How Cynefin model improves lean implementation?

LKFR12 - speakers

Link to presentation here.

How Cynefin model improves lean implementation? This was the presentation I provided last week at the amazing Lean Kanban France in Paris.

Briefly, Lean Kanban France was the first edition of the Lean Kanban World Tour (http://lkfr.org/). As a distributed member of the organization crew, I didn’t really want to speak this year in conferences: I wished to go more in Operations to make things done.

So what happened? Ides de Vos felt sick and, I made the mistake to stand as backup and I jumped in. 

The initial Idea:

My first plan was:

1.     To give a feedback of Lean Implementation downfield in a Global Structure

2.     Make a SWOT on AS/IS vs TO/BE

3.     The Cynefin Model

4.     How Cynefin improves this SWOT

5.     Conclusion by introduction of Hoshin Kanri principles

All this is a 60 minutes workshop? Huge…

The Presentation

I got a small audience of around of 15 people but sitting in front of me Jim Benson (“Personal Kanban”), Håkan Forss (“Toyota Kata”), Joshua Bloom (Lean Product Development), Pierluigi Pugliese (who introduced me to Cynefin) and lot of “sparring partners”.

My initial wish was to run the way from Lean Implementation with Cynefin but focus on Hoshin Kanri. Nice wish. We engaged a smart discussion on Cynefin and mainly on how I use it.

What’s Lean Transformation?

option 1

option 2

option 3

option 4

option 5

 .... implementing Lean is not only 5S or VSM. Lean implementation should be adapted to organisation culture. Too often Lean is sell as "cost killing" in a top down approach:

Lean audit example with Deming 14 points

Tools ?

... for some consultants, Lean is reduced to a tool.

The Cynefin Model (http://cognitive-edge.com/)

my adaptation of the Cynefin model

Improving Lean Implementation

what is 5S according to Cynefin?

Tim Wood is an acronym for waste

where is PDCA in the Cynefin model?

Cynefin supports Hoshin Kanri !

Hoshin Kanri in a Nutshell: a management compass for Lean. 

Tools

• Visual Management (well known)
• True North. True North is the driver who links the company to a common goal. One of the best tests I shares with the audience is: ask the housekeeper what the company is doing!
• Value Stream Mapping (well known)
• PDCA (well known)
• A3 Thinking (well known)
• Catchball , Catchball is very interesting. Managers share their plan/process with others in the company to get their clearance. When "the ball" returns, plan/process has been improved once, This is an amazing trick to start with broad commitment.
• 5S (well known)

Conclusion

my personal point of view of Cynefin

 I see the Cynefin model like the wheel of life and the organisation is shifting from Simple to Chaos to Complex to Complicated and back to Simple.

• if my implementation stocks at "Simple", then I have no Operation's commitment
• if my implementation stocks at "Chaos", then I work with individualistic experts who doesn't work like a team
• if my team stocks at "Complex", then my team works actively without any fixed outcome
• if my team stocks at "Complicated", then the team works like a panel of experts where non-experts (operations) are excluded. No results.

I thought that we passed the phase of the Cynefin model during this session but to be honest we finished close to "complicated".

Feel free to share your thoughts and let's follow the discussion.

Cheers

Pierre