Learning is the Secret of Innovation (and Lean)

A growing number of organizations are embracing lean principles. The lean practitioner is responsible for satisfying demand in ever more productive ways by reducing waste along the value chain. Organizations that succeed with lean realize compelling economic benefits and competitive advantage. Reducing waste equates to reducing costs in ways that allow them to maintain and increase customer satisfaction.


However, lean works to the extent that people in the organization commit to understanding the right problems to solve. Work then becomes an exercise in learning by experimentation, as the community members, including customers, engage with one another to reflect and act on those activities that provide authentic forms of value.

Innovation can be a company’s best strategic advance, especially in today’s competitive and crowded marketplace. However, for the innovation to occur, most companies have to be willing to embrace the risk of potential failure. Employees may be afraid to offer insight and new ways of doing things because the company culture doesn't support them. If you really want to empower employees, you'll need to create a company culture that encourages and rewards innovation. You may start by asking individuals to look for ways to improve efficiency, output, safety, etc. in the tasks they perform every day. Actually, this kind of an approach across the company always has to start with the tone at the top – if employees see their manager taking risks and testing new ideas, they are more likely to follow suit.

Foster innovation by challenging assumptions about what can and cannot be done. When employees come to you with an idea or a solution to a problem they believe is for the betterment of the company, it’s a sign that they care. Supporting new ideas and giving an individual the chance to ‘run with it’ is motivating, whether or not it works out in the end.

React to mistakes and failures in a way that shows that you condone risk-taking. Give your support, provide resources, and remove barriers to change. Approach problems as learning opportunities. Think twice when people agree with you; show you value independent thinking and reward people who challenge you.

As ideas cannot be shared without honest and open communication, encourage your employees to say a thing or two about company’s latest projects. Communication always takes time, so adequate time and place for discussion and meetings must be apportioned into the normal schedule.

Innovation initiatives and Lean complement one another when you consider the fundamentals they share. Progressive organizations that seek ever higher levels of productivity assign a high value to the benefits that come from creating an environment where all the members actively engage in continual reflection on and experimentation to solve problems that get in the way of satisfying demand.

Undo Old Habits and Make New Connections to Embrace Change

Culture can be defined as the sum of individuals' work habits within an organization.  Culture is often invisible to the members within the group because it is "the way we do things around here."  One implication of culture as a collection of habits and practices is that it has incredible inertia and momentum.  Cultural inertia is like a body in motion tending to stay in motion in the same direction unless acted on by an external force.

Conventional habits and practices live on despite changes to layout, material, and information flows.  In traditional settings it is seen as important to be doing something tied directly to production.  In a Lean environment, many practices are related to the disciplined adherence to defined processes. Most of our old habits will not work in our new Lean system. I think Shigeo Shingo said it best, "Improvement usually means doing something that we have never done before."

Wouldn't it be simple to just "break" or "kick" these habits?  In reality, many habits bring some level of comfort to us because they are routine.  Instead, we need to learn to undo the old "habits".  

When it comes to habits David Mann tells the story of Smokey the Bear's campfire rules.  Douse the fire with water, stir the coals and turn them over, then douse again.  Not following the rules of Smokey the Bear you risk the fire restarting itself from the live embers that remain.  Cultural habits are very much the same way.

A simple model for improvement could include undo, change, and connect.  Where the 3 steps of the process are defined:

Undo – is the process of learning to change the activities in an organization.  Create a situation whereby change is allowed to occur.
Change – this is where the actual improvement is implemented.
Connect – is about sustaining the new system by making new connections.  Use techniques like standard work, visual control, and visits to the Gemba build new ways of doing things.

Without undoing the old system we leave live embers that can be restarted at the first sign of difficulty.  Change is hard and there will be challenges.  To be successful and ensure the old fire doesn't restart we must learn to improve.  When you face a new problem in your new system don't break the rules or revert back to old thinking.  Use your Lean thinking to solve this new problem and improve your system.  And whatever you do don't run two systems in parallel.  Sometimes in an attempt to be cautious we are really just confusing the situation.  Be brave and embrace the change if you want to improve.

