GA 113 | How to Utilize the Power Score with Jonathan Sands

By Jessica Bush - June 2nd, 2016

8 Attributes of Top-Performing Managers, According to Google

By Jon Miller - May 30th, 2016

One day when our lean consultants are bots, we will ask our smart devices what we need to do to be a top performer in our chosen work. For now, we’ll have to Google it. An interview in Knowledge@Wharton with Brian Welles, the

GA 112 | How to Pursue Greatness with Ron Pereira

By Jessica Bush - May 26th, 2016

Today’s episode features a keynote speech, “In Pursuit of Greatness,” delivered by our own Ron Pereira at the TWI Summit in San Antonio, Texas. As you’ll hear, he thoroughly enjoyed the conference and learned a

Hello, My Name is Leanbot

By Jon Miller - May 23rd, 2016

Hello, my name is Leanbot. Don’t be afraid. At the moment I am just an idea in the minds of several lean geeks. Alas, my ability to interact with you is limited to the comment box below. Today I’m just a twinkle in a lean e

A Supervisor’s Strategy to Make Lean Stick

By Steve Kane - May 20th, 2016

By Steve Kane Michelle Trejo is a production supervisor for Specialty Silicone Fabricators, Inc. in Paso Robles, California.  She believes in Lean and she believes in her people.  Michelle has many leadership successes to her credit.

GA 111 | How to Teach Continuous Improvement with Dr. Bradley Miller

By Jessica Bush - May 19th, 2016

Today’s guest is Dr. Bradley Miller, a professor at the University of Houston. Brad explained to us how he teaches his students about continuous improvement, and how they then apply those skills to real life situations. An MP3

How to Solve Problems in Just Five Days

By Jon Miller - May 15th, 2016

How can we solve big problems and test new ideas in just five days? If you are at all experienced in lean, you may reply, “Run a kaizen event.” By various names, the five-day rapid improvement workshop has been helping comp

The Reward of Just Doing It

By Kevin Meyer - May 13th, 2016

A few years ago I starting playing around with a book concept that described several personal and professional leadership methods and habits I had developed over my three decade career. I collected ideas, supporting information, and wo

When Does Fermented Squid Go Bad? And Other Management Questions

By Jon Miller - May 9th, 2016

How long does shiokara, or fermented fish guts last? Just a pinch of it is enough to make a bowl of plain white rice burst with flavor. It starts out tasting, smelling and looking rotten. So how would you know? This is a good question

GA 109 | How to Leverage Toyota Kata with Brandon Brown

By Jessica Bush - May 5th, 2016

Today’s guest is Brandon Brown, the owner of Continuous Coaching Commitment LLC and an associate with the W3 Group LLC. Brandon shared his knowledge of Toyota Kata with us, and explained how it complements TWI. An MP3 version o

Lean Leaders, Darling Killers

By Jon Miller - May 2nd, 2016

Another very good article from Fast Company builds on the insights on how to change minds we highlighted in a previous blog post. The article further explains how the most successful people constantly question their strongest bel

GA 108 | How to Use Job Relations to Solve Problems with Oscar Roche

By Jessica Bush - April 28th, 2016

Today’s guest is Oscar Roche, a Director at the TWI Institute Australia and Visual Workplace Australasia. Oscar and Ron discussed TWI, with a particular emphasis on the JR, or Job Relations component.  An MP3 version of this epi

Dance Your Way to Better Team Performance

By Jon Miller - April 25th, 2016

During our monthly coaching conversation last week, one of my customers shared her latest challenges and successes in leading continuous improvement within her organization. To my surprise she added, “Also, my team and I sig

GA 107 | How to Leverage TWI with Patrick Graupp

By Jessica Bush - April 21st, 2016

Today’s guest is Patrick Graupp, Senior Master Trainer at the TWI Institute. Patrick gave us an overview of TWI, or Training Within Industry, including a brief breakdown of the three main components. TWI is a very powerful tool

To Be a Lean Coach, Know the Wrong Answers

By Jon Miller - April 18th, 2016

The success of lean systems, and continuous improvement in general, relies on engaging the hands and brains of everyone in the upkeep and renewal of the system. It requires constant practice. It requires a strong will to compete and t

Inspiring a Bias for Action

By Steve Kane - April 15th, 2016

Jamie Parker practices Lean and is passionate about learning and sharing Lean leadership. She has 15 years’ experience in operations management / leadership across retail, service, and manufacturing environments. Jamie serves as

GA 106 | How to Understand the Nature of Transformation

By Jessica Bush - April 14th, 2016

Today’s guest is Dr. Darlene Dumont, the Public Service Program Director for LEI, or Lean Enterprise Institute. Darlene shared some of the projects she’s worked on throughout her impressive career and explained the value of

Lean Systems and Robots That Can Say “No”

By Jon Miller - April 11th, 2016

“A robot that follows commands without question could put humans in danger” warns a Scientific American article that argues why robots need to be able to say “no” to our commands. Just as people should not alwa

A Break to Reflect and Unlearn

By Kevin Meyer - April 8th, 2016

By Kevin Meyer Over the past few years I’ve been working hard on cultivating positive habits. New habits can be powerful. But habits can also create barriers that limit our perspective, which can hinder kaizen, creativity, and even o

GA 105 | How to Improve Your Business with Change Management with Paul Brand

By Jessica Bush - April 7th, 2016

Today’s guest is Paul Brand, a change management consultant from the Netherlands. Paul wrote a book called Change Your Mind, Change Your Business, and he shared with us why he wrote it, what it’s about, and how change man

How to Change Minds

By Jon Miller - April 4th, 2016

One of the most common challenges people face when leading continuous improvement is persuading others to change. We agree that want a different results, we agree that this requires different processes and different behaviors, and we

GA 104 | How to Apply Lean to Your State with Alison Fisher

By Jessica Bush - March 31st, 2016

Today’s episode features Alison Fisher, the Program Director of Lean CT. Alison oversees the lean efforts for the entire state of Connecticut, which is obviously no small feat. It was fascinating to hear her take on how lean can

Employee Engagement Poor, But Not in Retreat

By Jon Miller - March 28th, 2016

The Gallup organization polls adults working for U.S. employers daily by phone, reporting on levels of employee engagement. Each year they alert the world to the crisis of employees engagement. It is consistently around 70% not engage

GA 103 | Our Favorite Episodes

By Jessica Bush - March 24th, 2016

Today’s episode is a little different. We asked the Gemba Academy team to tell us their favorite episodes to date, and compiled some powerful excerpts to share with all of you. This is truly a diverse set of stories, advice, an

Half of the Day is Open to Reflection

By Jon Miller - March 21st, 2016

March 20th marked the equinox, when the duration of day and night are roughly equal all over the planet. This day comes twice per year and marks the entry into spring or into autumn. On the equinox, half of the day is day and half is