Sitting in an audience of well over 200 team members in a production facility, I was enjoying being a participant of this team meeting. The sessions included all types of engaged presentations on various topics, such as individual/team accomplishments, reports on what was coming up, progress updates on various projects, safety statistics, and process changes to improve product quality. They… Read the full article…

In March, AME and I facilitated a Champions of HR event for lean HR professionals to visit 3 world-class lean cultures. Following are the highlights of each visit that made for a memorable event. The Power of Gratitude with Cambridge Engineering Our first visit was Cambridge Engineering. When you first visit the Cambridge facility, you’ll typically be invited to the… Read the full article…

Recently, I visited an operation that was pleased with all the improvements they had been able to implement. They pointed to the ways team members had been involved in identifying problems and implementing solutions. I inquired on the role of HR in the overall improvement efforts and they looked at me quite puzzled. Since the focus of the improvement efforts… Read the full article…

Recently, I had the honor of working with McKee Foods and their HR team out of Gentry, Arkansas to capture the story of their journey with lean. As I’ve shared this with other HR teams, I believe it’s worth noting why I think it matters. It’s not so much that this HR group has done more with lean than other… Read the full article…

Over the last few years, it’s struck me that referring to “lean” as a way of thinking is complementary to, not exclusive of, what the experience of lean feels like. But beyond being an interesting perspective, understanding the experience of lean could be really important. Watching a presentation on a lean culture at a conference, I was struck to my… Read the full article…

As Julie faces her next engagement survey to be run later this year, she realizes that the work they’ve done in the last year is still not likely to change the results. One more time, she’ll have to face the leadership of her organization and explain why she hasn’t been able to generate an improved rating. Yet as we talk,… Read the full article…

A few years ago, I was visiting with an HR manager while walking through a production facility. While Jill, the HR manager, didn’t have an extensive lean background, she was eager to learn more. Jill mentioned that during the GEMBA walk that morning, she wasn’t sure about how she could best contribute to the discussions. I asked her whether she… Read the full article…

Recently, I was at a corporate HR gathering of leaders from across the country. One of those leaders, Amanda, had been involved in a lean training with her local operations group. She had been in the process for 6 months and was sharing her update. We asked her to mostly share her experience of the process, with the specific project… Read the full article…

Do you dread having difficult conversations with your team members about what ways they aren’t performing well in their roles? I don’t mean something little. I mean that their performance has you considering whether to keep them on your team. Awhile back, I was having an issue with one of my team members. We were close to deciding to terminate… Read the full article…