Lean Leadership for Ops Managers

Making Hard Decisions Based on Values | 128

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How well do you stick to your core values when it comes time to make hard decisions? It’s easy to talk about them in meetings and put them as poster...

What is Lean Leadership (REPLAY) | 127

08 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What is Lean Leadership?  It’s kind of an elusive, hard-to-define thing. In today’s episode, I’ll break down what both Lean and Leadership mean...

How to Listen Effectively as an Operations Leader | 126

25 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How well do you listen? How quickly do you jump in and start offering solutions or try to fix the problem? In this episode, Jamie shares things that h...

Developing a Growth Mindset as a Leader with Katie Anderson | 125

11 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How do we create an organization that has a growth mindset? So often, we look at our teams to see how they can improve, but building a culture of impr...

Safety is a Team Sport | 124

27 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How do you approach safety? As leaders, it's easy to focus on policies to ensure everyone follows the rules, but safety encompasses so much more ...

Live from GE's Event: The Lean Mindset | 123

13 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Hello from New York! I am coming to you live from GE's Lean Mindset Event, which focuses on encouraging the right mindset to embrace lean and fea...

How to Effectively Delegate for Development | 122

30 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How might operations leaders delegate more effectively? In this episode, Jamie explains how the reason we delegate can drive more effective delegation...

The Real Reasons Ops Managers Should Delegate | 121

16 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why do you delegate? How does that determine what tasks you choose to give? In this episode, Jamie discusses the real reasons Ops Managers should del...

Three Obstacles to Delegation | 120

02 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How often do you delegate? It can be difficult to delegate tasks that could be completed by other members of our team, in turn freeing up more of our ...

Having Fun in Operations Leadership | 119

19 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How often do you characterize your work as fun?  In this episode, Jamie shares how a big challenge and getting creative and trying new and better way...

Lean Culture Requires Productive Conflict (REPLAY) | 118

21 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You can’t have a lean culture without conflict, but so many organizations and leaders are NOT comfortable with conflict. Here’s the question: “W...

The Pitfall of Unstructured Urgency | 117

07 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Do any of your leaders ever rush into solving a problem? It’s so easy to jump in and start pushing and moving too fast without taking a measured app...

Great as an Enemy to Good in Operations Leadership and Execution | 116

24 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Do you ever find yourself stalling to make a decision? Leaders often get stuck not making a decision because they don’t know enough or how to make t...

One Cause of Failed Execution

10 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What causes Ops Leaders to struggle with effective execution? Even when the processes are in place, they never seem to be used consistently or correct...

Focus When Everything Is Important | 114

26 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I know you are busy. So, how do you prioritize tasks when they are all important? How do you decide what to focus on? In this episode, I discuss an en...

Coaching Techniques for Self Leadership (REPLAY) | 113

12 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

So often leaders want to learn how to “fix other people.” To get them to do the work, to get on board, to be better. But true leadership starts wi...

The Manager Mistake of Constraining Possibility | 112

29 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Do you want it done on time, or do you want it done right? We’ve all heard statements like this, and maybe we’ve even said them. It’s so easy to...

How to Create Effective Leader Standard Work with Paul Dunlop | 111

15 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As a leader, do you find too much of your time is spent in chaos and firefighting? Would you prefer to spend your energy moving your team toward an im...

Improving Your Leadership through Lean Leader Standard Work with Tracy O'Rourke | 110

01 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Is there any greater priority in today’s business environment than attracting and retaining talented and dedicated employees? In today’s episode, ...

Making Work Human: Lead People Well and Get Results with Moe Carrick | 109

15 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

While work is made up of process, organizations are made up of people. That’s right, weird, messy, emotional human beings. So operations leadership ...

Navigating the Intangibles of Leadership with Elisabeth Swan | 108

01 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How often do you share your mistakes as a leader? So often in organization we celebrate success and share what went right, while shying away from the ...

Advancing Women in Leadership with Kelli Thompson | 107

18 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Diverse executive teams deliver better performance. It’s shown in study after study. Despite modest progress, women are still dramatically underrepr...

Expanding What's Possible with Sarah Tilkens | 106

04 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Happy New Year! As we shift our focus to the next year by setting goals and thinking about what we want to achieve, it’s easy to limit what we belie...

Individual Purpose and Toyota Kata with Sam Morgan | 105

21 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What is your personal purpose? So often, we talk about organizational purpose as part of our True North, but what about you personally? What motivates...

Breaking the Telling Habit with Katie Anderson | 104

07 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We all have a telling habit and may not even realize it. As leaders, we are often blind to the fact that instead of answering a question or giving a s...

One-on-Ones that Don't Suck (REPLAY) | 103

23 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Are you a fan of one-on-ones? Most managers aren’t. But that’s because most managers haven’t had great one-on-ones modeled for them. If you want...

