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On Twitter, over the last few weeks, Mike Rother has been talking a lot about scientific thinking.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Mike Rother, he is the author of such lean classics as: “Learning to See: Value Stream Mapping to Add Value and Eliminate Muda,” (1999) and “Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results,” (2009).

It is from the three books that Rother has written about Toyota Kata that the idea of scientific thinking is mainly drawn.

For me, scientific thinking is born through the joy of experimentation. In the case of Toyota Kata, this experimentation is guided by the five Improvement Kata questions.

What is the Target Condition?

What is the Actual Condition now?

What Obstacles do you think are preventing you from reaching the target condition?

What is your Next Step? What do you expect?

How quickly can we go and see what we Have Learned from taking that step?

These questions aim to draw your coachee into the learning zone, where failure is the higher path to success. Our most significant learning and growth comes in our childhood years. The coach is almost like a caring parent, encouraging us to dust ourselves off and try again every time we fall over. However, in scientific thinking, this comes with the caveat “what did you learn and what are you going to do differently next time?”

Nowhere is the scientific method more noticeable than in the practice of preparing a dish in the kitchen. I have often used this metaphor in delivering training, but this weekend it struck me again like a fresh insight.

I was preparing a roast dinner, a British Sunday favourite. I had roasted a bit of ham, which should give a lovely bit of crackling. This achievement of this crispy layer was my target condition, but when the meat had cooked, the cracking was not quite ready.

Several variables can impact on the success of crackling.

• Scoring: had the skin been scored enough?
• Salt: had too much, or too little salt been rubbed into the surface.
• Had that surface been patted dry before cooking?
• Had the oven been pre-heated?
• Is the oven at the correct temperature?

In the end, I removed the crackling layer and returned it to the oven to achieve the desired effect. It may be that the two elements, meat and crackling, merely cook at different rates and none of the above has an impact. However, without experimentation and scientific thought, I might never know.

The second element of the classic Sunday favourite is the roast potato. Now, the perfect roast potato is an outcome of much debate. Every family in the land have their own sworn by methods and secret knacks.

This is where the scientific method meets standard work. Every recipe book is the culmination of years of scientific thinking, tweaking and disasters! The finished product is the ultimate expression of scientific thought.

Gastronomic experimenter, Heston Blumenthal, once dedicated a whole episode of his television show to the scientific pursuit of the perfect roast potato. His target condition was crispy and golden on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside.

I have been close, on occasions, but I have never quite achieved pure perfection in a roast potato. Every Sunday, I experiment further, asking myself what I have already learned. However, consider the variables:

• Type of potato: starchy, waxy, floury?
• Size of cuts – how big should they be?
• How long should they be parboiled?
• Have they been roughed up after parboiling?
• Have they been allowed to steam dry before roasting?
• Have they been frozen before roasting?
• Have they been pre-roasted (like triple-cooked chips)?
• What oil is used? (Vegetable, rapeseed, goose fat, beef dripping etc.)
• How much oil is used?
• What temperature is the oven?
• What gauge of roasting tin is used?
• How long are the potatoes roasted for?
• Are the potatoes regularly turned and basted?

As you can see, there are many variables to consider and many potential PDCA cycles to navigate. But as long as I keep asking myself what I think a tweak will change and comparing with what actually happened, I can approach my next experiment with confidence, in the knowledge that I will eventually reach my target condition. Will changing the oil make the potatoes crispier next time?

But it won’t be the perfect crackling or potato that will bring me growth as a cook. It will be the journey – the steps that weren’t quite right, but which took me one stage nearer.

That is where the value lies. And if everyone in your business goes on a similar learning journey, where will you be in a year, or two? What issues will you have solved, as a team? How will everyone in your organisation be contributing to a new, customer experience?

We can all see the benefits – it’s not exactly rocket science, is it?

I have a forty-minute drive to work each morning, which I leverage by listening to audiobooks.

