You can’t be Lean with Lean Leadership. The tools are easy to copy but without the people and the leadership they are useless. Understanding the people aspect of Toyota is the real challenge, until now. Jeffrey Liker and Gary Convis have made this possible with The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership. The combination of Jeff’s
READ MORECreating a positive workplace is critical to a company’s success. Most people who have experience working in an office have seen firsthand the difference between one that has a positive environment and one that doesn’t. A positive work environment has a better productivity rate, happier workers overall, better morale, and a lower turnover rate. There
READ MOREOn 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
READ MOREWith just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice, you can go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach for acquiring new skills quickly with a small amount of practice each day. He shows how to deconstruct complex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers, creating a
READ MOREA long time reader, Dave, recently asked me for advice on leadership commitment for Lean implementation: Can Lean be successful if you don’t have top down commitment? I currently work for a midsize manufacturer that only like to say they are Lean, when in reality they only have one division attempting. Any advice? In my experience I
READ MOREMemorial Day has come to signify the start of summer for many Americans and is often celebrated with cookouts, family get-togethers, road races and concerts. But the real meaning of Memorial Day has, for too many Americans, gotten lost in holiday hoopla. Memorial Day is a day of reflection and remembrance. It is a day
READ MOREOn 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
READ MOREToday marks the 4th anniversary of A Lean Journey Blog and as tradition here each year I take the opportunity to reflect. The act of “self-reflection” is called Hansei is Japanese. It is the practice of continuous improvement that consists of looking back and thinking about how a process can be improved. I’d like to
READ MOREAre you looking for a Lean leadership model for your organization? In Anatomy of aLean Leader Jerry Bussell draws from his rich lifetime of learning and wealth of stories from the gemba to weave together important lessons from exemplary lean leaders. In his book, Bussell identifies ten characteristics that he claims are essential for a
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