the inner game of lean and the improvement kata

©2013 www.speakstrong.com

The Inner Game of Lean and the Improvement Kata

(An Unauthorized Lean2Life Adventure)


PowerPoint for my presentation at:

• 2013 Mid-Atlantic Lean Conference• November 5-6, 2013• Crowne Plaza Hotel, Timonium Maryland

• Highlights on my personal lean2life experience which began on December 24th 2012. Audio will become available… eventually.


Too Much Good Stuff = Bad


The Teacher (Method)Became the Obstacle


Unlikely Alliance


The Process is the Sensei. All the rest are co-travelers.


Ask the Process What it Wants


Look First: Know Me Before You Change Me


Stage 1: Begin with the Whole in Mind


I Can’t Hit a Target I Can’t See


I Can’t Hit a Target I Can’t Feel


I Want to be Ahh-inspired


“Our Hymns Will Never Make it to Heaven…

…Until We Clean Up the Mess in the Basement”


Stage 2: Go to the Gemba


What’s Bugging You?


What’s REALLY Bugging You?

Gridlock Hell


S P A C E for

Grace


What Else is Bugging You?


Flip It All Forward, Pick One and GO FORTH!


How’s That Supposed to Happen?


Stage 3: CommitPulling the Plug


I’m Doing This for Me


Stop Starting and Start Finishing


Stage 4: Know Thyself First. Know Me Before You Change Me


Loosen Second: Problems Might Solve Themselves


Pick Tools that Fit Me, Not The Other Way Around


Recognize That I Am Missing Some Basics


Let Me Take Baby Steps

Baby Kata: Why won’t that baby share that toy?

• What is the target condition? I want that toy.• What is the current condition? I don’t have that toy.• What obstacles do you think are preventing you from

reaching the target? That baby is a poopy head.• What is your next action? Throw a tantrum and shriek

loudly.• When can we go and see what we have learned from

taking that action? I don’t wanna.


Honor the Couch and the Kata

When I try to use the tool, what happens is…

Ana-lysis: First step in untanglingLysis=loosen

Kata: 1. A specific practice. 2. A repeated routine to increase adaptiveness and skill. 3. A way of keeping things in alignment or synchronization with each other.


Align With My Nature


Help Me Find Fit By Trying


Bust My Denial Gracefully


“Don’t Make Me Look Under Every Rock at Once”


Trust My Deeper “Whys”


Trust The Invisible Inner Process


Stage 5: Let it Unfold


I Followed My NoseIt is foolish, they say, to do it this wayWhen it all can be done from a script.It takes so damn long to sing your own song,And albums are easy to rip.They tell me to look through a best-selling book,And to follow steps A, B and C.They think it a waste to not copy and paste,And there’s no need for learning to see.It is foolish, they claim, to play your own game,When games can be bought in a store.Why make it so hard and mine my own yard?Is my own gold so worth digging for?It is foolish, I’m told, to let things unfoldThey said I should follow a plan!So the plan that I chose was to follow my noseMy nose knows to start where I am.


I Discovered My Natural Timetable


I Observed Instead of Read


I Saw Where I Went Unconscious


It Signaled Me to KTS


I Felt My Resistance


It Signaled Me to Remove Obstacles That Caused Resistance


I Observed My Desire to Shift Blame


It Signaled Me to Flip the Shame Forward into Aspiration


I Made Painful Mistakes


It Signaled Me to Sort Better


I Noticed Productivity Declines


It Signaled Me to Take Creativity Breaks


I Detected That Sinking Feeling


It Signaled Me to Stop, Drop and Re-choose.


I Noted When I Felt Pressured


It Signaled me to Create More


I Felt My Temptation to Fit Something In


It Signaled Me to Stop Asking “Will it Fit?” and Start Asking “Will it Flow?”


I Honored the Signals …IMPERFEKTLY


And Often Found: It gets darkest just before

new light dawns.


Stage 6: Embrace the dark nights

and enjoy the bright dawns


The Fog of Busy-ness Lifts: Yikes! Who knew?!?


No Rose Garden: Even 2-Second Improvements Can Be Messy


Random Improvement Purgatory


L2L Becomes a Family Affair

• Shoulda wouldas• Money mysteries• Unsustainable living

situation• Brother calamity• Computer challenge• Hearing loss• Trust issues• Isolation• Undernourished• Father complex remnants


Oh, Brother


Single Factor Experiments!?!


Listlessness


TMI (Too Many Improvements) Cognitive System Hell


The Push and Pull of Socks


The Inner Game of L2L Isn’t Always Fun …

• Shame, doubt, judgment, fear, inadequate, lost, frustrated, futile, hopeless, confused, fragmented, in over my head, uncertain, flawed, stupid, crazy, irrelevant, impatient, restless, hopeless


Stage 7: Peaking Out From Under: Inspirations


The Darker the Night

The Brighter the Dawn


When the Fog of Busy-ness Lifts: Unanticipated Resources!

Can’t Solve World Hunger?At Least Leave Things Better Than You Found Them



Every Pearl Began as an Irritation


Sometimes the Shortest Distance Between Two Points is a Labyrinth.


Opportunitynowhere

OpportunityNOWhere

The gold isn’t always where you think it is


Land Mines CanProtect Gold Mines


Freedom to Fail is Freedom to Succeed


Respect the Power of a Straw


Never Waste a Good Crisis


Wield the Lamp Before the Sword

Shop Your Own Closet



Seek Not and Ye Shall Find

YESNO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

Your “NOs” Put Fences Around Your “Yeses”



Every Story Has a Beginning, a Middle and an End

Once upon a time there was a need…

And THEN…

And they

lived happily

ever after


I’m Doing This for Me


Stage 8: Making it Mine


Know Thyselves

www.speakstrong.com/inventory


My Inner 5Ss

1. Sort

2. Straighten

3. Shine

4. Standardize

5. Sustain

1. Free up matter. Discern who I am. Commit to a future direction. Get current and clear out what is dead to me.

2. Become more systematic. Honor how things work. Observe and align with natural flow. See and honor likenesses and patterns. Alchemize. Serve future me.

3. Respect what I have. Maintain. Sprinkle fairy dust on my world.

4. Curb excessive creative impulses. Stop reinventing the wheel. Simplify. Enjoy order.

5. Protect what I’ve created and what I’ve been given. Continuously improve. Build on rather than depart from.


Flow and Pull in My L2L Process

Flow: • Being in a state of

grace• Effortlessness• Ease• Being in tune with

the Whole

Pull• Motivated by

vision and aspiration

• Following my bliss• Drawn into the

perfect next step for my Kata Quest


My L2L Gemba

Spirit

Mind

Heart

Will


Systems Thinking as Alchemy


Every Surface is an Altar


Every Word is an Invocation


Every Improvement is Homage


Every Deed Deserves a Final Blessing


Enjoy Your Inner Game of Lean and the Improvement Kata


Go Ahead. Pull the Plug!

the inner game of lean and the improvement kata

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