Join me and more than 100 other speakers for this day-long (24 hours) global event — the Lean Global Connection event presented by the Lean Global Network. It’s free, and it looks amazing. I’ll be doing a 30-minute session on “Psychological Safety as the Foundation for Lean Management.” Topics include: I hope you’ll join us. […]

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to […]

Everyone should define their ideal clients. I have, and here’s those definitions. There are three situations where someone is a good fit for me, and for ACT with Purpose. I recorded this in part for me, as saying it out loud always help refine the thinking, but also for anyone out there who may be […]

One core aspect of lean manufacturing is continuous improvement, or kaizen in Japanese. This concept emphasizes ongoing, incremental enhancements to processes, products, and services. Yet, there are commonly differences between how Toyota does kaizen and how the rest of the world does kaizen. These mostly relate to who does most of the kaizen activities. In […]

Organizations that strive for continuous improvement outpace the competition, regardless of the types of products or services they offer. From retail and manufacturing to healthcare and construction, the intensity of effort dedicated to daily positive change in an organization is directly tied to customer satisfaction and financial success.  This guide explores the essential role of […]

In a continuation of my recap from Day 1 the 2nd day of the Northeast Lean Conference Leveraging Lean to Thrive in Uncertain Times did not disappoint. Andrea Haas, President at Summit Polymers, demonstrated how they used Lean Practices to Succeed in automotive industry after Tariffs, COVID labor shortages, microchip shortages, global supply chain disruptions, […]

It has been quite a while since I’ve blogged about Agendashift’s suite of assessments, but I did a tidyup over the weekend, so here we are! One of those assessments is connected to book 5, so I’ll give an update on that too. There are a lot of assessment tools out there, but we think […]

Complete Power BI Interview Questions and Answers 1. What is Business Intelligence?Business Intelligence (BI) is a technology-driven process that analyzes data to provide actionable information, assisting corporate executives, business managers, and other users in making informed business decisions. 2. What is Self-Service BI?Self-service BI allows business users to access and explore data without requiring a […]

Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace better. Operational Excellence, Improvement, and Innovation 48 Years of Excellence in 48 Words – Tom […]

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on […]

  Daniel Stewart and Peter Stewart, brothers who lead Stewart Leadership, joined Jamie Flinchbaugh to discuss their approach to talent assessment and problem solving both within their organization and with clients. Daniel serves as President and Peter as Managing Partner of Stewart Leadership, a global leadership, team, and organizational consulting firm.   When assessing talent […]

In an era where agility and responsiveness define business success, continuous improvement (CI) has become the backbone for organizations striving to cut costs, enhance customer satisfaction, increase efficiency, and drive revenue. That’s why choosing the right continuous improvement system is so important, but how do you tell them apart? Most people don’t make this type […]

Leading with Heart in Your Lean Transformation Has your organization been making progress on its continuous improvement journey, only to find things starting to stall? Is your team hesitant to share ideas, or are your lean or process improvement initiatives viewed mainly as cost-cutting measures rather than a comprehensive strategy for long-term success? Perhaps you’ve […]

This year’s Northeast Lean Conference marks a number of milestones in Lean as the conference celebrates its 20th Anniversary. It also marks the 25th Anniversary of Toast Kaizen Video and the 35th Anniversary of the book the Machine the Changed the World. LEAN in conference name is an acronym for Lead Enable and Nurture. The […]

During the European Lean Educator Conference in Chemnitz, I had the opportunity to listen to a presentation by Nadja Böhlmann on “Dark Lean.” In order to do good lean, we need to understand why some lean projects are bad. Or, in order for practitioners to reach the light side of lean, they need to understand […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) Thucydides, Sun Tzu, Livy, Machiavelli, Clausewitz – magic names. These Masters of War are still read centuries & millennia later. Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War was the classical text of choice during the two Iraq wars. And General Colin Powell, famously, had the following quote from the master framed on his State […]

Today is Veterans Day Observance. To a lot of us, it means no school, lots of doorbuster sales and, hopefully, a day off from work. The meaning of Veterans Day can be of little insight to those who have no family members or friends who have served time in the service. But, those who do […]

