Article

What Should Lean Mean to Us?

Brent Wahba offers lean beginners a few tips for how to be most impactful. "If you are working on how to begin your situational Lean…

by Brent Wahba

Article

Are We "Doing Lean" All Wrong?

"Somewhere in Ohio is a small healthcare management company that is the best Lean company, EVER," says Brent Wahba. Why? "Because they seemed highly unlikely…

by Brent Wahba

Video

Highlighting 100 Years of Innovation in the Work

Comparing Ford’s 1914 and Toyota’s 2012 assembly lines demonstrates how improving work processes is the cornerstone of lean.

Article

Three Steps Toward Lean Culture Change

"Culture change typically isn’t greeted with open arms unless there is a crisis to provide a sense of urgency," writes Erin Urban. "Still, I’ve noticed…

by Erin Urban

Article

Advice from the Gemba: Best Tips for Designing a Work Experience

When designing a work experience, the benefits of having an experienced coach to guide you cannot be overstated. In this installment of Advice from the…

by Lean Leaper

Article

Visualize the Invisible: Connect Improvement Work to Real Business Needs

Reflecting on one of her most powerful learning experiences, Lesa Nichols writes, "It struck me that I hadn’t coached my team explicitly on how to…

by Lesa Nichols

Article

Cardboard, Duct Tape, and String: The Do-First Mindset & Meaning of Kaizen

Whatever field you work in, if you are responsible for kaizen in your company, strive for making quick changes in your workplace by finding your…

by Mark Reich

Article

How Do You Find - or Develop - the Right Sensei to Lead Lean?

Dear Gemba Coach: We have become skilled at indicating what goes wrong, but solving the problems is not our strength. Making the transformation to problem…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Why Yoda Was Wrong

Aspects of lean can be found almost anywhere - even in a galaxy far, far away. Inspired by a new trailer for the upcoming Star…

by Aaron Hunt

Article

Ask Art: What is the Best Lean Leadership Development Program?

Leaders learn and adopt lean thinking the same way everyone else does: by practicing it. Here are a few ideas that will help you get…

by Art Byrne

Article

Should I be worried that management is buying software for virtual gemba walks?

Dear Gemba Coach: A consultant is selling us “virtual gemba walks” software to schedule gemba visits with a “leader standardized work” checklist and key indicators…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Not Every Problem Is a “Nail” But Companies Typically Reach for the Same Old “Hammer”

Learn how you can avoid the frustrating, ineffective, but widespread “hammer-and-nail” problem-solving pitfall by recognizing four main problem types so you apply the right problem-solving…

by Art Smalley

Article

Ask Art: How Do I Get the Senior Management Team On Board with Lean?

Lean requires teamwork, and so getting your senior management team on board requires a great deal of work, including new mindsets, exposure to lean practice,…

by Art Byrne

Article

Show Respect, Psychological Safety, and Social Neuroscience

Mike Orzen and David Verble examine the meaning and lean relevance of showing respect, creating psychological safety, and the links between these two.

by Mike Orzen and David Verble

Article

Redefining Work

We need to think about redefining work. Until we – anyone who wishes to bring about organizational change – redefine the actual value-creating work of…

by John Shook

Article

Ask Art: People are Nervous about Too Much Change, Can I Lead Lean Incrementally?

Resistance to change is a classic part of lean transformation, and it's not uncommon to see efforts to skirt around that resistance. Art Byrne was…

by Art Byrne

Article

Ask Art: Why Do People Reject Proof that Lean Works?

Despite compelling proof, most people will find a way to doubt the power of lean to improve their particular work, shares Art Byrne, who argues…

by Art Byrne

Case Study

Transforming Healthcare: What Matters Most? How the Cleveland Clinic Is Cultivating a Problem-Solving Mindset and Building a Culture of Improvement

Imagine if you could create a culture of excellence and improvement in a large healthcare organization. That’s the challenge that pushed the Cleveland Clinic to…

by David Drickhamer

Article

Don't Start with Tools!

Starting off your lean transformation with one of the various tools at your disposal is certainly tempting. But according to Craig Stritar and Mark Rosenthal,…

by Mark Rosenthal and Craig Stritar

Article

Bringing Lean to Your Sales Team

LEI faculty member Brent Wahba discusses the importance of bringing lean into your sales department as well as where to start.