What happens with process improvement ideas that are good candidates for Lean? It starts by forming a Lean Team of subject matter experts who participate in a “Lean Event.” A group of cross-departmental employees comes together for a compressed period of time (usually 4 half-days in a row), to review a specific process in detail and – most importantly – from the perspective of those it serves (students, fellow employees or both).
Pain points are quickly identified: things like waiting in line; unused materials or reports; duplication of effort; routing time for simple approvals; numerous redirects (aka “the BC shuffle”); inadequate technology; searching for the right person or piece of information; and even physical layouts that may create unintended constraints. Teams identify ways to make the process more efficient and satisfying to everyone involved. A set of recommendations is developed, assigned and implemented over time.
Pre-Lean Event
- An employee identifies “Pain Points”, submits suggestion
- Lean Council approves Lean Event
- Coach(es) identified
- Coaches meet with Sponsors
- Event Charter drafted
- Lean Team identified
Lean Event
- Lean Team orientation
- Create Current State (Visual State Map)
- Visually define process
- Identify Wastes
- Gather Baseline Metrics
- Create Future State Map
- Define Action Plan
- Present to Sponsors
Post Lean Event
- Coaches meet with Kaizen Team
- Kaizen Team implements process change
- Train Employees on new process
- Gather metrics on process, report change
- Monitor for compliance and additional changes
- Continue to monitor (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc)