support you who all want the same thing, so see you improve.

Remember: It’s not, “Will they like this change.” It is more along the lines of, “We will be fine if some don’t like it.”