You should not expect the new ways to stick just because people have adhered to them for a day or week.  Old habits are waiting for the right condition to re-emerge.  Remember, nothing worth doing stays done forever without diligence, discipline, and hard work.

Lean Quote: Everything Rises and Falls on Leadership

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.

"Everything rises and falls on leadership." — John C. Maxwell

According to John Maxwell, author of over 70 leadership books, everything rises and falls on leadership. John Maxwell’s books on leadership are truly the standard for leaders.  His books such as the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Leadership Gold, Becoming a Person of Influence and many others are filled with strong leadership wisdom and practical advice.

Servant leadership is the key to leadership success in your business, but there are so many other critical points of leadership that you need to master.  Here are a few leadership insights to master as you move forward in this journey.

• You must learn to be a master communicator and connector.
• You cannot be a lone ranger leader.  By definition, you are not a leader if you are alone!  If you think you are a leader, but no one is following you, you are just taking a walk.
• You must become adept at addressing current issues with your organization while also seeing into the future, being a visionary, and charting your course.
• You must be intentional about attracting the right people for your team and you must build a strong inner circle.
• Your ability to empower others to lead will make or break your business.
• As a true leader, you must be passionate about leaving a legacy of leadership.
• You must be a master manager of your time and set correct and effective priorities.
• Know that as you grow in your responsibilities, you will diminish in your rights – the true mark of a servant leader.

Charisma, passion and/or intelligence will only get you so far as the leader of your organization.  Leadership is a skill and an art that you must work on purposefully to develop.  There are many options to help you through this development process including outstanding books, tapes, workshops and coaching from certified coaches.  The success of your business will rise and fall on your leadership abilities.

10 Fascinating Facts About Labor Day

As summer draws to a close and schools prepare to open their doors again, Labor Day comes around like a sweet salve to workers in the United States.

Celebrated on the first Monday in September, Labor Day is one of just 10 federal holidays in the United States and pays tribute to the American workers movement.

But while it is celebrated in modern times with BBQs, holidays and sales shopping, the holiday has a bloody history and came out of a long battle for workers’ rights in the country.

Here are ten interesting facts that you might not know about regarding Labor Day:

1. Labor Day originates from our neighbors to the north
Most Americans consider Labor Day a uniquely American experience, but in all reality, Labor Day has it’s origins in Canada. Stemming from 1870’s labor disputes in Toronto, in 1872 a parade was held in support of a strike against the 58 hour workweek. As a result, 24 union leaders who were responsible for organizing the event were arrested under anti-union laws.

2. First US Labor Day observance was in the form of a parade
The first US observance of Labor Day came in the form of a parade. Sponsored by the Central Labor Union, On September 5th, 1882 ten thousand workers paraded through New York City. This is commonly considered the first observance of Labor Day in America.

3. The 12 hour work day norm
What’s outrageous enough to spur ten thousand people to parade through NYC? A 12 hour workweek! In the late 19th century, the average working day consisted of 12 hours. Held on a Tuesday, the first Labor Day rally was held in order to gain support for the 8 hour workday.

4. Oregon first to declare Labor Day an official holiday
In February of 1887, the great state of Oregon was the first in the Union to pass law making Labor Day and officially recognized holiday.

5. Grover Cleveland makes Labor Day a national holiday
Making Labor Day an official national holiday as part of his political campaign, in 1894, President Grover Cleveland made good on his promise, and signed a law making Labor Day an officially recognized US holiday.

6. Not just in the US
Although Labor Day hails from Canada and the US, a large number of industrialized nations around the world celebrate Labor Day as a time to respect and reflect upon workers around the world. While not all celebrate it at the beginning of summer, the concept is similar, and is sometimes celebrated in combination of May Day.

7. First Waffle House opens on Labor Day
In 1955, in Avondale Estates, Georgia, the very first Waffle House opened it’s doors to the public. 25 states and 50 years later, Waffle House now counts over 1500 establishments. Yay waffles!

8. The White border
Labor Day has been traditionally the unofficial “pack up the whites” border, and was often considered a fashion faux pas, if worn post-Labor Day. This tradition has been steadily decreasing over the past decade(s), and is often now just remembered as the “something that once was.”

