There’s an old story about two factory workers tasked with building a 100-foot wall. One worker finishes 100 feet of rickety, crooked chaos, while the other crafts only a 50-foot section, but with precision and durability. When the boss arrives, who should he reward? If quantity was all that mattered, the first worker wins. But anyone with a stake in the wall’s longevity knows better. It’s the way the second worker approached the task that holds the lesson.
This principle transcends concrete and mortar. It’s what separates organisations that thrive sustainably from those that burn brightly for a moment, only to falter. And it’s the heart of Lean Thinking.
The Mirage of Outcome
Consider a software company delivering record-breaking sales during a tech boom. The numbers look dazzling, and the team is celebrated with bonuses and promotions. Yet under the shine, we find a chaotic process. Product releases were rushed, decisions were made on a whim, and customer support was neglected. The company didn’t win because of its strategy. It won because it stood on fertile ground, not because it planted the seeds right.
When Lean practitioners talk about eliminating waste, they don’t just mean streamlining physical inputs. They mean avoiding wasted focus on surface-level metrics that distort reality. Like the factory wall, success that seems solid from far away can collapse when tested. If you reward only results, you risk celebrating luck, market tides, or unsustainable effort rather than building the foundation for replicable excellence.
Understanding the “How”
Lean Thinking teaches us to respect the process. Toyota’s legendary production system wasn’t built on the cars it shipped out but on the continuous improvement ethos embedded in every rivet, bolt, and assembly-line tweak. Leaders there understood that you don’t just ask, “What did we make?” You ask, “How did we make it?”
Take, for instance, an executive team embarking on a market expansion. They pour over dashboards and celebrate the spike in customer acquisition. But when market interest wanes, so too does their success. Why? Because their methods were unsustainable. They spent aggressively on discounts rather than developing a long-term value proposition. Meanwhile, a competitor, one applying Lean strategies, may have finished with slower growth in the first phase but spent that time implementing scalable distribution processes and gathering customer insights. Fast-forward five years, and it’s the competitor who thrives.
Lean Thinking tells us to look beyond short-term wins and focus on the root drivers of success. This is why Lean champions structured problem-solving and performance metrics that aren’t just about outputs, but about inputs and flows.
When Good Decisions Go Unrewarded
Lean organisations understand that not every effort yields the desired outcome—even when those efforts were sound. Picture this: a pharmaceutical company rolls out a new drug following stringent testing protocols. But during launch, an economic downturn reduces consumer spending. Sales underperform. Judging the team purely on the numbers would undervalue their disciplined, informed approach, potentially steering the company toward rash shortcuts in the future.
History routinely judges decisions based on results. Innovations that fail vanish into obscurity, while successes are elevated—even if, as in the case of the infamous Titanic (a marvel of flawed overconfidence), the iceberg was obvious in hindsight.
Lean thinkers don’t fall for this trap. The principle of respect for people is about empowering teams to make thoughtful decisions, even when outcomes aren’t guaranteed. When those decisions are right, we study and replicate the process, knowing it can bear fruit when conditions align.
Leading for the Long Term
At its core, focusing on how results are achieved shifts the narrative from fleeting outcomes to sustainable systems. Processes built on waste elimination, respect for people, and relentless improvement aren’t just about creating more value. They’re about creating value better. Leaders who adopt this mindset build organisations that are resilient in the face of change and capable of evolving when luck inevitably runs out.
The lesson here is simple yet profound. Success is not magic, nor is it a one-off artifact. It’s a product of carefully designed processes. And when organisations reward the process and not just the result, they unlock a self-reinforcing cycle of improvement that delivers something far more valuable than a wall or a quarterly return. They build greatness, brick by brick, win or lose.
Get in touch to learn more about how Leanscape can support you and your team to drive the right improvements to create sustainable long-term success.
