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Conflict is everywhere. It’s not inherently a bad thing. When managed properly and worked through, it’s actually beneficial and productive. When left unchecked and left to fester, it is toxic and can destroy a relationship, team, or even an organization. There are many methods and strategies that are helpful in

In this episode of People Solve Problems, Jamie Flinchbaugh sits down with Cheryl Jekiel, CEO and Founder of the Lean Leadership Center, to discuss the intricate relationship between leadership development and problem solving within organizations. Cheryl brings her extensive experience in HR and leadership training to the forefront, focusing on

Almost every problem solving tool, method, and template begins with problem definition. But is that the beginning? It is not. One of the oldest models for problem solving, from John Dewey, begins with problem identification. That’s fundamentally important to get right, especially when our email inbox alone has more problems

Narrow Your Focus to Find Your Ideal Customer Every company, product manager, sales leader, and CEO should be thinking about their target market. Who would make their best customers? I believe that the parameters used to define target markets are too broad and vague and that efforts to significantly narrow

As AI continues to gain momentum within companies, it’s important to distinguish between two main categories of AI usage: stationed, strategic projects, and the personal, often hidden, use of AI by individuals in their workflows. One challenge in the latter category is that people are hiding the fact that they

  In this episode of the People Solve Problems podcast, Jamie Flinchbaugh sits down with Crystal Y. Davis, CEO of The Lean Coach, Inc., a boutique consulting and coaching firm that partners with mid-to-large cap companies to enhance operational excellence and drive cultural transformation. Crystal, also known as “Your Corporate

On LeanMag: Be Careful Before Standardizing Your Problem Solving You might be surprised to hear a lean advocate warning against a standardization. To be clear, I’m warning against both over-standardization and overly-rigid application of standardization. Standardization within problem solving is tremendously beneficial. First, it helps us train people on methods.

  In the latest episode of the People Solve Problems podcast, host Jamie Flinchbaugh welcomes Jacob Stoller, an accomplished journalist, speaker, facilitator, and Shingo-Prize-winning author of The Lean CEO. Jacob, who is also the author of the upcoming book Productivity Reimagined, brings his extensive experience in demystifying complex business and

On IndustryWeek: Supply Chain Leaders Need a New Playbook, Focusing on Risk   For generations of supply chain leaders, the key words and phrases that dominated were optimization, rationalization, cost reduction, inventory reduction and so on. The basic performance of the supply chain was stable enough that it was often

Empathy is a popular concept these days, for many valid reasons. However, it is often conveyed as a sense of acceptance and sometimes even passiveness. What I mean is that empathy often means that you CAN’T understand someone’s perspective because it is different from yours and so therefore accept the