From the monthly archives:

February 2010

Take Customer Feedback Seriously

02.26.2010

Plenty of companies say the focus on the customer. Many of them say they want customer feedback.  
But few post unfiltered, real-time customer feedback on the front-page of their website where everyone can see it, whether good or bad. CustomInk.com can say that. Here’s just the latest feedback as an example. Of course, you see it’s [...]

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You must lack common sense!

02.24.2010

Kiyoshi Suzaki, a lean thinker who deserves to be at the top of any lean guru list, wrote:
Lean tools are common sense – after the fact.
I think that makes sense based on my observations. People see it, and they want to call lean “common sense”. Some organizations and I believe even books have called it [...]

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The Impact of Repetition

02.22.2010

We tackle the value of repetition on culture in the latest installment of the Cultural Transformation video series. The example given of a repeated pattern was SQDCM, or Safety Quality Delivery Cost Morale. This pattern was repeated in the organization at every level every day. Now, 15 years later, it has remained an embedded part [...]

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The new Lean Learning Center Video Blog

02.21.2010

Andy Carlino and I will be publishing occasional video blogs. We’ve done a couple of topics already, which we only posted as links directly to the video. We’ve recently added this video blog page to the Lean Learning Center website.  
If you want to stay tuned to when note posts are released, you can subscribe for [...]

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Organizational Design and the Role of HR in Lean

02.19.2010

This originally appeared on the Lean Career Compass blog.
Lean is a human system. And human resources deals with humans, right? So HR should have a pretty active role in lean. In most cases, I see them sitting on the sidelines. This is sad. It’s not that they don’t want to get involved, they don’t know [...]

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The Fall of the Mighty Toyota

02.17.2010

p=357 Killer decontenting: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/too-good-to-be-true-how-toyotas-success-caused-killer-decontenting/ Direct link to Toyota’s content: http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota/toyota-consumer-safety-advisory-102572.aspx WSJ, the engineering problem: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703389004575032844153687042.html#mod=todays_us_opinion Lentz on NBC’s Today Show: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35179161#35179161 http://www.inpursuitofelegance.com/post/2010/01/30/Toyota-Recall-The-Penalty-of-Leadership.aspx http://blogs.hbr.org/winston/2010/02/toyota-getting-squished.html?… p=365 http://www.lean.org/shook/ what Toyota workers are doing: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/83859.html Tom Johnson: http://blog.pegasuscom.com/Leverage-Points-Blog/bid/30450/How-Toyota-Ran-Off-the-Road-and-How-It-Can-Get-Back-on-Track Toyota right way to work: http://betterforeveryone.blogspot.com/2010/02/toyota-once-hailed-as-right-way-to-work.html Time: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100211/wl_time/08599196359500

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What NOT to Learn from the Undercover Boss

02.15.2010

I don’t know if the show will last, but the Undercover Boss certainly has an interesting premise. Leaders of organizations go undercover in their own organizations to do front-line jobs, learning what is really going on. This is a great idea, and one consistent with lean where we talk about getting to the point of [...]

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Reflect, Don’t Dwell

02.12.2010

Most organizations don’t spend time in reflection. It seems wasteful. But it’s vitally important in an organization trying to make progress. Without learning, courses aren’t corrected and lessons aren’t internalized.
A favorite quote of mine by Soren Kierkegaard speaks to this point:

“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”

This means to me [...]

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Leaders or Anchors?

02.10.2010

Should you focus your energy on the leaders around you or the anchors?
You only have so much time, energy, and focus. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, right? Well the anchors are usually the squeaky wheel. But energy invested there is wasted. I explain the difference and why in this latest video in our Cultural [...]

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25 Problems..or how to focus on the right systems

02.08.2010

This month I have a featured article in Kevin Meyer’s Superfactory Newsletter. I’ve been a subscriber for many years, and Kevin does a great job.
My contribution is titled 25 Problems..or how to focus on the right systems. I hope you’ll give a read, and sign up for the Superfactory newsletter.
I haven’t contributed to Superfactory since [...]

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