Lean and Leadership Blog
How to Get More Meaningful Feadback
Taylor was trying to ask his people for feedback about the new workflow they were implementing. But mostly he heard crickets - except for the two guys that complained about everything. He really wanted meaningful feedback and input so he could support the team, but...
Belief Drives Behavior in Leadership
As managers or Lean practitioners, we tend to be action-focused people. See a problem, fix a problem. And that bias for action is great as it drives continuous improvement and problem solving. So when someone starts talking about mindset - it may not be on the top of...
8 Tips to Transition from Problem Solver to Problem Solving Coach
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...
Get Out of Firefighting Mode by Selecting New Heroes
“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...
Asking for your help – Lean Leadership Survey
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...
Is Lean Leadership about Process or Results?
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...
Are your performance metrics contributing to silos?
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 - Done Right Quality". All of the awards had one thing...
Respect for People in Lean Leadership Beliefs, Behaviors, and Systems
Respect for People – What is it and how to lead a team into feeling mutual respect for people? Leading with Respect for People is one shift leaders need to make to transform from traditional management to effective Lean leadership.
Why is Lean so hard?
Okay – who’s hiding the Make Lean Easy Button? As managers practicing continuous improvement, we know how Lean processes can improve safety, quality, and profitability. We want to capitalize on this value in our organizations. We’ve worked with our teams to reduce...
What’s the Real Value of a Lean Transformation?
In preparation for a practitioner presentation at the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) International Conference, I asked some of our leaders to record video “testimonials” from team members about how our Lean journey has impacted them. I gave no guidance...
Meet Jamie
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.