9. 150 million working Americans
As of 2008, there were 154.4 million people over the age of 16 in the US with jobs. Around ¾ of these workers receive paid vacation time, but an extra day off is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

10. Unofficial NFL season kickoff
99.44 percent of the time, the NFL plays it’s first official season game the Thursday after Labor Day.

So there you have it. Perhaps a few things you already knew about Labor Day, but hopefully a few that you didn’t.


We celebrate Labor Day because we are all in this world of work together. Let’s enjoy the fruits of our labor and the solidarity of workers, the work we do, and the nation and economy we and our parents and their parents have built. Happy Labor Day!

Lean Quote: Vacations Matter

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.

"The breaks you take form work pay you back manifold when you return because you come back with a fresher mind and newer thinking. Some of your best ideas come when you’re on vacation." — Gautam Singhania

Vacations are not a luxury; they are a necessity for a well-balanced, healthy life is as important as eating well and getting exercise. Here are 5 reasons to make them a priority in your life!

Vacations Relieve Stress---Stress is a true physiological response originally meant to help us and keep us safe. It releases hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine for the fight or flight response that was necessary for early man. However, in modern society, chronic stress can be destructive to our bodies. Getting away for regular vacations and leaving our every day stresses give us a break from the constant high levels of these hormones and a chance to repair some of the damage.

Vacations Help Maintain Focus---Studies find chronic stress can affect the part of the brain that inhibits goal-directed activities and causes problems with memory. Continuous work with no breaks or vacations can make people feel blocked and distracted, and have problems concentrating. Surveys show almost three-quarters of people who vacation regularly feel energized and more ready to tackle the tasks at hand.

Vacations Make You Happier---Neuroscientists have found that brain structure can actually be altered by chronic exposure to stress hormones contributing to depression and anxiety. Research shows that women who do not take regular vacations were three times more likely to be depressed and anxious. This corroborates a survey that found people who take regular vacations reported feeling extremely happy with an overall feeling of well-being compared to those who did not vacation. And many reported these effects lasting beyond their actual vacation.

Vacations Strengthen Relationships---Vacationing with your family or loved ones help forge closer bonds. Studies have found women who take vacations with spouses report feeling more satisfied with their marriages. Research has also uncovered a correlation between children's academic achievement and summer family vacations. These shared experiences promote family bonding, which is priceless. Family vacations create more memories than any other activity. In fact, other studies have found people place a higher value on the shared experiences they have on vacations than the material goods they have acquired during their lifetime.


Vacations Make You More Productive At Work---Contrary to what it may seem, studies show that more vacation time for workers actually increases company productivity, and has been found to decrease the number of sick days taken off. Liberal vacation policies create improved quality of life for employees, which translates into increased work quality. Workers also report feeling more creative after taking time off, and more than 70% of them reported feeling more satisfied with their jobs when they took regular vacations.

Top 15 Lean Journey Posts of All Time

I wanted to share the posts with the highest page views.  This way my new readers can enjoy them, and my other readers can enjoy them over again.

15. You Can’t Inspect in Quality

14. 5 Ways to Improve Employee Engagement

13. Lean Quote: Lost Time is Never Found Again

12. 4 Tiers for Daily Accountability

11. 5 Steps for Creating a Lean Roadmap

10. 10 Characteristics of a Good Measure and 7 Pitfalls to Avoid

9. Top 10 Reason Why Lean Transformation Fails

8. DOWNTIME and the Eight Wastes

7. Draw a Pig to Learn the Importance of Standard Work

6. Quick Changeover

5. Lean Exercise on Continuous Improvement using Tennis Balls

4. Defining the Problem Statement

3. The Six-Step Problem-Solving Process

2. The 8 Common Wastes in an Office That Cause Downtime

1. What Do We Mean By True North?

Hope you enjoyed these popular posts.

Dream Big: Six Leadership Lessons From Walt Disney Himself

When you hear the name Walt Disney many words spring to mind – imagination, innovation, creator of the happiest place on earth… 

“Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal.”

Think Walt Disney only drew mice and princesses? Think again. Here’s a man recognized as one of history’s best storytellers, one of American’s greatest showmen, and one of animation’s greatest innovators. And straight from the horse’s mouse’s mouth, Walt says his greatest accomplishment was rallying people around big goals. Here are six essential leadership competencies he illustrated:

Lesson 1: Find and state a higher purpose.
“We don’t make movies to make money. We make money to make more movies.”

