Ian Walsh, Partner, Argon & Co NZ

I was reflecting recently on how many business owners have started an improvement program with 5S and failed. Before I talk about the “why” and the “how” 5S implementations fail in these businesses, and for those who haven’t come across 5S before, allow me to briefly explain what 5S is.

5S is a practice that was developed at Toyota in the 1960s. 5S consists of 5 “S’s” based on Japanese words and the associated anglicised word:

1. Seiri (Sort) – Eliminate unnecessary items from the workplace.
2. Seiton (Set in Order) – Organize the necessary items so they are easy to use and accessible.
3. Seiso (Shine) – Clean the workplace and keep it clean.
4. Seiketsu (Standardise) – Standardise the best practices within the workplace.
5. Shitsuke (Sustain) – Ensure discipline and commitment to maintain the 5S processes.

All the business leaders that I’ve talked to about failed 5S implementations were unable to maintain the “standardise” and “sustain” the initiative. After a period of time, standards slipped and then eventually (or quite quickly) returned to the previous level with a few artifacts remaining. Most of these leaders said “we tried that, it didn’t work”.

This needs a deeper analysis. There are examples across the globe of world-class companies that rely on 5S as a core practice and have succeeded in sustaining the practice. On that evidence, surely it’s not that 5S itself fails, but that particular implementations fail?

Many of these business leaders I talked to stated that they were told something along the lines of “if you can’t do 5S you can’t do anything”, and so they started their improvement journey with 5S, usually with help from a “mentor”.

Typically, they would do a 5S exercise in an area in 1-2 days and then move into the sustain part of the process.

Of course this misunderstands the point of 5S. Yes, it is about making work flow and making the business more productive. But more than that it’s about setting a standard and holding the team to that standard, and establishing teamwork and accountability. The actual saying was “if you can’t master 5S, forget the rest” but it’s not really about 5S itself.

The point is that if you can’t engage a workforce in sustaining a standard in their workplace, then that workforce won’t be able to hold any standard or follow any process consistently, and this will limit the business’ ability to drive an improvement culture.

The last S (sustain or shitsuke) actually has two meanings. At the beginning of an implementation it means directed discipline; that change has to be led from the top, with leaders requiring teams to adhere to a new standard.

As teams mature the meaning is more about self-discipline; it has become embedded in the culture. As such each “S” should be followed with some “standardise” and “sustain”, and a period of leaders’ support to ensure the new standard is achieved and sustained. Once this is done the next “S” can be tackled.

It’s like most successful change implementations: a combination of top-down and bottom-up efforts executed well can form the base of a team culture of achieving and sustaining standards, and as a platform for further improvement.

A key piece of advice is to choose an area to start which is big enough to make a real difference through reduced waste and rework, but not so big that it absorbs more resource than the team can afford. Bite off just what you can chew.

So why do most businesses fail? If change is done to a team or at them, rather than them owning it, they will wait for the leadership to fail so they can go back to their old ways.

It requires a significant conscious effort to make team members feel that it’s their process, and have them embed that process into their ways of working. In most cases this effort is unable to be maintained, and the team returns to their previous state.

Fundamentally, you can’t change a culture in a day. It requires ongoing reinforcement and discipline to set a new standard, and holding yourself and your team to account until the standard has been achieved.

Leaders must support the team through change, and address team members who are undermining the change or not complying with the new standard. As a successful change process plays out in a team, and once the standards can be sustained, only then should you move to the next level.

If you need help with this, or perhaps have “failed” 5S previously, I’m keen to chat.