The official podcast of the Lean Enterprise Institute.
Episodes
Sunday Dec 01, 2019
Sunday Dec 01, 2019
How do we create more Lean Thinkers? That is the problem we address in today’s podcast with Matt Lovejoy, Chairman of Lovejoy Industries and LEI board member. Matt - along with former LEI executive, John O’Donnell – is spearheading a new initiative: the James P Womack Scholarship and Philanthropy Fund.
The fund provides scholarships to students to fund hands-on problem-solving experience at charity organizations under the guidance of an LEI coach. The fund’s first partnership is with Oakland University in Michigan. Two of its star students, Monisha Vasudeva and Sagar Bajaj, are learning and doing kaizen at Humble Design, a charity that ‘furnishes homes for families transitioning from homelessness.’
The problem they’re helping Humble Design solve is capacity. Currently, Humble Design is able to furnish homes for 3 families every week, but there is demand for 30. That’s a gap of 27 families they can help transition from homelessness every week. There are few more important problems worth solving!
You can read about the progress the students have already made in a recently published article.
You can learn more about the James P Womack Scholarship and Philanthropy Fund at JPWFund.org, including how to donate and partner.
For more, check out our website.
Sunday Nov 24, 2019
Sunday Nov 24, 2019
Join my conversation with Art Smalley as he walks us through two models for situational leadership and coaching. Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson’s examination of leadership (and coaching) styles relative to learner (and performer’s) behavior, from the book Management of Organizational Behavior, and The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition.
Art adds context and color by weaving in stories from parenthood, his years of experience at Toyota, and relates the content to his work with Four Types of Problems. Together, we explore the thresholds of performers at all levels as a way to help assess and engage the right coaching approach for the situation.
Please join our conversation by emailing your thoughts and questions to pod@lean.org
Related Articles/ content:
- Four Types of Problems (book)
- Four Types of Problems (webinar)
- Management of Organizational Behavior (book)
- Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition (Wikipedia)
- Art’s website
Monday Nov 18, 2019
Monday Nov 18, 2019
Many lean thinkers find the traditional accounting reporting completely out of alignment with the new lean management system. Part of PDCA is checking outcomes to help identify next steps, but if the financial language of business is not reliable to provide good information for evaluation and decision making, sustainment of good experiments is at risk. Is there a better way? Yes, according to the five panelists on this week’s podcast.
Additional Articles:
- How lean accounting promotes lean in the organization
- Profit and Cost At Toyota
- Cost Saving is Tired--Value Creation is Hot!
- Real Number book
- The Value Add Accountant book
Sunday Nov 10, 2019
Sunday Nov 10, 2019
Dr. Carlos Frederico Pinto (aka ‘Dr. Fred’) is a medical oncologist and CEO of Instituto de Oncologia do Vale (IOV), one of Brazil’s top oncology clinics. There are few problems more important than the one Dr. Fred and IOV are trying to solve: reducing the cancer burden.
In the podcast, Dr. Fred explains how he’s led IOV through lean transformation in service to solving this problem. He details three distinct stages of transformation: 1) improving patient care flow and quality; 2) building a management system to enable growth; 3) developing leaders in preparation for succession.
Dr. Fred also shares how oncology built in him a resilience to failure, and in turn, how that resilience has served him in leading transformation.
Read more about Dr. Fred and IOV, head over to Planet Lean for case studies and interviews.
Dr. Fred will speak at the Lean Summit in Carlsbad, California next April 6-7. To learn more and register, click here.
Sunday Nov 03, 2019
Sunday Nov 03, 2019
In a conversation across the Atlantic LEI’s president, Josh Howell, talks to the Lean Enterprise Academy’s CEO, Dave Brunt, about the strategic value of executives doing the value-creating work of their organization. Dave shares what happened when a team member left LEA and he became responsible for picking, packing, and shipping to customers books about lean thinking.
Additional Resources:
- Lean Solutions book
- Creating Lean Dealers workbook
- Learning to See workbook
Monday Oct 28, 2019
Monday Oct 28, 2019
Meet two influential voices in my own coaching practice: Paul Serafino who first engaged me in a coaching way in the business environment, opening my eyes and heart to growth and development. And Jason Berkman, a leader who I was fortunate enough to coach and learn with in LEI’s co-learning program. In two candid conversations, we explore the differences between coaching, managing, leading and training, the importance of trust and motivations, and how a coaching relationship emerges.
We further explore the value of failure, the role of emotions, pushing through our thresholds and making the decision to transform, because “the challenge you’ve been asking for your whole life is finally here.” Please join our conversation by emailing your thoughts and questions to pod@lean.org
Related Articles:
Monday Oct 21, 2019
Monday Oct 21, 2019
How can one create a safe workplace where all employees are encouraged and expected to take ownership of their work? How can one build simple mechanisms to enable individuals to ask healthy questions and challenge each other? Harvard Business School Professor Amy C. Edmondson discusses these questions and more with LEI's Tom Ehrenfeld in a conversation triggered by her recent book The Fearless Organization.
Additional Resources:
- The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmondson
- How Teaming Produces Execution-as-Learning By Amy C. Edmondson
Sunday Oct 13, 2019
Sunday Oct 13, 2019
Rich Calvaruso of GE Appliances, a Haier Company, sits down with Matt Savas to talk about problem-solving. How does GE Appliances develop people through problem-solving? And how has the company's emphasis on hands-on problem-solving impacted its culture.
For more, check out our website.
Monday Oct 07, 2019
Monday Oct 07, 2019
Dr. Lisa Yerian of the Cleveland Clinic sits down with Josh Howell, LEI President & Executive Team Leader, to talk about the spread of lean thinking at her organization. Among other things, they explore the sequence of learning between defining purpose, discovering problem-solving at the gemba, and developing lean leadership capabilities.
Additional Articles:
- Cleveland Clinic’s Prescription for Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement
By: Lisa Yerian - How Are You Supporting Your Own Lean Transformation?
By: Lisa Yerian
- Stop Asking Your Leaders to "Support" Your Lean Transformation
By: Lisa Yerian
- Tiered Teams Solve Problems In Real Time: How a team of teams can address problems as they emerge
Friday Feb 08, 2019
Friday Feb 08, 2019
"If it cannot be grown, then it must be mined."
Practically everything around you exists because of mining. From phones, to computers, to cars, to glasses, to your belt buckle, they all are made from mined resources.
Laura Mottola has taken lean thinking underground, literally. Learn what lean in mining looks like, what it takes to engage those doing the work, and what is next for this ever evolving industry.