The Edges of Lean

If you are a continuous improvement professional, you probably use some games in the training you deliver – maybe as an ice-breaker or perhaps as a simulation to teach a tool. But have you ever wondered how far you can take game-playing to build a team or create a culture? Alex is a woman on a mission to transform workplaces from the inside out. She has been playing around with games that create f...

The bots are here, and lean and continuous improvement practitioners see that organizations are eager to take advantage of the capabilities of artificial intelligence – or my guest Lauren Hisey calls it, intelligent automation. Lauren is here to demystify AI and share how continuous improvers can make peace with it – and use it effectively in improvement work. And, we are going to hear about her 1...

Every time we use our lean practices to define and solve a problem, we create knowledge.  How can we improve our organizational recognition and management of all that newly created knowledge – which is key to not having the same problem occur again?  It turns out that knowledge management itself requires a process and continuous improvement and Dr. Cindy Young is here to share her insights. Cindy...

Erin Whalen is a coach whose practice is focused on serving the people who work with the grieving and dying: bereavement professionals who need perhaps more than anyone to be seen, heard, and supported. Erin comes to coaching through the path of acting and the art of improvisation. She utilizes the tools she's learned through her artistic experience to help “fill the cups” of her clients and provi...

Kyle Gillette is a leadership coach.  He coaches business leaders – but not all his clients wear a white collar and work in offices. Kyle works with leaders and aspiring leaders from all walks of life with a special focus on what we sometimes call “blue-collar” work.  Kyle’s career path has taken him from men's mentoring to pet resorts, to HR, and running a successful personal training business. I...

Elisabeth Swan just wrote a book – which is not surprising because she’s done it before, but this one is different. This time Elisabeth wrote and illustrated the book – in fact the illustrations are what communicate the great ideas she is sharing.   And Elisabeth, consultant, teacher, writer, is adding “artist” to her resume. In addition, she has an English degree and is a consultant in the operat...

Lori-Ann Duguay worked in government for two decades – and it was there she says that she learned how NOT to treat employees. Now she works with organizations to help them create happier more effective workplaces by focusing on the employee experience as a process that can and should be continuously improved.  Lori-Ann joined me to share her experiences and insights. Lori-Ann Duguay Lori-Ann Dugua...

  One of the big challenges of continuous improvement is that different kinds of workers have very different expectations for their own professionalism, customer service, and how their management should behave.  Chris Lalomia ran into this when he made career moves from engineering to financial services, and then to entrepreneurship in the home repair business.  He’s here to share how he made thos...

  It’s 2022 – well it’s almost 2023, and women in technology are not unusual – but there’s still plenty of female talent not taking part or staying in the tech sector.  Limor Bergman Gross has time-tested tips on how to succeed as a woman in tech – and how to be a great sponsor of women in tech. Meet Limor, a revolutionary thinker whose valuable insights help empower women in lean. She is making a...

      I hear it every day: “It’s the great resignation.” “People don’t want to work any more!”  People are exhausted and burned out – especially in healthcare, and in many other workplaces as well.  Mohamed Saleh knows what it takes to address the root causes of burnout.  He is here to share his insights.  This is a great episode to watch on YouTube, so you can see Mohamed’s slides, but if you lis...

There’s a crime wave out there  - a cyber crimewave– and Karla Reffold is helping companies overcome the continuously changing challenges of cybersecurity. Karla started out in HR, and now is a leader in cybersecurity – her story of leadership, flexibility and innovation is inspiring for all continuous improvers. Let's hear Karla share her thoughts and insights! We can't wait to hear what this pow...

Wendy Nash coaches people with meditation. She joined me to share how to make meditation part of your daily practice. Her approach is beautifully aligned with the reflection that is intrinsic to lean thinking and can help us develop our “respect for people” mindset. One note: We had some internet challenges as we were recording this podcast, and you might notice a little interference.  Let’s hear...

