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Friday, February 7, 2025

Lean Quote: What Gets Measured Gets Managed

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.


"What gets measured gets managed. — Peter Drucker


You’ve probably heard the saying, “What gets measured gets done.” It comes from the management guru Peter Drucker who actually said “What gets measured gets managed” the basic tenet is that if you’re measuring something then the probability of you acting on the information you now have is a lot higher. Regular measurement and reporting keeps you focused on what you’re trying to achieve.

At its core, Peter Drucker's quote suggests that measuring a particular aspect of a task or goal makes it more likely to be accomplished. It highlights the profound psychological impact that quantifiable metrics can have on motivation and productivity. By quantifying progress, individuals and organizations can better understand their performance, set clear objectives, and track their success.

1. Clarity in Objectives:

When you measure something, you are essentially defining what success looks like. Measuring provides a specific target and makes the path to success clearer.

2. Motivation:

The act of measuring creates a sense of accountability. Knowing that figures are being monitored compels individuals to put in extra effort to meet or surpass their goals.

3. Continuous Improvement:

Regular measurement allows for continuous feedback and improvement. By identifying strengths and weaknesses through measurement, one can adjust strategies and work towards consistent growth. In a business context, companies that continually measure and analyze their performance can adapt to market changes and stay competitive.

4. Focus on What Matters:

Drucker's quote encourages prioritization. It underscores the importance of measuring the right things. In a world full of distractions, identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) that directly impact success is essential. By concentrating on what matters most, individuals and organizations can achieve their goals efficiently.

So is that all you have to do? Measure something and it will magically happen?  Of course not. You need to be setting up the right systems to monitor your progress and this requires proper business planning, project management, and change management.

Peter Drucker's famous quote highlights the power of quantifiable metrics in driving performance and success. It stresses the significance of clarity, motivation, continuous improvement, and prioritization in achieving goals. Whether in business or personal development, measuring progress remains a powerful tool for reaching objectives and realizing one's full potential. Drucker's wisdom continues to inspire and guide individuals and organizations towards greater efficiency and success.

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Wednesday, February 5, 2025

If Your Kaizen is Failing to Deliver Results, Consider These Questions

While Kaizen and continuous improvement approaches have proven to be highly effective in enhancing productivity and fostering a culture of innovation, some companies may struggle to adopt these practices due to several reasons. If your failing to create a kaizen culture here are some questions that you can ask to help diagnose the problem so that Kaizen will create the impact you are looking for.

1.     Who are we asking to participate in kaizens?

Correct answer: “Everybody all the time!”

The more people you engage in Kaizen, the greater your impact will be. It’s simple, really - one person improving one thing each week has an impact of, well, one improvement per week. 500 people each improving one thing per week has a comparably huge impact. Sure, you can’t just straight from one person to 500 people, but definitely make sure you’re aligning your efforts to move in that direction. Kaizen is a competitive strategy in which all employees work together to create a strong culture of constant improvement. Employee engagement matters a great deal in Kaizen.

2.     How often does leadership talk about Kaizen?

Correct answer: “Every chance they get.”

Kaizen involves everyone in continuous improvement to find a better way of doing things. Top management has the most important role in implementing kaizen and that is commitment. When management demonstrates a long-term commitment to continuous improvement employees personally develop a kaizen mindset. Managers and executives should be encouraged to find ways to improve their processes as well.

Leadership that really buys into Kaizen and works to promote a culture of continuous improvement talks about Kaizen every chance they get. When they’re meeting with their staff and someone has a complaint, they suggest capturing that opportunity for improvement. Great Kaizen leaders drive the cultural transformation by emphasizing the value of Kaizen to the organization. They get more engagement, more improvements, and a greater impact.

3.     How do you capture opportunities for improvement?

Wrong answer: ““A suggestion box.”

