Lean Transformation and the Art of War.

The success of any Lean Transformation depends on a few key factors.

In the “Art of War” of Sun Tzu, one can define 3 factors that will determine the outcome of a battle:

• If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear a hundred battles.
• If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
• If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

what is needed to win a battle? What is the profit to be delivered from the process? VOB

Sun Tzu’s three conditions helps determine the success of a business:

If you understand the needs of your customers, What is the customer experience to be delivered? VOC

If you know the capabilities  of your own business but do not understand the needs of your customers or the strengths of your competitors, for every increase in sales revenue you will reduce profits and lose market share. VOP

If you do not know the needs of your customers, the strengths of your competitors nor the capabilities  of your own business, you will succumb to market forces and eventually lose everything.

The process for creating a high performance organization must start with a business knowing the limits of its own capabilities . The company must define and understand its current state before it can develop a plan to determine where it must improve its processes to create a future state. However, defining the future state cannot happen until the business understands the needs of its customers and the strengths of its competitors. Once a business has clearly defined these 3 factors it can develop a future state that serves its customer and is in a stronger position to compete in the market place. One way to do this effectively is to follow the “10 Steps to become a Lean Enterprise” model.