Supporting Next-Generation Lean Thinking

Lean Education:Reflection and Looking Ahead

Conference closing remarksMike RotherSeptember 2014

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ELEC 2015 Conference Theme:"Supporting Next Generation Lean Thinking"

The word "Lean" was coined in 1990 as a description of what Toyota does to be so enduringly successful. That was 25 years ago, or about one generation. During that time 'Lean' was often interpreted as reducing cost and increasing productivity.

Today we are realizing that Toyota's approach is about much more than just cost reduction. One could say it's about achieving challenging goals through managers developing and channeling people's scientific creative capability.

You could call this expanded view of Lean something like"Next Generation Lean Thinking" or "21st Century Lean."

Mike Rother

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21st Century Lean vs. 20th Century Lean

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Visible

LessVisible

Lean tools and techniques to improve quality, cost and delivery

• A systematic, scientific way of thinking and acting

• Managers as teachers of that way, through practice

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IS THE PURPOSE OF A CONFERENCELIKE THIS TO MAKE US COMFORTABLE?

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IS THE PURPOSE OF A CONFERENCELIKE THIS TO MAKE US COMFORTABLE?

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ApparentCertainty

The Thresholdof Knowledge is at the edge of our comfort zone!

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IS THE PURPOSE OF A CONFERENCELIKE THIS TO MAKE US COMFORTABLE?

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ApparentCertainty

The Thresholdof Knowledge

What capabilities should we have in Lean education?What changes may be happening inthe Lean education environment?

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TEACHERS HAVE BIG RESPONSIBILITY!

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...to the students

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2015 – 2020The following comments and challenges for the Lean Education community are proposed with the next 5 years in mind

THE NEXT EXPERIMENTSIN LEAN EDUCATION?

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(1) LEAN IS NOT JUST ABOUT EFFICIENCY ANY MORE

Focusing narrowly on cost reductionis no guarantee of business success.

What do you want to achieve?

The research that led to the book Toyota Kata looked into the intention behind Toyotaʼs practices and principles. Itʼs more about challenging and nurturing human resources - in order to achieve tough goals - than we might think.

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HOW DO WE CAPTURE THEIMAGINATION OF STUDENTS?Because without positive emotion,

learning is restricted

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HUMAN ENDEAVOR OR CHALLENGE

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Working on things that are meaningful and compelling

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A MORE FITTING DEFINITION OF LEAN?

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(2) IF WE CAN'T SEE INTO THE FUTURE,WHAT SHOULD WE TEACH?

How do we prepare students for the future when we don’t know what the future will bring?

We can’t predict how to get from A to B. How do we get comfortable with challenging goals and navigate the grey zone between here & there?

We can teach Scientific Meta Skills.

These are common, teachable, transferrable ways of thinking that can be used over the course of a lifetime.

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IT'S SCIENTIFIC THINKINGAPPLIED IN BUSINESS

The path to a challenging goals can’t be determined in advance, and today's solutions may not fit tomorrow's problems. But we can teach and practice a universal means of developing your own solutions and meeting challenges along uncertain paths.

Scientific ways of thinking and workingare a foundational habit for:

• Successfully pursuing seemingly unattainable goals in complex systems

• Enabling teams to make decisions more independently & maneuver effectively.

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VIDEO: Improvement Kata Application

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The video on the next page is a good example of what can happen when we teach a scientific way of working – a meta skill – rather then just teaching solutions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EHo4KrRKbQAlso available on the IK/CK YouTube Channel

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(3) STRIVE TO TEACH EXPERIENTIALLY

This is a significant challenge for educators, and will probably require lots of experimentation and adjustment.

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TheTeacher!(struggling)

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COACHINGCorrectivefeedback

PRACTICEFrequent

MASTERYOvercoming

obstaclesKATA

Structured practiceroutines (beginner)

4 INGREDIENTS FORACQUIRING NEW SKILLS

Brain research is clear: Developing new habits involves practicing new routines and experiencing a progressive sense of mastering them. The following ingredients help students rewire their brains, to acquire new skills and mindset.

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VIDEO:Things we know about how people learn

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpfYCZa87gAlso available on the IK/CK YouTube Channel

(Next page)

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ScientificThinking isfor All Ages

Young scientistspracticing the

Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata

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SUMMARY...

How can educatorsmeet these challenges?!

TheTeacher

TO MEET EDUCATION CHALLENGES...LET'S APPLY SCIENTIFIC THINKING!

Obstacles

Experiments

The

Direction

or Challenge

NextTarget

Condition

CurrentCondition

Threshold of Knowledge

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TheTeacher

Obstacles

Experiments

The

Direction

or Challenge

NextTarget

Condition

CurrentCondition

Threshold of Knowledge

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TO MEET EDUCATION CHALLENGES...LET'S APPLY SCIENTIFIC THINKING!

TheTeacher

Obstacles

Experiments

The

Direction

or Challenge

NextTarget

Condition

CurrentCondition

Threshold of Knowledge

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TO MEET EDUCATION CHALLENGES...LET'S APPLY SCIENTIFIC THINKING!

TheTeacher

Obstacles

Experiments

The

Direction

or Challenge

NextTarget

Condition

CurrentCondition

Threshold of Knowledge

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TO MEET EDUCATION CHALLENGES...LET'S APPLY SCIENTIFIC THINKING!

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BEST WISHESFOR YOUR EXPERIMENTING!

Share your lessons-learnedat the ELEC 2015

September 17-19 in SwedenMike Rother

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TO OTHER PRESENTERS

Thank you for the opportunity to share with you some things we’re learning.

Please feel free to use any of the slides from this presentation, which are copyrighted under a Creative Commons Attribution license. The only requirement is to note the source on each slide you use, for instance by adding “By Mike Rother” somewhere on the slide.

Best wishes for your presentations & practicing!