Many organizations want to harness the ideas for improvement that naturally exist in their employees. Suggestion boxes are a common, but ineffective, way to engage employees in continuous improvement. They’re usually implemented with the best of intentions by managers who genuinely want to hear their employees’ improvement ideas, but the boxes fail to produce the desired engagement. Most of the reasons suggestion boxes, or any idea collection process, do not work effectively come down to a combination of process, culture and communication related issues.

Suggestion boxes are a bad way to approach a great concept, and the desire to engage employees in continuous improvement shouldn’t be abandoned because that method failed. Instead, I’d encourage you to look into real employee engagement.

4.     How long is the turnaround time between when an idea is submitted and when a manager approves it?”

Correct answer: “Same day, when possible.”

If there’s too great of a time lag between when employees capture opportunities for improvement and when their managers give them the “go ahead” to work on them, momentum will be lost and less improvement will be made. Failure to follow through on these can undermine the team's efforts.  It is also necessary to ensure the improvements that are made are maintained to prevent backsliding.

5.     What kind of improvement ideas are looking for?

Correct answer: “Small. Low-cost. Low-risk. Daily. Continuous.”

If you’re asking people to give you big, high impact ideas and devaluing daily continuous improvement, you’re taking the wrong approach to a Kaizen culture. The size or amount you will tackle within the kaizen is important for getting things done.  If the scope is too large you run the problem of never implementing an improvement. Kaizen is all about daily continuous improvements… asking for these will result in capturing and implementing more ideas, with a much bigger overall impact than limiting the query to groundbreaking ideas.

6.     Are you sharing the improvements you’re making?

Correct answer: “Absolutely!”

As long as you’re sharing improvements in some way, you’re on the right track. That is, assuming that your sharing method does the following -

-  Share every improvement with the right people

-  Not take up very much of your precious time

-  Not overwhelm people with too much information

-  Keep all improvements accessible to anyone who is interested

-  Connect all employees around improvement

Sharing improvements is important because it allows the impact of each to spread beyond its initial scope, gets more people engaged in continuous improvement, recognizes employees who are doing great work, and promotes knowledge sharing.

7.     What rewards and recognition do you offer?

Correct answer: “Recognition in meetings and sharing success.”

Offering financial rewards for Kaizen is a common pitfall. Giving any type of financial reward actually results in a decreased number of improvements captured and implemented because:

-  The reward structure only promotes improvements with a financial return.

-  People want credit for their ideas so that they get the money, so they don’t collaborate.

-  The focus becomes on getting money, not on improving the organization

-  Improvements in areas like safety, quality, and satisfaction are undervalued

Kaizen is about the behavior of finding and solving problems, not the result or outcome of doing so. Therefore, you should reward and recognize the behavior, not the result or outcome, of the Kaizen. This way, you can reinforce the desired behaviors and process that drive continuous improvement and encourage your team members to keep looking for opportunities to improve, such as asking questions, generating ideas, testing solutions, and evaluating results.

Successful kaizen efforts can result in benefits such as increased productivity, improved quality, better safety, lower costs, and improved customer satisfaction. Kaizen can also lead to benefits in a company’s culture, including improved communication among employees, improved morale and employee satisfaction, and an increased sense of ownership in the company among employees.


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Monday, February 3, 2025

5 Mindsets That Kill Leadership Development

Undoubtedly, leading people is the most complex and challenging facet of leadership. A leader’s mindset might be one of the greatest predictors of success and also one of the most elusive elements to pin down. Leadership happens in the nuanced shifts that occur first in the leader’s mind.

You’ve probably read about, or attended seminars or training sessions, regarding leadership models that make you a great leader. You may have even tried applying them in your organization. But rarely do we discuss mindsets that affect your leadership and plateau in their development.

Here are five mindsets that could destroy your leadership potential and abilities.

1. We’ve Always Done it that Way!

Yes, that may be true, and it may have worked in the past, but the world is very different now from the time a lot of your current systems were introduced. So, when you hear yourself say this, think about whether the fact it’s always been done that way means it should always be done that way in the future

2. My Way is the Best Way!

It could be true, but what if someone else had ideas that post-date yours? Does that mean they are wrong? Instead, become curious and check out if some other way may actually be better than yours!