That’s Not Coaching (REPLAY) | 102

09 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What do you mean when you say the word coaching? Do you think of an iconic sports coach yelling plays from the sideline or giving an inspirational spe...

Transition from Doing to Coaching | 101

26 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Telling is not all bad; however, as leaders, we typically need to bring more coaching into our team interactions. So, how do we transition from doing ...

Expanding Your Team to Align with the Organization’s Vision: Special100th Episode Edition | 100

12 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How have you expanded your team as your organization continues to grow? Does your hiring strategy align with the organization’s values and vision? ...

How it Started. How it's Going | 099

28 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How did it all begin? Since we are getting ready to celebrate our 100th episode, let's look back at how this podcast started a little over two ye...

Helping Ops Managers to Improve Thinking Capabilities | 098

14 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Executing a new or changed routine seems simple enough, right? As Ops Executives, we expect our leaders to start implementing a new process seamlessly...

Supporting Ops Managers to Execute New Routines | 097

31 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever been frustrated when a leader won’t adopt a new process? How do we improve engagement with new or changing routines? As Ops Executives...

When Coaching isn't Enough in Operations Management | 096

17 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When is coaching not enough? Coaching is a buzzword right now, and so many managers are told to make it a focus. While coaching is a wonderful tool, t...

Collaboration, Not Competition with Tracy O'Rourke and Katie Anderson | 095

03 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Competition or collaboration? When done effectively, competition can drive results for some people; however, there is also a potential downside. I&apo...

Respect for People | A Pillar of Lean

20 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Why is respect for people so important? This Pillar of Lean can affect every aspect of the way we lead.Recently, Jamie was a guest on an internal podc...

My Next Big Move | 093

06 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Where have you seen waste show up in your work? How often do you have to rework things because plans have changed or were rushed? In this episode, Jam...

Is it Wrong to Stop the Show? | 092

22 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What does it mean to be wrong? Why are people hesitant to speak up when they see an issue? In this episode, Jamie shares her thoughts on why team memb...

Leading Purpose at Work | 091

08 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How do you lead Purpose at work? We are continuing our mini-series focused on Purpose and Leading Purpose at Work. In this episode, Jamie shares how l...

Organizational Purpose Pitfalls to Avoid | 090

25 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Is your purpose clearly communicated to everyone in your organization? Even if you talk about your purpose in meetings and have posters on the wall, e...

What is the Purpose Gap? | 089

11 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Where do you find your purpose? Two-thirds of U.S. employees are reflecting on their purpose in life, and nearly half are reconsidering the type of wo...

Courage, Coaching, and Kata with Susan Clancy | 088

27 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week continues our Kata series live from Kata Con 8, and we are talking all about coaching. In this episode, I spoke with Susan Clancy, who share...

The Structure and Scientific Thinking of Toyota Kata with Mike Rother | 087

20 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Why practice Toyota Kata? It can seem daunting at the beginning with the rigid structure and rules; however, the goal of Kata is more about shifting o...

Toyota Kata Fundamentals for the Kata Curious | 086

13 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What is Toyota Kata? It's common for the nuances of Toyota Kata to seem complicated or overwhelming, especially if you haven't started pract...

Kind Leadership in Operations Management wtih Karyn Ross | 085

30 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Difficult conversations, conflict, and performance management are all responsibilities that leaders have to face; however, we can choose how we handle...

Getting Meaningful and Actionable Plus - Delta Feedback for Improvement | 084

16 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever walked away from a feedback session that didn't seem to be productive? Maybe it devolved into a complaint session, and there wasn&a...

Lean and Mental Health: How to Help People with Gemma Jones | 083

02 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One in five people deal with mental health struggles, and this is not just a statistic; it is real, and it's affecting people on our teams whethe...

Four Elements of Effective Lean Leadership | 082

23 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What does Lean Leadership mean to you? You’ve implemented several Lean tools and processes, such as Gemba Walks, Leader Standard Work, Daily Meeting...

Startup to Scaleup: Leading Culture Beyond Your Direct Team with Greg Jacobson | 081

16 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Do you remember what it was like when you led a small team of individual contributors? It was easy to interact with everyone on the team every single ...

Improve Your Team's Order Entry Flow to Create More Value with Chris Wilson | 080

09 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Does the goals of your organization align with your continuous improvement efforts? It can be so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks that we...

Training as an Effective Countermeasure to Performance Gaps with Jeff Welch | 079

02 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Training a new hire is a no-brainer, but do you focus on training your team members after being with your organization for 5, 10, or 15 years? We look...

Effective Leadership Communication: How to Achieve Team Alignment with Justin Woodard | 078

26 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Are you communicating your purpose and strategic vision in a way that engages all of your team members? You may have your values printed as posters on...

Creating Better Succession Planning for Business Continuity with Kerry Siggins | 077

19 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

With the challenges over the last two years, how are you setting your team up for success in the future? Developing leaders to be adaptable and resili...

Reflecting and Planning at Process Plus Results | 076

12 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How do you prepare as you start a new year? Do you reflect on your past accomplishments to determine your next steps? In this episode, Jamie shares wh...

An Answer to the Labor Shortage: Second Chance Hiring with Jeff Korzenik |075

05 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What caused the labor shortage, and what is the solution for the future? Almost every business has been affected by the labor shortage, and business l...

Kyle Kumpf: Get More of the Right Stuff Done with an Effective Visual Management Board | 074

29 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Do you have a never-ending to-do list? Do you have a hard time prioritizing important tasks or get overwhelmed by the items you need to accomplish? I...

Can a Kaizen Event Help You Achieve Long-Term Improvement? with Adam Lawrence | 073

22 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How do you improve sustainability? We have all experienced a change that people eventually started to go back to the old way of doing things even thou...

Improving the Usefulness of Your Toyota Kata Storyboard | 072

15 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What is the best way to make a Toyota Kata Storyboard? When I created my first storyboard, it felt like an obvious decision to have a digital board. I...

How to Grow Great Leaders Fast with Chris Chippindale | 071

08 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How do you grow the leaders that you need? Whether you are expanding into new locations or your current leaders have been promoted, it can be challeng...

Reliable Recruitment and Engagement Strategies with Jasmine Gorie | 070

01 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever said this statement, 'HR is getting in the way and won't let me do this?' As Operations Leaders, we don't always see...

Perspectives from the ILC: Tackling Staffing & Sustaining Challenges | 069

24 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

I am very thankful for the community of Operations Leaders and Lean Practitioners who constantly support each other. That is why I am bringing this sp...

Using Outlook to Reduce Back-to-Back Meeting Stress | 068

17 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Don't you hate it when you have back-to-back meetings? Inevitably, one meeting runs over, and there is not enough time to catch your breath, prep...

Better Retention with a People First Culture with David Pender | 067

10 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Many organizations have been focused on filling positions and hiring new team members in the current employment market because of the staffing shortag...

The Truth About Leading through COVID Burnout with Kelli Ogunsanya | 066

03 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

COVID has brought challenges to everyone throughout the last several months resulting in burnout to team members and leaders alike. How do we as leade...

The Roles of a Successful Leader with Dave Conner | 065

27 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What does it mean to be a leader? People often come in with their own understanding and assumptions, causing disconnect and an unaligned purpose acros...

People Solve Problems: Creating A Problem-Solving Culture with Jamie Flinchbaugh | 064

20 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We all solve problems in our organizations every day. There are so many tools and resources available to help us through those processes, but do we as...

Lessons Learned Striving (and not achieving) the Next Target Condition | 063

13 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What do you do when faced with a challenging learning experience that is, well, challenging? How do you respond when you are trying to grasp a concept...

That's Not Coaching | 062

06 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What do you mean when you say the word coaching? Do you think of an iconic sports coach yelling plays from the sideline or giving an inspirational spe...

Leading Buffet Restaurants through a Pandemic with Scott Post | 061

29 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What would happen if the doors to your organization had to close tomorrow? Most everyone experienced this at some point during the pandemic, but what ...

Leaving Well: Transitioning Out of an Executive Role with Marc Braun | 060

22 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How would your organization perform if you were no longer there? Most people only stay in one position for two to five years before moving on, so how ...

Business Growth Requries Leadership Growth: Kristin Ogo, Kenmore Envelope Company | 059

15 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Is leadership development part of your strategy for business growth? If your business is growing or if you want to grow, it is important to consider h...

Collaboration & Clarity at the Core of Improvement: Javan Lapp, Key-Link Fencing and Railing | 058

08 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As Ops Leaders, how do you collaborate with internal business partners to better know your customers? Operations Managers are uniquely positioned to u...

Improvement Thinking in Organizational DNA: Gary Peterson, EVP of Supply Chain and Production, OC Tanner | 057

01 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How does your organization respond when a crisis occurs? Many times, the focus shifts to production lines and getting done "what we can," sh...

Anniversary Edition: Jamie V. Parker's Lean Leadership Journey | 056

25 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Our podcast is now one year old! And I’m featuring a special edition anniversary episode time for all of you.But first, let me extend my sincere gra...

Improvement Kata Learner Lessons from Step 2: Grasp the Current Condition | 055

18 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Grasp the Current Condition. It sounds easy enough. Turns out, there are some nuances that can make a big difference in how effectively the step aids ...

That Time Improvement Kata Drove Me Bonkers | 054

18 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Do you remember a time when you were learning something new? What about a time when you had to retrain your brain because you were learning new ways o...

Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Improvement | 053

11 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How do we create a culture of improvement? I’m not just talking about adding another continuous improvement tool that managers check off the list, b...

Inspire an Engaged, Aligned Team | 052

04 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Wouldn’t it be great if we were able to inspire a team to be engaged and aligned? Imagine if everyone in your organization shared the same vision, h...

Everyone Needs Knowledge Management with Dr. Cynthia J. Young | 051

28 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When team members leave their roles, what happens to all the institutional knowledge they have in their heads? How much of a disruption is it when peo...

Building Organizations Where People Contribute Their Best (because they love working there!) | 050

21 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It’s one thing to “keep” team members. It’s another to keep them while they’re also fully engaged and contributing their best. Creating a wo...

Making Our Organizations "Best Places to Work" | 049

14 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

“How do we build an organization where people want to work & tell others how great it is?” Organizations are struggling to fill open position...

Engaging the Frontline in Improvement with Aaron Davidson | 048

07 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What needs to happen to transition from event-based lean to an improvement culture? One required step is engaging the frontline, but that brings chal...

The Magic Wand that Makes Lean Operations Management Easier and Better | 047

30 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

“If you had a magic wand, what is the first thing that you would fix in an organization you’re coaching?”Chris Burnham asked me this question wh...

The Levels of Conflict Every Leader Should Know | 046

23 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever left a conversation and thought “Whoa - that was blown out of proportion”? Or “Whoa - that escalated quickly”? Knowing the leve...

Lean Culture Requires Productive Conflict | 045

16 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You can’t have a lean culture without conflict, but so many organizations and leaders are NOT comfortable with conflict. Here’s the question: “W...

Cultivating Innovation with Erlin Kakkanad and Bella Englebach | 044

09 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How would you define innovation? What enables a culture of innovation? How do lean and innovation fit together (or not)? Erlin Kakkanad and Bella Engl...

Choosing Better Thoughts for Continuous Improvement Coaching | 043

02 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It’s one thing to become aware of thoughts that aren’t serving you. But how do you actually change them? How do you choose thoughts that will yiel...

Coaching Techniques for Self Leadership | 042

26 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

So often leaders want to learn how to “fix other people.” To get them to do the work, to get on board, to be better. But true leadership starts wi...

Workplace Drama: How Mental Stories Impact Improvement Results | 041

19 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As I sat at the restaurant alone, fuming, I worked up an elaborate story in my mind of why he was late. The truth is that we all create stories in our...

Getting and Making Real Commitments: Reliable Promising with Susan Reinhardt | 040

12 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever been in a meeting and thought that everyone was on the same page for action steps, but you go into the next week’s meeting and the tas...

Dimensions of Coaching & the Lean Coaching Summit with Jim Huntzinger | Bonus May 2021

11 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Coaching is such a critical skill and behavior for leaders, so I'm thrilled to join the lineup for Lean Frontier’s Virtual 2021 Lean Coaching S...

Fact-Based Leadership with Arnout Orelio | 039

05 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How does fact finding and problem solving work when folks on your team are stressed or frustrated or angry? When you and a team member see the same si...

Lean Lessons from a Budgeting Tool that Changed My Life | 038

28 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Back in the day, I was making good money, but I still didn’t have any.Honestly, I couldn’t explain where the money went. And it didn’t make sens...

Leader Standard Work Tools: Real-World Examples (Part 2) With Robert Olinger and Steve Kane | 037

21 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How do you choose a leader standard work template or tool based on your specific needs? Robert Olinger and Steve Kane share the challenges they were ...

Leader Standard Work Tools: Real World Examples (Part 1) - Featuring Kara Cuzzetto | 036

14 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What leader standard work tool is the best? There’s not one! The leader standard work tool you should use is the method that works for your circumst...

The Power of a Peer Group: Lean Communicators | Bonus April 2021

11 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Let’s be real. Leadership and management can be hard. And if you’re not careful, it can become lonely, too. That’s why building your squad is an...

Fostering an Inclusive Environment with Deondra Wardelle | 035

07 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As operations executives and managers, we cannot sit on the sidelines when it comes to systemic racism. We need to lead boldly. Deondra Wardelle talks...

Culture Meets Profit with Matthew Nix | 034

31 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How do you develop a people-centric culture, while also sustaining your improvement efforts and growing the business? Matthew Nix shares how he succes...

One-on-Ones That Don't Suck | 033

24 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Are you a fan of one-on-ones? Most managers aren’t. But that’s because most managers haven’t had great one-on-ones modeled for them. If you want...

Engaging through One-on-Ones with Dorsey Sherman | 032

17 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Employee engagement is an input to performance results. The relationship between a leader and employee is what drives engagement. So why do so many le...

Employee Engagement with Dorsey Sherman | 031

10 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Employee Engagement. It’s the thing we all want. We know it leads to better results. We know it means that we have a better work environment. But wh...