Why Lean? How Whaddaya Mean I Gotta Be Lean? Helps the Front Line Lean Employee

• You don’t feel prepared to do all the new things your boss is asking of you
• You find yourself asking ‘Why Lean?’ on a regular basis
• You feel like your job is getting harder every day
• You are overwhelmed with your increasing workload—and go home drained at the end of the day
• You want to get more out of Lean for yourself, not just for the company
• The constant change can be overwhelming
• You like your job less and less and dread Monday mornings
• You worry about your job security
• Your needs & your boss’s needs don’t line up
• You don’t feel appreciated by your boss

If any of those things sound familiar, you are not alone.

Lean only reaches its full potential when it is done right—and it frequently isn’t. As a result it creates a lot of needless suffering. This book is intended to offer you some relief.

(Learn more about this Lean book)

You Can Treat the Side Effects of Lean

When it is implemented well, Lean employees thrive. But even if it is not, you can still take actions to make your life better.

What Do You Want to Do?

Whaddaya Mean? answers the question ‘Why Lean?’

Then it explains how to treat Lean side effects as a Lean employee, can…

• Like your job more
• Get better at your job
• Go home happier
• Get along better with your boss
• Stop worrying about losing your job
• Impress your boss
• Get promoted
• Settle problems faster
• Stop struggling with Lean

The Next Steps

So, how do you as a Lean employee treat some of those side effects?

• Ask your manager to buy the book for you before you buy it for yourself. Good bosses might spring for it—after all, it makes their jobs easier!
• Read chapters 1 through 7 straight through.
• For chapters 8-11, read the introductions and then skim the problems. Highlight the ones that apply to you.
• Read the conclusion, chapter 12.
• Go back to the problems you highlighted in chapters 8-11. Write each one on an index card. When you are done, arrange them by how much each affects you.
• Use the Strategies in chapters 8-11 to solve one or two problems a week, starting with the most pressing ones. Write the actions you need to take out on the index cards.

What do you want to do?

Like Your Job More

Where does your time go? You spend a good chunk of it sleeping, a huge portion of your life at work, and most of the rest of your waking time taking care of your other responsibilities.

The result? Not much is left over just for you. Don’t let any bad feelings about your job waste the little time that is truly yours.

Whaddaya Mean? will give you the tools you need to deal with the stress of working in a Lean workplace. Use this book improve your job satisfaction! There are over a hundred practical, easy-to-implement solutions to those nagging problems that make you like your job less.

Get Better at Your Job

Everyone likes to be viewed highly by their coworkers. Most people have pride in their work, and want to do well. Having strong job skills is one way to get those things.

Unfortunately, Lean changes the skills you need to be good at your job.

When your company becomes Lean, you don’t just have to do your own process well. You have to do process improvement well. You have to not only get better at your job; you have to make your job better. That’s a tall order without assistance.

Whaddaya Mean? gives you the help that you need to improve your skills and your job security. It is a step-by-step guide that teaches you not only what to do, but why you are doing it, and how doing a particular action will affect you.

Go Home Happier

How you feel at work plays a big role in how you feel at home. Have you ever had a poor interaction with a family member or a friend after a rough day at work? Have you ever skipped out on a fun activity after your shift because of a hard day at work?

Face it, there’s a lot of talk about work-life balance, but doesn’t that imply the things are separate? In truth, your home life and work life are linked much more than you probably realize.

Whaddya Mean? will help you improve your job satisfaction—so you can go home happier and enjoy your time off the clock.

Get Along Better with Your Boss

There’s a good chance you spend more time with your supervisor than with your spouse. Are the two of you getting along?

One of the side effects of Lean is that it changes the nature of your relationship with your boss.

Read Whaddaya Mean? to learn what makes your boss tick in a Lean world, and more importantly, what to do when your needs and her needs don’t line up.

Stop worrying about losing your job

It doesn’t matter what skills you had before. You are in a Lean world now, and the things that your boss and your company value have changed. You might be worried about job security—after all, isn’t Lean about improving productivity?

Unfortunately, in hard economic times, even the Leanest of companies may have to take drastic measures to save the company. But when times are good, effective Lean managers that ‘get it’ know that layoffs have no place in Lean. Who in their right mind would work hard to make improvements if the reward was a pink slip? If Lean results in layoffs, employee commitment to it comes to a screeching halt.

In truth, the biggest risk to job security in Lean is not external. It comes from within. A bad attitude and poor Lean behavior is more likely to get you fired than improvements are to get you laid off.

Whaddaya Mean? helps you adjust to Lean more quickly, keeping you on a safe path—all while improving your job satisfaction.

Impress Your Boss

Like it or not, your boss’s view about you matters. Assignments, promotions, raises, and even tolerance about problems you might have—they are all affected by how your boss sees you.

Turns out, if you know the right things to do, it really isn’t that hard to raise your stock in your boss’s eyes. And if you had a bad reputation with your boss, Lean can give you a chance to reinvent yourself as a strong Lean employee.

Whaddaya Mean? can help you take actions that will make your boss view you in a more positive light, all while improving your own job satisfaction.

Get Promoted

If you want to advance in a company, you have to

1. 1. Adopt a Lean mentality
2. 2. Have the right Lean skill
3. 3. Have a boss who is aware of these things.

Whaddaya Mean? teaches you what you need to know and specifically shows you how to showcase your talent to your boss.

Settle Problems Faster

For all of the great things Lean offers, it can easily create conflict between people. Lean employees are often in the position of having to develop processes with their coworkers. When they don’t agree, it is easy for feathers to get ruffled.

Whaddaya Mean? offers some proven strategies for settling these issues quickly. Why spend your time at work frustrated with your fellow workers when there are some easy steps to take to prevent and resolve conflict?

Stop Struggling with Lean

Many leaders do not recognize how hard it is for some people to adapt to a Lean culture.

If you struggle with any aspect of Lean, this book is meant specifically for you! Whaddya Mean? is a survival guide that will teach you how to easily adjust to the changes. Let us help save you time and a lot of frustration.