Lean management. Agile management. These are new buzzwords in our management jargon, which we hear every week at conferences and lectures. But what exactly is lean management? Making your organization more efficient to save money?
Managing your staff differently to improve results? Or purely a new buzzword? And, can we actually do something with it in our daily practice? In this blog, we try to guide you through the wonderful world of lean management.
What does lean management actually stand for?
What is your most fervent wish as a manager? Years ago, the answer to that was simple: employees who listen well and do what is asked of them.
However, in our Dutch society this has long since ceased to be the case.
Of course, we want the work to be done well, but as a manager in the Dutch economy, you especially want your employees to take initiative, feel responsible, and collaborate effectively with their colleagues.
That ultimately yields the best result. Lean management originated from this philosophy. Lean management is based on the idea that, as a manager, you no longer dictate to your employee what to do and when.
In this way, capacity within an organization can be managed efficiently, and complex management layers are often no longer necessary. Lean management is therefore a way to combat human waste. However, it is not just freedom.
Lean management is also based on the fundamental rule that, as an employee, you are not free to do whatever you want, whenever you want. There are shared goals by which performance is evaluated. The end result (the objective) takes precedence.
The principles of lean management
To enable lean management within an organization, a number of important principles must be taken into account.
These principles are not (yet) present in every organization as such and in some cases they will therefore still need to be developed if lean management is chosen.
Value perception is central
To improve your process in a lean way, you, as an organization, must above all be very well informed about your customer's wishes and needs. You must be able to assess where their perception of value lies and place this at the center.
A nice task for the salespeople and representatives within your team.
Process optimization
How is your process structured? Which activities directly add value to the customer's perception and which can possibly be eliminated?
Switched process
Do you work with various departments that are all responsible for their own little part? That is not always ideal for lean management. There needs to be a clear 'flow' from start to finish.
An interconnected process in which everyone is jointly responsible for the end result. Many creative agencies, for example, choose to work with client teams. Small, efficient teams in which all capabilities are present and which can operate (relatively) independently.
Improvement and coaching as the basis of lean management
A 'lean manager' expects initiative and a sense of responsibility from his employees. That sense of responsibility must be primarily focused on improvement.
Improving and optimizing the production process. If this fails, only then is the moment right for the manager to intervene and start 'managing'.
Lean management is therefore based on two basic streams within business operations: improvement and coaching. The 'improvement' stream is a proven effective management methodology in which employees work independently and in a solution-driven manner.
They are responsible for optimising a process and taking initiative.
The 'coaching' stream is used by the manager to develop people within the organization. At all levels.
A lean manager is therefore like a teacher who only intervenes when processes no longer appear to be improving independently and who then tries to retrain the team to create the desired conditions again.
Are you curious about what we can do for you in the field of management? Then inquire about one of Kenneth Smit's management training courses , or take a look at our range of business improvement offerings.
