Twas The Night Before Christmas

Merry Christmas ! I thought it would be great to share this fun poem with all of you.

Anonymous, 2012

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the plant
Machines were not running; production was scant.
We’d been forced to shut down and were incurring large fees,
Cause one of the workers dropped a wrench in line three.

Production mistakes had the owners complaining,
So we’d sent all the workers for refresher training.
The foreman in his hardhat, and I in my tie,
Had just settled down to discuss ROI. 

When out on the floor there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
And ripped the Venetian blinds off the wall with a crash.

The loading dock door somehow had been lifted,
And inside the door snow had already drifted.
When what did my wondering eyes then behold?
But a white-bearded man shuffling in from the cold.  
  
He had a broad face and a round little belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.
His eyes twinkled bright and his dimples were merry.
The foreman exclaimed, “Now this dude is scary.” 

He spoke not a word but went straight to work,
Rearranging and cleaning like some kind of jerk.
He threw things away that were taking up space,
And organized stuff that was in the right place.   

The tools that were needed he moved to be near;
Equipment not needed he moved to the rear.
He moved with precision, his speed it increased
I picked up the phone to call the police. 

Then from his beard, as pure white as winter,
He pulled out a small DuraLabel-brand printer.
He set it up quick, with no cord or cable,
In the blink of an eye he was printing out labels. 
  
“Label this counter space, label this drawer!
Label this cabinet, label some more!
From the top of the window to the base of the wall,
We’ll label everything, once and for all!” 

He yelled this out loud, the right jolly old elf,
I laughed to see him, in spite of myself.
He labeled the floor and he labeled the cables.
“With 5S in place, to work they’ll be able!”
  
And then in a twinkling, I knew what he meant!
Our workplace had been as confusing as heck!
I joined him in working and when we were through,
You knew where things were and you knew what to do.

I thanked him profusely but he remained stoic,
And went to the break room and purchased a Coke.
I called him a hero, a magical man,  
But outside the building he’d already ran.

He greeted twelve reindeer and jumped in a sleigh
And up from the ground his team then flew away
But I heard him exclaim as they rose through the night:
“I’ll come back next Christmas to audit your site!”

Top 10 Lean Leadership Quotes From 2018

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 cannot improve.

1. "An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." — Bill Vaughn
2. "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." — Mahatma Gandhi
3. "Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day." — Frances Hesselbein
4. "Regardless of the changes in technology, the market for well-crafted messages will always have an audience." — Steve Burnett, The Burnett Group
5. "When you’re a manager, you work for your company. When you’re a leader, your company works for you." — Stan Slap
6. "The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them." — John Maxwell
7. "Why not make the work easier and more interesting so that people do not have to sweat?  The Toyota style is not to create results by working hard. It is a system that says there is no limit to people’s creativity.  People don’t go to Toyota to ‘work’ they go there to ‘think." — Taiichi Ohno
8. "Waste is a tax on the whole people." — Albert W. Atwood
9. "If you make listening and observation your occupation, you will gain much more than you can by talk." — Robert Baden-Powell
10. 
    

These are the top 10 quotes on A Lean Journey website in 2018.

Top 10 Lean Tips From 2018

As 2018 comes to an end and we look toward 2019 I wanted to revisit some tips. The Lean Tips published daily are meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledgeable tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey. Here are the top 10 Lean tips from this past year:

Lean Tip #1797 - Listen to Everyone’s Ideas

Your entire team has great ideas. They’re in the trenches all day, bringing their own experience and perspectives to the part of the project they’re focused on. For example, if there’s a way to make spreadsheets more efficient or processes more productive, the team members know how. It’s tempting to stick with protocol because you know that works well. But these days the world moves so fast nobody can afford to stay with a status quo for too long. So instead, make it a policy to listen to new ideas (you could structure appropriate time periods for this, too), and this will tell everyone they’re a valuable part of the team. Give the good ideas a try; you never know what might happen—other than the team becomes more invested in their work and the project outcome, for starters.

