Subscribe
Dan Markovitz
By
June 04, 2018

BTOES EXCLUSIVE SLIDE DECK: Building the Fit Organization, or; Taking the Toyota Out of Lean

DOWNLOAD DAN'S SLIDE DECK: BUILDING THE FIT ORGANIZATION, NOW 

Screenshot 2017-04-09 13.09.52.png

Over the past 20 years, businesses have learned a great deal about the Toyota Production System. This system has led Toyota to become one of the most successful and admired companies in the world in a comparatively short time. The benefits of applying lean manufacturing principles to any kind of organization are well known by this point: greater profitability, higher quality, lower costs, and improved employee engagement, to name just a few.

And yet, despite the prevalence of business books that analyze and explain how the Toyota Production System works, the number of organizations that have actually achieved a lean transformation, or even maintained a commitment to continuous improvement, is vanishingly small. Most organizations abandon their efforts midstream, or, daunted by the challenges of understanding lean concepts, don’t even attempt to adapt and adopt the lessons from Toyota to their own businesses. 

The reasons for this failure are varied. Management in some companies can’t make the intellectual leap needed to translate a system from auto manufacturing to, say, healthcare or banking. In other firms the jargon—heijunka, kanban, muda, 5S, water spiders, even the very term “lean”—is too high a hurdle for people to overcome, so lean is never seen as anything other than an alien way of thinking and working. Still other firms make operational improvements, but they prove ephemeral, lasting only as long as the leadership team is intact or as long as business results are positive. Performance eventually regresses to the mean, and top management shifts its focus to something else. And of course, many other companies don’t even try to improve operations: people are too busy doing their regular jobs and trying to hit their month-end numbers to even think about adding improvement work to their daily responsibilities.

There’s one other factor that hinders companies from following the path of operational excellence blazed by Toyota: they’re worshipping at the church of Toyota. 

The fit organization

The corporate landscape is littered with the carcasses of failed corporate copies of the Toyota Way. Trying to be like Toyota is a mistake. What leaders need to do instead is learn from Toyota—learn how to convert their flabby organizations into “fit” ones. A fit organization, in my view, is a dynamic, constantly improving, profoundly customer-focused entity that delivers superior performance and results over the long haul. Becoming that kind of organization rests upon:

Making an unshakeable commitment to:
Increasing the value provided by
Doing the right work (things that deliver value to the customer)
In the right way (through standard work)
With continuous monitoring of processes (through visual management systems)
And structured coaching for everyone (using the scientific method)

In Building the Fit Organization, my goal is to teach you how to build—and lead—a “fit” company. I’ve attempted to distill the critical principles from Toyota’s lean playbook and couch these concepts in everyday business language, free from Japanese and English jargon. In fact, I won’t even use the word “lean.” To make the core principles even more understandable, I’ve grounded them in an extended analogy of physical fitness and athletic excellence, something that most people have some experience with. Throughout the book, I draw parallels between the critical principles for business “fitness” and the principles for physical fitness—because the same concepts that make for a fit person make for a fit company.

These ideas may be simple, but they’re not so easy to implement. I know that. But as a business consultant, a former competitive runner, and a coach, I also know that changing the context and the language used to explain an idea can make all the difference. My hope is that by placing these principles in the relatively familiar, jargon-free context of athletic excellence and physical fitness, you’ll be able to grasp the concepts more easily, and be able to explain them in a more compelling manner to your team.

Committing to Improvement

Fit people (and fit companies) don’t get that way by accident. They’re fit on purpose. They mindfully and intentionally pursue a well-defined course of action that makes them stronger, faster, and more agile over the long run. Fit companies love problems because they’re high-leverage opportunities for improvement. They engage in rigorous, scientific thinking at all levels of the organization to analyze and solve problems. They create a blame-free culture by focusing on the systems and processes that aren’t operating at the desired level, rather than on the people who work in those systems. In so doing, they eliminate the fear that shackles employee creativity and liberates them to close the gaps between where they are today and where they want to be tomorrow.

