I was pretty proud of myself. It didn’t matter what question a team member came to me with – I could almost always reply with an eloquent answer on the fly. It was like magic, and I thought I was fantastic! Boy, was I wrong. (Keep reading to find out how) Problem...
“We’re stuck in firefighting mode” is a phrase I’ve heard and read a whole bunch! It’s quite a common feeling and many leaders practicing Lean are searching for a way to move out of that mode and into fire prevention. Firefighting versus Fire Prevention in Lean...
You know what I LOVE about the Lean community? We are a sharing community. I wanted to see if you could help me. I am developing new webinars, videos and blogs on Lean Leadership and want to understand the problems managers and practitioners face when trying to use...
This is quite embarrassing. Indulge me while I take a trip back to my first few years in operations management, before I was ever introduced to Lean – and before Process + Results thinking entered my world. Our organization conducted Voice of Customer (VOC) surveys to...
I visited a friend’s work recently to meet for lunch. As I toured his plant, there were performance metrics awards all along the wall. “Best Market – On-Time Service”, “Best Market – Stops Per Hour”, “Best Market –...
I’m a recovering Command-and-Control Manager who’s now on a mission to make the world of work more human. With a soft spot in my heart for Ops Managers, this Lean blog gives you the straight talk combining Lean, Leadership, and the real challenges of operations management.