New Hybrid Book Takes a Novel Approach to Strategy Deployment

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Chet Marchwinski

Phone 617 871-2930

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New Hybrid Book Takes a “Novel” Approach to Strategy Deployment

Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 19, 2006 -- For companies to be competitive, leaders must engage people at all levels in order to focus their energy and enable them to apply lean principles to everything they do. Strategy deployment, called hoshin kanri by Toyota, has proven to be the most effective process for meeting this ongoing challenge.

In his new book Getting the Right Things Done (Lean Enterprise Institute; Dec. 7, 2006; $40.00; softcover), Pascal Dennis outlines the nuts and bolts of strategy deployment, answering two tough questions that ultimately can make or break a company’s lean transformation:

· What kind of planning system is required to inspire meaningful company-wide continuous improvement?

· How might we change existing mental models that do not support a culture of continuous improvement?

“Strategy deployment is an extremely powerful approach to planning and execution across the organization,” said James Womack, founder and chairman of the nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI). “Toyota uses it throughout its global operations to link strategy to action and to sustain improvements once achieved.”

While traditional planning is about positioning or selecting from among options, strategy deployment is about doing, explained Dennis, an LEI faculty member who used strategy deployment while working at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada.

“The hardest part of planning isn’t deciding what direction to go in but how do we get there, how do we motivate the troops, how do we correct course,” Dennis said. “Strategy deployment is enterprise-wide application of the plan-do-check-act cycle (PDCA). Moreover it’s a human system. With strategy deployment, we don’t tell; we ask questions. We don’t command; we engage.”

Getting the Right Things Done is unique in several ways. First, unlike earlier books on strategy deployment, it does not focus primarily on tools. Getting the Right Things Done covers the tools but also describes in detail the underlying -- and overlooked -- mental model and management system for using them successfully. Secondly, it primarily focuses on the hard work of achieving/deploying key strategies, rather than on a complex process for selecting the “perfect” objective.

The book contains a wealth of simple but effective visual tools such as filled-in charts and graphs at every step in the process, dashboards, detailed A3’s, and an appendix of blank templates. It also steps readers through a framework for understanding the key components of strategy deployment: agreeing on the company’s “true north,” working within the PDCA cycle, getting consensus through “catchball,” the deployment leader concept, and A3 thinking.

Written in a hybrid style that combines elements of a business novel with those of how-to workbook, the book is easy to read besides being practical. It tells the story of a fictional (yet very real) midsized company, Atlas Industries, which must dramatically improve to compete with emerging rivals and meet new customer demands.

Getting the Right Things Done chronicles the journey of the company and its president/COO, an experienced lean leader who was hired to steer Atlas in the right direction. While Atlas had already applied some basic lean principles, it had not really connected the people and business processes so that the company could dramatically improve. Atlas’ challenge: find a way to focus and align the efforts of people and apply lean tools in the right places.” Enter strategy deployment.

Company leaders at all levels and the management teams who are responsible for strategy deployment will find this book especially insightful. LEI will sponsor a free webinar on strategy deployment featuring Dennis on Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. (Eastern).

Like LEI’s first business novel, The Gold Mine, Getting the Right Things Done tells a realistic, compelling story. Like LEI’s very successful and practical workbook series, it also takes a step-by-step instructional approach to the strategy deployment process.

Getting the Right Things Done is on sale at the LEI web site at www.lean.org, click Store or call 617 871-2900. More information, including downloadable excerpts, is at the LEI web site in the Library section.

About the Author

Pascal Dennis is a professional engineer, author, and advisor to North America companies making the lean leap. He has been a manager of operations, human resources, finance, and health, safety, and environment. His lean education began at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, where he worked with lean masters from North American and Japan.. Pascal continued his learning by focusing on the implementation of lean concepts such as strategy deployment across management levels, kaizen, the use of A3 reports, standardized work, and visual management. He has also applied lean approaches to quality, safety, problem solving, pull systems, and maintenance. Since leaving Toyota, Pascal has worked with major international companies in a variety of sectors to understand and implement Lean management systems.

Getting the Right Things Done: a leader’s guide to planning and execution

Author: Pascal Dennis

Publication date: Dec. 18, 2006

Softcover, 232 pages

ISBN: 0-9763152-6-2

Price: $40.00

Editors/Producers

For review copies of Getting the Right Things Done or to interview the author, contact Chet Marchwinski at the Lean Enterprise Institute: or 617 871-2930. For background about lean, visit the LEI web site at: www.lean.org.

About the Lean Enterprise Institute

The Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit training, publishing, and research center founded by James P. Womack PhD, in August 1997 to give people simple but powerful tools that enable them to apply a set of ideas known as lean production and lean thinking, based initially on the Toyota Production System. The institute’s global mission is to be the leading educator for maximizing value and minimizing waste. To accomplish this goal, LEI develops and advances lean principles, tools, and techniques designed to enable positive change. LEI disseminates this knowledge with the lean community through books and workbooks, public training, conferences, research projects, its web site, and global affiliates. For more information visit the LEI News page at http://www.lean.org/WhoWeAre/LEINews.cfm.