While most organizations are able to build awareness & induce Lean Transformation, not many of them manage to sustain them. In most such cases, there are multiple factors, which are interdependent and tend to reinforce each other in detrimental ways.

Briefly reviewing few such key factors (not in any logical order )

a.Goals are only stretched they are not audacious – When we set ourselves goals which can be reached with a stretch of current practices. we do just that and meet the objective. This stretching per se cannot be done for long. Team cannot be stretched for too long and soon all the energy saps. It is important that we set ourselves goals that cannot be met with the current was of getting things done, thus forcing ourselves to look for breakthrough strategies to fulfill vision.

b. Diminishing Returns / Marginal gains – In the initial first cycle of Lean Adoption, there are enough opportunities, there is enough visible waste around, and some low hanging gains. Again,It is easy to demonstrate progress without raking the heads. As subsequent cycle kicks in the Law of diminishing returns, and aspects of Marginal utility start impacting the transition. as the Marginal gains start reducing, the enthusiasm starts to fade.

c. Result Oriented – Learning disability – Though we learnt that Lean is about focusing on process also and not just the results. it is hard to instill; A key tenet of Lean thinking is fix the processes the results will follow. I term this as learning disability because we have seen this pattern elsewhere. Learning a subject to clear an exam or get a certification vs. Learning a subject with an intent to master it. So if the leaders look for outcomes, the teams find ways to get to those outcomes. If the leaders focus on the path taken, the team will take that path for sure.

d. behavior change takes time –  Changing ways is not easy, how many time have we planned to do something, and postponed indefinitely. If for a single individual it is difficult to make a new habit. how much more it would be for a group. The difficulty level gets multiplied. While making new habits itself takes time, the outcome of those changes take even more time to show their results. It is always easy to loose focus / interest and get back to old ways when fallback is an option.

Hence to make a sustained transition, the onus falls on the leaders to show the way, demonstrate the right behaviors, ask the right questions, & persevere in walking the talk.