Article

How demanding can a lean leader be while remaining respectful of staff?

Dear Gemba Coach: How demanding can a lean leader be while remaining respectful of staff?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Your Favorite Lean Posts of 2015!

With 2016 fast approaching, we'd like to take a step back and reflect on the most popular Lean Post articles of 2015. Did your favorite(s)…

by Lean Leaper

Article

Overcoming Challenges with Lean Thinking Leads to Record-breaking Performance 

Despite obstacles, a new CEO transformed a manufacturing business from plant floor production to design engineering — and created a learning organization with a relentless…

by Matthew Savas

Article

New Year’s Reflection

Happy New Year! Even if you are not one of those who makes New Year’s resolutions the new year is surely a good time for…

by John Shook

Article

Thinking About the Why of the What of Problem-Solving

When we talk about problem-solving, what we’re really talking about here is creating adaptive capacity, the deep capability of an organization to tackle anything that…

by John Shook

Article

Toyota Troubles: Fighting the Demons of Complexity

An interview with Professor Takahiro Fujimoto, Manufacturing Management Research Center, University of Tokyo

by John Shook

Article

Striking With The Zen Stick

A key part of lean coaching is the practice of striking with a zen stick, says Dan Prock. This helps break people out of their…

by Dan Prock

Article

Ask Art: What Do You Mean When You Say Run Your Company On Your Operational Excellence Goals?

The Lean company competes on its operational excellence goals, says Art Byrne. These stretch goals must be aggressive in nature and deployed down to every…

by Art Byrne

Article

Advice from the Gemba: How Do People Accidentally Make Change Unsustainable?

The only thing tougher than change is SUSTAINING change, we often hear. But does sustaining change need to be SO hard? Is it naturally and…

by Karen Gaudet, Lynn Kelley, David Verble and Brent Wahba

Article

Looking Back and Ahead at The Lean Transformation Summit

Read the highlights from the 2014 Lean Transformation Summit in Orlando (featuring transformation stories from companies like GE, Cardinal Health, and Food Bank For New…

by Chet Marchwinski

Article

Why Coaching is the Hardest Job I've Ever Had

"In 2011 a new term entered my company... we went 'lean'," writes Kasey Corbishley. "The office buzzed with anxiety as whiteboards were erected, and the…

by Kasey Corbishley

Article

Is Lean Thinking Art or Science? Yes

Calling the recent book Lean Conversations a landmark initiative on lean and the arts, John Shook observes that "If Jean Cocteau’s famous observation that 'art…

by John Shook

Article

Grit, PDCA, Lean and other four-letter words

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the nature of what author Angela Duckworth calls Grit. She defines grit as a sort of mash-up between passion…

by Josh Howell

Article

Ask Art: Why Are the Four Lean Fundamentals So Important for Making a Conversion to Lean?

A review of the core lean elements reveals how — and why — lean management leads to higher enterprise performance.

by Art Byrne

Article

What Problems Do You See?

Take a minute or two think about the problems you see everyday at your work. It can be quite daunting when you think about everything…

by Joshua Rapoza

Article

What it Takes to Share One's Wisdom: A Q&A with Tracey Richardson

"When you make a decision to change the way you do business, it should hold you accountable for certain leadership actions – new [behaviors that…

by Lex Schroeder

Article

An Accountant’s Guide to Understanding Lean Accounting

I think one of the difficulties accountants face in understanding Lean Accounting is that we are trained to be “doers” of accounting. Our training and…

by Nick Katko

Video

Art of Lean on Problem-Solving, Part 5: Tuckman's Model of Team Formation

Coaching teams is the topic of this fifth part of an ongoing series on coaching problem-solving by Art Smalley. He compares the Tuckman Model with…

by Art Smalley

Article

Make the Shift: From “Churn and Burn” to Learn

Already practicing PDCA? Not so familiar with it? "If you’re not squarely in the PDCA camp, please accept this invitation to join!," writes Deborah McGee.…

by Derrick Redding

Faculty

John Drogosz, PhD

John has over 25 years of lean manufacturing, product development, and above-shop-floor experience. As a coach, he has led lean transformations in numerous companies and…