3. I’m the Boss?

In today’s working environment, old-age management techniques seldom work, and this idea that people still work for us can stifle and strangle your leadership opportunities. Instead, people work with us and that mindset can make a huge difference in the way we gain people’s commitment.

4. I Don’t Need to Develop Leaders!

The potential of your organization rests on the strength of its leaders. Look at yourself and your team. If you are serious about becoming the best leader you can be, your growth and development has to take center stage. Having the attitude ‘I know everything I need to know’ can kill off any chances of progression within a business.

People grow best “in the game.” Don’t create a separate “growth” track or course for a subset of leaders; your whole organization should be on a growth track. Growing leaders is not a program. It’s part of a healthy culture.

5. We Tried That Already and It Didn’t Work!

When companies attempt new ideas or when they try to do things in different ways, they risk failure. And, failure is scary. However, failure is necessary for progress and innovation. Leaders with a fear of failure may avoid taking risks or making decisions, hindering their ability to innovate and adapt. They might also shy away from challenging situations, preventing them from developing essential leadership skills.

Leadership is not just about directing and managing a team; it’s also about cultivating the right mindset to inspire and empower others. As you lead, be on the lookout for these five forces trying to hold you back. As a leader, it is crucial to understand the concept of mindset shifts and how they can greatly impact your effectiveness and success.


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Friday, January 31, 2025

Lean Quote: Focus on What is Right with People Instead of What is Wrong with Them

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.


"What would happen if we studied what is right with people instead of focusing on what is wrong with them? — Don Clifton


This powerful quote challenges the traditional paradigm of identifying and fixing human weaknesses, urging us to redirect our attention towards understanding and cultivating strengths. By adopting a positive and proactive approach to human development, we can unlock untapped potential.

Throughout our lives, we are conditioned to identify and address our shortcomings. From childhood, educational systems, and even workplaces, the emphasis is often placed on overcoming weaknesses rather than nurturing strengths. However, this deficit-focused mindset can have detrimental effects on our self-esteem, motivation, and overall well-being. Don Clifton challenges this prevailing narrative by proposing a fundamental shift in our perspective—one that prioritizes recognizing and harnessing strengths instead of obsessing over deficiencies.

Every individual possesses a unique set of talents, skills, and qualities that, when identified and nurtured, can pave the way for personal fulfillment and success. By studying what is right with people, we unveil a realm of untapped potential and empower individuals to thrive. A strengths-based approach encourages us to focus on the positive attributes and capabilities individuals bring to the table, promoting self-confidence, engagement, and resilience.

When we shift our attention to understanding and developing strengths, we create an environment that fosters personal growth and unleashes untapped potential. By recognizing and amplifying what individuals excel at, we enable them to shine and make meaningful contributions to their communities and organizations. This approach not only enhances individual performance but also cultivates a sense of purpose and fulfillment, driving higher levels of motivation and productivity.

Don Clifton's quote encourages us to shift our focus from what is wrong with people to what is right with them. By adopting a strengths-based perspective, we unlock the vast potential within individuals, teams, and organizations. This approach fosters personal growth, inclusivity, collaboration, and innovation. We must embrace the power of studying what is right with people, as it is through recognizing and nurturing strengths that we can create a brighter and more prosperous future for all.

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Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Lean Roundup #188 – January 2025



A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of January 2025.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.  

 

Starting the New Year with Global Leadership Resolutions: Building a Foundation of Psychological Safety – Mark Graban says if we aim to build a Lean culture, it must rest on a foundation of Psychological Safety where people generally feel safe speaking up about problems, sharing ideas, and experimenting without fear of retribution.

 

The Power of Visual Management – Transforming Workspaces and Mindsets – Alen Ganic explains visual management is more than just a tool—it’s a mindset; by making tasks and progress visible, we reduce waste, improve efficiency, and foster continuous improvement in both professional and personal environments.

