"I'm from Corporate, and I'm here to help you."

“That has a menacing tone, Curmudge. Is it intended to be that way?”

“It’s a variation on the dreaded greeting from an inspector from the Environmental Protection Agency, Jaded Julie. ‘I’m from the EPA, and I’m here to help you.’ In a pulp and paper mill, an EPA inspection would wreck your day, or more likely, your week.”

“So did you ever use the greeting, ‘I’m from Corporate, etc.’?”

“Not those exact words, Julie, but one of my jobs long ago was to visit the laboratories of my employer’s pulp mills, ascertain that they were using EPA-approved test methods, and help them correct deficiencies before the EPA or state inspectors arrived.”

“That sounds pretty valuable. Did the mill people welcome you with open arms?”

“Not always. I spent the first half-day convincing the lab technicians that I was not an officious blowhard; thereafter things in the lab went smoothly. The real problem was that the mill’s environmental manager resented my looking for—and finding—problems that he or she should have already corrected. I guess it was human nature…really quite natural. I suspect that they trashed my report as soon as I left the mill. If I found too many problems, they didn’t invite me back.”

“Enough about the good old days, Curmudge. It’s time for you to share with me what all of this has to do with Lean.”

“It’s really quite simple, Julie. Put yourself in the shoes of a middle manager who has just learned that her department will be the subject of a kaizen event. What is her natural reaction?”

“’Why my department? I’ve done the best that I can for the past ten years. We’ve always done things that way.’ Her natural response would be to resent the whole idea—just like your environmental manager in the pulp mill.”

“That’s the connection with Lean, Julie. If the middle manager has hardwired her Lean training, she will acknowledge that continuous improvement is now our way of life, and it is often initiated with a kaizen event. If the event is part of a hoshin, she will understand the event’s importance and recognize the need to suppress her initial resentment. Process improvements following the event ought to put the damper on her earlier anguish.”

“Now I understand. It’s like the small child’s learning not to take the biggest piece of cake. This is all about doing what is right rather than what is natural. Our posting back on May 8, 2008 was on this topic. Why the reprise?”

“There are two reasons. The first is that character, i.e., doing what is right, is an essential part of leadership, and we are going to teach it until everyone has it hardwired. The second is that the connection between my mill lab audits and Lean just occurred to me.”

“You’ve made it clear, Curmudge, that your earlier life—even back to your childhood—is an open book. At your age, I guess you turn the pages very slowly.”

Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon