Disney's Lean Leadership
Lean Leadership in the Workplace
Kate McCabe, Claudia Vlakancic, Erica Rauschenbach, Joey Ng, Clara Duff-Marsh
Disney's Organizational Leadership
1. LEAN LEADERSHIP
Lean Leadership is a leadership style that has long been successful in Japanese businesses but has only recently been introduced in America. This style focuses on the many different positions a leader must hold, the values they must encourage, and the behavioral shifts they must keep in mind in order to ensure the success of their employees. Lean Leadership is an important contributor to the success of a company in that it can increase efficiency, resulting in both the reduction of waste and more effective leadership techniques.
Six roles are filled by the leader in Lean Leadership: the observer, the learner, the initiator, the teacher, the role model, and the supporter (Wilson). These roles encourage qualities that must be practiced and improved upon in order to grow as a leader. According to Lonnie Wilson, the author of the article “Six Qualities of Lean Leadership,” a leader must be detail-oriented and an excellent listener when observing their employees and the processes at hand. Additionally, a leader is a lifelong learner and will “not assume they know it all” (Wilson). By constantly improving and striving to be their best, leaders show they are never done learning and growing as a leader and as a person. As a result, openly showing their own personal quest for improvement encourages employees to also strive to improve.
Wilson says successful leaders must be eager to teach rather than to punish, and they must find ways to remedy problems at their root instead of just treating them on the surface. Lean Leaders are planners and excellent role models to those around them, and they should have an exceptionally strong moral compass. These are all crucial qualities of Lean Leadership because they show the supervisor cares about the quality of the things that happen throughout the whole process instead of only caring about the end results.
With that being said, several values must be implemented in order to support this goal: Gemba, waste-reduction, simplicity, and respect.
The first term, Gemba, is a term that many people are unfamiliar with due to its Japanese origin. “Gemba is a […] word that means ‘workplace’, or in practical use ‘where value is created’” according to John Hamalian. From the perspective of a Lean Leader, this means the real transformation of products and people happens out on the floor and down in the front lines, not behind the scenes in a solitary office. Lean Leaders need to know their employees are doing well and have the means to succeed. This is accomplished by utilizing a hands-on approach that puts leaders in the midst of all of the activity so they are able to quickly remedy any problems that may occur.
“Waste reduction” is another term frequently seen in Lean Leadership. A company is able to increase efficiency and cost-effectiveness by decreasing both the number of unnecessary products a company makes, as well as the time and labor the company uses inadequately. Labor waste reduction does not necessarily mean downsizing offices or personnel, but it does mean ensuring all available employees are using their time effectively and efficiently.
Simplicity and ease go hand-in-hand with the successful application of Lean Leadership. In the long run, by simplifying and reducing the amount of redundancy found in processes, companies are able to save both resources and money. This simplicity model also extends to the leader themselves. In the article “6 Key Traits of a Lean Leader,” Hamalian mentions an executive that went to IKEA for office furniture in order to save his company $48,000. Not only is this an excellent example of how easy simplicity is to obtain, but it is also a great way of showing how easy it is for executives to lead by example. When leaders set positive examples such as this one, employees are more likely to respect them as a person and leader, thus influencing them to follow in their footsteps.
This takes us to the final value Lean Leadership really emphasizes: Respect. Respect is important in any leadership style, but mutual respect had between a leader and their employees is a particularly crucial trait of a successful Lean Leader. When employees are respected they are encouraged to present their own ideas. This mutual respect also makes them feel empowered to report any issues they see in the workplace that may have been missed by even the most observant of leaders. As you can see, being respected makes everyone happier and more comfortable in their work environment which can, in turn, help an area be more successful. These terms, and many others, act as good focal points for leaders to turn to when implementing the Lean Leadership style.
Finally, there are some behavioral shifts necessary to keeping Lean Leadership active in any work environment. These shifts include “asking questions rather than giving answers […] digging for root causes of problems [and] connecting the future to today,” all ideas that management can implement on a daily basis (Jenkins). Being open to continuing to learn even while in a leadership position and not expecting to come into the role already know everything is an important behavior Lean Leaders need to embrace. Jenkins writes that leaders “eventually realized that questions were more valuable than answers,” explaining how encouraging leaders to pursue new information is essential because growth is beneficial for everyone in a Lean Leadership setting.
As stated earlier, when looking at problems, Lean Leaders must always look for the “root cause” of the problem (Jenkins). Jenkins makes it clear that Band-Aid type solutions are not an effective way for leaders to address issues. Instead, the only way to truly fix something is to get to the base of the problem. This is because not addressing a problem in its entirety can “[create] still more waste that the organization could have avoided” (Jenkins). Effective and holistic problem-solving skills are important for good Lean Leaders to demonstrate to their employees because they reflect just how much a leader cares for their organization.
The final behavior Lean Leaders must practice involves connecting the organization to the future. This can be done in many ways, including “translating the organization’s purpose and business objectives into practical targets that people can work toward each day” (Jenkins). This means making it easy for each person in the organization to know what the company's goals are and how they are expected to reach them. While this can be intimidating, it is a skill that needs to be developed in order to ensure the organization’s goals are constantly pursued and eventually achieved.
2. THE CASE STUDY
In the Case Study we were assigned, Alejandra Quintanilla is struggling with a situation where her leaders are not making her feel empowered to speak up and offer new ideas. Alejandra aspires to own a restaurant one day, so after graduating with a degree in Hospitality and Restaurant Management, she decided to gain hands-on experience by working in a local Mexican restaurant as a waitress. The owner of the restaurant, Sr. Montenegro, is a middle-aged man who has been working there since he was 17 years old, so he is very familiar with the restaurant business- experience Alejandra could potentially benefit from. However, quickly after beginning work Alejandra realizes there are several areas of improvement all throughout the restaurant that Sr. Montenegro has not addressed.
In the front of the house, the guests seat themselves and tables are served at random. Because of this, tables are sometimes neglected altogether when people seat themselves at dirty tables during the rush and the servers don’t realize new guests have arrived. Unfortunately in the kitchen the organization isn’t much better. When it comes to food stock, there isn’t an organized ordering system. This means popular food items are not ordered in enough bulk, and unpopular ones are overstocked, leading to a lot of waste. Not only that, but the process you must go through to order the food is lengthy and redundant, making it more difficult than it has to be to purchase food. Alejandra also noticed that the prep area was not as organized as it could be. With only four stations available, people are expected to work very close together, often resulting in incorrect orders and preventable injuries.
After taking all of this in, Alejandra wants to speak with Sr. Montenegro. She loves this restaurant very much and wants to see it continue to thrive, but she is afraid talking to Sr. Montenegro may upset him or make him feel inadequate. It is clear she has the ability to help make his restaurant more organized, profitable, and efficient, especially when it comes to the customer service aspect. It is also clear, however, that Sr. Montenegro does not recognize how inefficient some of his practices are based on his dedication to the lengthy ordering system that is in place.
This is where Lean Leadership comes in. Sr. Montenegro is not practicing as a Lean Leader, something that can be noted simply based off of Alejandra’s hesitation to talk to Sr. Montenegro about the issues she has noticed. In a Lean Leadership atmosphere, Alejandra would feel empowered to talk with Sr. Montenegro about all of the things she has noticed that could easily be remedied. As was mentioned earlier, no one is ever finished learning. Unfortunately, Sr. Montenegro does not seem to agree with this sentiment and feels that his years of experience are enough to justify his stubbornness. Alejandra seems to recognize this, but she still feels like it is her duty to let Sr. Montenegro know there are several areas in the restaurant that could use improvement.
The fact that she has recognized these areas of improvement says she has a keen eye for increasing efficiency, and, though this may not help her in her current situation, Alejandra does have the makings for an excellent Lean Leader. Alejandra is able to identify problem areas, which is a strong indicator that she will be able to run an efficient business one day. As of now, Alejandra’s effectiveness as a leader is poor, but in an environment where she is encouraged to communicate with her supervisors and fellow employees about problems people are facing, Alejandra could easily thrive. She may be able to help Sr. Montenegro's company if she is given the opportunity to speak to him about the situation, but it seems it is more likely she will be using these skills to help successfully further her own restaurant one day.
3. LEAN LEADERSHIP APPLIED
If we were to look back at Alejandra’s situation, the application of Lean Leadership would definitely make the restaurant she works at more profitable and efficient. If given the chance to make adjustments to increase efficiency and decrease waste at the restaurant she is working at, it can easily be assumed Alejandra would have several suggestions for both the front of the house and the kitchen.
In front of the house, Alejandra has concluded that the seating system is incredibly disorganized. The first thing she would likely implement is a host/hostess system. The introduction of this new position would keep guests from being overlooked when they first arrive while also preventing guests from sitting at dirty tables. If one does not already exist, Alejandra would likely also introduce a seating chart for the wait staff to follow so the host is able to identify which areas are best to seat guests in.
In the kitchen, Alejandra would introduce a better inventory system. This system would help reduce both food waste and food shortages. She would also cut out the middle man when placing food orders. Nothing should ever be more complicated than is necessary, so having the food order requests triple checked should absolutely be one of the things Alejandra addresses. The complex ordering system not only discourages employees from reporting food shortages, but it also encourages them to fudge numbers a bit so more food is ordered than may be necessary just so they don’t have to repeat the food ordering process so often.
Finally, Alejandra would address the chaotic food prep area. Depending upon the amount of space available, she might suggest adding new prep areas so the chefs have more room, or she may suggest reorganizing how the area is divvied out for prep. Regardless, giving more room and organization to the prep area would decrease injuries and mistakes made while also speeding up the prep process.
Situations such as these where efficiency can be improved upon can also be identified in many areas of the Walt Disney World Resort. In Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe specifically, leaders are always looking to find new ways to increase efficiency. In fact, Cosmic Ray’s has applied Lead Leadership to many areas in the kitchen. One of the issues Cosmic Ray’s is currently working on is a solution for burger hold and cook times. Burgers take four minutes to cook and they have a four-minute hold time, so the leaders felt like the most efficient way to ensure fresh burgers are always being served was to install a timer that goes off every four minutes. When it goes off, leftover burgers are wasted, and burgers fresh off the broiler replace them.
It’s also the simple things. Things like cheese being warmed at the beginning of the day so we can bring warm cheese to the stands as soon as they open, or adding a new label machine downstairs in the food prep area so the cast member working prep doesn’t have to run upstairs to make labels. It doesn’t seem significant, but it increases efficiency and cuts down on waste nonetheless.
Circling back to Alejandra and the further development of her Lean Leadership qualities, it is important that she continue to strive to improve her own leadership skills if she truly hopes to be a Lean Leader. Going forward, here are three key things she should keep in mind: emphasizing simplification, remaining open to new ideas, and continuing to show respect to all of her fellow employees.
With technology being at everyone’s fingertips, people are expecting service to now be as efficient as ever. When guests visit restaurants, they are expecting fast service that feels worth going out of their way for. Because of this, simplicity in the form of Gemba is incredibly important. Simplifying your ordering process decreases the time people have to spend waiting for their food and increases the likelihood a guest will come back. This simplification also bleeds over to the kitchen. If you simplify the cooking process or the design of the prep area in the kitchen, it is more likely you will be consistently putting out quality products. This combination will lead to a much more pleasant experience for the guests.
Keeping her employees happy is just as important as meeting her guests' needs. Because of this, it is important Alejandra practices mutual respect and stays open to new learning experiences. It is unlikely Alejandra was the only person that noticed how inefficient some of the practices in the restaurant were, and it is just as unlikely Alejandra was able to catch all of the inefficiencies in the restaurant. This means it is important Alejandra keep an open line of communication with the other employees in the restaurant. By showing them she has respect for what they have to say, Alejandra is encouraging her fellow employees to come forward to talk about problems they may be noticing. As we saw before, this was not something Sr. Montenegro practiced, and because of that Alejandra felt uncomfortable suggesting changes that would help the company thrive. No leader wants to sabotage their own company, so keeping an open mind and an open heart is necessary so no preventable issues are overlooked.
Lean Leadership truly is a combination of roles, values, and behaviors that will never reach their full maturity. There will always be room for personal growth, so a Lean Leader is expected to always strive to find the areas where that growth would be most beneficial. By interacting with their employees on a personal level and showing them that they are respected and valued, employees feel empowered to communicate with their supervisors about where they feel the company is falling short. Not only does this increase in communication make employees feel like they are making important contributions to the company, but it also helps leaders head off problem areas, which in turn fosters a good environment for the company to succeed in. This leadership style is invaluable to the current climate and relationships between leaders and employees, as respect and trust are becoming more important to prospective employees.
4. RESOURCES
Hamalian, John S. “6 Key Traits of a Lean Leader.” Process Excellence Network, 25 May 2018, www.processexcellencenetwork.c... style="text-align: justify;">Jenkins, Alison. “Advancing Lean Leadership.” McKinsey & Company, www.mckinsey.com/business-func... style="text-align: justify;">
Wilson, Lonnie. “Six Qualities of Lean Leadership.” IndustryWeek, 28 May 2013, www.industryweek.com/continuous-improvement/six-qualities-lean-leadership.
