As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change the face of business and manufacturing as we used to know it, the pressure to increase the use of technology will increase. That might be great if you are making the robots or automated material handling equipment used in warehouses, your demand will increase, but what about the …
Does your Company have Enough Industry 4.0 Skills? Read More »
Your organization has developed current state and future state value stream maps. You have identified waste opportunities that exist and have laid out your quarterly Lean Game Plan. Now it is time to set up your Lean Promotion Office. This is the “war room” or headquarters for all your lean communication, planning, and Rapid Improvement …
Why change is hard. I could give a short answer and say that it is because you have to work with people. Why are people so hard to deal with in making a change? It comes down to two things hard for people to deal with. 1. Uncertainty The human mind doesn’t like uncertainty. It …
Level Four Leadership People Development John Maxwell in “The Five Levels of Leadership” writes that with Level 4 leaders, the emphasis is on personal and corporate productivity and this ability to create a highly productive team, department, or organization shows a higher level of leadership ability than most others display. To reach the upper levels …
I heard Alex Rodriguez on a podcast with Gary Vaynerchuck yesterday and he made a great point about the current times. He said that Joe Torre would tell him during a rain delay that the players that went to the back and ate burgers during the rain delay wouldn’t perform as well after the delay …
Five steps to Take Now to Prepare for the Future Read More »
As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us, companies can pivot quickly and produce entirely different products in a short period of time. The need for ventilators, n95 face masks, and other personal protective gear has made companies pivot quickly. Are you adopting Industry 4.0 quickly enough? Even organizations as large as General Motors (GM) have …
Last week I talked about developing a future state Value Stream Map. After you have developed what you want the organization to look like in the future, now comes the hard work of moving toward that future state. That calls for developing your Lean Game Plan. I believe there is a simple way to ensure …
Have you worked in an organization where no one seems to take any personal responsibility for meeting their deliverables, deadlines, or project results? As a top performer, how does that make you feel? Let’s talk about how we can develop a culture of personal responsibility and drive results! 1. Understand the Aim of the organization …
Tips for Developing a Culture of Personal Responsibility Read More »
Level Three Leadership – Production: Making Things Happen Separates Real Leaders For the past few weeks, this blog has been reviewing “The Five Levels of Leadership” by John Maxwell and how those levels relate to lean leadership. This week’s blog will discuss Level three leadership: Production. The 5 Levels are like a staircase – all …
One of the key elements on my American Lean Weekday podcast is the weekly interviews that I conduct with companies on their Lean Journey. These companies are from various industries and are all different sizes. I have interviewed leaders from family-owned businesses to multi-national organizations. This podcast can be found here. In this important episode …
Learn what this Essential Business is Doing to Keep Employees Safe Read More »