In my decades of analyzing Lean management and the Lean movement, I often discover important problems and, being a university professor, I share my findings with others. My findings are more warmly received by Lean practitioners than my peer group of Lean movement leaders. Why is that? It seems … [Read more...] about We Succeed When We All Agree
Understanding the Institution of Leadership
When organizations struggle or fail to produce a Lean transformation (the "effect"), the causes commonly cited include:Lack of management support Leaders not personally engaged Fear of change or failure Poor communication No sense of urgency No training or poor training … [Read more...] about Understanding the Institution of Leadership
Radicals Among Conservators
If you are a devoted Lean thinker and practitioner, you are a radical. You may not feel like one, but you are. Your desire is to turn business processes upside down, and in doing so turn people's thinking and the corporate culture upside down. You wish to turn things upside down from the bottom up. … [Read more...] about Radicals Among Conservators
Lean Fighting Blind
There are people in the Lean community who have enormous credibility when it comes to assessing the state of Lean management in corporations and other organizations. They include Mark DeLuzio, Art Byrne, Jean Cunningham, Jim Womack, Dan, Jones, Jeff Liker, and various others. Taken together, these … [Read more...] about Lean Fighting Blind
Waste is a Feature, Not a Bug
In classical management, waste is a feature, not a bug. It is only within the very narrow realm of Toyota's management system and Lean management that waste is bug. This sets up a cognitive dissonance that Lean people have difficulty resolving. It comes from the inability to resolve the distinction … [Read more...] about Waste is a Feature, Not a Bug
Lean Leaders Impede the Advancement of Lean
In a recent post, "Ask Art: Where Will the Biggest Resistance to Lean Come From?," Art Byrne accurately explains the people and parts of the organization that will resist Lean transformation based on his extensive experience. Art also offers some suggestions on how to overcome the resistance, the … [Read more...] about Lean Leaders Impede the Advancement of Lean
Modernizing the Practice of Management
People employed by companies have no understanding of where the company's system of management came from. And they have no understanding of its quality relative to other systems of management. The lack of understanding results in a lack perspective. The image below adds needed perspective on the … [Read more...] about Modernizing the Practice of Management
Lean Can’t Fail!
What is the future of Lean management when some of its leading proponents construct an alternate reality in which Lean transformation processes are claimed to be fail-safe? Perhaps Lean is unlike anything else in existence, given to us fully formed by its creator, and, in some magical or occult way, … [Read more...] about Lean Can’t Fail!
Lean Graft Incompatibility
Here is a practical way to understand how Lean management usually fails to take hold in brownfield organizations that have for years been governed by classical management thinking and practice.Grafting is a horticultural technique whereby two plants are joined together to allow the graft to grow … [Read more...] about Lean Graft Incompatibility