Beware the Advice Monster! That’s good coaching advice from this month’s guest—best-selling author Michael Bungay Stanier. Elisabeth interviews the king of wit and clarity, while sneaking a peek at his upcoming book, The Advice Trap. Tune in for some saucy pearls of wisdom! For Survey Says, we’ll discover where our listeners focus their 5S efforts—their own desk?—the dreaded shared drive? We’ll find out. For Q&A we’ll answer a learner’s question about how to handle a mentoring dilemma: If you’re coaching someone, and you know you can stop them from making a mistake, should you do it? And ..read more

Today’s guest is Joshua Beaudry, a philanthropic skateboarder who is unleashing robots for good! Automation is all the buzz these days, and we had the honor of speaking with someone at the forefront of the growing field. Joshua also heads Lipstick Skateboards, a non-profit with a mission of empowering youth of impoverished areas by providing better access to skateboarding. We’ve also got the results of our latest poll. “Survey Says” we’ve got Fishbone trouble! For our “In the News” segment, Tracy will tell you all about her participation in a sustainable food event. And for Q&A, we’ll addr ..read more

In this episode, Tracy and Elisabeth dip into their incredible experiences in Nagoya and Tokyo in their interview with Laurie Fiorica and Hilary Hellman—two amazing leaders they met on Katie Anderson’s Japan Study Trip. Great takes on Continuous Improvement culture in Japan through the eyes of two Healthcare experts! For our In the News segment, we’ll tell you about the upcoming conferences where you might run into the GoLeanSixSigma.com Team! For Q&A we answer a listener’s question about whether you can break the rules when using time-honored Lean Six Sigma tools. Stay tuned to find out ..read more

Today’s guest is a school-teacher-turned-home-builder who has upended the way this country responds to disasters. As we anxiously tune into the advance of Hurricane Dorian, this interview provides key insights into how the Toyota Production System helped CEO and Author Liz McCartney shorten the timeframe from disaster to recovery. We’ve also got the results of our latest poll. “Survey Says” there are some thriving organizational cultures out there. For our “In the News” segment, Tracy and Elisabeth will tell you all about their participation in the OPEX Business Transformation Leader’s Summit ..read more

Today at the Cafe we’ll give you great things to contemplate while you get in a few more days at the beach. Our featured guest is Ekta Vyas, the director of Human Resources for Stanford Children’s Health / Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. Tracy and Ekta discuss great tips for transforming Human Resources—and every organization has HR processes that need work. In the News, we’ll let you in on behind-the-scenes prep for our Women in Leadership discussion, “Advocating for Ourselves,” at the upcoming OPEX Conference. For Q&A we’ll answer our own question, “What did we learn while ..read more

Check out Elisabeth’s interview with the head of Lean Cultural Transformation for Exeter Health Systems, MaryBeth Jermyn. She’s got surprising insights around achieving mandated Lean Healthcare certification in a Lean way. We also have the results of our latest survey where we’ll find out where people stand on the different phases of DMAIC. Spoiler alert—the Improve Phase is not the big winner! For the In The News segment we’re going on the road, and we’ll let you in on where we’re headed so you can meet up with us! And for Q&A we’ll answer a learner’s question about whether Lean means do ..read more

Today’s Special features Tracy’s interview with the phenomenal Billy Taylor, the Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. For In the News, Tracy and Elisabeth describe their recent Japan Study Trip – fascinating, stunning, wonderful! For Q&A we’ll tackle a learner’s question about leaders who think data collection is a waste of time, and for the Printed Page, we’ll cover a book who’s author believes the output of a business is…crap. And Tracy and Elisabeth met the 83-year-old author in Japan! The Just-In-Time Cafe is offering free miso soup and rice crac ..read more

Today’s special features a woman who left a job at MIT and used big data to launch a farm-to-table food delivery service. Tune in to hear Elisabeth’s interview with Erin Baumgartner, CEO of Family Dinner! For our Survey Says segment, we get some unexpected results from our “invisible process” poll and for the Printed Page, we’re going back to a Malcolm Gladwell classic to appreciate his techniques for digging to root cause. And for Q&A we’ll answer a forum question about the need for software changes. All this from the GoLeanSixSigma.com Farm to your table! Also Listen On: Timeli ..read more

Today’s Special features Elisabeth’s interview with author and customer service thought leader Jeff Toister who gives a behind-the-scenes look at overcoming the obstacles to providing excellent customer service. Jeff is a great storyteller so stay tuned for that! We’ll start you off with our appetizer, Clockify – an integrated time tracker app with super powers. For today’s Q&A we’ll answer a Go-Getter Forum question from a leader who’s worried that online training is not enough to sustain a culture of continuous improvement, and for the Printed Page, Tracy and Elisabeth review Jeff Toist ..read more

In this episode of the Just-In-Time Cafe, we’ll feature a candid conversation with Senior Sensei Mohamed Saleh and Lean Sensei Heather Pierzchala of Hartford Healthcare as they discuss the journey of their mentoring relationship. In our Survey Says segment, we’ll reveal the results of our 8 Wastes poll to let you in on the most prevalent waste. In the News we’ll cover the upcoming OPEX Summer Business Transformation Leaders Summit and this fall’s Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) International Conference in Chicago. Tracy and Elisabeth are going to both of these and they’ll tell ..read more