Lean Quote: Change Does Not Roll in on the Wheels of Inevitability

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.

"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle."   —  Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr., would have been 92 this month, and his assassination occurred nearly 53 years ago. As we get further and further from that time, memories get fuzzy and a kind of collective amnesia sets in. But he provided a great many lessons we should not forget.

Change does not just happen overnight. Lean progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of continuous transformation.

Change is one of the most difficult things for humans to readily accept. Anyone who has worked in or led an organization's transformation understands change is not easy. We are so ingrained in the way that we do things that to do it a new way, or to stop doing something causes us to feel uncomfortable. We equate uncomfortable with wrong, instead of different, and there's a tendency to go back to what was comfortable.

Making a change requires a leap of faith. Taking that leap of faith is risky, and people will only take active steps toward the unknown if they genuinely believe – and perhaps more importantly, feel – that the risks of standing still are greater than those of moving forward in a new direction.  Making a change takes lots of leaps of faith.

Leaders may make bold and often unpopular decisions. Effective leaders require courage - to stand up for what is right, for what they believe in, and to take the necessary risks to be innovative and creative.

You can’t move forward if you don’t grow and you can’t grow if you never leave your comfort zone. When possible, leaders need challenge employees to grow. Help them prepare for change by providing them a safe environment to learn from the mistakes that they are bound to make.

Lean is a journey that never ends. There will always be a gap between where you are (current state) and where you would like to be (True North). Since there will always be a gap, there will always be an opportunity to improve. The road to continual improvement can be a rocky one with many ups and downs.

Don’t leave Lean to chance. Be persistent with your transformational change.