Correcting Bad Information, Part 1: Compliance vs. Engagement in Lean

Standards and Engagement Are Not Opposites: A Response to the Compliance Versus Engagement Model

Here’s the deal. I have been seeing posts on LinkedIn with information about Lean and construction that I find really disappointing, and I think the ideas are harmful. I do not want to start LinkedIn wars, so I am going to share my response with you directly. You can take it or leave it, but please do not perpetuate the misinformation, because it will hurt people. 

Short answer: Standards and engagement are not opposites. Lean construction needs templates, checklists, standard work, and KPIs to create stability, plus a leader who has control of the project. Inside those standards (safety, cleanliness, organization, and respect for other trades), workers and trade partners choose their own means and methods and bring their ideas.

The post asked this question. Are you following a compliance or an engagement model for your Lean construction implementation? Let me go through its points one at a time and give my commentary.

The Compliance Model as the Post Describes It

The post described a compliance model with four traits.

• It is based on templates, checklists, and to-do lists.
• People are lectured on Lean and expected to apply it.
• Best practices are developed by upper management for the front line to follow.
• KPIs are created to make sure people are following the system.

Here is where I disagree.

Templates, Checklists, and To-Do Lists

Standard work is one of the bases of Lean construction. You cannot have continuous improvement unless you have standards and stability. Every proper construction manager keeps a to-do list. Continuous improvement is the house upon the foundation that standards build. You cannot improve something that is not stable, because if you try, it is in chaos all the time.

Part of Lean construction is having templates of what works and improving from there, checklists of what works and improving from there, and standard work for the workforce and improving from there. It means construction managers keep to-do lists and focus their effort on the things that are chaotic. They stabilize what they can, so they can focus on the things with variation without too much overburden.

Being Expected to Apply Lean

Companies implement Lean as part of systems. Someone does not randomly show up to a construction project and decide to apply Lean. It must be an organizational effort, a transformation, and there will be people on the project who are told and expected to apply it. I do not lecture anybody, but the problem is not that people are told to apply Lean, and it is not that companies roll out efforts or implement systems on a company basis. The problem is when the company does not know the right system. If you are not implementing Takt, Last Planner, and Scrum together, and you do not have the key components of the Integrated Production Control System, nothing is going to work.

Every client I work with, or have worked with, has implemented the systems I teach and gotten massive schedule gains, increased gross profit, or other results. That comes from a systematic effort. You cannot just ask people if they want to do the right thing. That is like asking my kids, hey, do you want to brush your teeth, do you want to clean your room, do you want to go to school. They will not volunteer. They are expected to do the right thing. Trade partners and people on project sites are not kids, but the claim that expecting people to apply Lean does not work does not hold up when you scale it.

Best Practices from Upper Management

This is only sometimes true, and I will not disagree entirely. Most upper-level managers are out of touch with the daily work. But change comes from upper-level managers working with trade partners, collectively, to know what to do, and listening to the people.

That does not mean asking a trade partner, do you want to keep a clean site? The answer is no. Do you want to sacrifice some of your own productivity for the project? Do you want to finish your activity on time? People do not naturally want to do the right thing. Cultures of people will, and individuals every now and then will, but you cannot just ask people what they want to do. It must be scaled as a company system and a project effort, with a strong, confident, and knowledgeable leader.

KPIs

Anyone who knows anything about business knows that key performance indicators are crucial. You cannot manage what you cannot measure, and you cannot measure what you cannot see.

The Engagement Model as the Post Describes It

The post then described an engagement model. Here is where I land on each point.

Rather than rigid procedures, Lean is deployed by developing problem-solving and critical thinking skills. You can develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills by themselves and never get anywhere, because you are mired in chaos and have no consensus. Problem-solving is based on the standard. You are problem-solving against a milestone, a culture, a goal, a process, a system, or a standard. You are not doing it out of nowhere. There must be things the project is expected to do.

Managers ask their team to share current problems and coach them through solving problems. I agree with asking the team to bring up problems and helping them. I am not sure everybody needs to be coached by the leader.

Problem-solving and deployment of ideas come from the worker. I think this is categorically untrue. As I understand it, at places like Toyota and other Lean companies, most of the improvement ideas come from team leaders and managers, not only from the workers. You know that I love workers more than almost anybody, but you cannot expect them to have all of the ideas. Leaders do most of the thinking throughout the day, and workers do the thinking and the doing. You cannot expect a worker to carry all of the labor, all of the physical stress, all of the thinking, and all of the ideas. It is out of balance.