I do not often review them here, because part of me still toys with the foolish notion that audiobooks are cheating, but for “Instant Motivation” by Chantal Burns, I shall make an exception.

If I share the subtitle, “The surprising truth of what really drives top performance,” you may feel that you have an inkling of what this book is about.

But if you listen to or read this book with an expectation of receiving a “how-to” manual full of motivational or life-hacking techniques, you will need to check it to that one word – surprising.

I should state that I have read works by authors such as Michael Neill, Jamie Smart and Sydney Banks, so I was already familiar with the concepts that Burns discusses.

That is not to say that the book did not offer me anything new. I found it to be well written and pleasingly narrated by the author herself. The fact that Burns chooses to voice her book adds a level of authenticity which may otherwise have been missed.

I am deliberately skirting around the principles that this book describes. You will find them when you are ready, and “Instant Motivation” is a great place to start or a fantastic source to review and gain another perspective.

What I will say is this. Imagine running the 1500 metres while carrying a heavy rucksack, and winning an Olympic silver medal.

Do you train hard for the next four years, to try and gain those extra, few precious seconds to win gold? Or do you go to the following games, having read this book, and simply line up without the bag?

“Instant Motivation” will not give you anything to carry, but it will permit you to let a few things go.

I would thoroughly recommend this book to the familiar and unfamiliar alike, either in its audio, electronic, or paper form.

You can order your copy of “Instant Motivation” by Chantal Burns, here.

You can find the author’s website at www.chantalburns.com

You can follow the author on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ChantalBurns

Simon D. Gary is the author of “Kaizen Your Life,” the book that helps you apply the legendary Japanese business improvement techniques to your own life.

Check it out in the shop, or order your ebook here or your paperback here.

Ikigai is a Japanese concept that roughly translates as “reason for being.”

It seems to me that the more people in your workforce who are operating in a state of Ikigai, the better.

You will already have a handful of colleagues who are working in this flow state. You will, almost undoubtedly, be able to name them without too much thought, because they will be people who strike you as being so different to everyone else.

They are doing the right things, in the right frame of mind, at the right time. They will be well-loved, almost magnetic individuals, and they will be achieving all of these things with what seems like minimal effort.

You may also think that they are slightly eccentric.

Four elements must come together for an individual to create the State of Ikigai in their life. They are as follows:

• You must be doing what you love.
• The world must need what you do.
• You must be able to be paid for what you do.
• You must be doing something that you are good at.

All four of these criteria must be fulfilled for a person to be considered as working in a state of Ikigai. Many of us can tick one, two, or three of these criteria, but how many of us can tick all four?

Consider your dream job or vocation for a moment. Imagine and feel occupied by that work. Only, does it feel like work? Has it, in essence, become effortless?

After all, what is effort? Effort is the resistance to what is. When you are swimming through a pool, an effort is required to overcome the resistance of the water. But, in the seconds before, when you are diving through the air towards the water, there is less resistance. You are in a state of flow. Nothing can stop you from entering the water with grace and poise.

Ikigai is the state that removes the effort.

What is also interesting are the outcomes that occur when two of the conditions meet in combination.

When you are doing what you love and combining it with what you are good at, you have passion.

Consider Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890.) Many might argue that Van Gogh was the most celebrated painter that ever lived. There was no doubt that he was doing something at which he excelled. I would suggest that his love for art was so all-consuming that there was nothing else he could be doing, even if that obsession came at the cost of his sanity.

But, as is often documented, Van Gogh sold very little art during his lifetime. Nowadays, if Van Gogh sold just one of his paintings, he would become an exceptionally wealthy man overnight. Unfortunately, in the latter half of the 19^th Century, Van Gogh found it hard to be paid for his art, because the world felt it did not need it. By the time that the art fraternity realised his genius, the star of Vincent van Gogh had already burned out, in the brilliance of his passion.

If you are doing what you love and doing something that the world needs, then the philosophy of Ikigai would describe you as having a mission.

