Top 10 Ways To Become The Successful Leader After Lean Trainings

Lean thinking is one of the most effective techniques used across different industries. That’s exactly why so many business leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals dedicate a fair amount of time to master lean thinking and become better at what they do. But how can you apply what you learned in practice? Here are the top ten ways to become the successful leader after lean trainings.

#1 Understand What Lean Thinking Is

First and foremost, remind yourself about what lean thinking is. If you understand the essence of lean thinking, you can effectively apply this knowledge to your activities. Here are the main points about lean thinking that you need to understand:

·        Lean thinking is a business methodology that has its roots in Japanese manufacturing techniques – more specifically, it was developed by Toyota. Nowadays, lean thinking is applied in different industries all around the world.

·        The essence of lean thinking is in approaching work in a lean way. Customers are valued above all else. Lean thinking can help companies keep costs low, increase efficiency, and identify wasteful activities among other things.

·        To effectively implement lean thinking, you need to change your mindset as well as the way you approach different business processes.

#2 Work with the Two Pillars of Lean Thinking

Now that you have recalled what lean thinking is like, it’s worth taking some time to recognize the two main pillars of lean thinking which are:

·        Continuous Improvement: You and your team should be actively looking for ways to improve and develop your business. You need to be looking for and creating your own opportunities, initiatives, and innovative projects.

·        Respecting People: It goes without saying that respect within and without your company is essential, but lean thinking prioritizes respect for people like nothing else. You need to practice empathy, support your employees, and value your customers.

#3 Practice the Five Principles of Lean Thinking

In addition to the two main pillars of lean thinking, there are five principles associated with the mindset. They are:

·        Value: You need to understand what your customers value and then provide them with what they are looking for.

·        Value Stream: You need to determine how to achieve the value you identified through a specific process or value stream.

·        Flow: You need to remove any roadblocks standing in the way of your value stream which is why you need to establish the flow in your company through active changes.

·        Pull: You need to keep things going as the flow continues, but customers will already start “pulling” your products from you once they are ready, so they won’t pile up.

·        Perfection: You will reach perfection through implementing the principles of lean thinking in your company, but remember that it is a journey – not a destination.

#4 Train Your Employees in Lean Thinking

So, how exactly can you start introducing lean thinking into the business processes of your company? Well, the first thing you should do is train your employees in lean thinking. Though you are trained already, you can’t do all the work yourself – moreover, it will be ineffective in the long run if you are the only one applying lean thinking in practice.

To train your employees, it’s a good idea to hire a professional coach who specializes in lean thinking. However, you can do the training yourself if you feel confident in your knowledge. Alternatively, you can train your manager and appoint them to transfer this knowledge to the rest of your team through lectures, seminars, and workshops.

#5 Implement Kanban Boards in Your Company

Next, you need to implement Kanban boards in your company. Kanban boards can be incredibly useful when utilized throughout your entire company as they give you more insight into and control over your initiatives and projects. Besides, using Kanban boards can help the different departments in your company to collaborate closer.

In addition to that, Kanban boards provide an added level of transparency as well as accountability. Teams that use Kanban boards will identify both issues and opportunities faster and react to them appropriately. Teach your employees how to use Kanban boards and encourage them to utilize the boards frequently.

#6 Rethink Your Business Processes

Lean thinking is never about targeting people but rather targeting the processes these people are involved in. This is why you need to rethink your business processes and analyze your strategy to implement the necessary changes within your company.

Isaiah Martins, an expert from the top rated essay writing service site, explains, “When you start targeting people instead of actual issues within your company, you will start losing any kind of sense of direction that lean thinking is meant to provide you with. If there is something wrong with what an employee of yours does, you need to teach them how to make it right – not fire them just because they made a mistake.”

#7 Respect and Support Your People

As mentioned earlier, respect for people is one of the two main pillars of lean thinking. This is why you need to respect and support your people while also valuing your customers. In other words, you pretty much need to internalize respect for people and become a more empathetic and thoughtful person all-around.

Lean thinking is about changing your mindset which is why you need to reevaluate yourself as well. Ask yourself questions that will challenge your beliefs and arrive at conclusions that will help you become more respectful and attentive about the people around you.

#8 Share Your Knowledge with Others

While training your employees in lean thinking is definitely important, you should also go beyond that and share your knowledge with as many people as possible. Indeed, educating your own customers about lean thinking can be quite beneficial to you. This way, you will be more transparent with them about your business while also showing them how much you value your customers.

In addition to that, you might also want to partner with businesses similar to yours to help train employees in those companies in lean thinking as well. By continuing partnerships with these brands, you will be able to prevent malicious tactics from competitors while actually working with them to maximize success for everyone.

#9 Celebrate Victories Both Big and Small

Lean thinking definitely requires a lot of effort from you which is why it can be quite exhausting to implement in your company and sustain long-term. This is precisely why you should definitely celebrate all the victories you and your team have, both big and small.

#10 Keep Learning and Developing Yourself

Last but not least, never stop learning and developing yourself as well as your team and your company. Remember that lean thinking is about constant development and improvement, and its fifth principle of perfection is not a destination but rather a journey. This is exactly why you should always strive for better things.

Make new goals, accept new challenges, find new opportunities, and start new initiatives. Grow, expand, and develop your business. Upgrade your employees’ qualifications and continue learning yourself.

All in all, learning what lean thinking is will only be the first step for you. The next thing you should do is start applying your knowledge in practice and innovating your business and your team to achieve better performance than ever before.

About the Author: Anna likes writing from her university years. When she graduated from the Interpreters Department, she realized that translation was not so interesting, as writing was. She trains her skills now working as a freelance writer on different topics. Always she does her best in the posts and articles.

Lean Quote: Why Optimists Are Better Leaders

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.

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."   —  Helen Keller

If you want to be good leader then become an Optimistic Leader. Optimists demonstrate the behaviors and attitudes that support good leadership. Listed below are the 3 reasons why optimists are better leaders.

1. Optimists are Solution Focused

Optimists want to solve problems and improve the situation they are in. They will always focus on finding a solution rather than analyzing the issues surrounding the problem.

The solution-based approach that an optimist leader uses promotes creativity and innovative thinking. An optimist is quite comfortable thinking outside of the square; in fact that is where they are their happiest.

The key questions an optimistic leader will ask when seeking a solution are: What is needed? (Not; what is wrong?). What it going well? (Not: what is going badly?). What practical progress can be made to work toward implementing the solution? How can we measure that the solution is working?

2. Optimists Are Not Afraid Of Failure

Optimists do better than pessimists because their coping strategies are better. They are more resilient and able to quickly “bounce back” from failure and setbacks in life.

An optimist is a risk–taker and is comfortable making tough decisions. They accept the reality of failure and the possibility of making mistakes. An optimist will view failure or mistakes as an opportunity to learn and to make progress. They see failure and set backs in the workplace as a part of life. An optimistic leader is quick to respond and adapt to the situation at hand. They will want to get their teams moving forward and back on track as quickly as possible.

Optimists do not seek scapegoats or play the blame game. If mistakes are made they will want to know what went wrong and what could be done differently to avoid making the same mistakes.

3. Optimists Have A Success Mindset

Optimistic people always focus on the positive aspects of a situation. Their view of life is different to that of a pessimist. The analogy that is used to describe the difference is, that optimists see a glass of water as “half full” whereas a pessimist will see the glass of water as a “half empty”.

An optimist has hope and a belief in a better future. They focus on opportunities instead of obstacles. They understand what motivates and inspires them to live a successful and fulfilled life. Negativity and fear do not belong in their world and in fact are inhibitors to their success in life.

Lean Roundup #155 – April 2022

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of April 2022.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.

