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The Lean Brain Series

Five ways our brain can thwart lean and how to mitigate them

“Knowledge worker’s ‘machinery’—their brains—can be capricious, rendering thought processes less than reliable, and actions less than rational.”

Tonianne DeMaria
Thu, 09/28/2017 - 12:02
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While heading to a session at the most recent Lean Transformation Summit, I found myself confronted with signage that posed the following open-ended question: “All problem solvers must....”

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Given how the work we do at Modus Cooperandi focuses largely on the nexus between lean for knowledge work, behavioral economics, neuroscience, and the teachings of W. Edwards Deming, one response in particular resonated:

“Understand how their behaviors are contributing to the problem.”

Knowledge workers’ “machinery”—i.e., their brains—can be capricious, rendering thought processes less than reliable, and actions less than rational.

While lean offers us a set of principles and practices to help us create value for our customers, for our organizations, and for ourselves, it’s our brains that seem to pose the greatest challenge to its successful implementation.

 …

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Comments

Submitted by Bill Sproat on Thu, 09/28/2017 - 14:35

Excellent article

Great information and perspective.  This article got me thinking beyond the 'standard' lean approach.

Looking forward to the next one.

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