Wlei - Lean Enterprise Institute's Podcast

“It’s only a failure if you don’t learn,” says Mr. Isao Yoshino, who shared many key lessons from his career at Toyota with Katie Anderson, who based her new book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn on his experience and insights. Join us for a podcast with host Tom Ehrenfeld that explores the lessons gleaned from his career at Toyota.  Download a complete transcript of the conversation here: https://www.lean.org/Search/Documents/597.pdf  

Lean has always promised great improvements for health care providers, but has there been a personal element that has been lacking to date? In this episode of WLEI, two healthcare giants, Kim Barnas and John Toussaint, will share a key insight from their new book Becoming the Change: they argue that personal transformation on the part of healthcare leaders plays a vital role in broader organizational change. Listen in for insights and advice on how to help your lean effort.    You can download a transcript by copying the following URL into your browser: https://www.lean.org/Search/Documents/596.pdf  

As all of us try to figure out how to work in this pandemic-tinted world, lean practice suggests a few practical approaches. In this special edition of WLEI, the podcast of the Lean Enterprise Institute LEI’s Josh Howell, Matt Savas, and Masia Goodman talk about how the design of the upcoming Virtual Lean Learning Experience taps into lean ways of learning and leverages the latest learning technologies. You can download a transcript by copying the following URL into your browser: https://www.lean.org/Search/Documents/594.pdf

Industry 4.0 is not a disruptive force that makes TPS irrelevant, but rather can be an enabler that builds on lean culture and thinking. What principles should lean companies prioritize as they introduce digital tools into their work? Lean thinkers Jeff Liker and Jim Morgan start with the basics of people, processes, and purpose. Listen in to their thoughts as they discuss the TPS-Industry 4.0 mashup with Host Tom Ehrenfeld in this latest episode of WLEI.    You can read and download a complete transcript of the conversation  Copy and past this link: https://www.lean.org/common/display/?o=5333

Over the past five years, the Lean Global Network’s Lean Healthcare Initiative has carried out extensive research in eight hospitals across five countries, and recently published the white paper, "5 Guiding Principles to Transform Healthcare." In this podcast, LEI Senior Coach and white paper co-author Alice Lee shares insights into the research conducted by this group of “tailors” (individuals who saw patterns and helped identify how to apply them). She expands on the five guiding principles they developed and explains how these insights were gleaned from healthcare organizations. The principles provide guidance for any chief architect in any organization looking for traction with their lean work.   You can download a free copy of the paper here.   Download a transcript of the conversation here.  Learn from top healthcare leaders who are transforming their organizations through lean thinking and practice, including, Lisa Yerian, MD, Chief Improvement Officer at the Cleveland Clinic, and John Shook, seni

Regardless of how well you track tangible metrics in your workplace, neglecting underlying emotions has enduring costs, says Susan David, author of the best-selling book Emotional Agility. Many performance gaps are partly caused by human factors—underlying conditions that don’t necessarily show up on Pareto charts, yet have as much relevance and bearing on business outcomes as other common gaps that are identified as problems to address. Join this WLEI podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about the need to acknowledge and “manage” emotions as a means of developing broader agility for your work team.  

"What will the world look like when Covid-19 recedes, and what role will Lean play? According to Lean Pioneer Dan Jones, Lean can play a key role in shaping the emerging economy in numerous ways—not simply boosting performance of legacy assets of mass production, but also helping to scale up new technologies much faster through several generations with user feedback. “Most significantly, it can mobilize the creative contribution of everyone, including users, to develop very different and sustainable systems for the future.” Tune in to this conversation between Dan and WLEI Podcast Host Tom Ehrenfeld for an engaging conversation into the potential role of Lean as we move into and beyond this current age. Download a transcript of the interview here. And check out this Lean Post adapted from Dan’s talk."

"What is the role of a lean leader, and what is the humbling daily work that goes into this task? How can one humbly assume the very ambitious role of leading others in earnest lean practice? And how does one prepare for heroic actions by creating a steady cadence of productive daily habits? These are the types of questions explored by Karen Gaudet in her new LEI book titled Steady Work. Tune in to her podcast with Tom Ehrenfeld here." 

“We should shift more of our energies upstream personally, organizationally, nationally, and globally. We can and we should stop dealing with the symptoms of problems again and again, and start fixing them." So writes author Dan Heath in his terrific new book Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen, which has just been published.    This conversation between LEI editor Tom Ehrenfeld and Dan explores the practical applications of the upstream mindset, and; given the timing, explores how upstream thinking is all the more relevant in our current pandemic. Please listen in, and stay tuned until the final minutes of this podcast: Dan makes a special offer to all you listeners!

