I see a lot of talk in Lean circles about blaming the process and not the person. The truth is, people fall on a spectrum for most skills and characteristics. I’m not sure if it is a bell curve or some other distribution, but with nearly all traits and skills, Read more…
I recently heard a quote on a TV show. “Trust those who seek the truth, but doubt those who say they found it.” Read more…
When looking at an operation, if you are trying to help make it better, you will need a few tricks in your toolkit to be able to make quick judgements on where to spend your time digging deeper. I don’t advocate ever taking any significant action without a clear, data-based Read more…
I am often asked about how I go about helping a company get started on its continuous improvement journey. When I am acting as a consultant, I generally view that as the wrong question. There’s one question I like to ask before the ‘how’ that has probably the highest correlation Read more…
Many Lean principles are used in everyday life. PDCA is no exception. Today’s podcast discusses how the process of coaching youth sports uses the Deming cycle. This 12-minute podcast also talks about committing to solving the problem. Just because you can make an improvement doesn’t mean that you are going Read more…
There is a bit of a misconception in the Lean community about the value that consultants bring to the table in terms of helping with specific projects. The consensus view is that consultants provide expertise and knowledge to their clients. This is true, but they provide a great deal more Read more…
One of the mistakes companies make when they try to create a business system or develop a continuous improvement culture is that they focus on the wrong things. They scrutinize behaviors. They spend their energy reacting to unexpected results. They bounce from tool to tool trying to find a fix for their problems.
What they often overlook, though, is that fact that their employees are often not guided by unifying principles. There is no clear corporate identity. Guiding principles are like beacons for the team, and create continuity as people come and go.
While the exact principles you settle on for your organization will vary based on your industry, national culture, corporate mission, and a host of other factors, there is one common thread among all great companies. They have a belief system that is shared by their employees.
I recently had an interesting experience on LinkedIn. On occasion, I answer discussion questions where I think I can add value. One such question mentioned that Dr. Liker recommends Toyota alumni to lead Lean transformations, and questioned why companies would be interested in advanced degrees and certifications. The question was Read more…
Toyota’s two pillars of management are respect for people and continuous improvement. Respect for people obviously calls on the DMN, the “default mode” neural network associated with emotion and relationships. Continuous improvement does not neglect the people factor, but it does require methodical data collection and analysis — TPN (task positive network) activities. We have seen in earlier posts in this series that good leaders can smoothly switch networks depending on the situation.
This article was written by Karen WIlhelm of Lean Reflections.)
In any field, there are a handful of common mistakes. Continuous improvement is no different. Some of these errors come as a result of ignorance about the proper way of doing things. Some are the result of habit. And a handful come as a function of taking the path of Read more…
Once again, I had the pleasure of hosting an interview with Karen Martin. She recently co-authored a book with Mike Osterling. It’s titled Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for Organizational Transformation. (If you are interested in buying the book, it is available at Amazon.com.)
POLL: How many internal CI experts/consultants should a company have?
Organizations that thrive at continuous improvement often do so because they have a staff of dedicated experts acting as guides on their Lean journeys. There are a few different flavors to how these people are assigned, though.