Learn and understand how Lean is system, not a toolkit, through this fun game of connecting the elements of Lean to one another. Free to use and available for you to share in your organization!

1. Lean System
“Connecting the dots”
By Michael Morelli
Lean Sensei
February 2017

2. Introduction
 This slide deck was created to share one of
my favorite methods of teaching how a Lean
business system works
 It’s aim is to debunk that Lean is just a toolkit
and that one can not pick and choose what
they want to use and think that they’ll make
and sustain gains
 The results tend to give learners greater
confidence in themselves that they do in fact
understand Lean and can work in this new
way of problem solving

3. Lean is not a toolkit
 Upon first introduction many see Lean as a
toolkit that you put into your business in
order to create efficiency
 In my experience when someone sits
through their first Lean training class they
tend to walk away still holding onto their
initial pre-judgment that Lean is all about
becoming more efficient
 In reality the tools that Lean provides you
really is not much more than structured
templates to help you identify and solve
common, every day frustrations that your
employees and customers experience

4. “This so overwhelming”
 In order to improve one must first learn
 The difficulty in grasping the Lean business
system many people experience is the growth
process they’re being taught: to look at the
business and problem solving process
differently
 Different is change and change is inevitable
 Change can be felt as a curve of emotion
where we initially view things either positively
or negatively, eventually hitting “rock bottom” of
stress and uncertainty. After our depression
point comes the “I get it” moment follows and
we take off to a higher level of performance
than we did before

5. “So how do I ‘get it?”
 First understand that the elements of a Lean
business system are not created in silos and
cannot be used á la carte
 Each element represents information for you
and your team to understand the customer
demand and the status of the your business’
process efficiency and effectiveness in
meeting those demands
 I firmly believe that Lean is simply organized
commonsense and to prove that you
understand it, let’s play a little game

6. “Connect the Dots”
 There are 10 elements of a Lean system on
the following page that you need to connect
 In order to create a connection you need to
first explain what the element is and why you
use it in your own words
 Then you need to draw a line from that
element to another element and explain what
that element is and why you use it
 Finally you describe how the two elements
connect to one another
 Again think about the information that it gives
you and the value that each element gives you
supporting improving your processes

7. There is no wrong way to
connect the system
 With 10 elements there is exactly
13,003,200 different ways you can connect
all of these dots… chances are you will do
this right!
 You can not connect an element more than
once, however.
 For example, you can not keep connecting
everything to and from the daily huddle
 HINT: You will sound more convincing when
you use your own words and common sense
in describing the elements and how they
connect 

8. Connect the Dots of the Lean
System!
Daily Huddle Standard Work
Total
Productive
Maintenance
Skills Matrix
Kanban
Replenishment
System
5s
Drivers/Dash
board
A3 Value Stream
Mapping
Leader
Standard
Work

9. Here’s my go at the game
Daily Huddle Standard Work
Total
Productive
Maintenance
Skills Matrix
Kanban
Replenishment
System
5s
Drivers/Dash
board
A3 Value Stream
Mapping
Leader
Standard
Work
Start
End

10. How they connect…
Daily
Huddle
Standard
Work
Total
Productive
Maintenance
Skills
Matrix
Kanban
Replenishment
System
5s
Drivers/Dashbo
ard
A3 Value
Stream
Mapping
Leader
Standard
Work
Start
End
Standard Work is the current best one way of working in a
particular process or task. It is a written description of the sequence
of tasks that should be followed in order to deliver consistently for
the customer. It tells how much time (demand) the process currently
takes to complete.
Drivers are the measurements of the current opportunities in the
department that the team is trying to solve within the process. In
order to make improvements in a process the staff much study their
current standard work to understand where the opportunity is
originating by comparing the standard work to the actual process.
The drivers will change either positively or negatively in the
customer’s favor depending on the effectiveness of any change the
team makes in their standard work. Dashboards are the high level
measurements of the overall process and are used to understand
how the health of the department is doing towards its strategic
goals (example: The overall time it takes for a customer to come in,
get what they want, and leave could be the Length of Stay metric. In
order to improve the timeliness the team needs to shorten the wait
time the customer waits to be seen by a service specialist. As that
wait time driver is decreased towards the goal the overall Length of
Stay measure is also reduce. Standard work determines your
performance results.

