Lean Archives | Page 17 of 67

The Winning Link with Billy Taylor

By Ron Pereira - November 6th, 2020

Gemba Academy is entering the “live stream” movement. We’ve obviously had some experience with video based learning over the years and we’ve also done many webinars which, technically, is a streaming event. Bu

GA 344 | Learning Lean Lessons From Powerful Stories with Steven Jackson

By Jessica Bush - November 5th, 2020

This week’s guest is Steven Jackson. Steven shared some incredible stories that have clear parallels to continuous improvement. This episode really demonstrates the effect this kind of thinking can have on human lives, past, pres

GA 343 | The Role of Ops Leaders in Integrating Lean with Jamie Parker

By Jessica Bush - October 29th, 2020

This week’s guest is Jamie Parker. Ron and Jamie discussed the role and responsibilities of ops leaders, and the challenges they face. Jamie also explained why “implementing” lean might not be the best approach. A M

Learning from the Scientific Skepticism of the Amazing Randi

By Jon Miller - October 26th, 2020

Growing up in Japan in the 1970s, I was exposed to a lot of entertainment about supernatural or extraordinary phenomena. In books and on TV, there were what seemed at the time like serious investigations of UFOs, ghosts, ESP and crypto

Stop Being the Expert and Be a Coach

By Steve Kane - October 23rd, 2020

I wrote the article below a few years ago and wanted to revisit it and include some thoughts on how this relates to coaching. “If I am wiser. . . it is because I know that I do not know.” ~ Socrates Is it possible that expe

GA 342 | Lean, Law, and Automation with Andrew Shapiro-Zysk

By Jessica Bush - October 22nd, 2020

This week’s guest is Andrew Shapiro-Zysk. Andrew explained how lean is being used in the legal profession, including dealing with pushback. He and Ron also discussed the power of automation and avoiding automating waste. A MP3 au

Queues These Days as Reminders of Little’s Law

By Jon Miller - October 19th, 2020

I’ve never been fond of queues. It’s not so much the standing and waiting that bothers me. Instead, it’s the reminder that queue exists because there is an imperfection in the process that prevents smooth flow. Of cou

GA 341 | Exploring Quantum Lean with Sean Fields and Michael Sanders

By Jessica Bush - October 15th, 2020

This week’s guests are Sean Fields and Michael Sanders. Together with Ron they discussed the concept of quantum lean and how it can be used to streamline processes. They also explored how quantum lean compares to value stream map

Lean Lessons from Soviet Supermarket Failures

By Jon Miller - October 12th, 2020

I came across the story of How the Supermarket Helped America Win the Cold War while catching up on past episodes of the Freakonomics Radio podcast. It tells of the role the American supermarket played in the downfall of communism in t

Time to Stop

By Kevin Meyer - October 9th, 2020

As we approach the arbitrary end of the year, many organizations are beginning the planning cycle for next year. Part of that process should be identifying what projects and activities should be stopped, for several reasons – p

GA 340 | Modernizing TWI with Ryan Weiss

By Jessica Bush - October 8th, 2020

This week’s guest is Ryan Weiss. Ryan, a lean consultant, shared his approach to optimizing performance. He and Ron also discussed the modernization of TWI, and how different learning styles play a role. A MP3 audio version of th

The Many Methods of Business Process Mapping

By Jon Miller - October 5th, 2020

One of our content goals for the year is to make our learning library more useful for knowledge workers. To this end, we are in the process of building the Business Process Mapping course. What’s in the Business Process Mapping C

Focus on What you Plan to Do (Not What You Want to Get Done)

By Ron Pereira - October 2nd, 2020

Yesterday, during a coaching call with Allen, one of our Black Belt candidates, I had an interesting conversation. Allen asked how to best plan out the next 5 business days and if I had any recommendations on what he should get done.

GA 339 | Applying Lean and Six Sigma to Human Resources with Michael Parent

By Jessica Bush - October 1st, 2020

This week’s guest is Michael Parent. Ron and Michael discussed the role of continuous improvement in HR and the challenges Michael faces. Michael also shared his take on applying these principles in untraditional contexts. A MP3

The Loopy Guide to Getting Started with Lean

By Jon Miller - September 28th, 2020

We often hear the question, “Where do I get started?” from people new to lean, continuous improvement or operational excellence. A simple, universal answer continues to evade us. The answer is rather situational. It depends

5 Tips for Choosing a Lean Certification Course

By Steve Kane - September 25th, 2020

There are many Lean certification courses available from a wide variety of organizations. Choosing the right one to suit your specific needs can be a bit tricky. Here are some tips and considerations to help you find the right one for

GA 338 | Gamifying Lean with Bruno Pesec

By Jessica Bush - September 24th, 2020

This week’s guest is Bruno Pesec. Ron and Bruno discussed innovation strategy, the intersection of respect for people and innovation, and how Bruno has been involved in gamifying lean. A MP3 audio version of this episode is ava

The Five-minute Morale and Productivity Booster

By Jon Miller - September 21st, 2020

We love to hear from our customers at Gemba Academy. Sometimes it’s about things we can do better. Customer requests for new topics for our learning library are an important input to our plans. Perhaps the best is hearing about o

GA 337 | Making the Best of Bad Circumstances with Skip Steward

By Jessica Bush - September 17th, 2020

This week’s guest is Skip Steward. Ron and Skip reflected on the year thus far and on some of the different challenges COVID-19 has created. Skip also shared his take on dealing with confirmation biases. A MP3 audio version of th

COLLECT Questions for Better Gemba Walks

By Jon Miller - September 14th, 2020

The purpose of gemba walks is to demonstrate respect for the people who do the work, collect information, and promote actions that continuously improve processes and shape organizational culture. People accomplish this by going to the

Infographic: 5 Best Practices for Online Learning

By Kevin Meyer - September 12th, 2020

Gemba Academy’s latest infographic on “5 Best Practices for Online Learning” is now available! The image is below, or you can download it on our Resources page. The other infographics on Best Practices for Remote

The Stabilizing Foundation of Values

By Kevin Meyer - September 11th, 2020

We’re living through some crazy times and dealing with issues that were not anticipated during planning sessions. Every day we’re confronted with new information, new analyses of facts and opinions, creating new decisions

GA 336 | The Process of Process Improvement with Karen Friedenberg

By Jessica Bush - September 10th, 2020

This week’s guest is Karen Friedenberg. Karen, who has a diverse career background, broke down all the different ways she approaches process improvement. From DMAIC to change management, this episode is full of practical knowledg

How to Build High-Performance Teams through Lean Practices

By Jon Miller - September 7th, 2020

Teams are a well-established feature of how we manage, accomplish and improve our work. Yet too often teams at work are no more than a near-random collection of people. If we were building a high-performance car, we would never do so w

What Is a Transactional Value Stream Map?

By Ron Pereira - September 4th, 2020

We’ve recently released “phase 1” of a new Business Process Mapping series. Two additional phases will be added in the coming weeks. In phase 1 we explore the topic of transactional value stream mapping. In this

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