When is the last time you did not feel like discretionary time was not a luxury? It seems that most of us are rushing through the day from one meeting to the next taking hits from all directions with little time to work on those Continuous Improvement projects that you know will improve your process.
Tony Schwartz blogs about Ten Principles to Live By in Fiercely Complex Times. I could not help but to consider how these principles align with Lean Leadership and how you could apply these to your Lean world in manufacturing, healthcare, or service. Here are a few of Mr. Schwartz’ principles with Lean commentary:
- Always challenge certainty, especially your own: Lean is all about challenging the current process to create value from the customer’s perspective. The current process may not have been designed with this perspective. There is room for improvement if there is still waste even if you or others don’t see it. Challenge the process to see where you can make it safer, improve quality, make it more efficient, and remove waste.
- Excellence is an unrelenting struggle, but it is also the surest route to enduring satisfaction: Lean is also about the relentless pursuit of excellence. There is no short cut to true excellence. Pick the right initiatives to bring sustainable improvements and be encouraged by the incremental changes. Lean practitioners should enjoy the feeling of a job well done when they drive improvements to their process by driving out waste and adding value.
- Emotions are contagious, so it pays to know what you’re feeling. Lean really is a journey in pursuit of excellence with the lofty vision of perfection. Be careful though because the journey can wear on you if you let negative thoughts creek into your team’s psyche. Guard against feelings like “it’s never good enough.” It’s better to enjoy the ride with feelings like “The team has done great. Let’s see how we can get even better.”
Lean Leaders challenge the process. Lean Leaders are relentless about pursuing excellence and enjoy the journey. Lean Leaders know that their attitude is contagious and set a good example. What examples can you share about how you have you managed your pursuit of excellence?
Best regards, Christian Paulsen Lean Leadership Blog Written for The Consumer Goods Club
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For someone who is new to blogging, you are certainly doing a great job Christian. I enjoy your writing style and subject matter.
Thank you, Dan. Your feedback is appreciated.
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I’ve read a couple of your articles. Christian my man, this is a resourceful site! I am in the field of early childhood education. I’ve recently created a literacy program geared to early learners in the inner city of Atlanta, Ga. This particular post resonates strongly with me. Gonna tweet this. Thank you, Christian!
Pamela,
Thank you for the very kind feedback. I am glad that this resonates with you and appreciate your comments as well as the tweet! Best wishes for your literacy program. Helping children is truly a noble cause.
Thanks again,
Chris
Hi Christian, you bring up a great point about emotions in the pursuit of excellence. I have issues with stopping and letting go and saying “this is enough,” then moving forward. Sometimes its really easy and other times it’s really difficult. I appreciate your comment so much because I am embarking on a new project that puts me in the lead and I know that I will need to apply this principle even more.
Hi Carol-Thank you for your feedback and insight. It’s great to hear from you. I hope your new project goes well.