The official report is out in Hawaii after the traumatic accidental missile warning that was sent last month. An employee was fired. The leader accepted responsibility and resigned. Why are others being punished?
There's much to admire about Toyota and even regular readers of this blog might throw the "fanboy" label at me. Toyota employees in San Antonio have a lot of positive things ("pros") to say online about working there. But, the overwhelming "con" is the rotating work schedules - being on days for two weeks then switching to nights for two weeks. Where do a priority on safety and "respect for people" enter into the discussion about which shift pattern is safest, most effective, and most fair?
Again, there's still time to sign up for the next Lean and Kaizen study trip to Japan that I'm facilitating with Kaizen Institute, from February 26 to March 2, 2018. There's still room in the tour if you'd like to join us.
In this post, I share some of my thoughts - answers to questions posed by Kaizen Institute. And, I share some thoughts from Risa Cox, from Kaizen Institute.
Saturday, you might have seen the news about a "false alarm" push alert that was sent to many iPhones and other smart phones in Hawaii. An alert was also sent out over many TV channels through the Emergency Response System.
Is the response one that focuses on blame and punishment? Or is it focused on understanding how systems fail and how to improve them to prevent future recurrence?
How does this all apply to your organization?
Yesterday, I saw this headline from the Associated Press:
"Tatsuro Toyoda, former head of Toyota, dies at 88"
He passed away on December 30, 2017. I offer my condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.
In this post, I share some of his history and some reflections from two Americans who worked with him directly.
Cleaning out the backlog of stuff I wanted to blog about...
Not Being Lean Lemmings; Why Best Practices Don't Yokoten; Nissan Leaders Lead the Way, After the Problems
My guest for Episode #293 of the podcast is a dynamic speaker and manufacturing leader, Billy R. Taylor. I saw him speak a few years ago at a Shingo Prize Conference and I've wanted to get him on the podcast ever since.
He's currently the Director of Commercial, Off Highway, and Support Manufacturing North America for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Over the past 20 years, he has risen from "the lowest level of the organization," up through the manufacturing leadership ranks at Goodyear, including time as a Plant Director at facilities in Oklahoma and North Carolina.
He's been "engaged in Lean" for over 15 years and he is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Billy has a BS in in Electrical Engineering from Prairie View A&M University and an MBA from Baker University.
Billy was very giving of his time and we talked for over 75 minutes, so I'm breaking this up into two parts, with Part 2 coming soon. Today, we talk about how he got started with Lean, the shift from tools- and event-based Lean to a culture focus, how to build a sense of ownership, servant leadership, employee recognition and more.
I recently saw a presentation by some leaders from a children’s hospital. I was really impressed that their medical quality and effectiveness leaders were outspoken advocates for Lean and Six Sigma, as was their director of process improvement. They shared…
I've been going through the book by the late Peter Scholtes: The Leader's Handbook: Making Things Happen, Getting Things Done. His work builds upon the legendary W. Edwards Deming and Russell Ackoff, among others.
I often quote Scholtes (something also attributed to Peter Senge and others) as saying:
"People don't resist change, they resist being changed."
I think that's very insightful and that thought has led me to study change management, "motivational interviewing" and other related topics. It turns out that having the right answer and pushing it on others isn't the best strategy for effecting sustainable change. I had to learn those lessons the hard way and I'm still learning.
I've blogged about football before - I should say "American football," since I have many international readers.
I should say I've blogged about events on the football field and the approaches of football coaches that remind me of Lean thinking.
Here are a few of those thoughts from last weekend -- topics include "lack of urgency," "that's not my job," and "the process."
it's great to see an 11 year old thinking like an engineer and an entrepreneur. He's the son of a Toyota "operational excellence" consultant. For those who try to unfortunately equate Lean to a "clean desk policy," the father's desk is a great argument against banning family photos and an illustration of why Lean isn't about putting tape around everything...
TL;DR: A 1966 magazine exposé documented widespread, preventable patient harm caused by system failures in American hospitals. While some areas have improved, many of the same problems–errors, infections, lack of transparency, and blame instead of learning–still persist today. Three or…