Mission-driven people are unlikely to be paid very much for their work. Similar to those guided by passion, they may even be happy to do the work for free. Why? Because it has to be done and because it must happen, for the greater good.

It is possible that mission-oriented people are not that good at the mission they are trying to achieve. I might wish to plant one million trees in deforested areas of the Amazon. It would be an exceptional mission to have, and the world definitely needs it. But if I have struggled to raise funds, supporters and plan logistically, I might find myself in South America, planting what trees I have managed to fund, one by one and by myself. In such a case, I could not say that I was operating in a state of Ikigai.

If you are doing something that you can be paid for, and it is also something that the world needs, then this can be deemed as a vocation. Consider the vital service carried out by somebody that works on a trash cart. This job is definitely one that the world needs and is willing to pay for, as it adds so much value. But the refuse collector might not be totally in love with their job. She might find her true flow state exists when writing fiction or going fishing. In this case, as love sits elsewhere, our bin collector would not be in a state of Ikigai.

Finally, imagine doing work that you excel at and that you can be paid for. In this case, you are working in a state of profession. What you do may not really be needed by the world, and your heart might not be in it one hundred per cent.

Our task, in creating a learning environment which respects people is to help our friends and colleagues find their own Ikigai.

In the workplace, we can do this by inspiring and empowering people to make their own daily changes. Each time a person falls back in love with their life and aligns their work to what the customer needs, we should celebrate. We have taken one step closer to perfection.

We do not change businesses one process at a time, but one person at a time. Lean is an entirely people-focused mindset, and Ikigai is its True North.

So, I was playing one of those games on my mobile phone. You know the ones. You match coloured symbols in a row, and they explode in a satisfying spray of hues, like a mini firework display.

I say I was playing it today. I might have also been playing it yesterday. It’s possible that I might have had a little go the day before that too. Alright, you forced it out of me, I am on a disturbingly high level. I have invested far too many hours in this endeavour. I may need help.

Or so I thought.

Because today I realized why I have been playing it. I have been teaching myself lean all along. That is my story, and I am sticking to it. And here’s why.

Firstly each level sets a goal. It is clear what you need to do to achieve “good” and move to the next opportunity.

That goal is bound in an element of “time.” In the sense of the game, each level has a maximum number of moves that you can make to complete. If you run out of turns before you achieve the goal, then you fail.

If you know the target, let’s say collect fifty pink pieces, and the timeframe, say twenty-five moves, you can calculate your takt. To finish the level Just-In-Time, you need to average two pieces every step.

With this in mind, you can work out if you are ahead of target, just about right, or behind the curve. Perhaps you need to get some support in the form of special combos to get back on track, or need to buy expensive extra moves from your limited stash of coins? If you fall behind takt, it may incur costs to catch back up!

Now, I hate incurring additional costs, so I begin to guard my process steps. I ask myself, how does the move I am about to make support my goal? Is it aligned to the target, or is it a move just for the sake of playing? If the action does not support the goal, then I discard it. Waste means I have to do the same work but in less time.

Are you with me so far?

Next, there is a basic set of standard steps that I can use. There is an element of poka-yoke here. If I make a move that is outside of the standard, the system will not let me proceed. I must work out what I was doing wrong, learn, and take another course of action.

Sometimes the game gives me a new set of rules to follow. Maybe it introduces a piece that operates differently or has some property that will help.

How do I know how to react to this new thing? Well, the game shows me. It shows me, then allows me to go through the process myself. Now, I’m not about to say that the game is giving me TWI Job Instruction, but I do feel at ease when approaching the new situation!

And then, there is the end of the level — that divine moment of winning or losing.

If I lose, guess what? It’s not a problem! A fictional butler pops up, commiserates with me, and offers me the chance to have another try. Only this time, I am wiser. I have already seen the pitfalls. It is the ultimate expression of PDCA. So no, I was not wasting time. I was going through another iteration towards success. Failure is not failure if you are learning.

