Leading and Managing the Lean Management Process

CHAPTER 3

Lean Culture

I often ask the proverbial question ‘Can you teach an old dog new tricks?’ Typically, half the audience answers ‘no’ and the other half ‘yes.’ In Chapter 2, it was noted that leading entails guiding improvement activities and establishing an organization's purpose, which changes over time. Instilling change is difficult at best as change necessitates learning and adaptation and many people inherently resist change because it is disruptive, intrusive, and it upsets the balance of stability.¹ The culture of an organization, which is a product of its workforce, has a significant inertia that resists change. Bringing about cultural change is a time-consuming, often wrenching process. However, you can teach people new tricks ...