Wlei - Lean Enterprise Institute's Podcast

Ron describes the Deublin Company's business system built with lean thinking that puts human development at the center  

January 27, 2020 Featuring: Deborah McGee and Bryant Sanders As this series continues to explore the implications and dynamic of “coaching” in a business environment, Bryant Sanders models the mindset and techniques for coaching work improvement to develop people. Bryant draws on 26 years Toyota experience to facilitate his coaching techniques with a team in the field leading to a dramatic improvement in the work. He walks us through the story from deciding where to focus, to earning the team’s trust, facilitating reflection solidifying the what and the why and then leveraging one another’s strengths to upskill the team and eliminate difficulty and waste in the work. An excellent study in masterful coaching on the floor where the work happens. We invite your thoughts and experiences about coaching and being coached: email your stories! pod@lean.org Related Articles/ content: ·       The Hard Work of Making Hard Work Easier (article) ·       Job Breakdown Sheet (pdf) ·       Making Hard Work Easier (art

Too often, a change in executive leadership can bring a lean transformation to a grinding halt.  But that has not been the case at Lynn Community Health Center (LCHC).   Within two years of the start of their lean journey, LCHC CEO Lori Abrams Berry announced her intention to retire. The immediate reaction from the LCHC community was concern that her departure would impact the progress made on advancing lean thinking and practice with improved outcomes and engagement of its team members. Instead, the impending CEO transition was embraced as a challenge, a gap to tackle.  Learn how LCHC approached this executive leadership transition to ensure the continuity of their lean transformation.  John Shook’s favorite conference keynote of all time Using lean thinking to improve hypertension in a community health centre Ep. 9 Leadership, Building Consensus, and Embracing Culture with Dr. Kiame Mahaniah and John Shook Lean Summit 2020 Surviving CEO Change, Evolving Through Culture and Being a Humble Leader Lean

Josh Howell shares his decade-end reflections, focusing on why he left Starbucks in 2013. His reasons may surprise you. He also interrogates the question, “If a company discontinues a formal lean initiative, or lean program, or lean team, does that mean its lean implementation has failed?” 

Pat Greco In 2011, Dr. Pat Greco began as the superintendent of the Menomonee Falls School District in Wisconsin. She faced no shortage of problems: a suspension rate seven times higher than the state average, performance gaps across income and race, cost overruns, and a failure to meet performance goals defined under the No Child Left Behind Act among others. Not to mention a new administration was upending collective bargaining for public sector employees instilling fear within the teachers she was setting out to lead. By the end of her tenure she had led the school district to rank as one of the country’s best. She did so primarily through PDCA cycles in the classroom between teachers and students, as well as between management and the board of education.

December 23, 2019 Featuring: Deborah McGee and Jeff Smith As this series continues to explore the implications and dynamic of “coaching” in a business environment, Jeff Smith reveals the importance of the learning environment for impactful coaching. Jeff draws on 22 years experience within the Toyota Production System and recalls his coaching experience at New United Motor, and later as a coach in many organizations. We talk about coaching in the front office as well as shop floor, engaging with problems using A3 thinking, and mechanisms to signal abnormal conditions inherently perfect for effective coaching moments. We invite your thoughts and experiences about coaching and being coached: email your stories! pod@lean.org Related Articles/ content: Learning to Help Anna Elevate Her Game(article) Toyotas Secret: The A3 Report (article) Lessons from NUMMI (podcast) Kaizen Express (book) Managing to Learn (book)  

In his new book Dying for A Paycheck, Stanford University Graduate School of Business Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer argues that there is an overwhelmingly compelling case to be made that the workplace profoundly affects human health and wellbeing, and that these psychosocial stressors have gotten worse in recent years. His book vividly details how the costs are enormous to both individuals and to companies and to society. He believes that If we're going to address this, we need to see the problem and its enormous scope. In this podcast Pfeffer shares thoughts with LEI editor Tom Ehrenfeld on potential countermeasures to this problem.  Some key points:  Good work starts with good job design. “The companies that are really going to solve the problem of unsafe work, just as they've done for physical safety, have to begin by thinking about every aspect of the job and job design. And that's where I think there is a great deal of compatibility between the principles of Lean and what I'm talking about. This begins wit

Dr. Lynn Kelley was hired by Union Pacific to lead the introduction of the “UP Way” company-wide. The UP Way at that time consisted of a select few lean practices that the company had decided were foundational for their operations. In this conversation, Dr. Kelley shares how her Ph.D in Research and Evaluations informed the unique approach taken for the implementation of the UP Way. The "Playbook" of Sustaining Change on the Lean Post CI Sustainment: A Hiding Place for Complexity on the Lean Post

How do we create more Lean Thinkers? That is the problem we address in today’s podcast with Matt Lovejoy, Chairman of Lovejoy Industries and LEI board member. Matt - along with former LEI executive, John O’Donnell – is spearheading a new initiative: the James P Womack Scholarship and Philanthropy Fund. The fund provides scholarships to students to fund hands-on problem-solving experience at charity organizations under the guidance of an LEI coach. The fund’s first partnership is with Oakland University in Michigan. Two of its star students, Monisha Vasudeva and Sagar Bajaj,  are learning and doing kaizen at Humble Design, a charity that ‘furnishes homes for families transitioning from homelessness.’ The problem they’re helping Humble Design solve is capacity. Currently, Humble Design is able to furnish homes for 3 families every week, but there is demand for 30. That’s a gap of 27 families they can help transition from homelessness every week. There are few more important problems worth solving!  You can r