The Natural – Bruce Hamilton shares a story about what refers to as “naturals” those employees who excel at specific aspects of the business.

Why Are You Asking Questions? – Mark Rosenthal explains the type of questions a leader should ask to help those who bring problems to the leader.

Problem Solving and the Worlds of Reflection & Experience – Pascal Dennis says good problem solving entails moving fluidly between the worlds of reflection and experience.

The Continuous Improvement Learning Cycle - Steve Musica shares a simple, proven improvement cycle to experiment and learn in organizations that can be applied to personal change. 

Have Faith & Trust the Process – Ron Pereira discusses the importance of trusting the process not only in our professional lives but also our personal lives.

Engaging Partners and Suppliers on Your CI Journey – John Knotts shares 5 steps if you are serious about engaging your partners and suppliers in your continuous improvement journey.

The Hierarchy of Action – Ryan McCall explains that you need to keep the hierarchy of action in mind the next time you’re leading others to take action.

Meeting Strategic Objectives - Patricia Panchak shares story of how Turner Construction uses hoshin kanri (strategy deployment) and A3 problem-solving to create a management system that ensures it achieves its strategic business objectives.

Benchmark Your Leadership Skills

Every person has a unique DNA that guides his or her natural behavioral (personality) strengths and struggles—yes, everyone has both strengths and struggles. This knowledge is grounded in science (i.e., it’s measurable and predictable, not just “touchy feely”), but the application requires awareness and flexibility to adjust your leadership and management to fit the talents and experience of the individual.

The most effective leaders regularly audit their own leadership skills and competencies to see where the gaps are.

 

With this Leadership Assessment Test you can benchmark yourself against 96 different skills across 12 leadership competencies.  

 

Over 20,000 leaders worldwide have taken the assessment and it receives rave reviews. Your personalized report will highlight your strengths and areas of development plus tips on how to improve your scores for next time.

The first step to becoming an effective leader is to understand your current strengths and weaknesses when it comes to leadership. This leadership self-assessment will help you understand how you stack up as a leader and what opportunities there are for you to improve your leadership effectiveness.

Lean Quote: Create Efficient Operations without Costly Inspection

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.

"Goal setting has traditionally been based on past performance. This practice has tended to perpetuate the sins of the past."   —  Joseph M. Juran

In his focus on people and how they work in processes, Juran took a different approach than others working in the growing quality improvement field. In doing so, he completely changed how companies looked at reducing inefficiencies.

Juran found the hidden costs in how companies tended to deal with defects. In the early 20th century, that often meant dealing with the issue after it had occurred rather than focusing time and money on making quality improvements to keep defects from happening.

He also felt that the resulting poor product quality cost companies more than they fully accounted for, including damage to a company’s reputation that led to a loss of customers.

He also advocated for creating operations that ran efficiently without the need for costly inspections.

He developed the Juran Trilogy, which involved three principal areas:

Quality planning – This involves identifying your customers, determining their needs and developing products that respond to their needs.

Quality improvement – Develop a process to create the product and then optimize that process.

Quality control – Create a process that can operate under minimal inspection.

The Juran Trilogy was formally published in 1986 and quickly became established as a must-read for those involved with quality improvement around the world.

What Every Leader Can Learn From Their Younger Self

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Where do effective leaders find inspiration? From their role models? From public figures? From self-help books?

Well, you may be surprised to learn that effective leaders have a source of inspiration that is far closer to home: their younger selves.

Effective leaders know how to use their previous experience and personal journey to create an authentic, highly personalized leadership style that suits their identity and the needs of those around them. However, these leaders don’t arrive at an authentic leadership style by accident. They spend time refining their approach and are intentional about what sticks and what gets left behind — here’s how they make it happen.

Metacognition and Leadership

Experience alone is not enough to become a helpful or effective leader. Instead, older leaders can sort through their previous experiences and “younger-selves” to gain key insights and make decisions that align with the current context of their leadership environment. Thinking in this way is called “metacognition,” and is vital for leaders who want to transfer previous experience into current issues.

