For more than 30 years, organisations around the world have invested heavily in Lean tools: 5S, Kanban, Value Stream Mapping, A3 problem solving, standard work and more. And those tools can deliver real short-term results. Output rises, waste falls, and improvement activity becomes visible.

Yet in many organisations, something predictable happens:

• The gains fade.
• New problems look suspiciously similar to old ones.
• CI teams carry the improvement load while others look on.
• Leaders get frustrated that culture is not shifting.
• Lean feels like a programme… rather than “how we work”.

This is not because Lean doesn’t work. It’s because most organisations start in the wrong place.

They focus on the tools, hoping culture and behaviours will follow.

Tools Alone Don’t Change Culture

You can teach someone how to 5S a workstation, but unless the underlying beliefs and behaviours change, the visual boards slowly fill with dust and the bins return to their original positions.

Shingo captured this reality in a simple but powerful logic chain:

Principles → Systems → Behaviours → Results

But most organisations start in the middle — with systems (tools and processes) — hoping their use will shift behaviours and ultimately culture.

This is backwards.

Why Tool-First Lean Fails

When Lean is implemented as a set of tools:

• Leaders often see it as “something the CI team is doing”.
• Middle managers try to fit the tools into old habits and priorities.
• People participate, but don’t internalise the “why”.
• Success depends on who is watching.
• When managers are busy, improvement slows or stops.

This leads to a subtle but damaging situation:

The organisation is “doing Lean”, but not becoming Lean.

A Common Symptom: Repeating Problems

One of the clearest indicators of this disconnect is when problems are solved… then return a few months later. The team fixed the issue, but the behaviours that cause it remain unchanged.

This means the root cause is rarely technical — it is behavioural.

And behavioural issues don’t shift through tools alone. They shift when the organisation’s systems consistently reinforce the right behaviours.

Enter the Shingo Model: Lean With the Missing Foundation

The Shingo Model is not a replacement for Lean — it is the missing foundation that explains why some organisations sustain improvement and others stall.

It teaches that:

• Behaviours are the real unit of performance
• People behave based on the systems they work within
• Systems are designed based on the principles leaders believe in

So if an organisation wants lasting improvement, it must work at all three levels.

1. Principles

These are universal truths about how organisations achieve excellence — respect for every individual, lead with humility, assure quality at the source, focus on process, think scientifically, and so on.

When leaders understand and operate from principles, their decision-making becomes consistent and improvement accelerates.

2. Systems

A system is anything that influences how people behave — policies, KPIs, hiring practices, meeting rhythms, work standards, performance reviews, recognition, onboarding, escalation processes.

If a system rewards firefighting, people will fight fires.
If a system rewards collaboration and learning, people will do that instead.

3. Behaviours

Only when systems are aligned with principles do the right behaviours appear naturally, consistently and without constant management pressure.

At this stage:

• Improvement continues even when leaders are away.
• Problems stay fixed.
• CI becomes part of daily work, not a special event.
• Culture changes — not because people were told to change, but because the environment makes the right action easier.

The Shingo Difference

Traditional Lean rollouts often look like this:

“Here are new tools — use them.”

The Shingo approach looks more like:

“Here is how the world works. Here are the principles behind high performance. Let’s design systems that reinforce them daily.”

It moves capability from:

Doing → Thinking

And that shift is where transformation happens.

What This Means for Leaders

If results aren’t improving, or if improvement feels temporary or fragile, the first question isn’t:

“What tool do we need?”

It is:

“What behaviour is happening — and what system is causing that behaviour?”

Leaders create culture, whether they intend to or not. Every KPI, review process, meeting structure, or policy sends a message about what is truly valued.

If you want sustainable improvement, start there.

In Closing

Shingo doesn’t replace Lean. It explains it.

Lean gives us powerful tools and methods.
Shingo gives us the mindset and principles that make those tools stick.

When organisations start with tools, they get activity.
When they start with principles, they get culture, behaviour and enduring results.

If you’d like to explore how Shingo thinking could help your organisation move from “doing Lean” to “becoming a Lean organisation”, I’d be happy to discuss.