At the heart of it all

The birth of their first child should have been one of the happiest experiences of their lives. But for Derek Nakamoto and his wife, their initial joy turned to serious concern when son Jaden was diagnosed with a hole in his heart just three days after entering the world.

Jaden required major surgery at Vancouver’s BC Children’s Hospital – on a heart the size of a walnut. “The hole was 4mm in diameter, which was significant,” says Derek, AVP, continuous service improvement at First West Credit Union. “You could actually see his chest at night wheezing up and down, working so hard to try and push blood to his other organs.”

Emergency surgery to patch Jaden’s heart was essential. They learned he would need to be operated on at six weeks – normally a baby wouldn’t be put through such an ordeal until at least 4-6 months.

Despite the circumstances, there was something strangely reassuring about Derek’s experience at Children’s; but for what reason he just couldn’t place. Then, on the night of Jaden’s surgery, while pacing the hospital hallways at 3 a.m. he saw why. It was as clear as handwriting on the wall, literally.

“I came across a dozen posters displaying Lean Visual Management,” recalls Derek. “They’d created posters to communicate their Lean-inspired successes.”

Lean is the Toyota-based management philosophy designed to eliminate waste and increase efficiency in the workplace. Lean practices also view quality through the eyes of the customer—ensuring that imperfections and problems aren’t passed along to the customer.  This whole Lean approach to business and operations that he saw in action at Children’s Hospital were the very ones Derek was preparing to launch at First West.

For Derek, his experience with Lean was life changing. “The ventilator that helped Jaden’s breathing during the surgery was taken out after one day,” shares Derek. “A year before it would have been 3-4 days. As well, he would have been in the ICU for up to 10 days. However, Jaden was in for only three days, leaving the hospital in a week. Simply by getting the right protocol, translation and communication his hospital time was drastically reduced. What Vancouver Coastal Health Services is doing with Lean is so important. Lean is saving lives. It made a difference to my son.”

“And that’s the experience I want to bring to First West. That our members feel like they’re being valued, are getting great service and that we make a difference in their financial lives. That’s meaningful. Lean makes you care. And we care about our members.”

Derek and his colleague Shelley Besse – a member of First West’s executive team – have worked hard to introduce and infuse the organization and its 1400 employees with Lean’s principles.

“Lean, for us, is building a culture of problem-solvers,” says Derek. “We want all our staff members to use Lean tools and techniques to solve problems in the workplace. Helping to serve our members more efficiently and keep things simple is our focus.”

Derek says the Lean philosophy can be summarized in six words: “Minimizing waste and maximizing member value.” He goes on “Lean is structured around the Toyota approach. That’s how they bring quality products and have become the number one car manufacturing company. We want to do the same here in the experience our members have with us.”

Going Lean was an idea championed by former chair of the First West board Terry Enns, previous CEO Gord Houston and current CEO Launi Skinner, before a decision was made to take the plunge.

Not only has Derek seen Lean work here in Canada through organizations like Vancouver Coastal Health Services; he’s also had the opportunity see it in action in Japan.  This March, Derek journeyed to Japan as part of the First West employee’s Lean black-belt certification. Derek, whose grandparents were born in Japan, says his experience of the country has been an amazing eye-opener.

“Japanese culture is Lean-based. It has to be. Japan is a series of islands, one third the size of B.C. It has 130 million people, versus Canada’s 30 million. As well, nearly 75 per cent of the land is uninhabitable (mountainous). There are rice farms and orange fields, but no houses. So, on only 25 per cent of their land 130 million people live and work. They’re pressed to be Lean; working together to be incredibly efficient and eliminate waste.”

Lean practitioners and facilitators are graded in a fashion similar to karate: white belt (for beginners), green (for intermediates) and black (for advanced). There’s also a master black belt (the highest), which Derek plans to be wearing soon. And the perfect person to coach Derek and his team just happened to be based in Vancouver; Lean Sensei and founder, David Chao.

“David and his team are considered the best Lean practitioners outside of Japan,” says Derek. “They’ve all either worked with Toyoto or Suzuki, and have strong experience of applying Lean with Toyota.”

Chao, who developed his Lean Sensei idea after a stint working back in his homeland for Toyota, has been impressed with First West and Derek.

“A lot of people are interested in Lean’s principles, but only a few have real passion and charisma employing them,” says Chao. “Derek is one of those. Over the last year he’s really developed his experience and knowledge of Lean, becoming an excellent facilitator.

“Converting a whole organization to Lean is all about team-work,” says Chao. “And First West gets that. Derek holds the flag, but they’ve been training their staff across the board. Already over 300 people have been trained in Lean, plus 24 people have green-belt accreditation and five have their black-belt, too. The whole organization has to help the company transform itself.” This is a concept that Derek recognizes is vital to Lean’s success.

“Having a lot of people who understand Lean, and many who can facilitate it, is making a big difference at First West,” says Derek. “The board and executive have been very involved and Shelley Besse was instrumental in ensuring the programs were implemented properly. After only 10 months we’re already reaping the benefits of change.”

“First West’s people are pioneers of Lean for service organizations in Canada,” he boasts. “It’s a different way of doing business. And through it I truly believe we will bring transformational change to First West, enabling us to better serve our members.”