Below is an excerpt from an actual email (with names and company specifics removed) in reply to an inquiry by the president of a Fortune 500 company. She was newly appointed as the executive sponsor for her division’s “Lean Enterprise Transformation”, and asked us: “What’s critical for the success of our transformation?”

3. Set positive goals. Many lean initiatives begin as a cost cutting program; the good news is that this can be achieved quickly. But don’t fall into the trap of focusing only on “reductionist” objectives (for example, lower costs, fewer people, less required working capital). As you probably know, the real power of lean is its holistic approach that can achieve a competitive advantage for you. Be sure to balance your business objectives with growth oriented goals such as market share, customer responsiveness, throughput, on-time performance, and time-to-market. Key point: It’s critical that a direct linkage exist between your business objectives and every activity from your lean initiative. If senior management does not understand this linkage, they (and you) may lose interest; lean just won’t be relevant to them.

(Links to part 1, part 2, part 4, part 5, part 6)