If I win, and I reach my target early, the level stops. It does not allow me to collect additional pink pieces just because I have time.

The target is fifty. I stop when I collect fifty; it is as simple as that. There is no danger of ever over-producing and building up inventory.

The system does not allow it.

Of course, the cunning among you may say that the whole thing was a waste of time. This notion might be accurate, but if I didn’t have a purpose, how could you know?

Without a clearly defined purpose (note, we are not using the word “target,”) anything that keeps me busy seems to be alright.

But if we see this game playing activity in the light of a purpose, then we can make a sound and easy judgement.

My purpose, at this time, is to finish the lean book that I am writing. Does this gameplay support this target? Of course not! So I should seek to reduce or eliminate this activity. On the other hand, though, if I have done an excellent job of writing this article, it turns out that it actually might underpin some sort of lean journey!

I, like many millions of others, use Twitter.

Like many millions of others, I could probably be a lot better at it.

The “Twitter Growth Blueprint – Everything You Need To Know” by Rob Knowles, is a fantastic training video that lifts the lid on some amazing tips and techniques.

Rob begins by establishing his credibility to facilitate such a learning journey. Rob has certainly packed a lot of social media know-how into his impressive curriculum vitae. I started with the confidence that I was going to learn a good deal, and I was not disappointed.

The course was very well structured. At the moment, you can access it in one chunk, but I can foresee Rob splitting it into three separate lessons, so get in quick to receive it at the current price and single-purchase format.

The sections are well signposted and maintain a good flow. To begin, Rob asks you to consider things like your bio and username. There are some simple and actionable tips here, but it is easy to see their power in hindsight. One tip, around your photo, flawed me in its simplicity, but it was followed by a “Yes! Why wouldn’t you do that moment.” The course is full of “a-ha” insights, like these.

Next, Rob takes you onto the structure of your tweets. Now, hands up all those who just type something out and trust to luck? Yes? Well, I am going to lower my hand now, as it is making it difficult to type. But Rob was able to supply me with nine ways (yes, nine) to make my tweets more appealing, even if they had precisely the same content. If you are wondering why you don’t get many replies, likes, or retweets, check-in and challenge yourself to see where you could improve and gain that all-important momentum.

Finally, Rob shares his tips for getting yourself seen on the Twitter Platform. Again, he kicks off this section with a piece of pure gold, and certainly something that I had never even considered. There is no rocket science to this or any of the other techniques, but it is the simplicity and elegance that leaves you stunned.

Overall, I would look at this course as a sound investment. Unlike other training guides about social media, this offering contains real, easily actionable steps. You don’t need to be an expert, and you don’t need to begin from a foundation of having a large account.

The slides are refreshingly clean, as are the explanations. It’s also nice to see a presentation where the trainer is not merely reading out slides. This adds to Mr. Knowles’ credibility and authority on his subject matter.

The price point is just about right, especially is you consider offsetting it against the budget for any paid promotions that you might run. Rob is shining a light on great ways to achieve real, sustainable organic growth, with methods that often outstrip costly advertising. I looked upon my purchase as a proactive cost-saving.

I thoroughly recommend this course for anyone wishing to improve their performance and return on Twitter. I shall definitely be applying all of what I have learned, and I know you will too. What’s more, and here is another bonus, it’s fun!

Good luck out there!

To learn more about and purchase this course, please follow this link.

To follow Rob on Twitter, please follow this link, or follow @robmknowles.

To follow me on Twitter, please follow this link, or follow @simondgary

To buy my book “Kaizen Your Life,” which describes how to use Japanese Continuous Improvement Techniques to get the most out of every day, please visit the shop.

There are many books in lean which are regarded as classic texts. “The Toyota Production System – Beyond Large-Scale Production” by Taiichi Ohno, is a book that has influenced so many.

