The Edges of Lean

Michelle Formanczyk is the owner of Slingshot Designs and serves on the Board of Directors for the Michigan Lean Consortium as Director of Outreach. She’s a certified VoicePrint practitioner and seasoned consultant with deep expertise in continuous improvement, leadership development, and communication strategy. Today, she joins us to share how VoicePrint brings empathy back to leadership—transfor...

  Key Takeaways Sabrina's journey from the pharmaceutical industry to management consulting focused on learning and lean principles The importance of creating psychologically safe environments for learning and coaching Key insights on writing a book, including the value of accountability and developing one's writing voice Sabrina's book “Lernen leben” ("Learning and Living)" (available in the Germ...

Key Takeaways Jared Thatcher has 20+ years of lean experience across manufacturing, consulting, and government sectors The Global Lean Summit evolved from virtual events during COVID to an international in-person conference This year's summit (Sept 23-25, 2023) features speakers from global companies, a Toyota plant tour, and follow-up support The summit aims to provide a comprehensive learning ex...

Do you consider yourself to be “good with people?"  Some of us are born with the skill of creating relationships and working well with others; some of us struggle, especially people whose strengths are in science and technology, and we all could learn to be better at it! Whether you are a natural "people person" or not, Corinna Freitag has essential advice for all of us about the trait of positive...

  What’s the only thing we all have the same amount of?  It’s the number of hours in our day.  We live in a culture that is focused on productivity, but David Buck, the author of The Time Optimized Life,  has a different perspective on time. He says we should be thinking about time optimization, not time management, and he bases his approach on lean thinking. I invited him to spend a little time w...

  It’s election season in the United States, and it affects us all, no matter how involved we are in politics. Deep fractures run through our families, neighborhoods, and workplaces, affecting our ability to live and work with each other. Phyllis Leavitt’s new book, America in Therapy, directly addresses this problem and what we can do about it. She joined me at the Edges of Lean to talk about the...

One of the things that frankly drives me crazy about how people think about continuous improvement is a focus on cost savings rather than increasing productivity and engagement< so I was excited to chat with Jonathan Vehar and Cathi Brese Doebler about a brilliant method to increase productivity, drive engagement and save money. They joined me to talk about their new book. “How to Make Meetings...

Who are you when you are coaching?  How are you presenting yourself to your learner? How might your inner emotional state affect your coaching effectiveness?  Kelly Mallery coaches using the Toyota Improvement Kata and she joined me at the Edges of Lean to share some of her insights and what she has learned about the hidden side of coaching.     Kelly Mallery   Kelly Mallery serves as the Operatio...

We know that autonomy is one of the factors that leads to high employee satisfaction and that organizational alignment is required to achieve company goals. But how do you get both autonomy and alignment? Jurriaan Kamer believes that companies can achieve aligned autonomy, and there are specific actions leaders can take to reach this goal. He joined me at the Edges of Lean to share his experience...

A diverse organization is a competitive advantage –innovation and problem-solving thrive when people from diverse backgrounds work together. No matter who we are, when we move into that diverse environment, we all, no matter our race, carry baggage from racism in our culture.  JD Mass has written a book called “Race for What,” addressing the causes of racism and steps white folk can take to heal f...

As lean thinkers, we often look at life as a series of problems to be solved. I know I do this: I will be somewhere and see something that is working quite right, and I immediately think about the root cause of the issue and potential countermeasures to try. Do you do that, too? That is why I loved this conversation with Fletcher Ellingson, who talks about how to live a “feel good life,” building...

If you are a lean thinker, you are probably working to continually improve your skills in communicating with the adults in your life.  You may also be working to bring some lean thinking into your family life.  But what if you have some pre-teens in your family circle? They can be very challenging to work with – and that is where Marcus Higgs can help us.  He works with parents of pre-teens to hel...