11. How they connect…
Daily
Huddle
Standard
Work
Total
Productive
Maintenance
Skills
Matrix
Kanban
Replenishment
System
5s
Drivers/Dashb
oard
A3 Value
Stream
Mapping
Leader
Standard
Work
Start
End
Drivers & Dashboards only give you the results, not the details of
what is going on in your process. Leader Standard Work is the
leader’s standard work of how to help the team identify and solve
problems and can be thought of as the fuel for the continuous
improvement engine- if LSW activity stops so does the
improvement of your business performance. Typical LSW activities
include going and seeing the process first hand to understand
where the causes of the problem are coming from (aka Standard
Work Observations) as well coaching others in learning the new
way of working (aka the updated Standard Work). It is also about
understanding and communicating the daily customer demands at
the team’s Daily Huddle.
The Daily Huddle is a structured 15 minute performance review
meeting with the leader and the team to be able to understand
what needs to be done by when and who will do it (aka the “Daily
Playbook”). It also helps the team take time to understand how
their problem solving efforts are improving their priorities (aka their
“Drivers”), and gives a platform for the staff and leader to raise
new learning and opportunities found where problems are
managed in the Improvement Center of the board. This feedback
helps the team understand where they are and will help drive
further process improvements when they refer to their Value
Stream Map.

12. How they connect…
Daily
Huddle
Standard
Work
Total
Productive
Maintenance
Skills
Matrix
Kanban
Replenishm
ent System
5s
Drivers/Da
shboard
A3 Value
Stream
Mapping
Leader
Standard
Work
Start
End
Value Stream Maps help show the true customer experience as
they see and feel the services you provide. It is not created in a
step by step process description like standard work is but rather
depicts the areas of the overall process that customers see and
feel. This helps the team identify the longest wait times in the
customer’s experience as well as gives them a way to prioritize
which parts of the process to improve first (aka “bottleneck theory”).
When looking at a value stream map for service and product based
companies, one can see how the product or customer moves
throughout the process and that movement is filled with
opportunities for improvement.
5s is a way at looking at the physical and electronic workspace to
help understand how we are set up to deliver for our customers’
expectations. Tracing the production process of a product or the
path of staff and or the customer in order provide a service will
show you opportunities for placement of equipment, supplies, and
workstations. Take a floor plan and draw lines from one point to
another based on how a product or staff/customer travels in your
work place…does it look like a bowl of spaghetti by the time you are
done? If so, you’ve got frustrations in your process my friend. Solve
this issue by grabbing an A3 template.

13. How they connect…
Daily
Huddle
Standard
Work
Total
Productive
Maintenance
Skills
Matrix
Kanban
Replenishm
ent System
5s
Drivers/Da
shboard
A3 Value
Stream
Mapping
Leader
Standard
Work
Start
End
An A3 template is used to help guide teams through the Plan, Do,
Check, Act (PDCA) problem solving process. It guides problem
solving teams to full understand the problem by analyzing the
current process standard, performance results, the who, what,
when, and where aspects of the problem that occurred (or is
occurring), before the team starts asking themselves why (5 times)
is the problem occurring in order to get the root cause. This root
cause identification is the focus of the countermeasure(s) that are
put into pilot to test whether or not the new future state of the
process’ standard work will sustain. When the problem is studied
and adjusted as needed to reach the goal, the process’ standard
work is updated
A Kanban Replenishment System is the standard work for the
adequate supply of physical resources that a team needs in order to
produce/serve the customer. It is a visual management system that
signals when it is time to reorder a particular supply item or when a
team down the value stream is ready for the next customer or
product item to serve/build. Understanding the customer demand
(takt time) and process flow helps team get what they need when
they need it and in just the right amount in order to minimize waste
and frustration.

14. How they connect…
Daily
Huddle
Standard
Work
Total
Productive
Maintenance
Skills
Matrix
Kanban
Replenishm
ent System
5s
Drivers/Da
shboard
A3 Value
Stream
Mapping
Leader
Standard
Work
Start
End
Total Productive Maintenance is the standard work in keeping
equipment and machinery in a team’s department fully operational
and productive. The routine scheduled maintenance for equipment
and machines helps prevents breakdowns, slowdowns, and errors
from occurring (like your car’s maintenance schedule).
A Skills Matrix is the necessary skill sets needed to meet your
customer demand. This includes the current process’ standard work
procedure, the total productive maintenance requirements, kanban
procedure(s), and other process improvement skills of a lean
business system (i.e. root cause analysis, standard work
observations, standard work creation, etc…). It is best used when it
is known how much demand (volume/FTE) of a particular skill is
required so the team can see how broad, deep, and flexible they
are in meeting the fluctuations of their customer’s requirements
(especially in service industries).

15. Make sense?

16. Lean Sensei
Hartford Healthcare Corporation
E-mail: michael.morelli@hhchealth.org
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sensei
Feel free to reach out to me to share your thoughts on
anything Lean and change related!