One could argue that without this work, books like ” The Machine That Changed the World” or “Toyota Way” would not exist.

What becomes clear from reading this book is that the Toyota Production System (TPS) rose out of necessity. Furthermore, each development was the response to a need or a problem. TPS did not emerge from a stunning blueprint, all in one piece. Instead, it developed over decades of trial, error, and iterations of the PDCA cycle.

TPS was also meant to be a uniquely Japanese Production System. In America, the land of mass-production and mass-consumption, the demand was for a few types of cars in large quantities. The Japanese domestic market was quite the opposite. The home market called for a wide variety of vehicles, in small amounts. This single fact was one of the elements that shaped the first round of problems.

Kiichiro Toyoda had already realized that Just-In-Time (JIT) would be required to enable this degree of flexibility in adding customer value. To facilitate a vision of “many variants in small quantities,” parts not needed for what was on the final assembly line simply could not be made.

In support of the level-loaded model mix, the presses could not longer produce runs of a single part. But wait? Weren’t the changeover times prohibitive? Four decades of set-up reduction followed.

Kiichiro’s predecessor, the wonderful Sakichi Toyoda, had previously perfected the Automatic Loom in 1926. This loom could “make a decision” and stop when a thread had snapped or ran out. This innovation was the beginning of jidoka, or “autonomation with the human touch.” Alongside JIT, Jioka became the second pillar of TPS.

The more you read, the more you realize that TPS was something of a perfect storm. It was shaped by events such as the Korean War (1950-1953) and the Oil Crisis of 1973. But more than anything, it was moulded by a fundamental resolution to reduce waste, wherever it was seen.

Like many evolutions of history, so many things that had to fall into place for TPS to exist.

The courage of Ohno’s superiors was one. In a way, these individuals are some of the real heroes of the piece. They allowed Ohno to experiment and to do things that seemed counter-intuitive. The adoption of Kanban was one such addition. Who would introduce a system that directed people to stop when the required number of parts were reached? Why not just keep going? It didn’t make sense!

In times of high growth, Ohno’s work was not overly transparent. Everyone was making plenty of money, and everything that was manufactured was being sold. Ohno needed adversity to show that his approach was meritorious. Global events, such as we have already described, brought attention to the benefits of TPS. Again, those who managed Ohno allowed his continued experiments even when mass production, in a high growth economy, seemed prudent.

Another element that is of interest is that TPS grew as Ohno developed. To begin with, he could only apply it to his own machine-shop, where highly-trained workers ran multi-process banks of machines. As he rose, Ohno had the opportunity to use his evolving system at a plant level, then finally across the entire Toyota business.

To me, this clearly underlined the need for management support when implementing lean across an organization. Without the connectivity that only senior management can facilitate, lean efforts will be nothing more than floating islands of believers. Lean must be everyone, everywhere, every day, in a management-led environment of learning and respect for people. Ohno wanted to see the change, so he was the change. His growing seniority was an absolutely vital factor in success. Even then, nothing happened overnight.

Ohno was an avid learner. One delightful aspect of the book is Ohno’s respect for Henry Ford, and the former’s desire to learn from the master car maker. The author includes some tremendously interesting extracts from Henry Ford’s book “Today and Tomorrow.”

One can see that the thinking of Ohno and Ford were not diametrically opposite. Ohno even asserts that Ford would have eventually uncovered the pillars of TPS by himself, as he senses the natural path of the Ford method. Ohno further argues that subsequent Ford leaders misinterpreted the mass-production ethos of the Ford system and that something akin the TPS was designed to be Mr. Ford’s eventual destination. Alas, we shall never know.

“Toyota Production System” was a book I approached with the desire to learn and reflect, and I was definitely not disappointed. But my lean roots have been shaken a little, and this is a wonderful thing!

If TPS was a gradual evolution and reaction to a unique set of circumstances and problems, why should an exact facsimile work for us?

