Blog

Leveraging Constraints for Creativity

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 01-19-11

I have a new post published on Blogging Innovation. See the full article on that site. by Jamie Flinchbaugh Creativity remains one of the most nebulous and elusive capabilities for organizational performance. Yet there is more knowledge and science available today than ever to help us through the challenge. Creativity

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My favorite story about waste: the ARS

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on

This may be my favorite story about waste elimination…   As part of his company’s policy, Bill had to manually fill out his timecard each week.  On that time card was a column titled ARS.  When Bill started, he was taught to just put a zero in the ARS column

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Martin Luther King Jr. – a multidimensional leader

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 01-17-11

There are many examples set by Martin Luther King Jr. than any one of us could follow and be a better person. I’m not at all qualified to write in depth about this leader. But there are many words of leadership that I think describe the example he has set.

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Webinar for The Human Side of Lean tonight

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 01-12-11

Tonight I’ll be doing a webinar for the ongoing monthly The Human Side of Lean Conference Call, supported by SME and hosted by Juergen Boenisch. The topic is: Changing Behaviors through Daily Actions Behavior as secret weapon for continuous improvement Here’s the time: Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011 @ 7pm ET

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3 Ways to Train on a Budget

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 01-11-11

  I hope you have plans to develop your people in 2011. And I hope they are actionable plans. I have yet to meet a company that over-trains or over-develops its people. I meeting plenty of companies that believe that they can’t afford it. To which I say: Baloney! Hogwash!

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If you’re not frustrated, then you’re not working on the right problem

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 01-08-11

by Jamie Flinchbaugh In my coaching, many of my conversations begin with a source of frustration by the individual. The source of frustration could be rooted in another person, or a team problem, or in their own abilities. But nonetheless, the frustration is there. This is a good thing. The

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Entropy is lurking

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 01-07-11

Yes, I am an engineer by training, and sometimes look to principles of engineering systems for lessons in organizational improvement. One of my favorite classes, believe it or not, was thermodynamics. I found to be an innate beauty and how thermodynamic systems worked. The second law of thermodynamics states that

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Where’s the systematic, in your systematic waste elimination?

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 01-05-11

Waste elimination has often been a central tenant in lean transformation. However, leave is not all about waste, as I wrote about on The Lean Edge recently. if you are going to focus on waste, then certainly the go almost be the reduction, and ultimately, the elimination of the waste

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If you’re not frustrated, then you’re not working on the right problem.

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 01-03-11

In my coaching, many of my conversations begin with a source of frustration by the individual. The source of frustration could be rooted in another person, or a team problem, or in their own abilities. But nonetheless, the frustration is there. This is a good thing. The philosophy that I’ve

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Changes for 2011

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 01-01-11

What will you see from me in 2011? I don’t plan to change a lot. I will continue to make adjustments as I learn how to provide this service better over time. However, there are a few things I would like to change. 1. A new column You might have

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