Simply put, metacognition just means “thinking about thinking.” This might seem mundane, but leaders who consciously consider how they think about their previous experience will find much more success when attempting to learn from their past selves. Common questions that experienced leaders might ask themselves when attempting metacognition might include:

●     How has the context of my followers’ work changed since “my day”?

●     When I think about my followers, what adjectives come to mind? Are these descriptions helpful?

●     How would my younger self have dealt with this problem? What might my younger self expect from someone in my position now?

These questions are designed to help experienced leaders interrogate their own biases while making use of their previous experience and knowledge. By imagining their decisions from the perspective of their younger selves, experienced leaders may discover a new, more effective approach. Additionally, routine metacognition keeps you from making rash decisions and reenergizing a leader’s approach to a challenge.

Re-Energizing and Adaptation

Leadership is a difficult, demanding activity which requires constant creativity and adaptation. However, adapting to new trends and emerging technology can drain a leader’s energy, and distract them from their number one priority: caring for the well-being of their team.

But experienced leaders who are feeling drained have a secret weapon: their younger selves. Oftentimes, a leader’s younger self is bolder and more willing to take risks or make big decisions. As a leader ages, they need to invoke their younger selves to promote a culture of experimentation and ensure that their team remains on the cutting edge.

There are a few different ways that leaders can invoke their younger selves and find the energy for experimentation. One of the best methods to re-energize leadership efforts is to make a move that promotes mental health. In particular, leaders who are trying to get in touch with their younger selves may consider moving to quiet suburbs or lakeside homes which support creativity and problem-solving.

Creativity and Problem Solving

Our younger selves had fewer responsibilities and more time for creativity. This meant that we could easily discover solutions to complex problems,

Experienced leaders can tap into this youthful thinking by doodling. That’s because doodling activates our brain’s default mode network, which allows us to make new connections and discover memories that may have been forgotten about.

Of course, not all doodling is productive. But experienced leaders can use productive doodling strategies when they’re feeling burnt-out or are running up against mental roadblocks. Even a short doodle session between team meetings can help unlock a leader’s younger self or reduce stress. This may lead to new approaches and insights that can help a leader find solutions to problems and discover new leadership approaches which inspire confidence in their team.

Relate, Don’t Patronize

Inspirational leaders rarely start a point with a phrase like “When I was your age . . .”, or “In my day . . .”. This is because they understand that the context of their leadership is vital, and the cultural changes that have occurred since “their day” have changed the way we think, work, and live. As such, motivational speeches that harken back to the “good old days” are more likely to create generational divides, rather than inspire unity and create trust within leadership.

Instead, effective leaders who are older than their peers know how to leverage their previous experiences in a way that feels relatable to younger folks, rather than patronizing. Leaders can achieve relatability in many different ways but should always seek to centralize the experience and emotions of their team, rather than themselves — simply sharing old “war stories” is unlikely to help anyone.

For example, let’s say an employee has recently made a costly mistake and is suffering from low-self esteem. An older, more experienced leader can help restore the employee’s confidence by sharing some of their own previous failures. This sentiment is echoed by Dr. Sam Collins, an expert in entrepreneurship and leadership. Dr. Collins states that failures are essential to success, and thinking of failure in this way helps us find the confidence we need to achieve our dreams.

Experienced leaders, who may have taken some serious knocks in their younger days, can add credibility to the idea that failure is a step towards growth. They can also draw inspiration from their younger selves by using metacognition to ensure that their leadership is relatable and improves the confidence and ability of those around them. 

About the Author: Luke Smith is a writer and researcher turned blogger. Since finishing college he is trying his hand at being a freelance writer. He enjoys writing on a variety of topics but technology and business topics are his favorite. When he isn't writing you can find him traveling, hiking, or gaming.