Lessons from the Road

Through my IndustryWeek column, Lessons from the Road, I’ve been exploring some of the issues associated with the ongoing maturing of a lean journey. In this installment, Beyond the Lean Initiative, I explore issues with making lean an integral part of the organization. It can no longer be an initiative.

Do you feel a little out of control of your lean journey? Good. The lean journey is not one that can be so self-contained that one person or team can keep their arms around it. If they can, it either hasn’t reached that important transitional point, or you are choking

Organizational transformation is a tricky challenge. Many, if not most, of the questions I received have to do with how to transform an organization. And a small organization is just as challenging as a large organization, but for different reasons. In the last installment of Lessons from the Road, I

It’s time for another installment of Lessons from the Road, my column for IndustryWeek. In the next few installments, I will talk about the lean roadmap, or how to handle the change management of the lean journey. This month, I am talking about the beginning of the journey, The Lean

I’ve written about observation many times before, but in my latest IndustryWeek Lessons from the Road column, I address how to use the different levels of observation and make better decisions about observation. Here is an excerpt from Using Observation Systematically: There are four distinct levels of observation, each with

My last two Lessons from the Road columns [Building Behaviors Bedrock of Lean Success and Build a Deliberate Culture, Not an Accidental One] focused on the tactics and strategies of culture change, which is crucial for a successful lean journey. One of those tactics is to role model the right

For my latest column, I set out to write about culture change. I barely got through the introduction and realized I’m already out of room. Such is the restriction of a 1-page column. So, the introduction became the column. You can read the latest installment of Lessons from the Road,

My latest IndustryWeek column shares some thoughts on equipment excellence, more from a strategic perspective than simply how to fine tune what you have. Here is the beginning of one of my 3 points on equipment assets: 1. Be frugal on features. I saw a recent mock advertisement for Apple

I have performed a lot of assessments over the years. If done right, they’re actually quite exhausting. You’re trying to absorb everything you are hearing, seeing, not seeing, while trying to follow a process, draw conclusions, and generate next questions. But when done well, and received openly, they can provide

Is innovation born or built? I don’t know the answer as it applies to people. But as it applies to organizations, it’s built. My latest IndustryWeek Lessons from the Road column, titled Making Innovation a Capability, focuses on building an innovative organization. There are key lean skills and mindset that