Leadership waste Seven forms of waste Inventory Over processing Defects and rework


Management Services Winter 2012


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Waiting and searching Motion and double handling Over production


Transportation


a clear and consistent message that align to produce the desired outcomes.


The seven forms of waste (above) can be found in the leadership in many organisations, and manifest themselves in many formats, with a variety of causes and consequences...


Transportation waste Constant email traffi c, much of it unnecessary and repetitive, adds t up to waste time and effort in reviewing, processing, electronically fi ling documents away, only to discover that the same documents have physically distributed to employees and posted on notice boards.


Several days later, more transportation waste occurs when these are taken down, disposed of and replaced with something of equally low value. Sending messages and information in this manner drives the effi cient employee to distraction. Leadership ought to be rising above this traditional, non-value-added activity and start spending this wasted time on talking with employees to explain rationale behind decisions and promote swift, consistent effi cient communication through the layers of the organisation. Transportation waste causes ineffective operations, whether factory or offi ce-based, and can drive


a lot of over processing, and ultimately a poor work place organisation.


Inventory waste ‘Knowledge is power’ was once a maxim from yesteryear, and a dangerous one at this. If knowledge is the information inventory that leaders possess, storing it in one’s head is a waste. Sharing valuable knowledge quickly is vital to the agility of an organisation and its employees. Retaining information in some outdated belief that it gives an individual a sense of power is damaging. The forward- thinking organisation and its leaders add value when they are able to authentically teach,


train and coach others with a consistent level of knowledge. Smart organisations do not waste knowledge; they make it work for them as an asset.


Motion waste Too frequent meetings, meetings with too many invitees, calling a meeting just to meet up with people… these are all examples of wasted effort, motion and transportation, if some individuals have to travel to the meeting. This is particularly a problem of waste, if it could be avoided, by adding more value and getting straight to the heart of the problem is, so as to observe it fi rst hand, rather


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