Leading to Learn: New Roles for Middle Managers

When companies begin applying Lean practices, there is often much excitement about the initial results.  Dramatic reductions in lead time are not uncommon. But for Lean to have a sustained impact beyond that initial success, what really matters is leadership.

A recent Lean Enterprise Institute survey on the “State of Lean” rated middle management resistance as the biggest obstacle faced by implementers.  Top-level leadership support is critical and not without challenges.  But, let's face it, there are more middle managers than executives, and they are more deeply affected by operational changes. 

Some of these changes can be quite uncomfortable. They involve breaking down boundaries between groups and departments, empowering teams, and increasing the visibility of work, so bottlenecks become much more evident.  Mapping and improving value streams comes into conflcit with a traditional top-down view of leadership.

Leadership is the process of formulating a shared vision and inducing others to implement it.  Because organizations are traditionally structured around specialization of skills and knowledge, most enterprises have significant vertical boundaries between teams, groups, and departments.  Formulation of strategy, resource allocation, and hiring are all is done in a top-down fashion.  So it is perhaps not surprising that leadership is regarded as a top-down activity.

Leadership, however, is primarily about integration – understanding how the pieces fit together.  Now that we have better ideas for how to structure operations, namely with horizontal flow and customer pull, the way we view organizational formats has to change as well.  We need to decouple the process of leadership from the traditional organizational format.

Not only are operations increasingly being viewed as horizontal, but the type of work that most people perform is also evolving.  Even the “doing” now is about learning, especially in organizations implementing Lean.  The more knowledge-intensive a business is the more leadership is about leading groups of learners.  

So what can we offer middle managers as we transition to a Lean Enterprise?  I see three types of leadership roles that will be needed:

I. Vertical leadership, to develop organizational capabilities across value streams

Departments, as we understand them today, will likely look very different in the near future. The knowledge and skill specialization that form the basis for departments will result in more flexible learning communities (a.k.a. Communities of Practice).  Domain experts will lead learning efforts centered on critical fields of knowledge (e.g. negotiation, user interface design, new technologies, Lean, etc.) 

A good candidate for vertical leadership is someone who has deep (and relevant) domain expertise for which he or she is well respected. He or she must also be a great teacher and mentor who genuinely cares about developing people and guiding a collaborative learning process.

II. Horizontal leadership, to deliver products and services

Horizontal leadership is focused on the design, operation and improvement of value streams.  Value stream managers lead teams who collaborate to deliver a product or a service.  They are also held accountable for continuous value stream improvement.

A good candidate for horizontal leadership possesses a broad range of experience, including the ability to lead multiple project teams to meet external commitments.  Another necessity is engaging everyone in continuous participation and learning.  Toyota’s Chief Engineer is a good example of a horizontal leadership role.

III. Strategic leadership, to design and execute top-level strategy

Strategic leadership involves devising, launching and governing organization-wide initiatives to ensure continued growth and prosperity in a changing business environment.  It also serves as an integration point for vertical and horizontal leadership.

A strategic leader must have a clear understanding of outside trends as well as internal operations.  He or she must be able to guide the formulation of longer-term strategies.  This is a collaborative learning process involving cross-functional team members and sometimes even customers and suppliers.

Common to all three roles is that they require that leaders acts as guides and facilitators to stimulate learning and problem-solving.  Middle managers who cannot work this way should probably not have leadership roles unless they receive extensive coaching support.