Dyslexic Management

In their book ‘The Machine That Changed the World’, published in 1990, Womack, Roos and Jones identified the characteristics of automotive companies that have achieved a sustainable competitive advantage by adopting a different management ‘style’. They described these companies as ‘Lean Organisations’ because they consistently achieve more with fewer resources, and exceed their customer’s expectations.

In 1990, they forecast that Toyota, then ranked seventh in the world, would overtake GM to become the largest global, and most successful, car company within 20 years - highlighting the challenge faced by their competitors in Europe and America. The secret of their success appears to be a management philosophy that recognises and values the contribution of all employees –empowering, and expecting, them to improve the way they work through a process of continuous improvement – identifying and eliminating waste in all areas of the business.

The effect of on every key measure of business performance has been staggering. So for the last 26 years, their competitors have used TOYOTA as a bench mark and have attempted to replicate their results by emulating the Toyota Production System – but in 2007 Toyota will replace GM as world’s largest car company – whilst Ford celebrate as 50% of their US workforce choose redundancy.

So, why do managers steeped in the corporate culture of the USA and Europe find it hard to become Lean? In many organisations the greatest obstacle, is Dyslexic Managers – who attempt to ‘go Lean’ but ‘become mean’ – expecting to gain all the benefits of ‘lean thinking’ without thinking or appreciating the need to change their own style and philosophy. Dyslexic managers are often recognised by their obsession with performance measurement and KPI’s when they are unable to describe the process or explain how the chosen measures of performance would identify their own incompetence.

So as you plan your next business improvement initiative, or reflect on recent failures –ask yourself ‘Have we got dyslexic management?’

If change is led from the top – perhaps you need to change before we continue

Phil Stunell has spent most of his career working in the automotive industry, responsible for the validation and development of new vehicles and component systems. As a technical specialist he has been responsible for investigating product failures and developing methods of predicting the customers experience, whilst helping manufacturers resolve product liability issues. Stunell Technology was formed in 2000, and works with its clients to improve the product development process, resolve problems in the management systems and create a lean environment http://www.stunell.com

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