“Lean tools can be taught to anybody. We know now that the soft skills are the critical part of this whole process.” This is according to an operations manager at Herman Miller, a leading furniture manufacturer.

What can you do right now that will improve your soft skill set and contribute to your organization’s lean journey and prosperity? What soft skills can help you take proactive measures to immediately address short term issues, such as cost containment, while at the same time avoid the mistake of honing in on the tip of the iceberg?

Consider the overarching strategy of best-in-class organizations: an unrelenting focus on customers’ priorities. This includes adapting positively at a moment’s notice. It means deliberately preparing for swift action to weather uncertainty, but also spurring innovation.

Leaders can cultivate existing resources to aid in both short term and long term initiatives. At a time when many aspects of the business environment seem out of control, there are two resources that can be leveraged to increase productivity and flexibility: people and time. Almost all facets in any enterprise involve the intersection of people and time, and these resources are often underutilized.

One way to leverage people and time is to take the opportunity to improve communication skills. Think about it; almost everything we do begins and ends with communication, and improving this soft skill affects every facet of leadership. There is a simple way to begin improving this skill. It starts with recognizing that about 75% of the people around you are not like you in a very basic way: their communication style. Every individual is unique, but there are some clearly observable communication style preferences, in essence – how you roll. If we want to achieve any goal more quickly, we can improve skills to accommodate basic communication styles. This means:

• Enhancing our understanding of basic communication styles
• Learning how valuing those different styles helps us
• Learning how to purposefully and positively engage colleagues

This doesn’t need to be over-complicated or time consuming, and it’s as obviously useful as using a GPS device to get directions. When we want to get to somewhere on time, we use tools to indicate the quickest route, and prevent us from taking wrong turns. So, too, can we improve our ability to “tune in” to others so that we don’t get sidetracked. Enhancing communication skills can help you invigorate employees to get out of defensive “hunker down mode” and reduce time wasting activities, such as the kind of unproductive conflict that causes stress and drains energy. Energized employees are more focused on contributing to the firm’s long term success, and that is the fuel for positive change.

Soft skills may be the hardest part of a lean transformation, but we can apply a simple, transparent, and sustainable process to make mastering those skills much faster and much easier.