I’m thrilled to be back in Japan for the first time in five years. Today is the start of Katie Anderson’s Japan Study Trip (learn more about joining her in May 2025). It’s great to be here for another week of learning and great experiences. Little did I know, I’d kick off the trip by […]

Opening and Urgent Issues Are you ready to transform your organization’s productivity and cost competitiveness in 2025 and beyond? As we look ahead, the top priority for production reform is clear: improving cost competitiveness (86% of organizations urgently need this). Yet, a significant challenge looms – 73% of organizations report that productivity improvements are neither sufficient nor strategic. […]

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on […]

I’m happy to be hosting and moderating this webinar that will be presented by Brent Loescher, a fellow instructor with me at TKMG Academy. A Lean practitioner at heart, Brent received his formal Toyota Production System training while working for Toyota Motor Sales in their North American Parts Operations. He helped develop a Lean program […]

Radu Demetrescoux has been a manufacturing consultant for 25 years and recently authored a Lean Toolbox (in French) with actionable details on 64 tools. He has seen the French manufacturing sector losing half its factories and is working to rebuild it. This is how he explains what happened and the way forward. It includes an […]

Lean coaches love to ask questions like, “Are we winning?” “Are we winning or losing today?” “How do we know if we’ve won or lost?” We’re red. When it’s a simple “red is worse than target” vs. “green is better than target,” that’s, of course, an overly simplistic distinction compared to an arbitrary target. But […]

It isn’t always easy being a leader. You need to manage the different personalities on your team, make difficult choices, and confront issues head on before they grow into major problems. A good leader can spur a team on to greatness, while a bad leader can run it into the ground. However, to become a […]

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #519 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Jarvis Gray, the Managing Director of The Quality Coaching Co. He offers more than 16 years of strategic planning, quality improvement, and operations leadership experience in the healthcare industry.  Through his firm, The Quality […]

Starting a business means freedom, a chance to develop your niche, and having more control over the money you earn. With this freedom comes the obligation to deal with budgeting issues without the luxury of an accounting department. Here are five useful tips that can help any entrepreneur or solopreneur manage their budget and make […]

Lean manufacturing is a great set of philosophies and tools to improve your production system, or for that matter any kind of operational system. Yet, many supposed lean implementations fail. One of the various reasons for failure of a lean project is a lack of attention to detail. Let me explain: Production Systems Are Highly […]

What’s one of the most common mistakes that leaders make when trying to shape a problem-solving culture? You are a role model whether you want to be or not, and too often you will practice good problem-solving behaviors but people witness the opposite. You are confident you did the right thing, but your organization took […]

If you create a high-performance team, you can exert tremendous leverage to create value. If not, you’ll face severe difficulties because no leader can hope to achieve ambitious goals on his or her own. Poor personnel choices will usually come back to haunt you. The right team makes or breaks an organization. Strong teams improve […]

Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace better. Operational Excellence, Improvement, and Innovation Operational Excellence, Improvement, and Innovation Will AI Transform the […]

Just a short one this month. “Real life intrudes”, as they say; our daughter just spent two weeks in the children’s hospital and was very unwell for longer than that, so it is just as well that I had done that clearing the decks exercise beforehand! Glad to report that’s she is better now than […]

As we celebrate Halloween–a season for all things spooky–it’s a good time to reflect on the “fear factor” that can haunt our workplaces. While ghosts and goblins are fun once a year, fear shouldn’t be part of our day-to-day culture. Yet, in many organizations, fear holds people back from speaking up about problems, sharing new […]

The urgency to improve organizational performance is at an all-time high. Today’s customers expect more value for every dollar, knowledgeable employees are difficult to find and retain, competition is fierce, technology and data grow increasingly complex, and business models evolve ever more quickly. Given all of that and the complexity of modern organizations, a scatter-shot […]

Nick Katko, Owner and President of BMA, joined Jamie Flinchbaugh on the People Solve Problems podcast to discuss lean accounting systems and their role in problem-solving. With over 30 years of experience in practicing lean accounting, Nick coaches companies on how to leverage these systems to improve their operations and decision-making processes. Nick explained that […]