      You took the big plunge and started your own business.  Maybe you already have a customer or two.  But what comes next?  Jamaul Ford is a second-generation entrepreneur with some great ideas about what you already know about learning cycles for finding and connecting with customers. Let's listen to what he has to say. Jamaul Ford Jamaul Ford, or Jamaul the Maven, is an accomplished second-ge...

    When I was first working, one of the early lessons imparted to me was that whatever happened at home was not pertinent to my work life.  That has been a difficult lesson for me to unlearn.  It was one of many limiting beliefs that I wasn’t even aware I was carrying into my lean and continuous improvement work. Jeeva Sam joined me at the Edges of Lean to share his insights into some of the limi...

Lean practitioners often discuss the importance of delivering value to customers and understanding their needs. However, Danny Nathan takes this to a new level with his unique approach to lean customer development. His business is a testament to this. Intrigued by his methods, I invited him to join me on a journey to the Edges of Lean, where he shared his insights and practices.    Danny Nathan:  ...

   Have you earned an advanced degree? What was the dissertation process like for you?  Have you thought about going back to school for a PhD?  Are you wondering how to succeed and come out of the process with new knowledge, ready for your next challenge, and with your continuous improvement skills and self-confidence honed? Dr. Jen Harrison works with students as a dissertation coach, and she joi...

Here at the edges of Lean, I love to talk with people who have taken Lean thinking into spaces far from the shop floor.  Tirrell Payton is a lean thinker bringing lean to pharmaceutical marketing – a highly regulated, people-focused business area and one of the places where people are very likely to say, “You can’t do lean here!”.  He joined me at the Edges of Lean to discuss why and how he does i...

  We have been looking at different aspects of communication here at the Edges of Lean, and one aspect I wanted to explore more was the neuroscience of communication. Creative entrepreneur, writer, and coach Aurora Winter joins me to bring insight on that topic and highlight the power of stories.    Aurora Winter     Aurora Winter is a successful entrepreneur, bestselling author, TV writer-produce...

I believe lean thinking is the best way to manage a business and develop people. Even though I have much experience and many great examples to share, it does not mean I am always successful in persuading people. Carlos Alvarenga is a communications researcher who has delved into what it takes to be persuasive. He joined me at the Edges of Lean to talk about his new book: “The Rules of Persuasion,”...

How much time are you spending every day on communication? How effective and efficient is your communication? We live in a swirl of communication – email, instant messages, text messages, and social media posts. And sometimes we even talk to each other! Geoff Weinstein says communication is a real “Edges of the Lean” frontier – one of the places where we can all leverage lean thinking to reduce wa...

As lean leaders, we understand that trust is a key component of an effective and efficient culture. George Dom spent years in high-performance environments where trust was not just a nice to have, but it was necessary to assure that the entire team succeeded – and survived! He has joined me at the Edges of Lean to share his insights into developing trust in every environment by being a high-trust...

Iteration is the key to lean thinking and especially to lean design and lean product development.  Brian Walch uses iteration to develop individual contributors into managers and managers into leaders. He joined me at the Edges of Lean to share his approach and how he has developed it independently of the Lean community.   Brian Walch   Brian Walch is a coach, consultant, and personal and professi...

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are words that have become politically charged. Kevin Wayne Johnson is a student of leadership and a leadership coach.  He believes that DEI is a core component of great leadership and that all organizations benefit from leaders who value diversity, understand equity, and practice inclusion.  To me, what he says resonates with the core principles of lean leadership...

  Have you ever realized that in order to grow you need to step out into the unknown and do things you have never done before? Beate Chelette says that those times in your life and your career are necessary for growth and transformation – and that there are ways to navigate through them as a leader and as a human. She joined me at the Edges of Lean to talk about the courage to deliver transformati...

  I wish I was perfect! Wouldn’t it be great to simply not make any mistakes? In the practice of Lean, we try to mistake-proof our processes and build on our previous learnings to prevent mistakes. And yet, we know that we learn so much from mistakes, and Mark Graban has been exploring with different people how they have benefited from their mistakes. He joined me at the Edges of Lean to share his...