There are many reasons why lean fails within companies. One can be the zealous application of the TPS system, without understanding why each method was originally applied. But as long as we share the DNA of problem-solving and eliminating waste, we shall be fine. TPS is an example, not a template.

As Taiichi Ohno undoubtedly did, we must be steadfast in our belief of success and find our own way.

Hi everyone.

I am passionate about helping all businesses grow and improve and, as the world conquers the challenges of COVID-19, lean thinking is going to be at the heart of that effort.

To this end, I have produced a free training, designed to be a simple introduction to lean thinking and the classic eight wastes.

I include the video below. Please feel free to widely share a link to this page. If you would like to download this video, you can do so, for free, in the shop.

I have also prepared a follow-up training on the topic of 5S. This is available exclusively through the shop.

There is a video for individuals and small businesses that allows three downloads, and an unlimited download version for larger organizations.

Thank-you for watching.

The “Four Types of Problem – from reactive troubleshooting to creative innovation” is a book by lean expert, Art Smalley. It is one of those seminal lean works that belong in the category of “books I wish had been around years ago.”

Mr. Smalley comes to this subject as an expert born out of the famous Toyota Kamigo engine plant, which itself was the testing ground of the legendary Toyota Production System (TPS), under the eyes of the great Taiichi Ohno.

In short, Art Smalley knows his stuff. In this book, he shares his know-how with the humility and the clarity that can only come from a deep, almost molecular understanding of his subject. The result is a book that may well become required reading on many lean learning programmes of the future.

Mr. Smalley’s contribution recognizes that humanity has always been solving problems, but that at least some of our successes have been by more luck than judgement.

By describing problems across the spectrum of business endeavour, from the small quick fix to the game-changing innovation, Mr. Smalley succeeds in finally making the term “problem” synonymous with the word we always wanted to use: opportunity.

Mr. Smalley offers routines to guide you in extracting the highest value from each level of opportunity and includes methods to help unfetter the thinking to capture those opportunities, of which we are not yet aware.

The author, helpfully, provides a framework which you can use to hold a mirror up to your business and people. How well do you really solve problems?

Many of us, including myself, cannot claim proficiency in all four of the levels described by Mr. Smalley, but thanks to this engaging author, I am at least in a place to brush up on my skills.

The “Four Types of Problem” is written in a clear style that is informative and easy to read. The book is academically referenced and contains a bibliography that will add significantly to your reading list, so beware! But such is Mr. Smalley’s obvious passion and knowledge for the subject of lean and problem solving that he has been able to produce such an important and accessible work.

This book is a must-read for lean students, from beginners to experts alike. There is something here for everyone, and all will take away something to refresh their perspective.

This work is highly recommended, is a modern-day business class, and merits an easy five stars.

Please find a link to buy this product in the shop.

I want to start this post by thanking the author and coach, Jamie Smart, both for the work he does and for permitting me to share the following video here.

For those that are not familiar with the work of Jamie Smart, he is an internationally renowned coach and writer, whose work is at the cutting edge of psychology. You may be familiar with two of his bestselling books, “Clarity” and “Results,” and Amazon links to buy both are available in the shop.

I wish to share a session that Jamie did a week or two ago, entitled “Finding your bearings in turbulent times.”

I will not say much about it. I’ll let you find the value for yourselves. But promise me one thing; that when you’ve finished watching, give yourself five to ten minutes, just to sit and reflect. You will be glad you did.

I will be reflecting, at length, in my upcoming book, which should hopefully be with us by the end of summer. There I will be considering how the thinking shared in the video can take lean methodology to the next level.

In the meantime, make yourself a cup of tea, sit back, and tune in. The next hour is a time to invest in yourself.

If you want to check out more of Jamie’s work, including chances to learn with him, head to www.jamiesmart.com

I’ve been at home, by myself, for nine days now.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been in regular contact with my family via the phone, and have Skyped into the odd meeting at work, so I am not entirely cut-off. I also have a mind which is conceiving lots of things that I can do, so I am by no means bored either.

