The 5 Whys Mistake That Stops Your Root Cause Analysis Three Whys Early

An employee falls on the floor. Someone investigates. Why did they fall? They stepped on a wet spot.

That's a true answer. It's also the...

Change Fatigue Is Real -- Here's How to Run Experiments Without Burning People Out

Continuous improvement asks people to change how they work. Not once -- continuously. New standards, new processes, new tools, new ways...

What Is a Target Condition (and Why Your Improvement Work Needs One)?

Ask a team what they're working on improving, and you'll usually get a metric. Reduce wait times by 15%. Increase first-pass yield to 98%....

Voice of the Customer in Continuous Improvement: Are You Listening or Assuming?

Every organization thinks it understands its customers. Most are working from a mix of outdated assumptions, secondhand reports, and the...

Systems Thinking for Continuous Improvement: Seeing Beyond Your Own Process

Most improvement work starts with a process someone can see: the steps their team follows, the metrics on their board, the problems in...

Don't Launch to Everyone at Once: The Case for Piloting Change with Willing Adopters

Lynn Kelley had rolled out big organizational changes across 32 countries at Textron. She'd worked with Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft,...

Second-Order Effects: Why Your Improvement Made Someone Else's Job Harder

You finish the project. The numbers look good. Your process is faster, your team is relieved, and you move on to the next thing. Then,...

Why Your Lean Transformation Stalled After Year 5 (And What to Do About It)

Here's a pattern that plays out in organizations around the world. Year one: excitement. A consulting engagement, a wave of kaizen...

What "Respect for People" Actually Looks Like on a Tuesday Morning

Every Lean practitioner can recite the two pillars: continuous improvement and respect for people. Ask them what continuous improvement...