 

Optimizing Continuous Quality Improvement: Essential Tools and Strategies for Success – Maggie Millard says organizations can reach their full potential in the pursuit of excellence through continuous quality improvement by embracing the principles and tools of incremental change, respect for people, clear goals, and structured methodologies,

 

Why Gemba Walks Matter & How to Make Them Work – Kade Johnson shares 11 steps you can take to ensure that your next Gemba walk is successful.

 

Kaizen: Hoshin Kanri, Bowler Charts, Action Plans, and More – Christoph Roser describes the big picture of kaizen improvement involving True North direction, overarching targets of hoshin kanri, practical problem solving, and action plans to make actual improvements.

 

Japan Study Trip Highlights: November 2024 – Katie Anderson shares another incredible immersive learning experience from 6th cohort of the Japan Study leadership program from November 2024.

 

Steve Jobs on Quality and Juran – Christopher R Chapman shares video of the late, great Steve Jobs, where he was interviewed about the influence Dr. Joseph Juran had on his thinking about quality.

 

Building a Resilient Business with Hoshin Kanri and Problem Solving : A Conversation with Grand Rapids Chair CEO Geoff Miller – Geoff Miller and Mark Reich shares insights on building resilience through hoshin kanri and daily problem-solving to transform culture and performance.

 

Safety First: GE Aerospace’s Lynn Facility Demonstrates True Lean Leadership – Mark Graban shared GE Aerospace's Lynn, MA, facility which provided an inspiring example of what respecting people, empowering people, and ensuring their well-being while driving continuous improvement.


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Monday, January 27, 2025

Recognized in Top 25 Leadership Blogs



Of course, no one writes these articles on these blogs for awards but occasionally you get recognition for your contributions. FeedSpot recently convened a panel to select the Top100 Leadership Blogs on the web. Chosen from the thousands of blogs on the web and ranked by relevancy, authority, social media followers & freshness.

I was ranked in the Top 25. 



A great honor.

Here are some Noteworthy Recognitions:

Top 20 Lean Manufacturing RSS Feeds updated December 22, 2020 #3

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Friday, January 24, 2025

Lean Quote: I Never Lose. I Either Win or Learn

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.


"I never lose. I either win or learn. — Nelson Mandela


The quote "I never lose. I either win or learn" is an empowering statement that frames the concept of failure in a new, more positive light. This phrase, often attributed to Nelson Mandela, encapsulates a philosophy that transcends the conventional understanding of winning and losing, turning every outcome into an opportunity for growth.

At its core, the quote "I never lose. I either win or learn" is about redefining failure. Traditionally, society tends to view success and failure in binary terms: you either win or lose. However, this perspective can be limiting and detrimental to personal growth. The statement challenges this binary thinking by suggesting that there is value in every outcome, including those that are initially perceived as failures.

To "win" means to succeed in achieving one's goals, which is universally understood and celebrated. To "learn," however, introduces the idea that even when our goals are not met, there is an inherent value in the experience – the acquisition of new knowledge, insights, or skills. This learning process is what transforms a perceived loss into a constructive and valuable experience.

Adopting this mindset offers numerous benefits:

  1. Resilience: By viewing setbacks as learning opportunities, individuals develop resilience, enabling them to bounce back from challenges more effectively.
  2. Growth Mindset: This perspective fosters a growth mindset, where abilities and intelligence are seen as qualities that can be developed through dedication and hard work.
  3. Reduced Fear of Failure: Demystifying failure and viewing it as a part of the learning process reduces anxiety and fear, encouraging more innovative and bold life choices.
  4. Enhanced Problem-Solving Skills: Learning from "losses" improves one's ability to tackle future challenges, leading to better problem-solving skills.

Sometimes we’re going to struggle. That is part of life. And yet, we always have a choice of how we respond. When you embrace a growth mindset, you know you can always improve and ask yourself questions to further that process. Questions like: What are my options? How can I move forward? What are my lessons learned? And finally, how can I make this year better than it was before?

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