Respect decision-making processes and understanding the importance of driving consensus. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic Everything we do is the result of a process. One of the key ideas in operational excellence is that everything we do is the result of a process, including making decisions.  How we make decisions is…

Create processes that will continue to thrive despite changes in leadership. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic The concepts that reside within the scope of responsibility at the strategic level should always be considered from the enterprise level.  I have also modified the statement slightly. It initially read ‘create a process’…

Practice problem-solving activities. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic This might seem like another obvious idea, but how many of our teams have had any training or guidance on root cause problem solving.  How often do we practice problem solving when we want to teach our team something about their processes?…

Recognize and reward appropriate efforts and behaviors. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic This seems obvious but challenging the way it is presented.  Obvious because acknowledging appropriate effort and behavior should come naturally.  We must learn to recognize and reward the right behaviors. I will often lead this concept with a…

Apply basic lean tools such as 5S and kanban in transactional and administrative processes. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic My own lean journey exploded when I stepped into number 120.  I had many years of practice with basic lean tools in the production environment, and many people still believe today…

Sustainability Needs a System Embrace, support, and promote effective environmental and safety systems. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic Sustainability has become a buzz word today.  Unfortunately, from my perspective, it has also lost its meaning and importance.  Protecting our environment means avoiding contamination that could injure or harm ourselves or…

Demonstrate humility, understanding that those who do the work are best suited to improve the work, and recognize that one’s lean learning is never complete. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic Demonstrate humility is a reflection of leadership presence in the organizational culture.  The lean principle of respect for every person…

Lead problem solving projects. Practitioners: tactical, integrative The four words in number 132 – lead problem solving projects – bring with them so much baggage.  What exactly is problem solving?  Does your organization have a common problem-solving practice, or is it a free-for-all?  I could ask the same questions of…

Act as an internal cross-functional expert providing guidance and consultation supporting the OpEx transformation. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic So many ideas come together in this final concept.  Respect for every individual come to the surface.  We lose so many opportunities for new ideas when our team members are overlooked…

Identify and communicate the benefits of real time visual measures. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic The first idea that surfaces for me when I read this statement is ‘many of our measures today are proxies’.  Many of our measures are only representative of what is happening.  This statement upsets a…