Browsing Category: Lean

Lean

What The World Needs Now is Agile Leaders

Times of Uncertainty Demand It Regardless of the amount of change and uncertainty we’ve been though, there are always some consistencies. And in terms of an organization, those consistencies rest with the attributes and behaviors of leadership. At their foundation, they are about the resilience, persistence, and ability to be agile. Only in [...]
Lean

Clarity is the Antidote to Taking Action

We’ve been talking a lot about playing offense lately. It’s no secret it’s time to free ourselves from the defensive mode we’ve all been in for far too long. We’ve talked about transformation, resilience, and adaptability, as we shift our mindsets from a reactionary standpoint to an anticipatory one. But let’s be very clear – we cannot do any [...]
Lean

How Ready is Your Organization to Adapt?

We’ve talked at length about the uncertainty that has surrounded us all for longer than we care to remember. This uncertainty has manifested itself in the workforce in countless ways, including high rates of absenteeism, massive supply chain issues, and increased instances of employee burnout. We’ve also talked about what it takes to get [...]
Lean

It’s Time to Play Offense

With the Super Bowl not far behind us and discussions already underway for what to expect next season, we’ve been surrounded by talk of the teams, coaches, and strategies employed. Oftentimes, we talk about the team with the strongest offense. After all, the team with the strongest offense will likely move the ball down the field more, put the [...]
Lean

How Lean Six Sigma Can Help Fight the Coronavirus Pandemic

At the time of this writing, COVID-19 is a global pandemic. This is an incredibly serious issue; hundreds of thousands of people have become ill, and many have died. Containment in the US and elsewhere is bringing businesses, governments, cities, and normal life to a halt. But there are many businesses that have to figure out how to keep [...]
Lean

How You Can Avoid Cut-&-Paste Solutions With Your Project Charter

Circa 2005, one of our employers, who had adopted Lean in the early 90s, decided to make Six Sigma mandatory for salaried employees. As a Lean zealot, I went kicking and screaming down the path of my Green Belt Certification. The only thing that made the experience fun was that a dear friend and colleague was on the project with me. But, I [...]
Lean

HR + Lean: A Powerful Pair for People Development

I recently spoke at Lean Frontier’s Lean Leadership Week Summit, which focused on lean people development and lean accounting. This summit traditionally attracts a lot of HR professionals working in organizations undergoing a lean journey. During a concurrent session, I shared some of the ways that I’ve exercised with clients to engage HR [...]