The Ultimate Leadership Commitment
When I engage with new clients, I always gauge one thing up front: Do they have true Leadership Commitment? Without it, even the best Kaizen efforts will fizzle. With it, anything is possible and sustainable.
One example I’ll never forget came during a follow-up 5S Kaizen in a New Jersey manufacturing plant. Our first event had reduced tool and supply search time by 90% and lit a fire in the maintenance team.
Not everyone had been part of that first event. Some sat out to keep operations running and were skeptical their voices would be heard. But once they saw the results, they were eager to join round two.
We expanded to new areas: the electrical repair shop, outside storage, a mezzanine, even a pair of old shipping containers in the parking lot. Deep into “Sort” on Day one, we got word of a serious chemical upset in the plant. Our team leader, the Maintenance Manager, had to leave. I assumed the Kaizen would be put on hold.
But the leadership team made a bold decision. They would personally handle the crisis. They donned hazmat suits and tackled the environmental emergency so our team could stay focused on improvement. We got the Maintenance Manager back quickly.
It wasn’t easy for our team leader to stay on the sidelines. Normally, this was his job. But the plant leaders valued the Kaizen event enough to step in themselves.
Yes, we lost a team member here or there for the emergency effort. But by the end of the week, the crisis was under control, and our Kaizen team had cut “find time” by over 70%.
The biggest breakthrough was the clear alignment and support that the team received from their sponsors. They felt like they were working on something important and they were. I have no doubt that their results will live on and more employees will want to engage in similar work. They now know that their leaders have their backs.
Leadership isn’t just about solving problems—it’s about creating space for others to do their best work. When leaders show up for their people, their people show up for the work.