In the KaiZone Friday Favorites, I present my top ten favorite articles from the last week (give or take a few days) in the world of Lean – and beyond. With leading content from the world’s foremost improvement authors and future Lean leaders, I do the research so you don’t have to!
How Can We Overcome Toxic Conformity at Work? By Michael Sinocchi “• Be the change you want to see in your people. If you want the truth, you must speak the truth and be the truth Encourage debate and dialogue. Welcome ideas that conflict with your own assumptions. Instead of arguing with dissenters, ask for explanations of their thinking.”
Game On! Maybe Lean Can Be Fun by Lory Moniz. “By design, good games support the approaches of concrete learners through a myriad of feedback mechanisms: visual, auditory, textual, progress charts, etc. while abstract learners can ignore which ever feedback mechanisms they choose – often by simply switching them off.”
Quality of Lean by Bob Emiliani. “The quality of Lean in an organization is driven largely by people being allowed by their leaders to think, and not just always being told by their leaders to do things, “nose to the grindstone.” Allowing people to think requires leaders to view employees as having a brain – whether loading dock worker or marketing chief.”
Build a Deliberate Culture, Not an Accidental One by Jamie Flinchbaugh. “A company’s culture is the product of people’s shared experiences. The problem is, most of those experiences are not designed to create a deliberate culture. Instead, the result is an accidental culture.”
More on Toyota’s Respect for Humanity by Michael Baudin. “As a manager or as a consultant, you don’t implement or recommend policies labeled “respect for people” or “respect for humanity.” Instead, you make changes to the way work is being done and organized that are aligned with these values and needed for your business.”
Are You Really Different? Lean Flow for Skilled Repair Work by Ed Kemmerling. ” How many times have we heard these comments from clients on why lean will not work? “We are different. Every job is unique.” “We cannot expect teamwork from skilled trades. Their work is too specialized.” “We must keep our people busy at all times. That’s why inventory is so important.” Let me tell you a story about how we transformed a sophisticated aircraft repair facility, made up of many skilled tradesmen, into an effective lean team.
Is Lean a Waste Elimination Program or Striving for Excellence? by Jeffrey Liker. “The real challenge is to replace the old habits of people that focus on today’s problems, quick resolution, with little learning with a set of skilled routines to systematically improve toward clear targets.”
You Get What You Expect and You Deserve What You Tolerate by Mark Graban. “If you tolerate bad processes, you deserve bad results. That’s true in any organization.”
Top 5 Ways TPS Could Have Saved the Roman Empire by Matt Elson. “You can’t push the envelope without trying…”Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” The Roman Empire was build through hard work. Rolling up your sleeves, getting your hands dirty, and “learning by doing” serve to drive you forward on a daily basis. TPS is built on trying something new, experimenting and analyzing the results. If the results are better than the current condition, then great! If the results missed the target, then great! At least you learned something new.”
Innovative Thinking at Amazon by John Hunter. “Amazon continues to be innovative not just in technology but with management thinking. Jeff Bezos has rejected the dictates exposed most vociferously by Wall Street mouthpieces and MBAs that encourage short term thinking and financial gimmicks which harm the long term success of companies.”
Have a great weekend, friends!
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