The impact of placing the right person in the right role is nothing short of transformative - both for them and the organization. It aligns with the aspirations of lean, which continually reminds us to promote respect for people as they are the cornerstone for success. If done correctly, it will breed success.

Have you ever asked someone to explain the concept of Gemba? If you ask for specific details about the Gemba, like who should go to the Gemba, and when to go to the Gemba, did you find variations in their answers? If you push the discussion deeper and ask about the individual’s experience with Gemba, like when they go to Gemba, how long they stay, and what is their purpose for going to the Gemba, what answers did you get? I find that opinions on Gemba can vary a lot from person to person which brings me to the topic for this blog. I want to debunk a few of the misconceptions about it.

If you are like most organizations, you have too much rework and/or defects. It should come to no surprise that most processes do not have good standardized work. In theory, this should be very easy to see and deal with, but other things tend to consume our time. As a result of bad quality, we have to make more to meet demand or stop what we're doing and fix something. This puts us behind pace and have to throw more resources to catch up. In some value streams, poor quality can go undetected until much later downstream. In some cases, final quality is hidden from view until right before packing! These firms use inspection only at the end of the process as a catch-all and pay the price. Poor quality moves unnoticed as it travels the value stream, adding significant costs along the way until they decide to deal with it.

There are many advantages for organizations that have long-time employees. They can bring stability, knowledge, and understanding of the business’ organizational culture and they also have first-hand experience of their day-to-day processes and the products produced. While there are many great things associated with long-term employees, there is one potential pitfall that needs to be acknowledged and watched for. Continue reading this week's blog to learn what the pitfall is.

Imagine this scenario: your workplace receives a substantial order, demanding a 35% increase in production for a continuous six-month period, commencing at the end of the next quarter. The knee-jerk reaction for many organizations is to dive headfirst into hiring, adding shifts, and equipment. However, is this the most strategic move, or merely a countermeasure that might lead to a slew of unforeseen challenges?

Today, companies face a tremendous challenge with staff shortages which should remind companies that people, specifically their employees, are the most valuable resources. Replacing or backfilling vacancies is a long and arduous process with the result not always guaranteeing a great match between the company and the new hire. Companies willing and eager to invest in their employees and appreciate their value and contributions to the company can turn the company-employee relationship into a “win-win”.

Great teams make things happen - whether it's pulling a win out at the last minute or beating metrics to save the quarter. Bad teams perform poorly, never seem to "catch a break" and eventually lead to management changes. This is the way. If you are in responsible for a team - there is no bigger expectation than for you to build it into a cohesive force that wins. • What drives the people in your organization and how does your management behavior influence it? • Do you have a group of individuals that only work together when it's favorable for them or do you have a team that is selflessly focused on collective success? • How do you convert a team made up of "ME-people" into "WE-people"? How do you get people to be less about themselves and more about the team? Your approach should be one that transcends individual accomplishments, emphasizing the power of a collaborative and team-centric culture. The good news is it doesn't have to necessarily start with your onboarding or selection process.

In today’s world of “go, go, go” the idea of stopping is hard to imagine. This same “go, go, go” mentality also applies in the business world. As managers, executives, owners, and employees, we find it difficult to stop, even when it is obvious that we should. This is especially true with defects and the process failures that allow them to occur. In this blog, I will discuss stopping the errors by building processes to prevent defects from getting to the customer.