Lean Sustainability

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Chapter 3

Preparation Phase: Layingthe 

Foundation for SHE Excellence

The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his

temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes

but few calculations beforehand.

Sun Tzu

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3.1   Management Commitment and Living Leadership

The noted Greek philosopher Plato observed that “the beginning is the most

important part of the work.”

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This maxim is true when implementing the Lean

SHE pillar, for the initial planning or preparation stage is crucial to the ultimate

success of the process. Although the initial inclination is often to rush into the

implementation phase of Lean, it is vital to build a strong foundation for the

process first. A good starting point for a Lean process and the SHE pillar is

obtaining full management commitment to the initiative. Management leader-

ship, and commitment to and visible support for SHE are essential because

management sets the vision, values, and priorities for the organization. DuPont

argues that senior leadership must demonstrate “felt” safety leadership, mean-

ing they make safety a personal value and act upon that value. According to

DuPont, “Felt leadership is a public proclamation of an organization’s com-

mitment to caring about people. It is a building block in constructing trust

and real-world relationships among employees, customers, shareholders and

36  ◾  Lean Sustainability

communities.”

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DuPont’s 10 principles of safety leadership should guide the

behavior of senior management as an organization implements a Lean SHE

pillar process. Leaders must

◾ Be visible to the organization

◾ Be relentless about time with people

◾ Recognize their role as teacher/trainer

◾ Develop their own safety skills and pass them along to the organization

◾ Behave and lead as they desire others to do

◾ Maintain a self-safety focus

◾ Confirm and reconfirm safety as the No. 1 value

◾ Place continuous emphasis on and clarity around safety expectations

◾ Show a passion for ZERO injuries, illnesses, and incidents

◾ Celebrate and recognize ZERO successes

Another way to look at the SHE leadership that must be demonstrated by

senior management is via the “3 H heart, head, and hands model” shown

in Figure3.1. To be truly effective, leaders must feel commitment to safety,

health, and environmental excellence in their hearts, believe it in their

heads, and act upon it with their hands. In other words, organizational lead-

ers must hold safety, health, and environmental excellence as a personal

value, must have an intellectual and emotional commitment to ensuring a

safe workplace, and must take personal action to achieve outstanding SHE

performance. A leader’s commitment to SHE excellence must be unwavering

and uncompromising, in good times and in bad. It is said that “the only safe

ship in a storm is leadership,”

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and this must be true for organizational SHE

leadership. Senior management should provide a model for the organization

Heart

Leadership

Head Hands

Figure 3.1  The 3 H leadership model.