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The 2014 Mid-Year Leany Awards

July 18, 2014 by Joel A. Gross 3 Comments

2014 Leany Awards

First, there was The Shingo Prize.  Next came The Silver Toaster Award.  Now, The KaiZone is proud to bring to you the first ever Leany Awards, for excellence in Lean blogging!  In this very special edition of The KaiZone Friday Favorites, we’re going to take a look back and recognize the top author, blog and post of the half-year for 2014.

How the Winners Were Chosen

Each and every morning, I have made a habit of starting my day by reading the new posts from more than 60 blogs in the world of Lean and continuous improvement.  Every two weeks, I select the ten most original, thoughtful and entertaining posts to create TheKaiZone Friday Favorites.

To determine the best of the best, I’ve assigned a point total to each of the 120 posts to appear on the Friday Favorites this half-year.  For each edition, 10 points were given to first place, 9 points for second, 8 points for third, etc . . . I then totaled up all the points from each of the 12 KaiZone Friday Favorites this year to determine the Leany Award winners for the top Lean Blog Author and top Lean Blog of the half-year 2014.

On the other hand, the Leany Award for the best single post was selected completely subjectively by yours truly, based on the piece that I found most impactful over the past six months.  Sorry . . . my blog, my rules!

And now that the formalities are out of the way, it’s time to award the first ever Leany Award to the top Lean blogger of 2014. [Read more…]

 

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Filed Under: Friday Favorites, The KaiZone Community Tagged With: friday favorites, Leany Awards

A Lesson in Humility, Part 1 with Daniel Jones, Matt Elson and Tracey Richardson

July 14, 2014 by Joel A. Gross 1 Comment

Friends of the KaiZoneIf I were to distill down my 31 years to a single word, it would be serendiptity. When I look back, I’ve come to realize that in the pursuits of  my life, I’ve very rarely been fulfilled by that which I’ve sought; it is the act of seeking, however, that has rewarded me in ways that are both completely unexpected and absolutely invaluable.

The piece that you are about to read is my epitome of serendipity.  On one level, the original intention of the post, I sought advice from who I believe to be the top Lean thinkers alive to share here in my little corner of the internet with you all.  Certainly, the responses that I received – actually, that I received any responses at all – more than exceeded even my most wishful expectations.  However, in true serendipitous fashion, in seeking and receiving wisdom from these three individuals, I was taught for more than I would have ever imagined.

To maintain integrity to the original intention of the piece, and out of the respect to the contributing authors, I have divided the piece into two parts.  In the first, Mr. Jones, Mr. Elson and Ms. Richardson provide us with their words of wisdom for the Lean journey.  In the second part, I will take you behind the scenes to look at how the piece came to be, and how its lessons both reinforce and transcend the concept of Lean thinking. [Read more…]

 

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Filed Under: Friends of The KaiZone, The KaiZone Community Tagged With: Daniel Jones, friends of the kaizone, Matt Elson, People Development, respect for people, Tracey Richardson

The KaiZone Friday Favorites for July 4th, 2014

July 3, 2014 by Joel A. Gross Leave a Comment

The KaiZone Friday Favorites

In the KaiZone Friday Favorites, I present my top ten favorite articles from the last two weeks in the world of Lean, continuous improvement 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!

Note that due to the Independence Day holiday in the U.S., The KaiZone Friday Favorites are being brought to you a day early.  I hope that you enjoy!

10.  Lean Training Lineage Matters by Bob Emiliani.  “Does training lineage matter? Yes, I think it does, in particular when it comes to  tacit knowledge. Something that is difficult to copy or understand necessarily embodies lots of  tacit knowledge. These nuances and details are critical for the development of an accurate understanding which, in turn, leads to correct practice.”

9.  The Science of Positive Interactions – Key to the Coaching Kata by Lawrence Miller.  “Both learning and motivation on the part of employees is optimized when the ratio of positive to negative interactions with managers lean toward four positives to one negative. Higher rates of negative interactions reduce learning, increase fear, increase avoidance behavior, rather than problem-solving and experimentation.”

8.  Lean Government by Jim Womack.  “When I look at governments at every level today I observe that most issues are not clearly stated, regulatory and service provision processes are not designed using lean principles, and regulations and services are not administered or provided using lean methods. So what can be done?”

