GAZELLE MAGAZINE JULY 2017 ISSUE | Page 42

FAMILY & HOME Always Lean Toward LEAN In his book, “Big-Hearted Leadership,” Mercy executive vice president of operations Donn Sorensen shares his Five Keys to Create Success Through Compassion. In this time of electronic communication, we selected a topic to preview from the book that we think will resonate with our aspirational readership. The following comes from Chapter One: Give Your People a Structure They Can Lean On. “Big-Hearted Leadership” is available at amazon.com or donnsorensen.com.  M y friend George Roman served as a top executive for the Boeing Company for more than 33 years. Today, he’s a business consultant. He helps clients all over the world succeed by implementing disciplined and measurable processes to help them accomplish their goals in a far more efficient way. Later in his career, he learned of a systematic manufacturing method originally implemented by the Toyota Motor Company in Japan, but innovated and applied brilliantly by Boeing. That method is often referred to as “LEAN” manufacturing or the “LEAN” method. I love LEAN. I’ve had the opportunity to walk through the Boeing factories myself here in St. Louis and observe LEAN in real life. I marveled as fighter jet after fighter jet rolled off the line. I’ve also implemented LEAN principles and processes at the company I serve. I love LEAN because it promotes the best of both worlds. It is remarkable at eliminating waste, making the complicated simple, and keeping only those actions or processes that truly add value. But it doesn’t achieve those goals at the expense of people. Quite the opposite: The LEAN process values employees and increases their involvement. For instance, two core principles of LEAN are (1) the continual educational development of employees and (2) granting employees on every level the authority to halt production if they identify a threat to quality. Suffice it to say, LEAN is not an either/or kind of system. It is a both/and. Obviously, this is not the place to go into a point-by-point explanation of LEAN. My point is that there is already a tried-and-true organizational method in existence that values and promotes both productivity and people. In my opinion, the LEAN structure and a Big- Hearted leader are a match made in heaven! And just in case you’re wondering: If your business doesn’t involve manufacturing, that’s OK. The basic principles and processes of LEAN can be almost universally applied. By the way, books on LEAN are legion, but you can check out “The Toyota Way” by Jeffrey K. Liker for 40 GAZELLE STL a good overview and explanation. The bottom line is that the structure you choose should operate on the same principles as LEAN. Does your structure have all the fat trimmed off of it? Does it place equal value on productivity and people? If it’s not LEAN, it better be like it.