Lead Time is the time it takes from when a sales/customer request is initiated to when delivery is received (customer order to money in the bank).

The Leaders Pyramid System (LPS) is built on five levels (layers or tiers) and is designed to illustrate the competency, standard work, visual factory and communications, and problem - solving skills that are required at each level of our business. It also illustrates how daily accountability, improvement, coaching and escalation is performed at every level of our enterprise:

1. Leadership competence and development system.

2. Leader standard work and accountability.

3. Visual factory and communications management system.

4. Problem-solving system.

Leadership in business can be considered to be the art of developing or co-creating the organisation’s vision and strategies and inspiring, motivating, developing and aligning people to achieve the business purpose and/or strategies. 

(See Organisational Alignment - Strategy Deployment - Strategy Pyramid System - Purpose - Values - Vision - Aims - Objectives - Emotional Intelligence - Goleman)

Although there are a great many Leadership Theories that have been identified, I have selected what I believe are the top three: 

Great man theory: based on Thomas Carlyle’s work that rests on two main assumptions - every great leader is born already possessing certain traits that will enable them to rise and lead on instinct. Great leaders arise when they are most needed. 

Trait theory: similar to great man theories in that it assumes that leaders must possess general traits or personal features (characteristics) that they get when born, which then allow them to be better matched to leadership. 

Behavioural leadership theory: contends that leaders are made, not born, and that the success of a leader is based on their behaviour rather than their natural attributes.

The main goal of Lean ergonomics is to reduce workplace stress and improve productivity by eliminating worker fatigue, injuries and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) associated with the overuse of muscles, bad posture and repeated tasks. It can do this by: 

Emphasising safety at all times

• Keep in mind repetitive strain injury, risk of parts slipping or falling, failsafe machines. 

Fitting the employee to the job

• Not all employees are suited to all jobs.

Fitting the workplace to the employee

• Allow for adjustment, height, length, grip, depth.

Use ‘neutral’ body positions

• Straight back, visibility.

Identified by Womack and Jones (The Machine That Changed The World):

1. Understand value from the customer’s perspective.

2. Identify the process steps that create this value (value stream mapping).

3. Ensure the process flows (remove all waste).

4. Produce to demand (the customer pulls the product).

5. Drive continuous improvement. 

(See Lean Manufacturing - Principles)

Lean Layout work centres tend to be grouped by product families or groups of products that share common process routings. This type of layout enables smaller batch and run sizes. It requires less in-process inventory, less material handling due to shorter travel distances, and less physical space.

Lean Manufacturing is a business strategy to effectively eliminate or reduce all waste or non-value-added activities and optimise all processes in the company. 

(See 7 Wastes - Value Work Type - Optimisation)

Patrick Lencioni, an American author and business consultant, focused on business management and teams. He is the author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Lencioni argues that to be an effective or high performing team, you must overcome these five dysfunctions:

1. Trust: is the critical foundation of teamwork and it requires people to get vulnerable with one another so that they are open about: who they are, what they are good and not good at, and admitting and accepting mistakes. Without trust, we cannot build a team, specifically because without trust, we cannot overcome the second dysfunction, which is conflict.

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3. Conflict: is not only good for a team, it is necessary. We must engage in conflict and when we have trust, conflict becomes the passionate pursuit of truth. Without conflict, we cannot overcome the third dysfunction of a team, which is a lack of commitment. Teams that do not engage in open honest conflict do not really commit to the decisions they make and they will become passive about it.

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5. Commitment: is when everybody truly buys in because they have co-created the decisions. Without commitment, we are going to encounter the fourth and most common dysfunction of a team, which is the inability of people to hold each other accountable.

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7. Accountability: is so important for a team because when people have committed, they’re going to have more courage to actually confront one another about shortcomings in their behaviour and performance. If people are not holding each other accountable, they are going to encounter the fifth dysfunction, which is inattention to results.

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9. To focus: on the collective results of the team, we have to trust one another, we have to engage in healthy conflict, we have to commit to decisions and hold one another accountable for those and achieve true collective results.

