Gemba Academy

Blog Writing Experiment

By Jon Miller - March 29th, 2021

Since 2003, I’ve been putting my thoughts on kaizen, lean, continuous improvement, and related topics down in blog posts. For the past five years it’s been on a weekly cadence. My deadline is Monday at 4:59 AM Pacific Time.

Did Standardized Work Originate Thousands of Years Ago?

By Steve Kane - March 26th, 2021

Armies around the world and throughout history have many common practices and traditions. One practice, in particular, started thousands of years ago and is deeply rooted in what we today would characterize as Lean practices. This prac

Seven Policy Questions for Shaping a Lean Future

By Jon Miller - March 22nd, 2021

A Scientific American article from November 2020 looked ahead to how the election would shape the future of the U.S. and the world. The article asked seven questions related to how the election’s outcome would affect policies in

When to Stop the Coaching Conversation

By Jon Miller - March 15th, 2021

One of the challenges of being an effective coach is knowing when to stop coaching. After sharing some insight or giving a piece of advice that lands well, it’s natural for a coach to feel good. If we’re not careful, this f

Neuroscience Reframes Aging

By Kevin Meyer - March 12th, 2021

Exactly a year ago my wife and I were in Hawaii and I was trading emails back and forth with a few colleagues speculating on the impact of the virus on our businesses, conferences, and lives. We returned to California the day before

How to Shape Lean Leadership Culture Through Daily Management

By Jon Miller - March 8th, 2021

At the most basic level, a daily management system enables us to know each day whether we are on-track or off-track to meeting our goals. It provides a structure to expose problems and take corrective action. The system includes medium

Lessons Learned From a Flooded Office

By Ron Pereira - March 5th, 2021

As I pulled into the Gemba Academy parking lot Thursday morning, February 18th, I noticed something strange…there was ice everywhere. Now, as you may have heard, Texas was recently blasted with some crazy cold temperatures which

Better Lean Leadership through Novice Learning

By Jon Miller - March 1st, 2021

I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal titled, How to Teach Professors Humility? Hand Them a Rubik’s Cube. Professors at Furman and Denison Universities took on a challenge over a six-week winter break. They had to

Coaches Have Obstacles Too

By Steve Kane - February 26th, 2021

The purpose of coaching is to help people get from where they are to where they want to be. It’s a process of inquiry that provides clear structure to thinking that, ideally, diminishes uncertainty by exposing obstacles and illum

Three Things to Stop and Start Doing for Better Lean Coaching

By Jon Miller - February 22nd, 2021

The act of lean coaching covers a broad range of formal and informal roles. We see lean coaching between managers on a gemba walk, a consultant overseeing kaizen teams, a kata coach and an IK learner, a black belt mentoring a green bel

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