Join my conversation with Art Smalley as he walks us through two models for situational leadership and coaching. Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson’s examination of leadership (and coaching) styles relative to learner (and performer’s) behavior, from the book Management of Organizational Behavior, and The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition. Art adds context and color by weaving in stories from parenthood, his years of experience at Toyota, and relates the content to his work with Four Types of Problems. Together, we explore the thresholds of performers at all levels as a way to help assess and engage the right coaching approach for the situation.   Please join our conversation by emailing your thoughts and questions to pod@lean.org   Related Articles/ content: Four Types of Problems (book) Four Types of Problems (webinar) Management of Organizational Behavior (book) Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition (Wikipedia) Art’s website  

Many lean thinkers find the traditional accounting reporting completely out of alignment with the new lean management system. Part of PDCA is checking outcomes to help identify next steps, but if the financial language of business is not reliable to provide good information for evaluation and decision making, sustainment of good experiments is at risk. Is there a better way? Yes, according to the five panelists on this week’s podcast. Additional Articles: How lean accounting promotes lean in the organization Profit and Cost At Toyota Cost Saving is Tired--Value Creation is Hot! Real Number book The Value Add Accountant book    

Dr. Carlos Frederico Pinto (aka ‘Dr. Fred’) is a medical oncologist and CEO of Instituto de Oncologia do Vale (IOV), one of Brazil’s top oncology clinics. There are few problems more important than the one Dr. Fred and IOV are trying to solve: reducing the cancer burden. In the podcast, Dr. Fred explains how he’s led IOV through lean transformation in service to solving this problem. He details three distinct stages of transformation: 1) improving patient care flow and quality; 2) building a management system to enable growth; 3) developing leaders in preparation for succession. Dr. Fred also shares how oncology built in him a resilience to failure, and in turn, how that resilience has served him in leading transformation. Read more about Dr. Fred and IOV, head over to Planet Lean for case studies and interviews. Dr. Fred will speak at the Lean Summit in Carlsbad, California next April 6-7. To learn more and register, click here.

In a conversation across the Atlantic LEI’s president, Josh Howell, talks to the Lean Enterprise Academy’s CEO, Dave Brunt, about the strategic value of executives doing the value-creating work of their organization. Dave shares what happened when a team member left LEA and he became responsible for picking, packing, and shipping to customers books about lean thinking. Additional Resources: Lean Solutions book Creating Lean Dealers workbook Learning to See workbook

Meet two influential voices in my own coaching practice: Paul Serafino who first engaged me in a coaching way in the business environment, opening my eyes and heart to growth and development. And Jason Berkman, a leader who I was fortunate enough to coach and learn with in LEI’s co-learning program.  In two candid conversations, we explore the differences between coaching, managing, leading and training, the importance of trust and motivations, and how a coaching relationship emerges. We further explore the value of failure, the role of emotions, pushing through our thresholds and making the decision to transform, because “the challenge you’ve been asking for your whole life is finally here.” Please join our conversation by emailing your thoughts and questions to pod@lean.org Related Articles: 5 Ways My Thinking Changed With the Help of a Lean Coach A bold lean experiment in one of our kitchens

How can one create a safe workplace where all employees are encouraged and expected to take ownership of their work? How can one build simple mechanisms to enable individuals to ask healthy questions and challenge each other? Harvard Business School Professor Amy C. Edmondson discusses these questions and more with LEI's Tom Ehrenfeld in a conversation triggered by her recent book The Fearless Organization.  Additional Resources: The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmondson How Teaming Produces Execution-as-Learning By Amy C. Edmondson

Rich Calvaruso of GE Appliances, a Haier Company, sits down with Matt Savas to talk about problem-solving. How does GE Appliances develop people through problem-solving? And how has the company's emphasis on hands-on problem-solving impacted its culture.   For more, check out our website.  

Dr. Lisa Yerian of the Cleveland Clinic sits down with Josh Howell, LEI President & Executive Team Leader, to talk about the spread of lean thinking at her organization. Among other things, they explore the sequence of learning between defining purpose, discovering problem-solving at the gemba, and developing lean leadership capabilities. Additional Articles: Cleveland Clinic’s Prescription for Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement By: Lisa Yerian How Are You Supporting Your Own Lean Transformation? By: Lisa Yerian Stop Asking Your Leaders to "Support" Your Lean Transformation By: Lisa Yerian Tiered Teams Solve Problems In Real Time: How a team of teams can address problems as they emerge

"If it cannot be grown, then it must be mined."  Practically everything around you exists because of mining. From phones, to computers, to cars, to glasses, to your belt buckle, they all are made from mined resources.  Laura Mottola has taken lean thinking underground, literally. Learn what lean in mining looks like, what it takes to engage those doing the work, and what is next for this ever evolving industry.

“It seemed nothing short of a miracle could save Ford Motor Company in the mid 2000s.  Ford didn’t receive a miracle, but it did get something just as valuable:  Alan Mulally.”  (Daniel Miller, The Motley Fool, May 2015) In this podcast, Alan shares: His view on the CEO’s role in a successful transformation. What “people first” leadership means to him and how his basic values and love for people guide his decision making. What he learned about innovation and customer focus from his lawn mowing business. How his early experiences with lean and Toyota shaped his views on leadership and the importance of an effective management system. How he has continuously improved and evolved his Working Together Management System for over 40 years, starting with aircraft development, then transformations of global organizations, and finally how it influences his work today with Google, Mayo Clinic, and Carbon 3D. To learn more go to lean.org