The purpose of this conversation is not to disparage lean or operational excellence or anything in that family of work. The purpose is to highlight the fact that we still have so much potential in our organizations to emphasize people and what they truly mean to our businesses. If people are our most valuable resources, we have often underinvested in them and treated them as expendable.
For centuries, industry has tried to get it right: productivity and performance in the workplace. And, in a lot of ways, it has. From the formation of scientific management ideas to the introduction of assembly lines, standard operating procedures, statistical process control and even continuous improvement, industry has gotten pretty good at making work more efficient. The idea of operational excellence has taken real root in the business world, with companies willing to invest in infrastructure, technology and even consultants to come in and fix the underperforming parts of their business. But often an organization’s “most valuable resource” might be forgotten along the way – its people.
Unfortunately, dogmatically chasing operational excellence often becomes a myopic pursuit of the perfect process. Like in Ahab’s quest to overtake the White Whale, it is easy for a dedicated process-optimizer to merely have a fleeting fascination with the crew of frontline workers that keep their boat afloat. The worst-case scenario of this operational dynamic is the disaster of a mass mutiny, leaving the organization dead in the water. At best, you have a disillusioned workforce left with a sinking feeling about the whole affair.
On the other hand, the lean community has long understood the importance of people in truly pursuing a continuous improvement culture. Lean realizes the incredible opportunity that a strong, dedicated workforce can bring to the table. To truly make a deep connection to people through lean, however, requires a deep and unwavering transformation that can easily miss the mark if the messaging fails. Even in a lean environment, the idea of process and efficiency can cast a large shadow over the desire for team members to grow and thrive. It can create the appearance that processes can be made so simple and standardized that “anyone” could perform them and unintentionally devalue the contribution and potential of the individuals being entrusted to own them.
The purpose of this conversation is not to disparage lean or operational excellence or anything in that family of work. The purpose is to highlight the fact that we still have so much potential in our organizations to emphasize people and what they truly mean to our businesses. If people are our most valuable resources, we have often underinvested in them and treated them as expendable. When it comes to our frontline workers, specifically, we have often failed to successfully understand and meet their needs. And we need these people, our team members, to flourish. We recognize that the prosperity of any organization and the prosperity of its employees are inextricably linked. Our mutual stability produces a platform for real growth and success.
That’s what the Meaningful Employment Environment is all about. We want to create a place where dignity and meaningful work are so central to the operation that people can’t help but understand their value and desire to produce and perform as part of a united team that thrives together. We aren’t advocating to stop the pursuit of improving processes. We are merely advocating to start creating an environment where our people are best positioned to help us do it.
About the Author:
Clint McCrystal is a leader in product development for TrailPath Workplace Solutions, a people and organizational development company. TWS offers a disciplined learning and business management system focused on building Meaningful Employment Environments where both people and organizations thrive. Prior to joining the TWS team, Clint developed people and processes as an operator, instructor, and consultant for multiple supply chain companies.
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