Lean Roundup #140 – January 2021

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of January 2021.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here. 

The Disaster of Lean Training - Bob Emiliani questions the impact of short-term training cycles to substantially change us personally or our organizations.

What is Courage & What’s It Mean for Strategy? - Pascal Dennis talks about how we sustain our drive in the face of hurtles, hassles, and hammerheads.

Why Your Productivity Hacks Don’t Hack It - Dan Markovitz shares four countermeasures that will help reduce the systemic load on personal productivity.

What are Lagging & Leading Indicators? How are they related? Why are they important? - Steve Kane shares article to help people at all levels of the organization understand how metrics help process owners more deeply understand the current state of business operations.

How to Have a Happy New Year - Jon Miller discusses whether we make this new year a better one will depend on what we choose to make of it.

Driving Innovation and the Role of the Board of Directors - Jamie Flinchbaugh shares a few ideas on boards can spend more time on innovation then governance.

Leadership Tip #1: Always Tell the Truth, Even When You’re Embarrassed - Johanna Rothman discusses the importance of always telling the truth.

Courage and Bravery - Bob Emiliani asks why people lack the courage to forcefully say what needs to be said to Lean practitioners and business leaders about Lean management.

Amy Edmondson on How to Really Learn From Failure and Mistakes - Mark Graban shares a 2011 HBR article from Amy Edmondson on strategies from learning from failure.

Standardized Work is a Goal To Work Toward, Not a Tool to Implement - Jeffrey Liker explains that standardized work can be an ugly thing in the hands of control-oriented bureaucrats and a beautiful thing when it enables creativity and continuous improvement.

How to Engage Everyone to Create a “Continuous Innovation Machine” - Jim Morgan explains which of the three elements – people, processes, or tools – he believes is paramount in lean product and process development and why.

Let's Celebrate Work - John Shook challenges us to aim to make all work meaningful by building our businesses based on the work itself and prioritizing the means over the ends.

How the Hoshin Kanri Process Coupled with Coaching Drives Lean Transformation,” Part 1 & Part 2 - Laura Mottola shares some of the intangibles you'll need to know to execute an organizational transformation using hoshin kanri.

Ask Art: Why Are Leaps of Faith Involved in a Lean Turnaround? - Art Byrne explains why leaps of faith are required to make a successful lean turnaround.