I was having one of those ‘Father Knows Best’ moments with my daughter yesterday. I was trying to explain to her why school is so important. One of my arguments was that the better you do in school, the better job you tend to get. Of course, she saw at least part of my 5 Whys video when I was producing it, and asked me “Why?” Instead of answering directly, I just responded with a Read more…
As a small business owner, I have one luxury that most managers and employees in companies don’t have. When I go through the PDCA cycle, there are no competing agendas. Everything that is good for the owner (me) is also good for the manager (also me). For many situations, though, that automatic alignment does not exist. Frequently, there are many players in a project, and they each have their own set of goals. That is Read more…
Spend any time around Lean, or any other continuous improvement methodology, for that matter, and you will undoubtedly hear the term “Respect for People.” It is a simple concept that should act as a moral compass in how people do business. The fact is that a company does not have to be respectful of its employees and customers in order to be successful. Some can treat their workers and clients with disdain and a lack Read more…
Tim McMahon and I recently presented a webinar full of tips that can help you really speed up your progress on your Lean journey. The tips include: Go to the Gemba Watch and Listen to What People Really Say Develop Your People Find Little, Instant Rewards Many Small Wins, Rather Than The Occasional Big Win Buy People Books Stop Fighting Fires Measure Twice, Improve Once Map Your Value Stream Remember: Lean is a Four Letter Read more…
Micromanagement is the act of giving overly excessive instructions to employees. It tends to reduce the effectiveness of an organization for a variety of reasons. If a manager is micromanaging an employee, he is not doing his own work, limiting his effectiveness. If a manager micromanages, her employees will be reluctant to take on challenges. They will fear reprimands if they do not do things exactly the way the boss would do it. Employees tend Read more…
Policy deployment is the process of turning a strategic vision into an actionable task that frontline leaders and employees can commit to. Even with a great strategy and a highly effective team that is capable of making substantial improvements, a company can fall short of its goals. Why? The two are not aligned. People are working hard to make things better, but the things they are doing often do not get the company closer to Read more…
Businesses are full of managerial approval loops. An employee wants to take a break, and he must check in with the supervisor. An employee wants to buy a hand tool, and she must go through channels to put in the request. A back-office employee wants to do something to take care of a customer, and he has to get permission. An employee wants to learn a new skill, and must get authorization from her manager Read more…
Thank you for purchasing a license for our Lean Office Flow Exercise. If you have not purchased a license already, please visit our Lean office simulation product page. In summary, there are three versions of license. A site license permits use of the training materials at a single physical address. It may not be used to train others for a fee (i.e. internal training of employees and vendors only). A corporate license allows training at Read more…
Starting anything new can be a challenge. It can be especially so at the beginning of a process improvement initiative. Whether the new methods come from Lean, Six Sigma, a hybrid of the two, or a homegrown philosophy, people have a natural resistance to change. And managing that resistance poorly can lead to disastrous results. In fact, the 2009 edition of Proscii’s “Best Practices in Change Management” report said that 95% of projects with an Read more…
Over the years while I was working for other companies, I would sit down in the evening and take notes about what I learned during the day. Eventually, I compiled it into something of a personal guide I could reference. That guide subsequently formed the foundation for my lean dictionary. When I launched my business, I was looking for a unique way to have my voice stand out from the countless people sharing their Lean Read more…
I received a very interesting e-mail this morning from one of my readers regarding yesterday’s post on policy deployment. Here it is: Jeff: Have you started using some sort of speech-to-text software? There are several grammar/syntax errors in today’s post—and that’s unusual. As always, the post is full of good information. Thanks for making it available. SG Guess what. SG was spot on with his assessment. I had just updated my Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition Read more…
Policy Deployment is the (usually) annual process of reviewing the strategic goals of an organization and aligning the company’s resources towards meeting those goals. Hoshin Kanri is the Japanese term that means roughly the same. The literal translation, like many foreign words, is open to interpretation, but many versions seem to include something about a “direction needle” linked with something about control or administration or management. Regardless of the exact translation, most Lean practitioners agree Read more…
