Kanban can have, with very little effort, a great impact. I see this a lot when I visit companies weeks or months after Kanban has been introduced. However, I also see companies contacting me who have run their Kanban pilot project aground on the sandbank of change. “We have a board, WiPs and classes of service. But, the employees are still permanently trying to circumvent the system”, is one of the most common complaints. After asking just a couple of questions, it becomes clear that Kanban is not being viewed as an evolutionary change initiative, but rather as a smorgasbord of mechanics which were dumped on top of the team.Kanban is a change initiativeDavid Anderson explained what he means with evolutionary change within the three basic principles of Kanban:
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Kanban starts where a system currently stands. It does not need extensive adjustments, comprehensive trainings or process revolutions.
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Kanban respects existing orders. Neither are existing orders nor existing functions automatically questioned. Respect, in this sense, means to allow that which exists to have a meaning.
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Kanban strives to achieve incremental and evolutionary changes. This is to be done step by step and not with leaps and bounds. And, it is all about coming into agreement with all of those who are essentially affected by this change movement.
I see it as a necessity that these principles be followed when introducing Kanban. However, in order to achieve a cultural change, towards a culture of continuous improvement, you need a whole lot more.Guide to cultural changeIn our book “Kanban Change Leadership: Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement”, Sigi Kaltenecker and I explain that you do not only need these three principles, but also a profound fundamental understanding of how a culture of continuous improvement can be created. In our opinion, the following guides are crucial for making this possible:
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Kanban is a change initiative. It is all about systemic improvements for which not individual performance, but rather teamwork is significant. Value creation and work quality increase thanks to improved structures and clearer rules of engagement among all cooperation partners.
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Kanban involves the entire work culture. The improvement of this culture requires a critical reflection of your own attitude which is expressed in a certain performance and cooperation behavior. This, in turn, requires a willingness to continually work on one’s own development.
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Kanban is about people and not mechanics. People are the ones who are the driving force for a sustainable improvement – and they do this essentially through their emotions: joy, courage, enthusiasm, as well as anger, disappointment or grief. We highly recommend that you respect and use these emotions. After all, they are to be viewed as the motor of change.
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Kanban is a team sport. In order to create a culture of continuous improvement, you will need allies. You need partners who you can count on to help breathe life into these new values as well as keep them alive. You need the support of management because systemic problems need to be uncovered and solved. And, you need the shareholders on board because, without their active cooperation, the desired added value cannot be achieved.
The guides underline the complexity of the field of change which is created with Kanban. This requires an approach which can keep up with this complexity and can explain why it is normally not a good idea to just let loose with Kanban. By doing so, you run the risk of getting stuck with short-term steps on the path to change and the long-term potential for improvement will remained untapped.