A board retreat is a great way to get alignment of the key leadership positions within a nonprofit organization. Typically, nonprofits hold board meetings monthly or quarterly, while a board retreat is typically conducted once (maybe twice) a year. These retreats allow an organization to step away from the day-to-day management, and instead think more […]
Sally worked many years in the hospitality industry applying Lean Six Sigma, and she shares her experiences to improve the guest experience. She also shares an example of a project that determined the optimal reward points to get customers to agree to reduced or no housekeeping, which was good for the environment, resulting in less […]
Written by Brion
Lynne Smith, former Director of Business Design at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, discusses the potential and difficulties of applying Lean Thinking to NGOs, and how it can be used to scale impact. She reflects back on the lean transformation at the Gates Foundation with an interview with Steve Bell and Roberto Priolo, and […]
Written by Brion
The panel discussion, hosted by Rod Morgan of RPM-Academy, offers insights and real-world experiences as three seasoned municipal continuous improvement leaders – Brenda Stonehouse (City of Kawartha Lakes), Michael Norman (City of London), and Kenneth Leung (City of Mississauga)– share their journey in deploying Lean methodologies in the Canadian municipal sector. From discussing the evolution […]
Written by Brion
Jeff Trageser and Mike Vazquez from Lifesharing were interviewed on the JIT Cafe podcast by Elisabeth Swan and Tracy O’Rourke to discuss how process improvement has been used to help procure and facilitate organ and tissue donations from donors to local transplant centers. They discuss metrics used to track the success of organ transplant, dealing […]
Written by Brion
This is an excerpt from the audiobook version of “Lean Six Sigma for Good: Lessons from the Gemba (Volume 2)“ Elisabeth Swan shares the story of volunteering with the Cape Cod Childcare Development nonprofit organization. She discusses getting a call from the CEO to help the organization utilize more Lean Six Sigma Green Belt skills and […]
Written by Brion
Does your Lean Six Sigma training structure help the organization sustain improvement gains? Do you struggle with the “one-and-done” trend where Green Belts complete a project, get a certificate, and then fade from the problem-solving culture? The State of Vermont has experimented with a different path for their Lean and Six Sigma training program. They […]
Written by Brion
Krista Schulte is the Assistant Director of Operational Excellence for the University of Michigan. She discusses her background, and how she is helping implement Lean in higher education. They also discuss an upcoming Lean in Higher Education conference in San Diego. She also describes what it was like having Jeffrey Liker as a professor when he was […]
Written by Brion
Andrew Parris shared “A Vision of Process Excellence and Seven Habits for the Journey” in a Lean Frontiers webinar in August 2023. In the webinar, he explains how he merged the approach of Lean Six Sigma and other improvement methods from the corporate world with the vision, mission and values for a humanitarian organization into […]
Written by Brion
I was interviewed by Sean Genovese on his “Distracted Driving” podcast. He is an Industrial Engineer and Lean leader with many years of experience in Aerospace manufacturing. We discuss my work applying Lean Six Sigma to “real” problems like pollution, healthcare, social issues and more in order to have a positive impact on society. We also […]
Written by Brion