7.  Practice Seeing to be a Better Leader by Karyn Ross.  “Deliberately practicing a skill over and over again is the way that we learn by DOING. And learning by DOING—especially with the help of a coach to guide your practice—is the key to continuously improving.”

6.  Is Assessing Lean Wasteful? by Gregg Stocker.  “It’s important to remember that the effort is about continually improving toward perfection rather than “adopting lean.”  Using an assessment to gauge progress on the journey can easily shift the focus away from this and toward the idea that lean is another trendy business initiative that will eventually go away.”

5.  5 Skills to Strengthen Your Coaching Practice by Lex Schroeder.  “How do we support the work to get done? The primary motivation for the majority of people is not money, promotion, or flexibility; it is the ability for each person to feel that they are performing challenging, meaningful work.”

4.  Kaizen and Lean: Experimentation vs. Implementation by Jon Miller.  “When people practice kaizen, they learn to observe reality, see the facts and to solve problems. People learn better when experimentation is encouraged.”

3.  A World Devoid of Common Sense by Bill Waddell.  “I was planning to write about the silliness of annual budgeting, then thought – no, variance analysis is even sillier – then – no three way matching of invoices is sillier yet and found myself in a bit of a quandary. The solution? Let you decide which is the biggest waste of time and the most glaring evidence of the irrelevance of accounting.”

2.  Where is the Frontline? by Bruce Hamilton.  “In recent years it’s become fashionable to talk about management’s support for the “frontline,” a peculiar idiom as frontline is technically defined as “that part of an army that is closest to the enemy.” Sometimes, however, the idiom fits.”

And the #1 Friday Favorite for July 4th, 2014 goes to . . . drum roll please . . . 

1.  Why is “What is Lean?” ‘A Simple Question Without An Easy Answer’? by Jon Miller.  “Whatever the causes, there is something that is cognitively jarring about a lean community who seem completely happy to fail to agree on a simple, clear, standard definition and an answer to the question, “What is lean?” Lean requires improvement. Improvement demands standards. Standards demand clarity. Clarity demands removal of ambiguity. Accepting ambiguity in the definition of lean is not lean and the lean community should not accept it.”

Do you have an article that you’d like to share with The KaiZone community?  Post it in the comments section below.  Have a great weekend, and for those of you in the U.S., a terrific holiday, friends!

 

 

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Filed Under: Friday Favorites, The KaiZone Community Tagged With: friday favorites

What is Your Vision of Lean?

June 30, 2014 by Joel A. Gross 1 Comment

The KaiZone Community Outreach

Lean thinking is a journey of learning.  I believe that we learn best when we learn from each other.  The KaiZone Community Outreach is a monthly series designed to promote interesting, thoughtful and entertaining discussion on a wide variety of Lean-related topics.  By contributing to the discussion, you help us all to move forward on our personal Lean journeys, one comment at a time.  That’s The KaiZone Way.

In a few seconds, I want you to sit back and relax.  Close your eyes, and in as much detail as you can, create a mental picture of what a Lean process looks like.  Not just any Lean process, but the ideal Lean process.  What is the physical layout of the process?  How do the materials flow?  How do the people perform their work?  I’m serious.  Take a full minute and do it now.  I’ll wait . . .

[Read more…]

 

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Filed Under: Community Outreach, The KaiZone Community Tagged With: coaching, education, lean thinking, process, teaching

The Pursuit of Perfection

June 27, 2014 by Joel A. Gross Leave a Comment

Quotes from the KaiZone

Ralph Waldo Emerson was quoted as saying, “I hate quotes.”  Luck you.  As I’ve been told by countless college writing professors, and readers of this blog, I’m no Emerson!  There’s nothing I like more than a good quote, which is why every month I am shamelessly stealing and expounding on the wisdom of others to bring you Quotes from The KaiZone.  

This month’s quote comes to us from one of my favorite Lean thinkers, Steven Spear.  In his book, The High-Velocity Edge, Mr. Spear offers the following commentary on the growing complexity in our world:

[Read more…]

 

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Filed Under: Quotes from @TheKaiZone, The KaiZone Community Tagged With: High-Velocity Edge, perfection, quotes, Steven Spear

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