Lean Archives | Page 21 of 67

How Mindfulness Practices Enable Lean Culture

By Jon Miller - February 17th, 2020

The popularity of mindfulness has spread beyond self-help and personal wellness. Many organizations in fields such as business, healthcare and government are providing their leaders with mindfulness education and practices. The claimed

Medical interns at hospital with patient

Leverage Learning Environments to Create Customer Value

By Kevin Meyer - February 14th, 2020

A couple weeks ago a consultant friend of mine, who coincidentally focuses his practice on lean in healthcare, was complaining about issues with his healthcare providers. It’s a story we hear often – doctors running late,

GA 306 | Practicing Kindness with Karyn Ross

By Jessica Bush - February 13th, 2020

This week’s guest is Karyn Ross. Ron and Karyn talked all about practicing kindness, why it’s important, and how it’s relevant to continuous improvement. A MP3 audio version of this episode is available for download h

What are the “Respect for Humanity” Questions?

By Jon Miller - February 10th, 2020

Lean management aims to make work easier, safer, better, faster and cheaper. The first two centuries of continuous improvement focused on invention, tinkering, and innovation in machinery and materials. With the growth of the service s

Can a Humidifier Help You Sleep Better and Snore Less?

By Ron Pereira - February 7th, 2020

They say good leaders are willing to be vulnerable and share things they may not want to…even things they’re slightly embarrassed to admit. Well, I’m about to test that theory by sharing something most people don

GA 305 | Building Trust and Leveraging Conflict with Robb Holman

By Jessica Bush - February 6th, 2020

This week’s guest is Robb Holman. Ron and Rob discussed the importance of building trust in the workplace, the concept of Inside Out Leadership, and why conflict can be a powerful tool. A MP3 audio version of this episode is av

When an Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Billion Pounds of Global GDP

By Jon Miller - February 3rd, 2020

This simple chart gets to the heart how Lean processes, systems and behaviors keep costs low. In brief, the earlier we detect and address problems, the less it costs. This is a broad, common sense principle. It applies to safety incide

GA 304 | The Different Approaches to Training Leaders with Brent Weichers

By Jessica Bush - January 30th, 2020

This week’s guest is Brent Weichers of The Lighthouse for the Blind. Ron and Brent discussed the various approaches to training leaders, including the different hard and soft skills involved. A MP3 audio version of this episode i

How Lean Deployment Is Like Working with Two-Part Epoxy

By Jon Miller - January 27th, 2020

This weekend while working on a particularly challenging home repair project I had the opportunity to work with a two-part epoxy. These are adhesives that create very strong bonds that hold up in many environments and conditions. But

It’s Your Duty to Make Things Right

By Steve Kane - January 24th, 2020

I completed US Army basic training at Fort Dix in May of 1990. Immediately after, I went to advanced individual training (AIT) at the US Army Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Drill Sergeant Smith was my platoon drill se

GA 303 | Running a Successful Kaizen Event with Adam Lawrence

By Jessica Bush - January 23rd, 2020

This week’s guest is Adam Lawrence. Ron and Adam discussed everything that goes into running a successful kaizen event, including team selection, engagement, and increasing the chances of “winning.” A MP3 audio versio

Making Meetings Less Terrible

By Jon Miller - January 20th, 2020

Studies estimate that we spend an hour or more each day in meetings or preparing for them. On the one hand, it’s good that humans are communicating, making decisions and solving problems together. On the other hand, unproductive

GA 302 | Continuous Improvement at Halliburton with Chris Rodriguez

By Jessica Bush - January 16th, 2020

This week’s guest is Chris Rodriguez, Continuous Improvement Lead at Halliburton. Chris described their journey, including some of the lessons they’ve learned. A MP3 audio version of this episode is available for download h

Sustaining Gains with the Continuous Improvement Ratchet

By Jon Miller - January 13th, 2020

The PDCA wheel held in place on a slope by a wedge is a common representation of how standards are essential to sustains continuous improvement. On the one hand, this is intuitive and easy to demonstrate. On the other hand, it’s

Refining and Reinforcing Principles

By Kevin Meyer - January 10th, 2020

Earlier this month Ron discussed his top ten lessons from the last decade and Jon what he believes is the most important word of the year (“daily”). Although I have tried to divorce myself from the arbitrary boundaries of

GA 301 | Navigating Lean Trends with Karen Martin

By Jessica Bush - January 9th, 2020

This week’s guest is Karen Martin. Karen described some of the lean trends she’s observed, and how we can best prepare for and learn from them. A MP3 audio version of this episode is available for download here. In this epi

The Word of the Year for 2019

By Jon Miller - January 6th, 2020

Looking back on the previous twelve months, there is one word that ties together my lessons learned and aspirations. The word is daily. It’s the humblest of words, suggesting commonplace, regular, routine, of no special note. In

Ten Lessons I’ve Learned Over the Last Decade

By Ron Pereira - January 3rd, 2020

The last decade has, without question, been the most transformative time of my life – personally and professionally. To be sure, I’ve made more mistakes than I can count…but with these mistakes have come valuable le

GA 300 | Leadership, Teamwork, and Taking Flight with Richard Sheridan

By Jessica Bush - January 2nd, 2020

We’re celebrating our 300th episode by sitting down with Richard Sheridan, CEO of Menlo Innovations. Ron and Richard discussed the company’s unique culture, the similarities between flying an airplane and running a business

Remain Detached from the Outcome

By Steve Kane - December 27th, 2019

I’ve been working on my Black Belt certification for several months. The past few have been devoted to a project related to understanding how improvements over the years have impacted business performance. Many of the improvement

GA 299 | Lean and Strategy in the U.S. Air Force with Reza Zeinalpour

By Jessica Bush - December 26th, 2019

This week’s guest is Reza Zeinalpour. Ron and Reza talked about applying continuous improvement in the U.S. Air Force, including how they integrate performance metrics, innovation, and virtual reality. A MP3 audio version of this

Was the Standard Clear Enough?

By Jon Miller - December 23rd, 2019

While observing a morning huddle meeting last week, I heard a senior leader ask, “Was the standard clear enough?” several times as they discussed the previous day’s quality, safety and delivery problems. That’s

GA 298 | Defining Standardized Work with Mike Thelen

By Jessica Bush - December 19th, 2019

This week’s guest is Mike Thelen. Ron and Mike explored all things standardized work, including the components, how often it should be improved, and more. A MP3 audio version of this episode is available for download here. In thi

Go See, Show Respect, Ask “What Do You Need from Me?”

By Jon Miller - December 16th, 2019

Last week we took a day at the Gemba Academy office in Fort Worth to map and improve our content development process. It was a humbling reminder of the importance of going to the gemba, asking the internal customer what they need and m

Empirical Evidence for the Power of Kata

By Kevin Meyer - December 13th, 2019

We’ve long known that embracing failure with an aim toward learning and improvement can create future success. Organizations that see failure in that light, and support their people with cultures and systems to learn from failu

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