You know how it is when you talk to someone who has a glow in their eyes when they talk about something? I know several people who are like that when they talk about Lean. What’s the fuss over Lean all about? I recently spoke at a YPO Lean conference, and I felt like I was transported to an alternate universe where leaders don’t think efficiency happens at the cost of connection and humanness. That’s worth fussing over.
Lean is a dynamic process. It’s about continuous improvement – not improving occasionally or in chunks – but bit by bit, step by step. It’s organic – you take a step and that movement changes the whole situation. You check out the new situation before you plan the next improvement.
Here’s what that can mean on a communication level. Imagine you have three communication challenges – sarcasm is an issue for you, you find yourself getting defensive over criticism and you don’t set boundaries well. You might decide to change all that at once. But if instead, you start by eliminating sarcasm from your communication, you’ll find your other concerns have shifted. So before you go down your list for the next issue to handle, it makes more sense to see if a different area presents itself to improve.
As a creative, dynamic and organic communicator, I am thrilled to find a world where this kind of dynamism is understood and embraced.