Gemba Academy

Lean is Not About Principles

By Jon Miller - May 8th, 2017

Lately I’ve been involved in several conversations of “Is lean about tools or is it about principles?” Hardly anybody argues for the tools. The popular consensus is that Lean is about principles, but it is a vague and loos

Will Gemba Academy Put You Out of a Job?

By Ron Pereira - May 5th, 2017

Over the years we’ve been fortunate enough to talk to a lot of people about how Gemba Academy could add value to their organization’s lean and/or six sigma journey. Many times these conversations start as sales calls. Fol

The Lean Journey: It’s in the Name

By Jon Miller - May 1st, 2017

While attending a recent event showcasing the ongoing lean transformation at a local hospital, I was reminded of the meaning of “journey”. Those of us practicing continuous improvement for our personal benefit or on behalf

Following Their Moral Compass

By Steve Kane - April 28th, 2017

By Steve Kane As an aviation enthusiast and airplane pilot, I take an interest in pretty much all kinds of flying. YouTube provides seemingly endless entertainment for people like me. I recently started watching lots of videos on p

To Lead with Respect, Stop Boring People

By Jon Miller - April 24th, 2017

One of the greatest challenges for leaders of an organization is to keep people engaged in the work. Annual Gallup polls tell us that less than a third of U.S. workers are engaged. People who are engaged deliver better quality, produc

Ensconcing Paranoia in Rules

By Kevin Meyer - April 21st, 2017

Silly boy you got so much to live for So much to aim for, so much to try for You blow it all with, paranoia You’re so insecure you, self-destroyer paranoia, they destroy ya It’s been over a week since the United incident wh

Why Won’t Senior Leaders Attend My Lean Training?

By Jon Miller - April 17th, 2017

Nothing focuses the mind like… Most words that end this sentence are rather unpleasant. The hangman’s noose. Being shot at. Impending death. What these have in common is that they limit our future options. They are constr

King County Food Safety Rating System Earns a Fail

By Jon Miller - April 10th, 2017

The State of Washington boasts an active Lean community of large corporations, small startups, local hospitals, non-profits, state and local government. Both the State and King County, where Seattle is located, have Lean departments

When Opportunity & Job Instruction Meet

By Ron Pereira - April 7th, 2017

We’re just finishing up another awesome week of TWI Training here in the lovely state of Virginia. Specifically, we’re completing live Job Relations (JR) and Job Methods (JM) training with a room full of Gemba Academy students.

Solution-Jumping Creates Problems

By Jon Miller - April 3rd, 2017

In my experience, the most so-called problem solving in this world is just solution-jumping. This is true in business, government policy, personal relationships, sports, personal health. We grease the squeaky wheel. We tamper with syst

Lean Thinking Questions for a Provider Delay Board

By Jon Miller - March 27th, 2017

I recently joined a family member’s visit to a local medical center. A new visual control labeled “Provider Delay Board” was displayed prominently in the waiting area. The medical center in question is known for being

Getting Executive Buy-In

By Steve Kane - March 24th, 2017

A common struggle in the lean community is the perception that if senior leadership doesn’t drive lean, then the rest of the organization can’t be lean. As Masaaki Imai put it, the three most important requirements in em

A Lean Look at Citigroup’s Ethics Improvement Efforts

By Jon Miller - March 20th, 2017

David Miller (no known relation) is a morality improvement consultant. That’s not morale, as in how people feel about their work, but morality, as in whether we are good people or bad people, in ethical terms. Featured in the W

A Painful Perpective from the Goofy Foot Pop Up

By Kevin Meyer - March 17th, 2017

For the past couple years I’ve worked hard at getting into the best shape I’ve been in in decades. In fact, many of us at Gemba Academy have, and we have a wellness program that encourages and rewards positive efforts tow

Taiichi Ohno Interview Video Footage

By Jon Miller - March 13th, 2017

This week I found a five-minute YouTube video excerpt featuring Taiichi Ohno. It is a television program about the revolutionary productivity Ohno achieved at Toyota. It is from the late 1980s. Taiichi Ohno is interviewed in what lo

Our Job Instruction Course is Available!

By Ron Pereira - March 10th, 2017

We’re really excited to announce that our Job Instruction (JI) course was soft launched this week. I say “soft launch” because we’re still adding the course to our Learning System platform, but our Learning Li

Respect for People and Workbenches of the Mind

By Jon Miller - March 6th, 2017

Lean cultures accomplish the most good with the least time and resource through continuous improvement and respect for people. Compared to continuous improvement, there is less evidence to prove that respect for people directly affect

The Inner Game of Continuous Improvement

By Jon Miller - February 27th, 2017

Five-time Superbowl winner Tom Brady credits reading The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Gallwey for helping him overcome anxiety and self-doubt, and to keep winning. I read the book looking for parallels and general lessons that could

What’s Another Word for “Problem”?

By Jon Miller - February 20th, 2017

What’s another word for “problem”? Opportunity? Situation? How about challenge? Whenever I hear this question, it’s an indication of a cultural problem. Unlike in lean organizations, bad things follow the discov

McProcess

By Steve Kane - February 17th, 2017

I recently saw the movie “The Founder”— the story of Ray Kroc and the McDonald’s empire. The movie does a good job of illustrating what one can do with the right opportunity, enough drive, and a lot of moral flexibility. We’l

Review of Leading with Lean by Philip Holt

By Jon Miller - February 13th, 2017

Leading with Lean: an Experience-based Guide to Lean Transformation, by Philip Holt, aims to provide current or aspiring lean leaders with experience-based insights and steps to ensure that others in the organization are turned on a

Mother Nature Takes On the Lean Home

By Kevin Meyer - February 10th, 2017

A few months ago I told you how my wife and I had found a mid-century remodel project only a couple blocks away from where we currently live. We wanted to create a “lean home” – smaller with a simple layout, less st

A Pithier Name for the 8th Waste

By Jon Miller - February 6th, 2017

An article in Popular Science introduced some interesting research how to activate your brain’s ability to learn. The findings can be read as an interesting neuroscience-based argument in favor of daily stand up meetings, follow

TWI Job Instruction Course – Behind the Scenes

By Ron Pereira - February 3rd, 2017

We’re breaking new ground at Gemba Academy this week as we run our first “live” training class. Specifically, 10 students (9 after the flu took one out of commission on Tuesday) have come together here in the DFW ar

Three Management Lessons from the 2016 NFL Season

By Jon Miller - January 30th, 2017

After about a 20 year hiatus, I have enjoyed following the game of American football closely over the past two years. Go Hawks! Watching how teams hire and fire coaches, build their rosters and manage their seasons is almost more int

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