Operational Excellence Mixtape - October 18, 2024
News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace better.
Operational Excellence, Improvement, and Innovation
Does Lean Startup Work for Deep Tech?
Lean startup techniques are still widely taught. Its focus on de-risking markets by putting customers first and rapidly iterating product design can be effective at reducing waste, expenses, and uncertainty. But do these techniques have the same benefits for de-risking R&D heavy “deep technology” ventures? There are limits to lean startup techniques in deep technology.
Canadian EDs Are Performing Poorly. But It’s Hard to Prove.
How badly are Canadian Emergency Rooms performing? It’s hard to tell, because Canada can’t even reliably collect data around our terrible wait times. The lack of data will only hinder the drive for improvement.
All About Work Standards
Looking to learn about work standards, Toyota Standard Work and Leader Standard Work? Christoph Roser has published All About Work Standards available on Amazon here. I downloaded the kindle version and am enjoying the content so far.
Connected Worker Know-How
One of an organization’s biggest continuous improvement assets is its workers’ knowledge, but leaders have long struggled to leverage it and make it easily available to all. It’s been a perennial struggle to gather, compile, and share worker knowledge in training manuals or sharepoint sites, and this often failed to capture the nuance and know-how that comes with years of experience. With the advances in technology, some manufacturers are connecting the workforce to worker know-how through tablet-based platforms.
Creating a Culture of Improvement
Say “We“ Instead of “You”
When you’re trying to get your message across, you want to make sure people are listening and not censoring. A professor and PhD student at Stanford GB discovered that using “you” versus “we” affect how people in the workplace respond to messaging. People are more likely to remain open to messages that use “we” or “our” and more likely to censor messages that use “you” or “your”.
5 Signs of a Good CEO
What are the signs that the CEO is a good one? Roger Martin shares the 5 signs of a good CEO.
Timken’s Approach to Continuous Improvement
Extreme intolerance of the current condition. A prime directive culture. These are a couple of the principles that Marty Hallman, Director of Bearing Operations shares about how Timken that drives operational excellence.
Coaching - Developing Yourself and Others
Maximizing Fulfillment and Purpose
Fewer people are finding work to be a source of meaning and purpose, sometimes leading to a lack of fulfillment and engagement. Megan Hellerer shares 5 key insights for living with maximum fulfillment and purpose from her new book Directional Living: A Transformational Guide to Fulfillment in Work and Life.
8 Secrets to a Fairly Fulfilled Life
Still looking for fulfillment? Give yourself a break and realize that there will always be more to do. Oliver Burkeman shares his latest advice with 8 secrets to a fairly fulfilled life.
Designing Teams That Don’t Suck
Hockey and team-building? Two of my favourite topics. Adam Grant interviews players from Team USA’s 1980 Miracle on Ice to discuss how to build a team that is greater than the sum of its parts.