Lean Skills Can Help Get Your Career into High Gear
I once saw a student who was really afraid of speaking up in class. Her supervisor asked her to become a member of a small Lean team.
At first, she hated the experience. She was mortified about being called on to offer ideas in front of the team.
About six months later, I visited the team and Shannon stood up to give the report-out.
What Happened?
I asked her later what had happened to give her that kind of confidence. She told me about how she would attend meeting after meeting and not say a thing. But one day she offered her opinion about a very small matter in the team.
Shannon said that was the first time in her life that she spoke out loud and no one laughed at her! And then she tried it again, and again.
Until the day I saw her give the report-out.
What did that have to do with Lean?
“Mutual Trust and Respect” was a slogan that was posted throughout NUMMI. We would often talk about what Mutual Trust and Respect meant at both NUMMI and Toyota.
In the example of Shannon, the team already accepted and trusted her. But now she had to learn to trust her team.
I think it is one of the underlying principles of Lean that is not often talked about. After that experience, Shannon advanced her career to that of a Team Leader.
And NUMMI gained a Team Leader!
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