Lean Tip #1803 - Develop An Environment of Constant Learning

Encourage your employees to explore new techniques for achieving their individual objectives as well as those set by the company. As you allow them to make mistakes and learn from them, ensure that you also reward fresh and innovative ideas. Of course, it’s important to manage the amount of mistakes that are made so that the job is still getting done satisfactorily. The goal is to strike a balance that allows your employees to effectively get their job done while giving them the freedom to discover new methods that could lead to improvements. When you establish this type of atmosphere, you’ll find that your workplace will improve more rapidly because individuals are discovering their best systems and everyone is constantly contributing to the improvement of the company’s system.

Lean Tip #1817 - Empower Employees
Good managers are an invaluable part of having a facility that engages in continuous improvement. This is because good managers know that it is often going to be the employees who come up with the next great improvement idea. Employees perform their jobs all day everyday so it is no surprise that they will be the ones to find problems and hopefully the solutions to them.

Empowering employees to take steps toward improvement can be very helpful. Having a process by which they go through the PDCA cycle with as little interference from management as possible can be very helpful. Of course, for some changes manager involvement and approval will be necessary, but putting as few obstacles in the way as possible will result in much more improvement.

Lean Tip #1871 - Encourage Safe Failure

Many employees, by their very nature, are risk-adverse.  That's why they are employees and not entrepreneurs. If they work in an environment where the boss is always correcting them before they have a chance to execute, they will constantly look for approval before taking action or, worse, simply avoid any new or dynamic action. Give employees the opportunity to try new things in a way that doesn't put the company in danger. Create milestone checkpoints or set up laboratory environments where people can test new ideas and learn from the failures as well as the successes. Then your employees will gain understanding and feel comfortable innovating.

Lean Tip #1886 - Show Employees You Trust Them
The first sure way to motivate and inspire your employees is to demonstrate that you have faith in their abilities to get the job done. You can do this by assigning them more responsibilities and giving them the chance to rise to the challenge. Doing so shows that you trust them, which has a way of motivating people to keep doing their best.

Micromanaging your employees and hovering over their shoulders at every step is counterproductive because it makes them nervous. If your employees are too afraid to try new things, they won’t be giving you their best. Give them greater autonomy and responsibility and they will rise to the occasion.

Lean Tip #1887 - Invest In Your Employees
Another way to inspire and motivate your employees is by investing in them. Offering things like tuition reimbursement, a mentoring program, one-on-one coaching, and job shadowing with people in higher positions sends a clear message: you care about their career and their future. Some companies, in fact, have periodic meetings with their employees to discuss their career paths and make sure they stay on track.

Aside from improving skills and increasing staff knowledge, this kind of investment in employee career pathing gives them a reason to stay with the company for the long haul rather than be on the lookout for a better offer.

Invest in your employees, and you’ll give them a reason to stick around. When your employees grow and improve, so does the company.

Lean Tip #1940 – Prioritize Tasks To Focus On Important Ones 
Work on one task at a time, starting a new one only once the previous one has been completed. Juggling tasks has been scientifically proven to “decrease the performance of workers, raising the chances of low output, long duration of projects and exploding backlogs”.

Having the resolve to stick with one task is actually not that simple, especially when people are pestering you to lend a hand with theirs. You have to know when to say no to colleagues and even your boss.

The Pareto principle (or the 80/20 rule) observes that most things in life aren’t distributed evenly. In business terms, this could mean that 80pc of your revenue comes from 20pc of your customers or that 80pc of your bonus depends on 20pc of your responsibilities.

Decide which tasks are most important to you and then focus the majority of your energy on them.

Lean Tip #1946 - Help the Employees Identify What's in It for Them to Make the Change. 
A good portion of the normal resistance to change disappears when employees are clear about the benefits the change brings to them as individuals.

Benefits to the group, the department, and the organization should be stressed, too. But, nothing is more important to an individual employee than to know the positive impact on their own career or job.

Additionally, employees must feel that the time, energy, commitment, and focus necessary to implement the change are compensated equally by the benefits they will attain from making the change.

Happier customers, increased sales, a pay raise, saved time and steps, positive notoriety, recognition from the boss, more effective, productive employees, and an exciting new role or project are examples of ways in which you can help employees feel compensated for the time, energy, focus, change, and challenge that any change requires.