Screenshot 2017-04-09 13.12.02.png

For both the individual and the organization striving for fitness, the problem is the same. There may be a stated goal—lose 15 pounds, improve muscle tone—but there’s often no clearly defined program to reach that fitness goal. Or even if there is a program, it may simply be a fad that promises huge results with minimal effort. More significantly, for the people who abandon their fitness efforts, going to the gym and exercising is something that’s external to the daily flow of their lives. It’s a chore that requires additional time and commitment, not something that’s as fundamental and core to their lives as, say, going to work, or playing with their kids, or even brushing their teeth.

In the same way, most organizations have annual goals—take the top spot in the market, lift employee engagement— but they lack clearly defined improvement programs to reach their goals. As with individuals, there is no end to the number of business fads that promise to get companies to the promised land—emotional intelligence, six sigma, business process reengineering, management by walking around (MBWA), etc. But efforts to achieve those goals are episodic (at best) or sporadic (at worst), because they’re not seen as integral to the organization’s daily operations. They’re made “when we have some free time,” or before the boss asks about them at the quarterly performance review.

Truly fit individuals don’t so much make a generic commitment to exercise as much as they weave exercise and health into the daily fabric of their lives. Similarly, truly fit organizations don’t so much make a commitment to an improvement “program” per se, as build improvement into the way they operate on an ongoing basis, everyday.

 The pursuit of organizational fitness is like the pursuit of physical fitness. There are no secret formulas, no magic potions, no shortcuts. Both kinds of fitness require continual focus and commitment to the hard work of improvement. When you accept your current physical or organizational limitations and weaknesses as opportunities for growth, and see the never-ending journey towards perfection as something inherently worthwhile, you’ve taken the first step to driving out fear and unleashing the power of your employees. 

If you can do that, you’ll be well on your way towards organizational fitness.

DOWNLOAD DAN'S SLIDE DECK: BUILDING THE FIT ORGANIZATION, NOW


The Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Industry Awards

The Largest Leadership-Level Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Event

opex_assembly

business_assembly

Proqis Digital Virtual Conference Series

View our schedule of industry leading free to attend virtual conferences. Each a premier gathering of industry thought leaders and experts sharing key solutions to current challenges.

Download the most comprehensive OpEx Resport in the Industry

The Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Industry Awards Video Presentation

Proqis Events Schedule

Proqis Digital

Welcome to BTOES Insights, the content portal for Business Transformation & Operational Excellence opinions, reports & news.
BTOES UNIVERSAL GRAPHIC - NO DATE.webp?width=1200&name=BTOES UNIVERSAL GRAPHIC - NO DATE
ACCESS 50 VIDEO PRESENTATIONS
Access all 75 Award Finalist Entires
RESEARCH REPORT 2021/2022
BTOES AWARD - NO DATE
BTOES UNIVERSAL GRAPHIC - NO DATE
Subscribe to Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Insights Now
btoes19.png
png
ATTENDEE - Proqis Digital Event Graphics-2
ATTENDEE - Proqis Digital Event Graphics (2)-1
ATTENDEE - Proqis Digital Event Graphics (1)-1
png

Featured Content

  • Best Achievement of Operational Excellence in Technology & Communications: IBM
  • Best Achievement of Operational Excellence in Oil & Gas, Power & Utilities: Black & Veatch
  • Best Achievement in Cultural Transformation to deliver a high performing Operational Excellence culture: NextEra Energy
   
Operational Excellence Frameworks and Learning Resources, Customer Experience, Digital Transformation and more introductions
  • Intelligent BPM Systems: Impact & Opportunity
  • Surviving_the_IT_Talent_deficit.png
  • Six Sigma's Best Kept Secret: Motorola & The Malcolm Baldrige Awards
  • The Value-Switch for Digitalization Initiatives: Business Process Management
  • Process of Process Management: Strategy Execution in a Digital World

