All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
We tip for coffee. We tip at salons. We (somehow) tip at self-checkout kiosks now. So… why not tip for Kaizen (continuous improvement) activity? At KaiNexus, we’ve been thinking a lot (especially at this time of year) about how to…
During a recent visit to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane, I had a bit of an unexpected “favorite mistake” moment–not the kind where something went terribly wrong, but the kind where our assumptions quietly lead us astray until…
TL;DR: Aviation’s safety culture is built on humility: pilots expect mistakes, admit them quickly, and learn without blame. Leaders in any industry can create the same psychological safety by modeling humility, encouraging people to speak up, and treating mistakes as…
TL;DR: Chick-fil-A improves drive-thru flow by using Lean thinking and “game film” to study the work, remove bottlenecks, and design better systems–while showing deep respect for frontline employees. If you’ve ever waited in a long Chick-fil-A drive-through line, chances are…
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace…
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #525 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Christopher R. Chapman. He’s an experienced agile coach and consultant with a background in software development and agile transformation.…
This is an edited excerpt from my book, Measures of Success. Many organizations embrace the idea of setting objectives and key results (or OKRs). Where we see a performance measure in an organization, we usually see a target. That’s the reality…
Listen: We would have called this Episode 51 of the Lean Whiskey podcast with Jamie Flinchbaugh and Mark Graban. Lean Whiskey is transitioning to a new brand, Lean Coffee Talk, so stay tuned for more episodes from Mark and Jamie.…
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #524 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is John Willis, an accomplished IT management expert with over 45 years of experience. His extensive body of work includes…
Note: The original workshop concept had to be scrubbed because Chris Chapman had to back out. But Mark Graban will now be doing a full-day workshop. Improving the Way We Improve: Psychological Safety, Better Metrics, Smarter Leadership One Full-Day Workshop | Two Practical Sessions | One Powerful Transformation Join internationally…
tl;dr: Blame-based leadership creates fear, silences learning, and erodes trust. Great leaders replace blame with shared accountability, psychological safety, and system-focused improvement. I recently witnessed a leadership moment that stopped me in my tracks. A CEO, standing on a stage…
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace…