I Am Lean LLC

What’s your biggest issue? I mean in your organization what is the biggest problem you have? How do you know? Knowing your biggest issue is the first question every CEO should be able to answer. I’m not talking about what you feel like the biggest issue is or what’s been in the news lately. I’m talking about walking up to a board that is located by the group, the team, that is struggling the most and pointing to a metric like Safety that has a number by it on a chart that is red and stating “We are underperforming 20% in Safety in this department from this team and this is numerically the biggest issue of any metric in our organization.”

In this article we’ll discuss the top 5 questions that every CEO should know the answer to.

Before we get started, welcome if you are new to I Am Lean. We’ve helped all types of businesses improve their operations: lean strategy, lean training plans, and lean staff development. We especially love helping daycare owners systematize their daycare operations. Out of the need to give small businesses in my neighborhood the same advantage that big businesses have, I decided to quit my corporate job as a lean management specialist and start local. Lean is a methodology that increases profits because it saves time, energy, and space, the three things that once spent is very hard or impossible to get back. Want to know more? I invite you to accept our free gift and book one of our live demonstration sessions / assessments.

Why Is It Important to Pinpoint Your Biggest Issue?

If you are running a business, any business, and you can’t visually see what the biggest issue is, where it is. and why it is, then you can not truly say that the work your staff is doing is really moving the needle to address your biggest problem in a meaningful way.

The truth is when business is going well, and the profits are rolling in, we rarely care about our biggest issue. It’s like our business is a boat riding on top of deep water that has hidden boulders and rocks underneath. As long a the water levels stay high, our business is safe to coast along. However, in times of high competition, lack, depression, or scarcity the water levels drop and those boulders and rocks are so visible they can halt our business all together. Therefore, it’s best to discover hidden issues during the good times so that we can stay afloat during the bad times.

How can I find my biggest issue?

At the highest levels of the organization the CEO should have a visual of every department that reports to them: Maintenance, Operations, Marketing, HR, Engineering, Etc. Next, they should have one strategy that ties every department together. In lean we call this Constancy of Purpose. The strategy should be based on numerical values in the categories of Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, People. Although every department is different, they are all working as one company to achieve the quarterly goals within these categories.

Now for the fun part. Every department should have numbers that they are tracking that match the strategy metric numbers in the same categories of Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, People. The first step to knowing what the singular biggest issue is within your organization is to first know which department is missing their goal the most. Who’s the “reddest”? Which department is underperforming the most?

Anyone familiar with the organization should be able to walk from the CEO’s office to the department that is underperforming the most, to the specific team within that department is underperforming the most and learn the next answer to the next question.

What’s the root cause of the problem?

Once you arrive at the “Gemba” the place where the problem is occurring, you are ready to learn why that problem is happening. Once again, I’m not talking about what the team feels like is the root cause of the problem. I’m talking about a number, a metric, data on a board that numerically shows how we know that reason X is the root cause.

Here’s the fun part. If the root cause to an issue has truly been discovered, you can make the problem occur at will. In engineering we called it toggling. I can toggle the situation on and off to make the problem occur or disappear. Knowing the root cause is good, but it still doesn’t explain what to do about it.

That’s where the knowing the answer to the next question comes in.

What did we learn from working on this issue yesterday?

The CEO and leaders have to ask the team what have they done to try to correct the issue. There must be something that we have learned that could reveal the next steps to take.

Your team is likely to give you a list of steps that have been taken or actions that have been tried. But your job is to understand if they measured the results, noted any wins, or made any interesting observations in their attempt to correct the issus.

If we haven’t learned anything then here’s a coaching moment, a mentoring moment for Supervision to develop their team to think further about what could be learned. If we have learned a great deal, then that will be a perfect time to learn the answer to the next question.

What do we hope to learn from working on it today?

Yes, if this is indeed the biggest problem in your entire organization there should be daily action to resolve the matter. There should be visual sheets hanging up to see what actions are being assigned when the work is due by. Accountability boards or PDCA Plan Do Check Act sheets are great for these types of visual trackers.

Time should not be wasted trying to remember what we said we were going to do or when we said we were going to do it by. An organization with well ran operations follows a visual system. In lean we call it Systemic Thinking and it helps to get us the answer to the final question.

What support or resources are needed?

The job of management is one of servant leadership. Management removes obstacles and barriers of those in positions below them. Management sets the highest goals then learns reasons why their team can’t reach those goals. Management then offers money or a resource or a skill to help their team be successful.

If we know the root cause, have learned which prototype can permanently correct the issue, and have assigned Matthew to work on and find the best contractor to install the new equipment. All that is left is getting management to approve Matthew’s recommendation for paying the invoice. Done

If your team has struggled to answer any of these five questions and you would like support or free strategy to learn more about lean and how to apply it in your organization, If you are eager to dive deeper into this topic and get results faster I invite you to accept our free gift and book one of our live demonstration sessions / assessments.