Creating a Lean R&D System

175

10

Implementation Strategy

At this point, we have developed learning theory, in the form of the “See,

Reframe, Experience, and Grow” learning loop. is loop describes the

innovation experience from the gathering of background knowledge (sens-

ing) through the “eureka!” moment (reframing) and on to the required

post-eureka transition to delivery of true innovation.

is learning loop, in turn, allowed us to develop practical paths to build

individual and team innovation capability. We developed practice exer-

cises and tools to guide individuals and teams to sense more eectively.

ese exercises—individuals performing deep observation, teams devel-

oping current-state maps, and people and teams building the le half of

an A3—provide people a deeper and more holistic understanding of their

work and its assumptions. ese exercises enable facile “reframing,” the

“eureka!” moment when vast connected and disconnected bits of knowl-

edge can suddenly crystallize into new congurations with tremendous

innovative power.

To enable and capture the eureka moment of reframing, we developed

other tools and practices to help individuals and teams break through

their current frames of reference and, once through, redene their innova-

tion performance. Future-state mapping helps a team codify its vision of a

breakthrough system of work activities that is no longer constrained by its

current working methods, but instead routinely operates at breakthrough

performance levels. Meanwhile, we developed Critical Question Mapping

SM

(CQM

SM

) to enable both the understanding of what must be innovated and

to create a platform to enable a continuous string of eective, breakthrough

reframing, eureka events. Finally, we developed learning plans and prac-

tices based on A3 thinking, high cadence, and reection to ensure smooth,

eective integration of proven innovation as projects progress.

176 • Creating a Lean R&D System

Taking this to a more strategic level, we developed “organic” man-

agement thinking centered on creating environments in which people

can ourish. Organic management practices can be engaged by anyone

in the organization. Engaging in these practices supports the personal

growth of the practitioner as well as the growth of everyone around

him or her. e business processes improve, but so do the learning

processes. As success builds, the emotional processes that support

the internal life so important to individual creativity and innovation

improve as well.

What we have not yet done is touch on how to approach an entire organi-

zation, engage it with Lean thinking, and transform both its performance

and capability into a living, growing Lean research and development (R&D)

system. e problem is not a small one. Each R&D organization, no matter

its size, comes with a portfolio of projects with a breadth (and oen a myr-

iad) of functions; with a set of aligned and conicting goals; and with polit-

ical agendas, needs, and worries of its people. It also comes with an existing

culture with a thought process about what works, what does not work, and

how work should progress. Each R&D organization is peopled with indi-

viduals of diverse experiences and a spectrum of interest in new ideas of

all sorts. Some people will embrace new ways of thinking, while some will

reject it in favor of prior methods that have worked for them. Some people

will have a lot of experience in “how it is done around here,” while others

will have little experience or ties to the current way of thinking.

is means that no matter how eective and powerful our philosophies

and tools or our mentorship and management thinking, developing a

strategy to install a Lean R&D system will never be a straightforward,

formulaic exercise. Lean implementation failure stories are not hard to

come by, but in fact, strategies for implementing any strategic initiative are

fraught with peril. Several studies

*

suggest that strategic change eorts,

from general strategy to corporate reengineering and Total Quality

Management (TQM), fail signicantly more oen than they succeed, per-

haps as much as 80 percent of the time. Lacking a proven strategy for Lean

*

P. Senge, e Dance of Change (New York: Currency Doubleday, 1999), 5–6; A. Raps, “Implementing

Strategy,” Strategic Finance 85, no. 12 (2004): 49–53; D. Miller, “Successful Change Leaders: What

Makes em? What Do ey Do at Is Dierent?” Journal of Change Management 2 no. 4 (2002):

359–68; P. Strebel, “Why Do Employees Resist Change?” Harvard Business Review 74 no. 3 (1996):

86–92.