Lean Tip #1959 - Innovation: Be a Courageous Change Agent
For teams to innovate, leaders must challenge each team member to think more critically and see through a lens of continuous improvement.  Looking through this lens requires the mindset of a “courageous enabler” – one who takes charge and embraces the role of a change agent in support of constructive disruption that ultimately makes things operate better and improves performance.

Every leader must become a change agent or face extinction.  As such, their teams must equally be charged to do the same.  Accepting the role of a change agent means taking on an entrepreneurial attitude, embracing risk as the new normal, and beginning to see opportunity in everything. As you do, innovation becomes second nature.

Lean Tip #2000 - Learn From Your Mistakes. 
No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them. Be willing to accept the blame and move on. Use your errors to make adjustments to the way things are done so that the same mistake does not happen again. Constantly be looking for ways to grow and improve. 


By making a conscious effort to improve yourself and your leadership abilities, you can make a positive impact on your company. Not only can it increase productivity and efficiency, it can lead to greater employee satisfaction. Start making changes today for a better tomorrow.

These 10 Lean tips can help you with your journey in 2019. What advice would you share for the New Year?

Top 10 Posts From 2018

The end of the year is traditionally a time to look back and reflect. One way to reflect is to evaluate popular blog posts. I have been taking time to reflect on the year that was and as part of that reflection I have flipped back through the 150 blog posts I have written so far this year and compiled a list of my Top 10.

1. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Book review by Patrick Lencioni, central theory is that there are 5 key elements to a cohesive team.
2. Five Guidelines on Effective 5 Why Analysis - Asking why 5 times: “the 5 Whys”, is a simple but powerful tool to use with any problem solving activity.
3. Think and Lead Like a Coach Not a Boss - Major differences between a boss and a coach.
4. 9 Team Roles for High Performance Teams - 9 roles outlined in the Belbin team roles model and the descriptions that explain the scope of each role.
5. Creating an Environment of Teamwork - 5 tips to make teamwork happen in your workplace.
6. The Leadership Code: Five Rules of Leadership - Review of guidebook to help readers be better leaders themselves and simultaneously help them build better leadership in their organizations. 
7. 8 Ways to Keep Your Employees Motivated and Engaged - Eight ways to keep your employees motivated and engaged.
8. The Changing Role of Employees In a Lean Organization -  Abilities that are essential for a worker to possess in Lean manufacturing environment.
9. The Six Dimension of Servant Leadership - An effective leader is one who is highly effective in six major dimensions of accomplishment in working with others,
10. Five Ways to Find Time for Continuous Improvement - 5 ways to build continuous improvement into your business.

What were some of your favorite Lean posts from 2018? Any recommendations for next year?


Thanks for your continued readership in 2018. I hope you enjoy the holiday season and go on to achieve Lean success in 2019.

Lean Quote: 4 Keys of Leadership: Impact, Influence, Innovation, and Inspiration

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.

"Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It's about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers." — Robin S. Sharma

While we may be able to make a list a mile long of factors that play a role in effective leadership, you will be well on your way if you can nail down the four I’s of leadership; inspiration, influence, innovation, and impact. These are key factors that will determine your ability to be effective in any other aspect of leadership. Leadership isn’t about ideas; it’s about making things happen. Focus your attention and energy on the four I’s of leadership and watch what happens.

A leader inspires and motivates colleagues. They can spark the passion and creativity that encourages others to accomplish amazing things. Inspiration is the beginning of everything else; seek it at every turn and in every corner. Use your inspiration to pursue something you believe in; use it to make things happen and to inspire greatness in others. Let your inspiration be the spark that lights a wild fire.

Influence is how you get things done as a leader. In order to influence others you must build trusting relationships and show genuine concern on an individual level. Be a role model of accountability, perseverance, and courage. Be respectful in all of your interactions. Earnestly motivate your employees to accomplish noteworthy tasks and provide recognition rather than seek it. Become a good listener, then follow through and follow up. Share your wisdom and be transparent in your words and actions. When you become someone who employees look up to, you will have the influence you need to lead.