Popular Tags

Speaker Presentation Operational Excellence Business Transformation Business Improvement Insights Article Continuous Improvement Process Management Business Excellence process excellence Process Optimization Process Improvement Award Finalist Case Study Digital Transformation Leadership Change Management Lean Enterprise Excellence Premium Organizational Excellence Lean Enterprise Lean Six Sigma Execution Excellence Capability Excellence Enterprise Architecture New Technologies Changing & Improving Company Culture Agile end-to-end Business Transformation Execution & Sustaining OpEx Projects Culture Transformation Leadership Understanding & Buy-In Lack of/Need for Resources Adapting to Business Trends Changing Customer Demands Failure to Innovate Integrating CI Methodologies Lack of/Need for Skilled Workers Lack of/Need for Support from Employees Maintaining key Priorities Relationships Between Departments BTOES18 RPA & Intelligent Automation Live Process Mining BTOES From Home Cultural Transformation Financial Services Customer Experience Excellence Process Automation Technology Healthcare iBPM Healthcare and Medical Devices Webinar Culture Customer Experience Innovation BTOES Video Presentations Exclusive BTOES HEALTH Strategy Execution Business Challenges Digital Process Automation Report Industry Digital Workplace Transformation Manufacturing Supply Chain Planning Robotic Process Automation (RPA) BPM Automation IT Infrastructure & Cloud Strategies Artificial Intelligence Business Process Management innovation execution AI Lean Manufacturing Oil & Gas Robotic Process Automation IT value creation Agility Business Speaker Article Systems Engineering RPAs Insurance Process Design Digital Speaker's Interview data management Intelligent Automation digital operations Six Sigma Awards thought leaders BTOES Presentation Slides Transformation Cloud Machine Learning Data Analytics Digital Transformation Workplace Banking and Capital Markets Data Finance Professional Services Education IT Infrastructure IT Infrastructure & Cloud Strategies Live Blockchain Interview Solving Cash Flow with AI BTOES White Paper investment banking Analytics Insight BTOES19 Consumer Products & Retail Enterprise Agile Planning Government Operational Excellence Model Project Management Algorithm Automotive and Transportation Banking Business Environment Digital Bank Enterprise architecture as an enabler Hybrid Work Model Primary Measure of succes Relationship Management Sales business expansion revenue growth Adobe Sign Agile Transformation CoE Delivery solution E-Signatures Electricity Global Technology HealthcareTechnologies Innovation in Healthcare Reduce your RPA TCO Transportation Accounts Receivable (AR) Big Data Technology CORE Cloud Technology Cognitive learning Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) Logistics Services Operational Excellence Example Risk Management business process automation transformation journey Covid-19 Data Entry Digital Experience Digital Network Digital Network Assistant (DNA) Digitization Drinks Effective Change Leaders HR Internet Media NPS Net Promoter Score Program Management Portal (PgMP) Sustainability TechXLive The Document is Dead The New Era of Automation Automated Money Movement Banking & Financial Services Biopharmaceutical Blue Room Effect Building Your Future Workforce in Insurance Business Process Governance Capital Market Creative Passion Digital Transformation Workplace Live Digital Workforce Digitalization ERP Transformation Finance Global Operations (FGO) Financial Services Software Frameworks Hoshin Planning Human Capital Lean Culture Natural Gas Infrastructure Natural Language Processing Organizational Change Pharmaceutical Pharmaceuticals & Life Sciences Project manager Supply Chain Management Sustainable Growth The Fully Automated Contact Center Transformation Initiatives Workplace Analytics eForms eSignatures 3D Thinking BEAM BFARM BTOES17 Big Data Processing Business Analytics Business Growth Centralized Performance Monitoring System Communication Creativity Digital Technologies Digital Technology Educational Psychologist Energy Management Health Insurance Health Maintenance Organizations Hospitality & Construction Human Centered Design Integrated Decision Approach Integrated Decision Making Intelligent Document Processing Kaizen Medicare Moodset for Excellence Natural Language Processing (NLP) Offering Managers Oil and Gas Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences Photographing Price and Routing Tracking (PART) Process Design Document (PDD) Product Identifier Descriptions (PIDs) Python Quote to Cash (Q2C) Resilience SAP Sales Quota Team Work Telecommunications Text Mining Visually Displayed Work Culture master text analytics virtual resource management