Sure, money can be a great motivator in the short run. But there’s plenty of evidence to show that money can only goes so far before backfiring. To truly engage people and get the best from people, a leader must give us something to believe in.

For Walt, that special something was entertainment. He famously said, “Laughter is America’s most important export.” And for the animators at the studio or the cleaning crews at the theme park, which of these do you think is more compelling: “Let’s make people smile!” or “Let’s make our shareholders some money!”?

Lesson 2: Have a vision and relentlessly believe in it.
“When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.”

Walt chased a number of dreams – short cartoons, feature-length films, cutting-edge animation technologies, theme parks, and more. Some were successful; others were…well…not. But regardless of whether he was convincing people (himself included) that he could rebound from bankruptcy or that the world needed a crazy new amusement park, Walt’s belief in his vision seemed unwavering. Leadership takes courage. If you don’t believe in your vision of the future, if you don’t believe in the goal at hand, who else will?

Lesson 3: Be a storyteller.
Walt was one of the world’s most gifted storytellers. In the winter of 1934, Walt gathered his top animators at a soundstage in Los Angeles. According to Walt Disney biographer, Neal Gabler, “Announcing that he was going to launch an animated feature, [Walt] told the story of Snow White, not just telling it but acting it out, assuming the characters’ mannerisms, putting on their voices, letting his audience visualize exactly what they would be seeing on the screen. He became Snow White and the wicked queen and the prince and each of the dwarfs.”

You don’t have to be an actor or comedian to be a successful leader. But it sure helps to be a storyteller. Stories change how people feel. Stories can make something complicated seem simple. Stories translate the dry and abstract into the compelling and concrete. Stories are memorable. When it comes to leading, nothing works quite like a great story.

Lesson 4: Build trust.
“Leadership means that a group, large or small, is willing to entrust authority to a person who has shown judgment, wisdom, personal appeal, and proven competence.”

Walt tells us leadership requires that people “entrust authority.” He hints that trust is multi-faceted: People must trust in your competence, wisdom, and judgment (they gotta believe in your head), and they must trust in your “personal appeal” (they gotta believe in your heart). Without trust, fuhgettaboutit.

Lesson 5: Always be constantly improving.
“Whenever I go on a ride, I’m always thinking of what’s wrong with the thing and how it can be improved.”

Walt believed in the future. He insisted that Steamboat Willie have the sound synced and recorded, unheard of for a cartoon at that time. Before Snow White, there was no such thing as a feature length animated film. After it became a huge success and literally changed the film industry, it led to the success of several more beloved Disney classics like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Fantasia. Walt Disney could have rested on his laurels, but that wasn’t his style. Instead, he completely switched gears and set out to build an amusement park where parents and children could have fun together. Once Disneyland opened, Walt would walk around the park, personally testing all the rides, noticing if anything was out of place and asking the guests their opinions. If he noticed something was wrong, he would personally see that it was fixed. As his animators could attest, good enough was never good enough for Walt Disney.

Every day you should become a little better than you were the day before. If you can become one percent better daily, you can recreate your life every 100 days. Learn to get better daily; look for ways to improve, to be kinder, more intelligent, and more helpful.

Lesson 6: Get going.
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

At the end of the story – once you’ve done the hard work of building trust and casting a vision – you’ve got to shut up and get to work.

I always say that “well done” is better than “well said,” so quit talking and start doing! Quit planning and start practicing; a plan is good, a good plan is even better, but if that plan doesn't get put into action it’s as useless as a four fingered glove. Learn to get into action, start today, whatever you've been postponing …just do it. If you wait for the perfect time, you’ll never accomplish anything.

When Walt was asked what the secret to his success was, he thought for a while and then he said this: “I dream, I test my dreams against my beliefs, I dare to take risks, and I execute my vision to make those dreams come true.” Today the rules of success are no different. If Walt Disney, a man with limited education from a poor family, could create an entertainment empire from almost nothing, what’s stopping you from dreaming just as big?