In his talk from the 2018 Designing the Future summit, Rivian COO and LEI Senior Advisor Jim Morgan discusses how Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) serves as an enterprise activity that can engage the entire organization and improve operations and growth. LPPD's principles and practices will result in better products, argues Morgan, who shares the following key ideas: *People first *Understand—then execute *Design new value streams *Create a framework of success *Constantly learn and improve *Establish an effective management system Tune in here to listen to the full podcast of his presentation about creating a shared future. And download a transcript of this talk here. Read more from Jim by checking his previous articles: Creating New Value and A Lesson in Fundamentals Are You Building High-Performing Teams? Product Focus=Customer Focus The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection TPS 2.0? Also check out his book Designing the Future Finally, learn more about the 2020 DTF summit

In times of crisis, lean offers a stable approach to healthy work. Furthermore, as Jim Womack notes in this podcast with Tom Ehrenfeld, foundational lean practices such as just-in-time supply chains are not—and have never been—liabilities in a time such as today’s coronavirus outbreak. Misguided stories about the woes of JIT are as misguided today as they were when they appeared during avian flu, SARS, and other legitimate medical events that required large supplies of emergency goods. Womack also talks about the lessons to be found in Karen Gaudet’s book Steady Work as they relate to having a stable work environment that enables people to not think about the work—but to already have that mindfulness built in, so they can simply serve other humans in the moment, at a time of great need.  Listen to this conversation on the LEI podcast here. Related articles/content: Jim Womack’s 2006 essay Just In Time, Just In Case and Just Plain Wrong. Jim Womack’s 2006 essay Fewer Heroes, More Farmers.  Karen Gaudet’s

Spoiler alert! The food you just ate is not fresh. It was "sourced" longer ago than you'd imagine. And since that time, it's been handled in batch after batch. The same can be said for many lean transformations - one batch of improvement activity after another. Zingerman's Mail Order has been reducing batch sizes for 15 years, acting as a sort of "model line" for the entire food industry. Tom Root and Josh Howell discuss ZMO's lean transformation and their many lessons learned, searching for useful takeaways for you the listener.  

If you do not yet know the company Rivian you will undoubtedly know it very soon. In 2019 Rivian made waves in the auto industry by announcing two “electric adventure vehicles”, the R1T – an electric pickup truck - and the R1S - an electric SUV. Both vehicles are expected to launch in the United States later this year and globally in 2021. Rivian is also developing a fleet of electric delivery vans to fulfill a 100,000-unit order placed by Amazon. In the last twelve months the electric vehicle company has raised 3 billion dollars. Listen in to hear how R.J. and Jim are bringing this vision to life. Reference links: Podcast teaser video Rivian.com Episode One: The Climb | Adventurous Forever | Rivian Elon Musk’s New Nemesis: Rivian Founder R.J. Scaringe Has a $3 Billion War Chest And Tesla In His Headlights

Andrew Lingel, President of United Plastic Fabricating, discusses leading lean transformation of a family business through knowledge, grit, and outrage.

Ron describes the Deublin Company's business system built with lean thinking that puts human development at the center  

January 27, 2020 Featuring: Deborah McGee and Bryant Sanders As this series continues to explore the implications and dynamic of “coaching” in a business environment, Bryant Sanders models the mindset and techniques for coaching work improvement to develop people. Bryant draws on 26 years Toyota experience to facilitate his coaching techniques with a team in the field leading to a dramatic improvement in the work. He walks us through the story from deciding where to focus, to earning the team’s trust, facilitating reflection solidifying the what and the why and then leveraging one another’s strengths to upskill the team and eliminate difficulty and waste in the work. An excellent study in masterful coaching on the floor where the work happens. We invite your thoughts and experiences about coaching and being coached: email your stories! pod@lean.org Related Articles/ content: ·       The Hard Work of Making Hard Work Easier (article) ·       Job Breakdown Sheet (pdf) ·       Making Hard Work Easier (art

Too often, a change in executive leadership can bring a lean transformation to a grinding halt.  But that has not been the case at Lynn Community Health Center (LCHC).   Within two years of the start of their lean journey, LCHC CEO Lori Abrams Berry announced her intention to retire. The immediate reaction from the LCHC community was concern that her departure would impact the progress made on advancing lean thinking and practice with improved outcomes and engagement of its team members. Instead, the impending CEO transition was embraced as a challenge, a gap to tackle.  Learn how LCHC approached this executive leadership transition to ensure the continuity of their lean transformation.  John Shook’s favorite conference keynote of all time Using lean thinking to improve hypertension in a community health centre Ep. 9 Leadership, Building Consensus, and Embracing Culture with Dr. Kiame Mahaniah and John Shook Lean Summit 2020 Surviving CEO Change, Evolving Through Culture and Being a Humble Leader Lean

Josh Howell shares his decade-end reflections, focusing on why he left Starbucks in 2013. His reasons may surprise you. He also interrogates the question, “If a company discontinues a formal lean initiative, or lean program, or lean team, does that mean its lean implementation has failed?” 

Pat Greco In 2011, Dr. Pat Greco began as the superintendent of the Menomonee Falls School District in Wisconsin. She faced no shortage of problems: a suspension rate seven times higher than the state average, performance gaps across income and race, cost overruns, and a failure to meet performance goals defined under the No Child Left Behind Act among others. Not to mention a new administration was upending collective bargaining for public sector employees instilling fear within the teachers she was setting out to lead. By the end of her tenure she had led the school district to rank as one of the country’s best. She did so primarily through PDCA cycles in the classroom between teachers and students, as well as between management and the board of education.