Article

What problem are you trying to solve?

As human beings, are we basically “programmed” to produce blanket solutions that typically only address symptoms of problems, never to discover what causes problems in…

Article

Practical Tips for Re-Engaging People with a Suggestion System

Companies, responding to surveys showing that a troubling number of people are disengaged at work, respond with perks like nap pods, rock walls, and free…

Article

Create Your Fantasy Island Organizational Culture

What would your dream organizational culture look like? What about your fantasy lean transformation? Tracey Richardson shares her advice for turning at least some of…

by Tracey Richardson

Article

One Simple Thing You Can Do To Improve Your Coaching

When you put people on the defense, you miss out on a lot more than improved performance and results. Tracey Richardson shares her insights on…

by Tracey Richardson

Article

Catchball Helps Us Get Past We Versus They

When employees dread going to work every day, your company loses. Read what Tracey Richardson has to say about boosting workplace morale.

by Tracey Richardson

Article

A Humble Conversation

For the past two years, John Shook and Edgar Schein have enjoyed the honor of engaging in an on-stage dialogue. The occasion? The Lean Healthcare…

by John Shook

Article

The Essence of Developing People and Yourself

Jane Delaney is the CEO of a medium sized software company in the UK. As her company faces crisis upon crisis she finds herself forced…

by John Shook

Article

Community Communication

Lean thinking and practice is all about tackling problems – little ones, big ones, wicked ones, sticky ones, concrete ones, fuzzy ones. We tackle problems…

by John Shook

Article

10 Lean Steps for Surviving the Recession

Jim provides an action play for lean thinkers to think leaner to get through the recession and secure a strong position for the upturn.

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

We get good results with kaizen, but why don't they stick?

Dear Gemba Coach: Our teams have good results with kaizen, but nothing seems to stick for long – any advice?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Don't you use kamishibai cards; you've never written about them?

Dear Gemba Coach: We use a kamishibai board along with standardized work and visual management to sustain our lean efforts on the factory floor. It…

by Michael Ballé

Article

What is your opinion about transformation process steps?

Dear Gemba Coach: What is your opinion about transformation process steps? First we choose a problem and start problem-solving processes (A3 or 8-step methods) and…

by Michael Ballé

Article

How lean should a lean line design be?

Dear Gemba Coach: I’m in manufacturing engineering and have been asked to design a lean line. I’ve participated to several kaizen workshops and have some general…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Is my new boss right that applying standardized work is the foundation of lean?

Dear Gemba Coach: My new boss is a lean fanatic crazy about standards. He’s created a new team to audit standards and is telling us…

by Michael Ballé

Article

The Five Whys

Dear Gemba Coach: I’m a lean coach and teach A3s in my company. Every lean book mentions “5 why,” and I can see the power…

by Michael Ballé

Article

How do I know people are displaying the right visual information in an office?

Dear Gemba Coach: We’ve been quite successful with lean in our operations, and I’ve been tasked to bring it to headquarters. We’ve set up obeyas…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Should we do lean maturity audits?

Dear Gemba Coach: Should we continue with lean maturity audits and, if so, how often?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Could hoshin kanri be too bureaucratic for my small tech company?

Dear Gemba Coach: I get frustrated with being the only one seriously concerned with experimenting and learning new systems, so I implemented hoshin kanri to…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Can lean management help with toxic managers?

Dear Gemba Coach: Can lean management help with toxic managers?

by Michael Ballé

Article

What’s your opinion on setting specific criteria before brainstorming countermeasures?

Dear Gemba Coach: What’s your opinion on setting specific criteria before brainstorming countermeasures?

by Michael Ballé