L: Lean management principles for the project, process and purpose called ‘Life’

   

The next letter ‘L’ in the A-Z series was absolutely easy to begin with. After all, it holds the honor of most important words such as ‘Life’ and ‘Love’. This made it simple in several ways than one. But, if I picked these typical words for the post, it would turn into a ‘cliche’, and then cliche is boring. If as a creative blogger/writer, I didn’t choose an offbeat word, the entire flow of creativity or fun of doing something different would go down the drain. Hence the word in title ‘Lean’. So, what is ‘Lean management’? And why should we incorporate its principles in our life?

   A super word in corporate cultures, lean management speaks about increasing efficiency, minimizing waste, streamlining processes and optimizing utilization of resources. It translates to efficient production sans wastage or effective execution sans confusion. It also equates to frequent evaluation of processes to eliminate bottlenecks and hurdles. All-in-all, a corporate strategy to be the best, with careful and humanly evaluation. 

   Lean management does not mean concentrating on mass production or multiplying profits alone, but it prompts conscious and considerate approach towards the entire process. It is more of a value-driven strategy, which eliminates steps that are absolutely useless or repetitive, offering nothing good in return.

  Pardon me, if I wandered into a totally diverse zone, while getting carried away in the corporate language. My aim is not to frame a lecture for some business management class (though it sounds so ‘cool’!), but to implement these lean principles in something as significant and obvious as ‘Life’. Agreed, life is not some project or process, it is more of our ‘whole’ than a ‘part’, yet no harm in pondering over a bit. If it is possible to extract the meaning of lean management and apply some to our life, it will only be beneficial. And if at the end of this analysis, we do not find it useful, we can always walk away with some piece of learning.

    As the name suggests ‘lean management’ will ensure cutting off waste, while showering value from start to end. If we were to apply these principles to our life, wouldn’t it offer lot of benefits along the way?

If we are successful in identifying useless energy draining practices from our own path, wouldn’t it help to some extent?

And finally, as it stands for continuous evaluation, wouldn’t it make sense to contemplate, reflect and check for ourselves to observe some positive change?

  If this sounds interesting, join me as I make an attempt to apply these principles to life. And if by the end of it - you approve, disapprove, accept or find it ‘good for nothing’, do send your feedback (cannot disclose the goodies for disagreement and ‘special’ goodies for agreement, something to do with bribery and luring the readers!)

On a series note, let’s ponder together. Though there are many versions of lean management and many principles that form its core (depending on the organization, industry or product), I will pick a few well-known ideas.

1.       Continuous improvement

  Life is about improvements and progress. Every single day, we become better versions of ourselves. From the time we learn to use our cute baby faces to attract the attention of our parents to the time we can communicate clearly with matured conversations, we are simply improving along the way.

   Continuous improvement stands for betterment. The moment we enter into stability or stagnation, the fun is all lost. And it does not equate to progress in education, qualification or employment alone. Each one of us, at every stage of life can learn something new, improve our existing skills or simply know about the new things around. Change is the only form of progress. You may disagree with modern times or end up finding more faults and flaws, but remember in the progressive nature of time. It only walks ahead, without returning back.

2.       Waste elimination

 If we take the literal meaning of this principle, we will end up in some biological or environmental studies. But, it does make a lot of sense in our living too. The point of waste elimination is to figure out the useless factors and segregate them from the valuable ones.

Some of the most common form of waste in our lives:

ü  entertaining negative comments,

ü  defending our choices to the world,

ü  justifying our decisions,

ü  getting hurt by anything and everything,

ü  assuming unspoken words,

ü  misunderstanding or digging too deep into what people say,

ü  wasting energy in fighting oppositions

ü  harboring jealousy and temptation to compare ourselves with others

ü  placing ego above everything else

Agreed, there are no magic wands to change us in one single day. It is nowhere close to discarding household trash, every morning or as simple as maintaining dustbins to get rid of waste; but it is not impossible either. Every project takes time, efforts and dedication. If we agree to consciously avoid these practices, we may be able to discard 20% of the waste, to assume the least.

3.       Efficiency and systematic approach

    While these terms sound good in manufacturing and industries, systematic approach in life can be extremely boring. It may convert us into robots and machines, removing the fun of surprises and uncertainties. And hence, there was lot of friction between my mind and brain, as they fought over usefulness of this practice. But to think of it, we can apply systematic approach in many disciplines of life.

   We can introduce sincerity and discipline for our good health and well-being. Things such as traveling, documentation, assets, and legal factors demand our conscious approach. Punctuality is another domain that can equate to efficiency. At times, it is necessary to work smart, instead of toiling hard. With favorable changes in our mannerism, we can go something good. Rather than criticizing or commenting on how people work, we can pay attention to their strategies and adopt the useful bits (though, how mothers multitask to take care of their kids is beyond understanding.)

4.       Optimal utilization of resources

   Well, this is a debatable and controversial topic to enter into! But, I enjoy risks, so let’s begin (dear Mr.Perfect husband, now is a good time to stop reading and exit from the post!) Utilization of every single thing with utmost care, value and in an efficient manner is the gist of this principle. Rather than accumulating resources, we should use them to their fullest capacity. Recycle, reduce and reuse can also come into the picture.

 Think about the purpose before accumulating materials. Do we really need something new to look presentable every single time or should we collect things in the house because others do? Besides materials, we should also focus on resources such as time, efforts and support. We should stay away from taking people for granted or relationships for a ride. Plan things in an efficient manner to avoid unnecessary wastage of any kind.

 Another significant aspect of lean is 'moving in a flow'. Stay in the moment and flow along the journey of life. Deep thinking about the past or worrying about the future will obstruct the fluid like state of present. 

I will sign off by saying, no mountain can be climbed without the first step and no destination can be reached without walking the first mile. I will definitely make an attempt to implement these principles, as life is about enjoying the show sans the drama!