Poor communications – upward, downward and sideways… you cannot over communicate.
No metrics – no reference points, no ability to measure achievement accurately; no motivation as there is no achievement that is credible
Poor training – “the last thing I will do is embarrass myself” - no training = no tools = no confidence = no risk = no application of new skills
No top management support – ‘let the games begin’ might be the better opening statement. Human beings are inspired when they are doing meaningful work. Without top management‘s visible support, how do I know the work I’m doing is meaningful? Does it count?
No project plan with milestones – Paraphrasing the Cheshire cat in ‘Alice in Wonderland’… if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there
No ownership for improvements – Ownership only comes from true involvement. No involvement = no ownership. And no ownership means no inspiration to continuously improve. Without such ownership, there can be no World Class performance
Culture for blame when things don't go right - Folks are smart – in ‘Blame Environments’; they hide mistakes rather than endure ridicule. The human being fears humiliation and embarrassment more than death. As data is the voice of the process… the voice is mute.
Poor commitment – Little perceived connection with an overall vision, with my compensation, or with meaningful work. Again, no involvement = no ownership = no commitment
No time allotted for team meetings – Just more evidence that management is not serious or sees no value. The message: ‘this is not real work’
No team training – A lack of understanding that ‘no one is as smart as all of us’ – but to tap into this reservoir is not natural – team tools are needed along with the genuine desire to drive decision making down
"Never mind lean this one time, let's just do it the way we have always done in the past, just this once." – The old work standard is reborn yet again… The message: The new way (Lean) is of only marginal value and is not to be trusted to generate results when you really need them… the old way is better
No clear understanding of all intra-relationships – No understanding that the velocity of enterprise-wide results is geometrically proportional to the excellence of the relationships in the team achieving them. Only High Performance Relationships generate High Performance results
Problem solving by intuition – How many people do you know have the same intuition? The best results come from the best data PERIOD. Continuous improvement demands a process that’s widely understood.
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