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11. (See High Performance Teams - High Performance Teams Characteristics PERFORM - High Performance Teams Characteristics SUCCEEDS)

Lessons Learned is based on the Japanese word ‘Hansei’, which means self reflections. Lessons Learned is a key continuous improvement technique/practice to reflect, look back, think or contemplate on what went well, what could be improved and what we learned. 

(See Hansei)

Kurt Lewin (1890–1947) was a German-American psychologist and is known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organisational and applied psychology in the United States. Lewin is often recognised as the ‘founder of social psychology’ and was one of the first to study group dynamics and organisational development. His other, similar, developments include: leadership styles, the force field analysis, the change model (unfreeze - mindset - re-freeze). The equation, B = ƒ(P, E), is a psychological equation of behaviour also developed by Lewin - it states that behaviour is a function of the person in their environment.

(See Lewin’s Leadership Styles - Lewin’s Change Model - Force Field Analysis)

Based on his research, Kurt Lewin introduced the Force Field Analysis, which is used to identify the forces (factors) for and against any change. He stated that to bring about any change, the balance between the forces that maintain the social self-regulation at a given level, has to be upset. 

The Manufacturers Network Force Field Analysis tool steps: 

Define the change you want to see: write down the goal or vision of a future desired state.  Or you might prefer to understand the present status quo or equilibrium. 

Brainstorm or mind map the driving forces: those that are favourable to change. Record these on a force field diagram. 

Brainstorm or mind map the restraining forces: those that are unfavourable to, or oppose, change. Record these on the force field diagram. 

Evaluate the driving and restraining forces: you can do this by rating each force, from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong) and total up each side. Or you can leave the numbers out completely and focus holistically on the impact each has. 

Review the forces: decide which of the forces have some flexibility for change or which can be influenced. 

Develop a strategy: create a strategy to strengthen the driving forces or weaken the restraining forces, or both. If you’ve rated each force, how can you raise the scores of the driving forces or lower the scores of the restraining forces, or both? 

Prioritise action steps: what action steps can you take that will achieve the greatest impact? Identify the resources you will need and decide how to implement the action steps. Hint: sometimes it’s easier to reduce the impact of restraining forces than it is to strengthen driving forces.

(See Lewin (Kurt) - Lewin’s Three Step Change Model)

Kurt Lewin and colleagues undertook leadership decision experiments in1939 and identified three different styles of leadership, in particular, around decision-making. 

Autocratic: in the autocratic style, the leader takes decisions without consulting with others. The decision is made without any form of consultation. In Lewin’s experiments, he found that this caused the most level of discontent. 

Democratic: in the democratic style, the leader involves the people in the decision-making, although the process for the final decision may vary, from the leader having the final say to

them facilitating consensus in the group.

Laissez-faire: the laissez-faire style involves minimising the leader’s involvement in decision-making and hence, allows people to make their own decisions, although they may still be responsible for the outcome.

Lewin’s Three Step Change Model is perhaps one of the simplest and oldest of the change models. Based on his research, the model focuses on factors that influence people to change. 

This change model contains these three stages: 

Stage 1 - unfreezing: involves improving the readiness, as well as the willingness, of people to change by explaining why the change is necessary. It involves ensuring people are aware of the need for change and improving their motivation for accepting the new ways of working for better results. Effective communication is essential in preparing the support and involvement of the people in the change process.

Stage 2 - change: is the actual implementation of change. It involves the unfreezing of previous habits, behaviours and practices and the acceptance of the new ways of doing things. Planning, effective communication and encouraging the involvement of individuals for endorsing the change is necessary. 

Stage 3 - refreeze: the refreezing stage is where people accept or internalise and engage the new ways of working or change. This stage requires systemic changes and training to ensure behaviours, practices and procedures are sustained in the new way. People should be recognised, appreciated and potentially rewarded for working in this new way.

Likelihood Analysis is a simple technique used in problem solving to identify the most likely cause(s) for the effect.