But what I have had is time to reflect.

In the world of lean knowledge and coaching, it is in the reflection that the learning and growth take place.

My focus, naturally, has drifted to those simple things that I will enjoy when the lockdown lifts. With the lighter evenings, attention slides to those long summer days. Maybe, I will be able to have a walk along the beach, or visit a friend, or go into a shop and find the products I want. I hope that I will enjoy these things with a greater depth. I also hope that I will appreciate those around me more. I wish, in short, to have changed, slightly at least, for the better.

This has been my growth, in reflection.

But there is also the realization that I am missing the structure and camaraderie of work. How might that have changed when I return, if it changes at all?

Lean is a people system that runs on principles. Principles are those truths upon which we can be certain. They are there to be our touchstones in times of crisis, but are we rattled so profoundly that people will start to question their principles of lean?

Fundamentally, I hope the answer is no. I live by two overarching lean principles that give me everything else. They are to “respect people” and to “create a learning environment.”

I have already stated that I hope we will return to work ready to appreciate each other a lot more but, while working from home, have we become tied up in our own projects? It will be natural that we will wish to follow these up back in the workplace. However, decisions will need making. With budgets now tighter, we will need to return to observing a critical lean principle. What do we need to work on that is currently most closely aligned to what the customer wants?

We may find offices shrinking in size as we realize that a lot of our team were able to work effectively from home. This idea has been around for decades, where businesses become central hubs that one only visits occasionally. But people have a strong need to belong and collaborate. I have a strong sense of identity when I pull on my uniform in the morning. When we blur the line between work and home, the two tend to merge. Work can stretch out into the times that were previously the reserve of family. Would this be an exercise in respect? It is that structure and compartmental feel of my day that I miss.

Covid-19 has ushered in an extraordinary time within the community. Different businesses have reacted in different ways. Maybe those businesses that remained central in their communities will enjoy mutual bonhomie with their staff and customers, for a while, at least.

Social media has been quick to condemn those companies perceived (and perception is all it takes) to have behaved unfairly towards their staff. If the general public has lost trust, then what about their teams, the very experts who are needed to drive the new consolidation? Our principle of “respect for people” has been played out in a very public way over the last weeks. In the aftermath, customers and workers are asking, “who should we trust?” Reputations, built carefully over the years, have disappeared in a matter of hours. Respect for people has become externalized. Some organizations out there will need to fight hard to win back trust. Insincerity in this endeavour will continue to be called out.

One hallmark of future thinking, in the short-term, at least, is sure to be caution.

Deplenished war chests will need to build back up. Some projects might be put back. But conversely, there will be an overwhelming temptation to carry more stock. Buffers keep the wheels turning. For a while, the stripped-down notion of Just in Time (JIT) may not make sense. By extension, many companies are probably working frantically to keep small, single-source suppliers afloat. Some of these might need to be subsumed into their customer companies, bringing the requisite skills under the same roof. The diverse, patchwork landscape of different size business will look totally different if only the big boys survive.

In following the principle of “creating a learning environment,” we will inevitably sit down, as groups and as individuals, to ask what we learned.

We saw, in the instances of public panic buying, that an instinct is to increase inventory. If we have more, and the supply is interrupted, it will be longer before we run out. But, as we know, we hold that stock at our own cost. Pictures have emerged, over recent days, of household bins full of uneaten food, obsolete before it had the chance to add value in the form of a meal. We must resist the temptation to build the waste of inventory into our systems.

In the end, it will come back to the simple truth that was there all along. We must remove waste, overburden, and unevenness from our processes. We always knew that, but now that waste will cut a bit deeper, as we aim to get back to where we were. TIMWOODS will be the mantra, and the gemba is where we all need to be.

Lean thinking will be more vital than ever. People will respond, because people are great: especially those who are respected and learning.