Lean Enterprise means effectiveness of an enterprise to continuously change in pursuit of improvement and excellence. This is the core of the Lean principle. It also means that the people within a Lean Enterprise have to develop the capability to communicate effectively.

Without effective communication, changes that are introduced from a continuous improvement program will be met with resistance and will lead the people towards confusion and frustration.

When an organization embarks on a Lean Enterprise transformation, the management often makes the mistake of under-communicating the plan to the workforce by a factor of 10. Typically, a communication may take place once or twice in meetings or organizational documents but does not integrate the new vision into all communication materials in a consistent, across-the-board way.

Once the Lean Enterprise journey is underway, management’s goal should be to reinforce the new Lean plan using all types of communication (newsletters, emails, meetings, memos, etc). In other words, each time an employee is informed about Lean, they should have this idea reinforced in nine other ways.

Do not underestimate the importance of communication in bringing about change. Put yourself in the employee’s shoes; “Why do I have to change what I am doing?” Consider creating the “Burning Platform” reason for Lean needs to be implemented, and become a Lean thinking organization. It is common for management to use a Communication Team to help create and deploy the overall Lean Communication Plan.

Lean Communication Plan can be executed in three different ways: oral, written and visual.

(1) Oral Communication Plan

Oral communication plan is often a preferred communication in informal situations as it creates a number of immediate feedbacks when attempting to pitch proposals and ideas.

Some advantages of this method include:

(a) Directness and promises instant feedback.
(b) Creates confidence during the information exchange exercise.
(c) Encourages face-to-face meetings since this tends to foster trust and persuasion.

Some disadvantages of this method include:

(a) Requires communication with care to avoid confusion.
(b) Lack of written record of information exchanged and the agreements agreed upon.
(c) Limited control in the direction of communication and limited time to (for thinking) provide satisfactory replies.

(2) Written Communication Plan

Written communication plan is the predominant way of sharing and providing information. Written medium include either by sending letters or memos, or more frequently via email.

Some advantages of this method include:

(a) Creation of a physical record of communication.
(b) Effective use of printed and electronic medium (memos/letter to pdf document/email).

Some disadvantages of this method include:

(a) Communication with limited feedback.
(b) Use of multiple mediums can be expensive and wasteful.
(c) Written information is difficult for modification.

(3) Visual Communication Plan

Visual communication plan is more closely associated to the principles of Lean Enterprise. It creates a platform that enables uniform understanding and provides a simpler approach of delivering a communication. The plan maintains a consistent approach – effectively converting information about performance – goals – customers and displays them in a way that is easy to interpret, in the same way wherever it is displayed – this helps reinforce links between the workforce and performance encouraging staff engagement.

It also creates a tangible link between management and workforce in terms of information exchange on activities undertaken and objectives or vision. Visual communication consolidates messages on a company’s vision and objectives, providing a consistent message about what should be done and why.

Some advantages of this method include:

(a) Yields results when used in conjunction with oral or written communication.
(b) Effective in communicating numerical information consistently

Some disadvantages of this method include:

(a) Still require written or oral information
(b) Can be expensive and wasteful.

Thus, communication is a key factor in the Lean Enterprise. Communicate today!

Sensei is a bigger than life Lean Master who wishes to remain anonymous.

He can be reached if you dare try.

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