As a leader, you must focus your resources on challenging the status quo and helping others innovate. Reach across your organization for new and innovative ideas; fresh perspectives inspire fresh thinking. Leverage the disruptive opinions and opposing points of view you find in your organization to generate great ideas and question deeply held beliefs and assumptions. Provide a safe environment where employees can experiment and fail, then learn from that failure. Remember, innovation is never an end; it’s only a step in a continual process.

Ultimately, leadership is about getting results. Your leadership is not about you, it’s about creating a culture of accomplishment. It’s about making an impact by interweaving connections, challenges, and creative situations. Recognize that your leadership will have an impact, whether good or bad, on everyone who interacts with your organization. Leadership is about people; awaken in others the belief that they can accomplish extraordinary things and make them feel valued. And then, cultivate leadership in others; leave a legacy of impacting future leaders in such a positive way that they, in turn, will have the same impact on others.

Book Review: The Work of Management

Lean transformations are challenging and many of those on the journey have struggled to get the performance gains. Sustainable improvement requires daily management approach through kaizen, A3 thinking, and hoshin planning.

Jim Lancaster, CEO of Lantech, and author of The Work of Management, tells the story of how his company initially triumphed with Lean and then stumbled badly, nearly losing its way, before finding the key to sustainable improvement in a daily management system. He’ll reveal how close observations of frontline work, experiments, and improvements, ultimately led to a new companywide system of “daily management” focused on maintaining 
processes before improving them. The system is based on overlapping daily and weekly cycles of standardized work activities performed by Lancaster and managers at every level that resolve frontline operational problems immediately. With a focus on maintaining processes before improving them, and on daily standardized work for manager throughout the company the team at Lantech improved as never before.

Jim’s story is both practical and inspiring. It's a close-up, candid look at his personal transformation as a leader. It's also a practical, in-depth, business case study of Lantech's lean transformation, relapse, and comeback that American manufacturing - and other industries - can use to profitably transform themselves.

The book outlines an 8-step action plan to create your own daily management system. There are plenty of good example of processes and visual boards to help you learn and understand the core principles. The book is well written and a must read for anyone who wants to learn how daily management really works.

As expected this book is only about the journey of Lantech from Jim’s view. It would be nice to have other examples perspectives since not all business face the same challenges. However, this does present a god example on it’s won.

I recommend this book to anyone working to improve their daily management system or trying to figure out how to sustain their gains. It’s easy to understand description with real life examples help to guide understanding of daily management. This is a great action book for anyone who wants to execute change in their company.

Disclosure: The author provided a copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing it.

Lean Tips Edition #133 (1991 - 2005)

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey.  Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Click this link for A Lean Journey's Facebook Page Notes Feed.

Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #1991 - Acknowledge That You Don't Know Everything.

Although you may be a leader at work or in your field, you can still learn something new. Too many leaders think if they admit they don't have all the answers, they won't be respected, but in reality, the opposite is true. Letting your team see that you're human will earn their respect and loyalty. Be ready to apologize when you've made a mistake, and take responsibility for your direct reports' actions.

Lean Tip #1992 - Reward Successes and Learn From Failures.

Too many leaders don't stop to reward success or recognize employees' outstanding work but are quick to point out what people do wrong. While it's good management to learn from what went right or wrong on a project, it's also important to celebrate achievements.

Lean Tip #1993 - Motivate Employees

A good leader motivates others. There are many different types of leadership styles-driven, supportive, energetic and low-key, among others. Whatever their management style, good leaders find creative ways to motivate their team members.

One way to motivate people for the long-term is to set up data-driven systems that allow team members to excel in their performance. The right systems help staff members to operate at their maximum potential.

Another strategy to motivate staff members is to implement a bonus program. The incentive should be good for both the practice and the individual. A clearly defined bonus program that rewards team members for meeting or exceeding practice goals allows everyone in the organization the opportunity to improve.

Lean Tip #1994 - Coach Your Team

Coaching helps your team reach its potential. Effective and responsible leadership focuses on positive, specific and practical feedback that helps team members learn, grow and excel at their duties.

