Lean Six Sigma For Leaders

Leading Change at Ricoh UK Limited – Mike Baddeley

Start with the Big Why…

To lead real, embedded change in any organisation doesn't necessarily start with great leadership but it often starts with consciously recognising the reason for change, the ‘Why are we doing this?’ Leadership personally for me, is merely understanding the big ‘Why’, creating a vision of the future desired state and making this into a reality by creating a movement of like‐minded people across the organisation.

Change and leading change (and more importantly embedding change) has always been a challenge for large organisations and there's a very good reason for it, one which many leaders recognise. Simply put, ‘we do not like change’. We (this advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star, in the words of Stephen Hawking) are hard wired and get comfort from doing the same things we've always done, in the same place at the same time.

I realised this very early in my Process Improvement career. Originally I came from a technical background, fixing electronic and mechanical equipment. This was simple, find the faulty component or parts that didn't work, replace, reassemble and ‘hey presto’ it all works.

As I embarked on my Process Improvement journey I assumed that processes are exactly the same as fixing machines. Simply understand what's happening, find the faulty or ineffective ‘bit’, fix it, reassemble and ‘hey presto’ it works… This is where I was completely wrong.

The ‘hey presto’ ...