Managers coach and mentor rather than dictate. I do not disagree too much, but there are certain things that should be dictated.

• Safety.
• Cleanliness.
• Organization.
• Holding to the rules and respecting other trades.

A strong leader on a project must be able to say, this is just how it is going to be. You do not get to come onto my project and decide what you want to do. You will work clean, safe, and organized. The latitude given to trade partners and workers is how they do their work, their means and methods, using their own unique abilities. You have standards, and then the team has to weigh in and buy in.

There is a greater emphasis on psychology and sociology, such as positive psychology, flow, reliable promises, psychological safety, language action perspective, and servant leadership, and the human perspective becomes more important than the technical aspect. Some of those are correct. But the technical aspect is how you do it, and there is always a right or a better way. The leader is not the only one who knows it, but somebody has to decide what is going to happen. In a council, everyone weighs in and buys in and you get the best information, but somebody makes the decision. All good teams work this way.

Technical Improvement and Experience

The post also said that if you have been applying Lean construction for five years or less, you are still at the beginning of your journey, and that most things people think would work early on do not work. I agree with that part. The only way to avoid beginner mistakes is to talk to more experienced practitioners. No matter where you are in your journey, seek guidance from people who have been doing it at least five years longer than you. If you are beginning your journey, seek one or more mentors, because more is better.

Control Is Not a Bad Word

The post said people wander into the compliant model because they do not trust their team and want a greater sense of control, and that this makes performance worse. That is not true. You have to have both, and you want results. You cannot ask untrained people to figure it out and ask them whether they want to do the right thing. You have to make the decision and know what you are doing, and you have to have control.

People talk about control like it is a bad thing in this industry. A superintendent must have control of their project, their environment, their circumstances, their schedule, everything. We do not control people. We have to be in control of what is going on. I would not give two pennies for a superintendent who does not have control of their job.

What I Believe

I think only about twenty percent of that post is true. I encourage talking to the workers, getting their ideas, and respecting people. I encourage the engagement model, but it has to be done together. We cannot perpetuate a Lean philosophy where we think it is magic, butterflies, kittens, and rainbows, and that people will magically do the right thing.

People will follow the easy path. They will follow the contracts and the current practices of the industry. It is going to take someone who has control of their project, owns their business, cares, and has taken the time to research and learn, to get us out of this mob behavior of being mediocre on our projects. You are not going to ask a contractor who is incentivized by contracts, do you want to keep this place perfectly clean, do you want the project manager to pay for bathrooms, do you want to finish your activity on time, do you want to help your other contractors, do you want to come to huddles, do you want your workers at worker huddles. The answer is no, because that is the norm.

It takes a powerful leader who has control of the project to say, this is how it is done. There is a line you will not step over. That provides the circumstances where you can be listened to and put your best knowledge to work. Nobody is asking the trades or the workers how to run the project. We are asking them how to do their work, because they are experts at that.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

So here is the challenge. Decide which things on your project are standards that are not up for a vote, such as safety, cleanliness, organization, and respect for other trades, and let your trade partners and workers use their own means and methods within them.

Bottom line: It is your job, superintendent or project manager or contractor, to know how to run the project. That is what you get paid for. Do your job.

On we go.

FAQ

Why does Jason defend templates, checklists, and to-do lists?

Because continuous improvement is the house upon the foundation that standards build. You cannot improve something that is not stable, so templates and checklists of what works come first, and then you improve from there.

Does Jason reject the engagement model?

No. He encourages talking to workers, getting ideas, and respecting people. His point is that engagement has to be done together with standards, training, and a leader who has control of the project.

What should be dictated and what should be left to trade partners?

Safety, cleanliness, organization, and respect for other trades should be dictated. The latitude given to trade partners and workers is their means and methods, meaning how they do their work.

Is Lean construction a compliance model or an engagement model?

Both. Standards, templates, checklists, and KPIs create the stability Lean needs, and engagement (asking workers and trade partners for their ideas and letting them choose their means and methods) happens inside those standards.

What does Jason mean by control?

He does not mean controlling people. He means a superintendent must be in control of the project, environment, circumstances, and schedule.

People Also Read:

Correcting Bad Information – Part 2
Correcting Bad Information – Part 3
Stability & Standardization book

Want your team trained on this? See our Last Planner System and Takt training.