Better understanding the nature of transformation is core to the mission of LEI today. Sharing this model with you, and helping others practice and develop it, enables us at LEI to narrow a gap regarding our aim.
The framework guides lean enterprises, both ongoing firms and startups, through the fundamental questions of purpose, process, and people:
- What is the value-driven purpose? Or what is the problem to solve?
- What is the work to be done (to solve the problem)?
- What capabilities are required (to do the work to solve the problem?)
- What management system – operating system and leadership behaviors—is required?
- What basic thinking, including mindsets and assumptions, are required by the organization as a purpose-driven socio-technical system?
These questions are fractal—meaning that the same questions apply whether working at the macro enterprise level or the level of individual responsibility as you dive progressively deeper into each dimension. But, while the transformation model that has emerged through years of experience is situational, the nature of the questions represent a clear point of view: if an organization fails to address each question with a sense of how each relates to the others, the transformation will struggle to sustain its momentum.