7 practices of the lean leader in developing and executing strategy

Formulating and executing a strategy and making sure it unfolds as planned (or even better!) is a complex process that depends on a series of elements, covered in the last leanmail. One of them, which deserves special mention, is certainly the behavior of the company's leaders.

So much so that one of the content tracks of the Lean Summits, the largest in-person lean event in the world, will feature several sessions on this topic. They will present cases and executives from companies such as TV Globo, Itaú, Bayer and Bosch, as well as the international experience of consultants such as Katie Anderson, author of the book "Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn".

It is worth asking, then: what are the most relevant attitudes of a lean leader that ensure strategy is actually created and deployed effectively in a company?

To answer this question, let us follow the 7 practices of the lean leader and analyze how they can make a difference, specifically in strategy management processes.

 

Go see

Strategy formulation processes are based on a variety of information, analyses and projections. Data are fundamental, but they need to be complemented with facts, that is, what the leader and teams can see firsthand, where things happen, that is, in the gemba.

That is why the practice of “go see” adds a great deal to the strategic planning process, whether by visiting customers, competitors, suppliers or the most diverse areas of the company, to understand how things happen in practice and what the real problems are.

This practice, if done systematically, produces a complete change of perception, revealing directions that would never have been discovered through the cold analysis of reports and indicators alone.

Likewise, it is up to leaders to follow “live”, in the gemba, the activities of their respective teams in executing the strategy.

This means going to the workplaces, guided by purpose, but in a disciplined way. The goal is to understand reality and support people in solving problems. Going to the real place, the gemba, to learn how problems occur in terms of conditions, methods, moments, locations, causes and facts.

This attitude is different and produces more results than the typical behavior of the traditional leader, who follows the team's work through reports, merely demanding results.

Many ask: but how can this happen during the pandemic, with intense virtual work, or even in times of hybrid, remote and in-person work? Of course, meeting in person on site is unmatched, because it allows human interaction and unique perceptions of details, with different views.

But the essence of “go see”, which is to capture reality by interacting with people, can be pursued even with home office, by setting aside moments for leaders to analyze with their teams, as long as it is guided by the search for facts.

Remember that overloaded teams and communication failures are the fastest path to stagnation. With our services consulting, you redistribute value, eliminate overload and implement clear, agile and efficient communication flows. Talk to our specialists and see where we can create immediate impact in your company's administrative area.

 

Challenge

The true lean leader proposes challenging goals to the team that can effectively generate relevant advances in adding value for customers. They achieve this with credibility, because they know customers and processes better and know the paths to the performance leaps that lean management can provide.

To that end, they support everyone in the day-to-day execution of the strategy so that they can connect to the established objectives and goals. And they guide people on how they can use A3 thinking and the PDCA cycle to identify root causes and resolve deviations.

This is completely different from a traditional leader, who sets conservative goals that avoid the risks of non-fulfillment, which contaminates everyone, who then always run from challenges, avoid stretching themselves and work under the fear of failing. Or who sets impossible objectives, without the slightest idea of how to achieve them, which thus quickly fall into discredit.

 

Listen and ask; ask and listen

To that end, it is necessary to establish a different kind of communication with those being led. Otherwise, the entire formulation and execution of the strategy can be compromised.

In this sense, “knowing how to listen” is another essential process in strategy management.

For example, already in the initial process, that of strategy formulation, when leaders need to listen to people actively, to understand problems and difficulties before adopting mistaken actions, and when they can take advantage of the enormous contribution everyone can make, with solution ideas from different perspectives.

As a consequence, it is necessary to listen with even more attention, understanding and respect during the execution of strategies.

For example, when going to the gemba or being in an obeya (war room) in daily management meetings to understand what is wrong, understand the deviations and causes, and support people on how to resolve them.

In this process, it is essential to show respect for people and understand their individual limits and capabilities.

Just as important is developing the skill of asking the right questions (which is different from “giving orders”), which encourage people to think and to go, by themselves, in search of the answers (solutions).

Likewise, having the sensitivity to listen to and understand people's views, valuing their experience and knowledge to assess whether their proposals are well-founded and will bring the best results.

This is very different from the typical communication of the traditional leader, who sometimes represses and divides people by imposing personal views and orders on how everything should be done. This almost always “addicts” those being led to passive postures, always waiting for answers and orders from leaders for everything.

 

Teach

In this process, the lean leader becomes a kind of teacher during the execution of the strategy.

They use specific meetings (and set aside time for this) to discuss the execution of actions, with the aim of developing those they lead, encouraging them to use PDCA to find problems and root causes and to experiment with solutions.

In this way, they lead continuous improvement through large projects, designed for the long term, whose ultimate objectives are, in addition to improving processes and adding greater value for customers, also to generate lessons learned and disseminated by everyone in the organization.

In contrast, the traditional leader, who does not act as a developer of people, undermines strategy management by devoting their time to simply distributing tasks and controlling results from a distance.

 

Support

In this context, the lean leader seeks to support people, providing information, resources, guidance and encouragement so that, if the expected performance has not been achieved, they can help them understand the deviations, identify the causes and improve processes, generating learning.

To do so, they use systems such as andon, which quickly signal when difficulties occur, which should trigger a chain of help from leaders and the areas involved.

This is very different from the traditional posture, in which, if the expected performance is not achieved or mistakes are made, the aim is always to identify and punish the culprits. And which passively expects people to resolve deviations without any support, which always ends up causing problems to be “swept under the rug”.

 

Work as a team and… learn!

In short, throughout this process of formulating and executing strategy, the lean leader must prioritize teamwork.

They do this by fostering team spirit so as to generate everyone's participation in problem solving and process improvements. They support the organization of multidisciplinary groups to promote improvements in value streams. And they invest in building consensus about the problems and how to solve them.

One of the essentials of this process is learning how to become a lean leader, whether by seeking knowledge through courses and training, but also by seeing and listening to people doing their work.

In this sense, the leader delves deeper into lean concepts and practices focused on problem solving, such as nemawashi, hoshin kanri, daily management, PDCA and A3 thinking, among others, including in order to be able to inspire and teach people in the company to do the same.

Finally, it is important to stress that these 7 practices of lean leaders apply to all management activities, but their application in the formulation and execution of strategy is even more crucial, to ensure that the company's future is built and achieved collaboratively and with collective learning.

Strategy management deals with change in the organization. This only happens by transforming people. And the starting point is the adoption of new postures by leaders, leading by example. It depends only on you, and you can start right now.

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