At college, I discovered cross-cultural management and I became passionate about it. After graduation I decided to study cross-cultural communication further within a European program. It turned out to be a wise choice! I was led to work with, and within, many different cultures. I have been involved in sales and business development in various parts of the world for the past 15 years.

A few years ago, I was giving the opportunity to become a volunteer trainer within my corporate university which involved teaching cross-cultural communication to my colleagues. This is how I started to train teams in charge of operational excellence and project management. Doing so, I have noticed that transformation and change management programs do not, or little, address the question of cultural diversity. Specifically, I have decided to address Lean programs as I realize that it is such a pity to invest much effort and money in how an organization operates while lacking sustainable improvements because of cultural issues that could be approached effectively. And I can say that it has been an exciting collective adventure.

It is interesting to note that Lean management and interculturality are both journeys, not destinations. I would even use the term ‘exploration’ here because it is a natural process to keep on discovering new things along the way. And, as with any exploration, the experience transforms you … as long as you approach it with curiosity and modesty.

Enjoy!

“Becoming Lean means focusing on creating value for the customer with a minimum of waste on the processes but also, and above all, adopting a Lean culture. In charge of the deployment of the Industrial and Office Lean Programs on five continents, the Lean Cultural Compass has become a strategic tool systematically integrated into my transformation roadmap.

Lean is a human journey and the cultural compass of Lean makes it easy to navigate. Operational excellence can only be achieved when people act, report, and plan in a Lean way. In other words, when lean thinking is integrated.”

Lean is first and foremost a work ethic and human development. It includes a high level of respect for the individual and responsibility towards others and the community. Lean is a school of acceptance of the truth through rigorous transparency tempered by the right to make mistakes and collective ownership of problems. Many of the tools implemented in Lean are common to other approaches to work, but only the ethics that Lean associates with them can transform them into means of personal development. Implementing Lean therefore requires, in parallel, explaining this unique culture of work and cooperation and building bridges with local cultures, because “science without conscience is but the ruin of the soul”…

This is Tom Geng, currently working as Nexans Suzhou Plant Manager and previously APAC Lean Champion located in Shanghai.

I was born and raised in Northern China. I went to the UK to study, and I worked there for several years. I went afterwards to Australia and worked for Toyota, before joining Nexans Olex Australia. In 2016, I was assigned to go work in China for the first time in my life. Thus, I can say that I have considerable experience in working in multicultural environments with colleagues from various parts of the world.

For instance, I was working with 16 colleagues from more than 10 different countries while in Australia. Back then, I did realize that they were behaving and communicating in very different ways, but I could not understand the reason.

I just recently started to understand the reasons that make different cultures behave and communicate differently owing to the Cross-Cultural communication and management workshop I took part in with Natacha. During the workshop, I have learned about cultural differences and origins. I realized that understanding these ideas is crucial, for it makes you adopt different approaches when communicating and working with various cultures.

As a Lean Champion, it is especially important to understand cultural differences. I would need to work with Australians, New Zealanders, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and French. Different approaches must be used to be able to convince and bring people on board so Lean principles are applied and followed. Some cultures prefer a top-down approach, where some need bottom-up and some need from both directions.

The Cross-Cultural communication and management workshop has helped me in my daily work life. I would highly suggest that all Lean champions (mainly regional and corporate champions) take part in this kind of workshop because it will help them implement Lean principles in their work.

“I was lucky enough to fall in love with Lean 6 years ago, become a Black Belt and manage Lean projects in many countries as part of multicultural teams. I am convinced today that we cannot dissociate Lean and culture. Lean’s mission is to learn, to see what is happening around us in order to become more agile, to detect and solve problems. But above all, it allows us to work more efficiently and create an environment where we can all become autonomous and learn every day.

 This is the reason why Lean and culture are interconnected. Being able to understand others through their own prisms allows us to adapt our communication, but also our training. Mutual understanding enables to increase impact and to ensure a lasting transformation, understood and accepted by all.

If I had to summarize my experience in one sentence it would be: get into Lean without hesitation but always keep in mind the different prisms that animate you, and those around you.

Enjoy the trip!”

“From my personal and humble experience in delivering Lean training and coaching projects across multicultural countries, I strongly believe that understanding the mysterious codes of cultural dimension is crucial to deliver a greater operational performance.

Just to name a few examples as a real-life experiences where I have understood that power distance between employees and leadership has a significant impact in Lean deployment. In some countries employees are expected to share their ideas and solutions to problems (med-low power distance) without any limiting factor whereas in other countries  with greater power distance, this is not the case. Consequently, opportunities for improvement are wasted, which is considered in the Lean philosophy as an under-utilization of skills. Other limiting cultural factors in Lean implementation are seen mainly in relation to local language, make problem visible mindset, beliefs in respect of rules and application of standards.

In conclusion, the understanding of how Lean is perceived in relation with culture is key to ensure basic condition for Lean transformation success and enable the achievement of the desired operational and Business results”.