Michael Ballé

A lean view on racism

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InterviewsJun 15, 2020
Michael Ballé
INTERVIEW – Racism is not a problem many lean thinkers are called to tackle in their daily lives at work, but that doesn’t mean that Lean Thinking has nothing to say about it.

The lean playbook

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FeaturesApr 28, 2020
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – The author reflects on how lean organizations are reacting to the Covid-19 crisis and discusses the tough questions they are asking themselves.

Lean healthcare on the front lines

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    string(1608) "Lean thinking may have been born in Toyota in the 1950s and 1960s, but it wasn’t until after the year 2000 that a few hospitals began to explore its application to the healthcare industry (lean healthcare). These pioneering organizations came together to share their stories at the first Global Lean Healthcare Summit in the UK in 2007, which in turn triggered many more experiments around the world. Since then, interest has kept growing.

Some fifteen years on, we have hundreds of examples to learn from, from clinics and departments through to entire hospitals and even whole hospital systems. Not all early experiments succeeded, and we are still a long way from making lean a widely recognized way of working across the industry.
Healthcare providers around the world still face huge challenges, as ageing populations and unhealthy lifestyles boost the demand for healthcare faster than the growth of incomes and tax revenues from the middle classes. At the same time, the quality of care has not improved as much as the quality of other services in the economy, which is why more and more healthcare organizations are turning to lean.

Historically, lean healthcare ideas have been applied in large hospitals, but in the past few years we have started to see the philosophy adopted in earnest in many smaller organizations following a do-it-yourself approach that has generated many positive benefits. An impressive example is the Consorci Sanitari del Garraf near Barcelona."
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FeaturesMar 30, 2020
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – Our coverage of the Covid-19 emergency continues with an article discussing how lean healthcare principles can support and protect the professionals at the front line of this war.

Why bother with lean when we’re all doomed?

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FeaturesMar 16, 2020
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – When faced with a crisis, like the current one, it is natural to wonder, “Why bother?”. Yet, this is when we most need a growth mindset and a framework like lean thinking to figure out a way forward.

Enhancing your gemba skills

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FeaturesFeb 24, 2020
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – Michael Ballé shares a few tricks he uses to escape his default thinking and ensure he makes the most of every gemba walk he goes on.

What does a lean sensei bring to the party?

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FeaturesJan 27, 2020
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – Lean coaching is all the rage these days, but to what end? The author reframes the role of a sensei as an expert in achieving productivity by engaging everyone in kaizen.

The iron law of scale-up

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FeaturesOct 24, 2019
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – As our social systems grow, we need an effective way to manage them. This makes bureaucracies an inescapable part of life for our society and businesses. But how can we mitigate their negative effects?

My father is my sensei

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FeaturesJul 4, 2019
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – In this intimate account, the author reflects on the role of a lean sensei by looking back at what he’s learned from his own… his father.

The depth of lean thinking

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FeaturesAug 14, 2018
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – To really embrace lean thinking means to ensure the bureaucratic structures in our organizations enable our people to excel, rather than constrain their creativity.
Michael Ballé yamazumi chart

Michael Ballé on how a yamazumi chart enables standard work

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FeaturesJun 19, 2018
Michael Ballé
THE TOOLS CORNER – Standardizing the work is one of the fundamentals of lean thinking, but without a yamazumi chart visualizing it (and helping us to streamline it) this is impossible.
building trust lean company

Michael Ballé on how to really build trust in a lean company

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FeaturesJun 1, 2018
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – In this interesting piece, the author explains why living up to the ideal of mutual trust is hard, and how lean tools can help us build a workplace based on respect.
Lean quality management Michael Ballé

How to ensure quality issues are detected and tackled fast

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FeaturesMay 18, 2018
Michael Ballé
THE TOOLS CORNER – This month, the author discusses how we can ensure quality problems are identified early, tackled swiftly and prevented from reoccurring.
SMED lean tools Michael Ballé

Michael Ballé’s short guide to successfully using SMED

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FeaturesApr 16, 2018
Michael Ballé
THE TOOLS CORNER – For the second article in our new series, the author offers a guide to the origins and use of one of lean's most important tools: SMED.
Kanban lean thinking

Unlocking the secrets of Kanban with Michael Ballé

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FeaturesMar 20, 2018
Michael Ballé
THE TOOLS CORNER – In this new series, we go back to basics, offering a guide on how to implement some of the most important lean tools and explaining why they are so clever. First up, Kanban.
daruma dolls lean management

Michael Ballé on how to ensure lean leads to real advantages

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FeaturesJan 25, 2018
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – Using the Japanese tradition of daruma dolls as an example, the author explains how to turn continuous improvement into concrete challenges – and, from that, real competitive advantage.
Michael Belle how lean works

Michael Ballé reflects on how lean really works

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FeaturesAug 17, 2017
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – Continuously studying the challenges we meet and the responses we devise, lean gives us endless opportunities to learn. The author goes back to basics, reflecting on some core lean premises.
Michael Ballé observe orient and learn by doing

To master lean thinking, lead with lean thinking

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FeaturesMar 19, 2017
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – When lean seems to fail, leaders should persist and work even harder to bring people on the journey - by observing the situation, providing clear success criteria, and learning together on the job. That's what leading with lean is about.
Michael Balle on Lead with Lean

Michael Ballé introduces his new book Lead with Lean

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InterviewsFeb 27, 2017
Michael Ballé
VIDEO - The author of Lean with Lean explains why he published a collection of papers rather than a business novel - his signature writing style - or a manual. Experience lean through the eyes of one of its greatest students... one a-ha moment at a time.