Also interesting: all book reviews in a row
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 9:10 am
Train employees, this helps empower the team
Celebrate successes (but keep looking for improvements)
Set a good example, be the role model for your employees
In his book, Van Assen also indicates how modern leadership styles relate to lean. For example, he discusses transformational, visionary, servant, situational and coaching leadership. They can all be applied in a lean organization, although it does depend on the phase the organization is in. The humility of management at TPS fits well with servant leadership, but clashes with standardization and the somewhat more directive steering at True North.
Finally, the book discusses well what is expected of lean leadership at the different hierarchical levels:
Top management
Top management promotes The True North and thus continuously emphasizes the importance of lean for the organization. It also ensures that everyone adheres to the most important principles and creates conditions for the right organizational structure. This is called 'decompartmentalization'. Because if an organization wants to think in value streams, then they go right through the different departments. As long as that department continues to be judged on its own KPIs, a transition is difficult.
The middle manager
Well, the middle manager… They always have a canada whatsapp number hard time with organizational changes. The middle management is sometimes a bottleneck . Yet it is a pitfall to change without them, with only external coaches. Because they are essential for driving operational improvements on the work floor. Sometimes it is a solution to make these middle managers both line and value stream managers.
The lean team leader
The team leaders are the linchpin in effectively and efficiently performing the daily work and continuously improving it. They are the ones who challenge and motivate the team members to achieve performance improvement.
lean leadership table
Lean as it was meant to be
The book Lean Leadership by Marcel van Assen is a valuable addition to the literature on lean. The book is not only about lean leadership, but also explains very nicely and carefully – and with a huge number of references – what exactly lean is and what it stands for. Van Assen also explains well what makes lean difficult and how leadership is essential in this. It is a real study book. I kept underlining while reading. The boxes with models and cases make the book a bit lighter, but it remains tough stuff. Yet it certainly cannot be called theoretical. The book offers concrete tools for today's lean leaders. How should they behave and how do they implement lean in a sustainable way in their organization? A must-read.
Celebrate successes (but keep looking for improvements)
Set a good example, be the role model for your employees
In his book, Van Assen also indicates how modern leadership styles relate to lean. For example, he discusses transformational, visionary, servant, situational and coaching leadership. They can all be applied in a lean organization, although it does depend on the phase the organization is in. The humility of management at TPS fits well with servant leadership, but clashes with standardization and the somewhat more directive steering at True North.
Finally, the book discusses well what is expected of lean leadership at the different hierarchical levels:
Top management
Top management promotes The True North and thus continuously emphasizes the importance of lean for the organization. It also ensures that everyone adheres to the most important principles and creates conditions for the right organizational structure. This is called 'decompartmentalization'. Because if an organization wants to think in value streams, then they go right through the different departments. As long as that department continues to be judged on its own KPIs, a transition is difficult.
The middle manager
Well, the middle manager… They always have a canada whatsapp number hard time with organizational changes. The middle management is sometimes a bottleneck . Yet it is a pitfall to change without them, with only external coaches. Because they are essential for driving operational improvements on the work floor. Sometimes it is a solution to make these middle managers both line and value stream managers.
The lean team leader
The team leaders are the linchpin in effectively and efficiently performing the daily work and continuously improving it. They are the ones who challenge and motivate the team members to achieve performance improvement.
lean leadership table
Lean as it was meant to be
The book Lean Leadership by Marcel van Assen is a valuable addition to the literature on lean. The book is not only about lean leadership, but also explains very nicely and carefully – and with a huge number of references – what exactly lean is and what it stands for. Van Assen also explains well what makes lean difficult and how leadership is essential in this. It is a real study book. I kept underlining while reading. The boxes with models and cases make the book a bit lighter, but it remains tough stuff. Yet it certainly cannot be called theoretical. The book offers concrete tools for today's lean leaders. How should they behave and how do they implement lean in a sustainable way in their organization? A must-read.