TL;DR: Workarounds are not a sign of employee resistance. They are signals that standardized work or supporting systems make the “right way” harder than an alternative. I’ve spent years using a single photo in presentations to make a simple Lean…
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #450 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Professor Torbjorn Netland, Ph.D. Tor is the chair of production and operations management in the department of management, technology…
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guests for Episode #435 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Sunil Khushalani, MD, a psychiatrist who specializes in Addiction Psychiatry, and Antonio DePaolo, PhD, a transformation executive and a Baldrige…
TL;DR: People labeled as “resistant” are often hesitant or ambivalent. Leaders who recognize that difference–and respond with curiosity instead of pressure–are far more effective at enabling change. Words matter, as do our approaches to leading change and influencing others. The…
Jay Hodge taught the Toyota Production System at a General Motors stamping plant in Indiana — then got a call from Toyota asking him to come work for them. In this episode, he shares what he learned about lean culture,…
TL;DR: The wedge metaphor, often used to represent standardized work in Lean, can send the wrong message. Instead of assuming people will backslide without enforcement, we should focus on engaging them in meaningful improvements they want to sustain. Maybe it’s…
TL;DR: Many organizations misinterpret metrics, overreact to noise, and miss real signals. Using an A3 approach helps leaders align on the problem first–before introducing Process Behavior Charts as a countermeasure for better decisions and more effective improvement. Why Process Behavior…
Here is an article that caught my eye recently, from HBR: “How One Health System Overcame Resistance to a Surgical Checklist“ Seeing the word “resistance” always makes me wonder if the health system in the article was blaming surgeons (or…
Joining me for Episode #340 of the podcast is Dr. Joy Furnival CEng MIET, an experienced senior NHS manager, improvement leader, and chartered engineer. I first crossed paths with Joy at a Lean healthcare event in England back in 2007.…
Joining me for Episode #339 of the podcast is Charles Protzman, author of a great number of Lean healthcare books. Today, we are talking about a book that he wrote for a broader audience, The BASICS Lean Implementation Model: Lean…
TL;DR: Pursuing zero harm isn’t about unrealistic goals or punishing people for failure. It’s a leadership choice that creates psychological safety, accelerates learning, and strengthens Lean systems. When organizations treat safety–physical, emotional, and professional–as a non-negotiable value, improvement capability follows…
As you might know, I have always enjoyed baseball and like blogging about ideas and statistics that come from the sport.
I loved this recent article from The Wall Street Journal and there are parallels to Lean and being an effective change agent:
"The Data Wonk Who Became a Coach"
