Vision, Mission and policy deployment 2

Continuous from the previous post "Vision, Mission and policy deployment 1", we knew that they are important elements of success in lean implementation. Actually, the alignment of lean implementation is very important in how to implement lean manufacturing of the process improvement. If the company ignore or mis-align the vision and mission of lean, they will fail in the implementation and promotion of lean concept.

Here is a story in Hong Kong, and I think all the people in Hong Kong learned this news a moment before. I was really disappointed and angry by this incident. On Dec20,2008, it was a middle-aged male driving in urban district with his son. Suddenly, the middle-aged driver was heart attacked and his son drove him to Caritas Medical Centre (明愛醫院) for first aid. However, when the young people ran into the receiption of hospital, the receiptionist in the hospital suggested him to make a emergency call! Finally, the middle-aged father was dead because of the ambulance arrived the main gate of hospital half an hours later. What a ridiculous incident for the hospital!

Afterward, I checked the web for Caritas Medical Centre, I found that her motto was stated as "Love in the Service of Hope." The word "LOVE" is always a intangible noun especially when it was used in service. What kind of vision or mission they are? Are that all the doctor, nurse and employee in that hospital understood its meaning? The most ridiculous fact is that we let people die in front of the main gate of hospital is one kind of love? Actually, the employee in the hospital achieved the vision or mission is another matter, the most important is that the vision aligned with the main goal. In simply said, is that aligned to what they should do! If nobody realized that what they should do in their profession, how they can execute the goal? Who should we blame for?

I checked the vision and mission for another hospital (博愛醫院Pok Oi Hospital) and found that it is very clear statment of her vision, "To be a charitable organization that: strives to provide diversified and quality services, maximizes on available resources, devotes to continuous improvement, and drives for innovative measures. ". She also states the idea of continuous improvement in her mission number 3. It is obviously that she has the lean concept and aligned in her vision and mission.

This a common problem in industrial world, the companies stated that they are going to be the number 1 in the world. However, they were only seeking the way to reduce the cost. Most of the time, they were sacrificing their quality and service to achieve the cost saving target. They are always implement the lean concept but it was not aligned in their vision and mission. The manager or director applied the lean concept but without the alignment of main goal, so they are busy in making a good report only shown the saving. If it is no related with vision, it is hard to counter check the result but only according to the kaizen project presentation or report. The lean concept can not be setup as the culture of the company. Therefore, it is the most common factor of failure of lean implementation.

I worked in a MNC and I asked the management team for what are the missions of their department. I asked what is the vision of the company, the answer is only the silence. Afterward, I asked what should we do in future? No answer too and I can heard a pin falled on the floor. Therefore, we need a very clear vision and mission alignment for lean implementation, even for the success of company.