Coaching encompasses a variety of techniques including informal feedback during the workday, formal performance reviews, one-to-one meetings with team members, and regular staff meetings. Coaching is an ongoing process for every leader.

Lean Tip #1995 - Promote Excellence

You should have high expectations and challenge your team to reach their potential. Think about your own experience. Have you ever been to a course or seminar when the teacher or speaker really motivated you? You knew that when you walked out of that program that you were going to be a little bit better in some way. A spark had been ignited, and you were ready to raise the bar on your performance. As the practice leader, you have to provide that spark.

Provide small and large challenges for your team. This allows those individuals to think through problems, grow and mature, and begin to excel in their jobs. Your team will be better for it-and so will your practice.

Lean Tip #1996 - Lead By Example

The best way to earn the team’s respect is to “walk the talk.” Remember, the team is always watching the dentist. The way you behave will have a significant effect on how the team acts. If you come in late two or three times a week, you can’t expect your staff to arrive on time. Your team is looking to you for leadership guidance, and the best strategy is to lead by example.

Lean Tip #1997 – Be a Passionate Leader.

If you don’t believe in your company, neither will your employees. Start each day with a positive attitude and show enthusiasm for projects and initiatives. Take pride in the services or products you provide.

Lean Tip #1998 - Encourage Employee Contributions.

Some of the best ideas can come from employees. They interact with clients and customers every day and have an intimate knowledge of how well practices and procedures are working. Hear them out about ways to make improvements. Make changes that will improve their ability to do their job.

Learn Tip #1999 - Keep an Open Mind.

Be willing to look at things from a new perspective. Encourage feedback from employees and customers and hear what they have to say. This could ultimately lead to increased efficiency and productivity.

Lean Tip #2000 - Learn From Your Mistakes.

No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them. Be willing to accept the blame and move on. Use your errors to make adjustments to the way things are done so that the same mistake does not happen again. Constantly be looking for ways to grow and improve.

By making a conscious effort to improve yourself and your leadership abilities, you can make a positive impact on your company. Not only can it increase productivity and efficiency, it can lead to greater employee satisfaction. Start making changes today for a better tomorrow.

Lean Tip #2001 – Motivation: Lead by Example

Have you ever arrived at work late but disliked it when your team wasn’t running on time? Does your team need to answer all correspondence promptly but your schedule precludes you of this standard?

Remember that you set the tone for your team and they will follow your example. So, your naturally respectful demeanor (you’re courteous, right?) will luckily manifest in your team and you’ll reap the behaviors you demonstrate.

Lean Tip #2002 – Motivation: Compliment the Team on Their Successes

Many people perform their roles without so much as a “thank you” or “job well done” because many employers believe praise comes in the form of the pay check.  There are more pressing matters than complimenting people on what they’re already paid to do, right?

However, to maintain team morale, you should appeal to your team’s intrinsic motivators and acknowledge when they exert additional effort or create new solutions. People don’t typically resign to leave the tasks; they leave their managers. Without timely acknowledgement, your team may feel you don’t appreciate them.

Lean Tip #2003 – Motivation: Be Calm When Handling Corrections

There’s an old saying that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. If you notice an employee accidentally overlooked something that you catch, your reaction will set the tone for how they feel about you.

No matter how stressful your day, try to avoid getting upset and instead calmly discuss the issue. To earn your team’s respect, you’ll need to show them respect even when they’ve made errors.

Lean Tip #2004 – Motivation: Listen to Your Employees

It’s important to hear what your team is telling you – and actually listen. Staying silent while they talk only to recant with your personal message doesn’t count. Pay attention to what they’re saying – ask them questions, look into the ideas they have, and consider their suggestions.

Good leaders listen to the team’s suggestions and consider if it’s worth the time, money, and effort to implement.

Lean Tip #2005 – Motivation: Identify the WIIFM.

If you have not heard this acronym, it means What’s In It For Me, or why should I be interested in this goal outside of the potential inclusion of a stick or carrot? This is a great opportunity to communicate the benefits of change for the individual, their team, the customers they support, and the company as a whole.