The new year is upon us and, as is typical for this time of year, resolutions are one of the primary topics of conversation. With just over a week into the new year, it is very likely that the discussions of resolutions and goals have already begun to subside. Unfortunately, for the many who do make resolutions, very few ever […]
Goals Without Means Are Meaningless
Transition Versus Change – 2013
The time between Christmas and New Year’s eve is one of transition as we consider the events that occurred over the past year and prepare for the new year ahead. Experts are sure to present their annual summaries and will also attempt to “predict” what may be in store for us in the year to come. As lean leaders we […]
Decisions: From Crisis and Chaos to Calm
How is it that some leaders have a way to bring calm to crisis, chaos, and conflict, weeding out fact from fiction, and somehow setting the path straight for others to follow? The answer is quite simple, they have the tools and ability to make effective decisions efficiently. I recognize that very few, if any, problems can truly be solved […]
Are You Suffering from Fragmentation?
When Toyota arrived on the North American manufacturing scene, automakers were introduced to many of Toyota’s best practices including the Toyota Production System (TPS) and the well-known “Toyota Way”. Since that time, Toyota’s best practices have been introduced to numerous other industries and service providers with varying degrees of success. In simple terms, Toyota’s elusive goal of single piece flow […]
Sustainability or Meltdown?
For as many years as I have been blogging here on Lean Execution, I have been increasingly concerned with the sustainability of our economy, business, and government at all levels – locally, nationally, and globally. To this day, these same interests are all struggling to define and establish models that will allow them to recover, sustain, and flourish in the […]
Managing Visually – A word from Daniel T. Jones
Visual Management is certainly one of the characteristic traits that sets lean organizations apart from all others. The success of Visual Management is predicated on relevant and current data. To be effective, Visual Management must be embraced and utilized by leadership, management, and employees throughout the organization. I also believe that “Knowledge is Power and Wisdom is Sharing it.” For […]
Hanging from a thread – Lean Healthcare
Background It seems that Lean Healthcare is getting a lot of exposure here as of late. I will qualify this by saying “in practice” rather than “name”. The Toronto Star published yet another article, Sunnybrook cuts wait for prostate diagnosis down to 72 hours, that once again demonstrates that improvements can be made if we put our minds to it. […]
Lean Healthcare – Sunnybrook Surgeons given a hands-off way to Kinect
An article in today’s Toronto Star titled “Surgeons given a hands-off way to Kinect” clearly demonstrates how improvements can be realized in our work environment. One of the concerns in the operating room is maintaining a sterile field during surgery. Doctors cannot physically touch any devices away from the sterile field for fear of breaking it and have only 1 […]
Lean – Walk and Talk
In my article “Waste: The Devil is in the Details“, I discussed the importance of paying attention to the details. From a company or personal perspective, the underlying theme to identify waste (or opportunity) is to be continually cognizant of what it is we’re doing and asking “Why?” I have continually stressed the importance of conducting process reviews right where the action is. It seems […]
What did you expect? Benchmarking and Decisions – for better or worse.
What did you expect? Benchmarking & Decisions – for better or worse I recognize that benchmarking is not a new concept. In business, we have learned to appreciate the value of benchmarking at the “macro level” through our deliberate attempts to establish a relative measure of performance, improvement, and even for competitor analysis. Advertisers often use benchmarking as an integral component of their marketing strategy. […]
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