Tom Hughes was an expert in lean and continuous improvement. He knew it all, and frankly found it somewhat boring. But one day, his opinion completely changed, and he became a self-described overnight lean maniac. Now, you would be hard-pressed to find someone more excited than Tom who has now written a book called “Improvement Starts with I: A Practical Guide to Building an Extraordinary Lean cul...

As a continuous improvement leader, you know the importance of “Respect for People,” and that “Respect for People” includes understanding and respecting yourself. How might you do that when you are dealing with the effects of generational trauma? Elena Perella has personal experience overcoming generational trauma and using that experience to help high achievers free themselves to meet their poten...

Episode 75 Continuous Improvement and Couples Coaching, with Dr. Robin Buckley If you are a coach, have you ever thought about the family relationships of your clients? If you have a coach, how does your coaching experience engage your family relationships? How might a couple benefit from engaging in coaching together? And how is that different from couple therapy? Dr. Robin Buckley specializes in...

Continuous Improvement and Why Tools are Not Enough, with Martina Kuhlmeyer Martina Kuhlmeyer has an impeccable lean background, including a Master Blackbelt certification from GE.  So why is she not focused on lean tools these days? Let’s hear her tell the story about how she learned that tools were not enough.   Martina Kuhlmeyer Martina Kuhlmeyer is the Founder of Power Up Your Team. As an Exec...

Kevin Herring specializes in business turnarounds – helping organizations create high-performing teams.  His interest in how humans thrive in a workplace started all the way back in college – not in a class but at a summer job. A job that he considered one of the most boring on earth turned out to be fascinating with a self-directed team. This job gave him a completely different idea about organiz...

  Do you think there are differences between a lean culture and a culture for lean innovation? Norbert Majerus loved being an engineer in part because he was better with numbers than with people. But when Norbert was entrusted with leading the lean innovation transformation at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, he had to build his skills with people. He’s written a new book that shines a light...

Some compelling features of agile product development are flexibility and resilience. An agile project can deal with problems and new learning and pivot to take advantage of that new learning. My guest, Katja Schleicher has insights about how to apply those agile principles of flexibility and resilience to communication. We can all benefit from better communication, so check out our fascinating co...

Dr. Anjani Mahabashya had a childhood dream to be a doctor. She achieved her dream and got her dream job working in a premier medical center. Everything came crashing down the day she had a devastating fall. She is here to share what she learned about empathy, and why empathetic leaders matter when employees are at their most vulnerable. This is a story that all Continuous Improvement leaders who...

  Continuously Improving Your LinkedIn Profile with Daniel Alfon When I first created my LinkedIn account, I added my name, and a nice picture and uploaded my resume.  It turns out, for those of us who work as consultants and coaches, those resumes on LinkedIn don’t do much to help us connect with clients.  Daniel Alfon is a LinkedIn expert, and he blew my mind with his insights in this conversati...

Do you have a website? If you're like me and have a website (like I have at leanforhumans.com), you know that you need to work on your search engine optimization (SEO). And if you're like me and most others, how to do that can be a complete mystery. Brandon Leibowitz says that we should all get as much free real estate on search engines as possible and that it's not all that mysterious. SEO is jus...

One of the secrets of getting to “flow” in a work process is to “level the load.“ Not overburdening the process and managing the natural volatility of inputs has a remarkable effect on productivity.  My guest, Kevin Gazzara, has insights into how to do this in our brains.  Check out our fascinating conversation! Kevin has an undergraduate degree in engineering and business and completed his MBA an...

The role of a good coach in continuous improvement is a key to CI success. At some point, we all need to step into the role of a coach whether as a leader, a professional coach, or simply coaching others in our day-to-day interactions.  Sam Morgan has been developing his coaching skills but had to overcome many obstacles to become a confident coach. I invited Sam back to the Edges of Lean to talk...

In Lean, we know the value of getting ideas from the people who are doing the work, especially when it comes to ideas for improvement. But what happens when your organization feels like it is too big to get ideas from everyone effectively? What if you're just too far away? Soushiant Zanganehpour is a social scientist and an entrepreneur, and he is the founder and CEO of Swae, a platform for crowds...