Table 3.
Comparison of Lean leadership and servant leadership
| Leadership aspect | Lean | Servant |
|---|---|---|
| Origins | Based on Toyota Production System | |
| First described in 1980 by Womack and Jones | First described in 1970 by Greenleaf | |
| Roots in post-World War I training program | Roots in theological and philosophical belief systems | |
| Built upon long history of production systems (Henry Ford and Walter Edwards Deming) |
||
| Philosophy | Remove waste to maximize value | Serve others’ needs |
| Commitment to respect | Develop a sustainable organization | |
| Focus on organization’s well being | Focus on leaders meeting the needs of others | |
| Qualification of employees | People-driven, person-oriented attitude | |
| Focus on process | Focus on people | |
| Characteristics | Employee empowerment | Communication |
| Listening | ||
| Integrity | ||
| Humility | ||
| Self-development | Empathy | |
| Development of others | Appreciation of others | |
| Modesty | Healing | |
| Listening | ||
| Openness | ||
| Trust | Awareness | |
| Visibility | ||
| Responsibility | Persuasion | |
| Influence | ||
| Motivating | Conceptualization | |
| Modeling | Modeling | |
| Respect for people | Foresight | |
| Personal observation of work | Stewardship | |
| Observe | Trust | |
| Engage | Service | |
| Improve | ||
| Create a vision | Commitment to growth of people | |
| Encouragement | ||
| Empowerment | ||
| Establish goals | Teaching | |
| Delegation | ||
| Remove barriers | Vision | |
| Building community | ||
| Pioneering | ||
| Honesty | ||
| Credibility | ||
| Competence | ||
| Values | Continuous improvement | Humility |
| Safety | ||
| Quality | ||
| Effectiveness | ||
| Efficiency | ||
| Respect for people | Respect for others | |
| Employee satisfaction | ||
| Human development | Serve the community | |
| Employee empowerment | ||
| Standardization | Quality of service | |
| Release of checklists | ||
| Tools | Kaizen events (rapid improvement events) | Personal values |
| Value stream map | Moral core | |
| A3 framework | Characteristics | |
| PDCA cycle | Humility | |
| Authenticity | ||
| Stewardship | ||
| Vision | ||
| Desire to serve others | ||
| Just in time | ||
| Kanban (inventory-control system to control the supply chain) | ||
| Intelligent automation | ||
| 5-whys | ||
| 5S | ||
| Strategy deployment | ||
| Evaluation: shop-floor walking | ||
| Ohno cycle | ||
| Organizational culture | Improvement culture | Open and trusting environment |
| No blame approaches to mistakes and errors | Collaboration | |
| Problem is opportunity | ||
| Doing the right thing | Transparency | |
| Doing more with less | ||
| Transparency | Learning environment | |
| Room to learn and to make mistakes | ||
| Employee empowerment | ||
| Teamwork | Safe psychological environment | |
| Learning culture | ||
| Organizational performance | Higher competitive advantage | Sustainable organization |
| Long term sustainability of the organization | Team effectiveness | |
| Increased teamwork | ||
| More collaboration | ||
| Tangible outputs: | Tangible outputs: | |
| Reduced error rates | High quality of care | |
| Reduction in costs | ||
| Reduced waiting times | Enhance procedural justice | |
| Increased productivity | ||
| Increased quality | ||
| Reduced costs | ||
| Reduced mortality rates | ||
| Improved patient care | ||
| Intangible outputs: | Intangible outputs: | |
| Increased employee motivation | Trust in the organization | |
| Increased patient safety | ||
| Increased employee satisfaction | Increased patient satisfaction | |
| Improved patient safety | Increased employee empowerment | |
| Improved patient satisfaction | Increased organizational commitment of employees | |
| Employee empowerment | ||
| Achieve perfection in processes | Employees become healthier, wiser, freer, and more | |
| autonomous |
Abbreviation: PDCA, plan do check act.