Change, Buy-In, and How Aristotle Taught Continuous Improvement 1

Change, Buy-In, and How Aristotle Taught Continuous Improvement
At its heart, Continuous Improvement requires persuasive communication skills.  This is because of the inherent resistance to change that all change agents encounter. Make no mistake: people don’t want to change.  If they did, tobacco manufacturers would have gone the way of the dodo many decades ago.  But people like their bad habits, no matter ...

The 5S Fly-by 1

The 5S Fly-by
Continuous Improvement is challenging.  It seems some days as if there just isn’t enough time, and although there is a never-ending list of improvement opportunities some days you just can’t seem to get anything done.  But there is something you can do about it.  I call it the “5S Fly-by”. A 5S Fly-by can be ...

Make It Important 2

Make It Important
In any change leadership situation, it can be challenging to get buy-in from the people involved.  This is especially true when changing culture. There are many ways to approach this challenge in Continuous Process Improvement.  Involving those affected by the change in the decision-making process is incredibly important, as is communication of expectations. Quite possibly ...

How Respect Influences Engagement 2

How Respect Influences Engagement
I recently conducted a 5S workshop and encountered what is commonly referred to as “the frozen middle” (mid-level managers who, either intentionally or unintentionally impede change).  While working with my team to design our new process flow, a member of our front-line leadership team walked past us and commented that our design “would never work” ...

Punching Data Analysis Right in the Face

Punching Data Analysis Right in the Face
I’m not always the smartest Continuous Improvement practitioner in the room (unless I’m all by myself…  at least until the cat walks by).  Sometimes I get to pretend I’m smart, and other times I’m smart enough to not even try. One person who I’ll never try to outsmart is Zach Weinersmith.  Zach is a fantastic ...