Lean Quote: Lean Requires Patience

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit." — Moliere

It’s no secret that many Lean deployments fail to achieve intended results. One of the main reasons for this is a lack of patience in the time and effort required for transformation.  Success with Lean requires a long term commitment to learning, consistent focus, and patience.

Striving for excellence is an ongoing process; it requires a persistent attitude of excellence demonstrated by a continual focus on both the large and small things in our endeavor.

Improvement rarely happens when an implementation is left to itself. There is a substantial requirement of energy and stamina to drive lasting improvement. We must ensure that ourselves and those we work with are able and willing to work with enough pace and strength to make the right things happen.

Lean is not a single wave, cycles of improvement are required. Efforts must be made to repeat, reinforce, retrain, and review what is taught and implemented. Lean requires doing the hard thing over and over again. It will be resisted often strongly, but sometimes in a quiet but subservient way. We need to overcome setbacks and disappointments and provide a steady course to follow.

Successfully implementing Lean process improvement strategies in your organization requires patience and an unrelenting commitment to overhauling your current business operations. Lean practices need to be incorporated as part of the culture of your business, to successfully reduce waste in your operations, and increase value in your products.