http://theleanleap.com Lean Business Solutions Mon, 07 May 2012 04:24:14 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://theleanleap.com/2012/03/how-lean-efficiency-works/ http://theleanleap.com/2012/03/how-lean-efficiency-works/#comments Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:59:01 +0000 Byron http://theleanleap.com/?p=1361 So how does LEAN work to improve your efficiency?  Why should you use LEAN instead of more traditional approaches to improving efficiency?  Well, let me take a few minutes to explain…]]> http://theleanleap.com/2012/03/how-lean-efficiency-works/feed/ 0 http://theleanleap.com/2011/11/why-ask-why/ http://theleanleap.com/2011/11/why-ask-why/#comments Fri, 11 Nov 2011 04:42:26 +0000 Byron http://leanmachineradio.com/?p=308 When faced with a problem, there is a simple technique that when applied properly can help you to quickly get to the root cause of the problem and thus identify what needs to be done not only to fix the problem, but prevent the problem from reoccurring.  The technique is called The 5 Whys. This [...]]]> http://theleanleap.com/2011/11/why-ask-why/feed/ 1 http://theleanleap.com/2011/09/play-ball-what-business-owners-can-learn-from-little-league-baseball-coaches/ http://theleanleap.com/2011/09/play-ball-what-business-owners-can-learn-from-little-league-baseball-coaches/#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:09:36 +0000 Byron http://leanmachineradio.com/?p=655 “He’s got to go! I can’t believe he said that to my customer.” I could almost feel the tension radiating from my client as he told me about his latest employee debacle. His face was red and his foot was tapping. I took a deep breath and asked the question that I already knew the [...]]]> http://theleanleap.com/2011/09/play-ball-what-business-owners-can-learn-from-little-league-baseball-coaches/feed/ 0 http://theleanleap.com/2011/08/have-you-seen-my-stapler/ http://theleanleap.com/2011/08/have-you-seen-my-stapler/#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:53:18 +0000 Byron http://leanmachineradio.com/?p=640 Your work environment will either IMPROVE from today’s standard or ERODE.  It definitely will not stay the same!  That means that if your looking for that stapler today… well, you more than likely will look for it again in the future.    When you consider not only our physical work space but also consider the [...]]]> http://theleanleap.com/2011/08/have-you-seen-my-stapler/feed/ 0 http://theleanleap.com/2011/08/to-do-or-not-to-do-heres-how-to-answer-the-question/ http://theleanleap.com/2011/08/to-do-or-not-to-do-heres-how-to-answer-the-question/#comments Sun, 28 Aug 2011 21:27:34 +0000 Byron http://leanmachineradio.com/?p=627 So the question is, should you invest your time, energy and money making that idea that hit you in the shower this morning come into existence?  Can it really make a difference in your business?  There are two easy approaches to evaluating improvement ideas, the first approach is one that I find works well with [...]]]> http://theleanleap.com/2011/08/to-do-or-not-to-do-heres-how-to-answer-the-question/feed/ 1 http://theleanleap.com/2011/08/putting-the-suggestion-box-to-death/ http://theleanleap.com/2011/08/putting-the-suggestion-box-to-death/#comments Mon, 22 Aug 2011 03:48:43 +0000 Byron http://leanmachineradio.com/?p=613 Do you or have you ever had an improvement idea suggestion box for your company?  How is it or how did it work out for you?  Did you ever really get good ideas?  Where you ever able to take any of those good ideas and get them done? The sad thing is that most improvement [...]]]> http://theleanleap.com/2011/08/putting-the-suggestion-box-to-death/feed/ 1 http://theleanleap.com/2011/08/do-more-today-5-office-efficiency-tips/ http://theleanleap.com/2011/08/do-more-today-5-office-efficiency-tips/#comments Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:15:30 +0000 Byron http://leanmachineradio.com/?p=595 1. Eat the worm – Do the thing you don’t want to do first. When you think about the things you have to do today, what tasks are there that you find yourself already drained just thinking about them – Cold calling potential customers; Addressing an employee issue;  Completing that detailed proposal?  We all have [...]]]> http://theleanleap.com/2011/08/do-more-today-5-office-efficiency-tips/feed/ 3 http://theleanleap.com/2011/07/using-value-stream-mapping-to-improve-your-business/ http://theleanleap.com/2011/07/using-value-stream-mapping-to-improve-your-business/#comments Sun, 17 Jul 2011 20:45:30 +0000 Byron http://leanmachineradio.com/?p=554 Last week’s show was part one of a three part series on how to use value stream mapping in your company.  The intent of this series is to provide listeners with enough information to get started using this tool to improve their business processes.  Last week we covered three prerequisites that you need to understand [...]]]> http://theleanleap.com/2011/07/using-value-stream-mapping-to-improve-your-business/feed/ 0 http://theleanleap.com/2011/06/stop-running-out-of-stuff/ http://theleanleap.com/2011/06/stop-running-out-of-stuff/#comments Mon, 13 Jun 2011 01:07:08 +0000 Byron http://leanmachineradio.com/?p=468 Nothing can be more frustrating than going to get something you need and realizing that you are out of the item whether its paper, business cards, cleaning supplies, or expendable tooling. Most small businesses are too small to have a purchasing department or have someone else place orders for us. It’s just one more thing [...]]]> http://theleanleap.com/2011/06/stop-running-out-of-stuff/feed/ 0 http://theleanleap.com/2011/05/lean-frog-business-solutions-leaping-forward-with-new-team-member/ http://theleanleap.com/2011/05/lean-frog-business-solutions-leaping-forward-with-new-team-member/#comments Wed, 25 May 2011 23:08:54 +0000 Byron http://leanmachineradio.com/?p=424 http://theleanleap.com/2011/05/lean-frog-business-solutions-leaping-forward-with-new-team-member/feed/ 0