The ‘Lean’ Strategy, looking for and solving problems in business - `interview with Michael Balle, bestselling author
‘To make products we have to make people’ I’ve been studying that phrase my entire life’
In this episode, Lee is speaking with Michael Balle, bestselling author and executive coach with twenty years of experience in Lean research and practice.
Lee and Michael discuss how the ‘lean’ strategy works in business, why it is so different and how it can positively change your business and success.
They explore what ‘lean’ is, being people-centric and learning from everyone in this fascinating interview which has something for everyone in business, listen in now to find out how to engage and involve others effectively.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The ‘lean’ strategy
Most consultants are obsessed with the idea of the process and they do a blend of reengineering and lean.
They look to improve and accelerate the process but it has nothing to do with the people. Brilliant leaders are expected to have a brilliant strategy and execute it. Lean thinkers start not by solving problems but by finding problems.
Some problems are structural and they will always be there but if you face them and build your strategy on this thinking you will be altering the way your mindset when approaching problems.
We are implicitly taught to be masters of our fate but if we look at the world in a more Asian way we recognise we are challenged by the world around us and it’s about the way in which we respond and how we learn from our responses that develops our thinking.
In ‘lean’ the helicopter mode involves looking at a situation with the widest view and then in the minutest detail.
The process of moving up and down from the big picture to the smallest detail promotes interaction between management and the people on the front line.
Trust
When you create trust both elements bring different things and this results everyone being able to see things in a very different way.
We are biased to trust people we like and when we meet people we ask ourselves what are the other persons’ intentions towards me? can they carry it out and are they dependable?
Growth mindset people think that doing something new and learning is worth doing whilst fixed mindset individuals already think they know everything they need and are concerned with how they are viewed by others. In a team with trust, the individuals will understand the different individual viewpoints.
Problem-solving is the place where trust will happen as a result of people working together and learning to understand each other.
The challenge
There is a layer of cost in business that is caused by our misconceptions it's not what you don’t know it’s what you think is true that isn’t – your misconceptions.
In ‘lean’ you discover your misconceptions.
The key to ‘Lean’
It is a thinking strategy, a cognitive strategy it’s the way you go about solving problems, not the solution you can apply.
It’s a set of tools you can use on yourself to discover things you didn’t know before.
In the lean strategy; You begin by finding problems, You face the big problems, You frame them in a way everyone understands, Everyone can participate in solving the problems.
It’s a people-centric strategy.
It’s a more human way to run companies - people are more engaged and involved in their company.
In order to learn you have to treat problems and people as singular, in doing this you deepen your understanding humanly which gives you new insights.
You don’t apply ‘Lean’ you practise ‘Lean thinking’ and you see your own perspective on things change radically.
BEST MOMENTS
‘The bottom-up or top-down approach is completely in the old paradigm’
‘Every Lean tool in Toyota is a tool to help you think more deeply about the problem. When you learn to think more deeply about the problem you can think more deeply about everything else’
‘We could teach everyone to think differently in order to be able to solve the problems’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Business Problems Solved Podcast
The lean Strategy book by Michael Balle, Daniel Jones, Jacques Chaize, Orest Fiume
The Lean Strategy website
ABOUT THE HOST
For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses.
In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material.
Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.
CONTACT METHOD
You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194
Lee@leehoughton.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/
