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Why Continuous Improvement (KAIZEN) and Lean Six Sigma are still KING!

“We can't solve our problems with the same thinking that created them”

~Albert Einstein

  • Do you have challenges with hiring great people?

  • Do you have difficulty with staff performing to expectation?

  • Do you struggle to achieve high levels of quality consistently?

  • Are you performing >99% and do you think that is good enough?

  • Do you encounter unknown variance in your product or service performance?

  • Are your customers <100% satisfied?

  • Do you know where your defects come from?

  • Are you aware of all the costs of your defects?

  • Are you excelling in your financial goals?

  • Are you able to offer the lowest prices to your clients, pay top dollar to your staff, and still make profit?

  • Are you tired of throwing money, resources, and assets, at symptoms that never seem to truly fix the problem?

I have THE proven solution!

“The most dangerous kind of waste is the waste we don’t recognize.”

~Shigeo Shingo, the world’s leading expert on manufacturing practices and the Toyota Production System.

If you are not where you want to be in any of the following areas, I have THE proven solution!

  • People

  • Quality

  • Customer Service / Experience

  • Efficiency

  • Productivity

  • Profit

As an Industrial and Systems Engineer with a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and having deep and extensive experience over the past 25+ years leading continuous improvement divisions in some of the most complex operating environments, I can share without a doubt the #1 key to achieving operational excellence is through a sound, solid, and committed approach to continuous improvement (KAIZEN) with Lean Six Sigma tools.

What is Continuous Improvement (KAIZEN)?

The Japanese word “KAIZEN” means change (KAI) to become good (ZEN) and is recognized worldwide as an integral pillar of an organization’s long term competitive strategy towards operational excellence. Companies in all sectors and industries are excelling using these tools and approach.

Continuous Improvement is built on small changes sustained over time for big results and is most successful based on these guiding principles:

  1. Full leadership buy-in

  2. Good practices bring good results (You will reap what you sow! Always!)

  3. Take action to contain and correct root causes of problems

  4. Speak with data, manage by facts

  5. Work as a team

  6. Unleash the power of consistency

  7. Implement changes with systems and mechanisms for sustained improvement

  8. Full ownership

“Where there is no standard, there can be no improvement.”

~Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer, considered to be the father of the Toyota Production System.

I have had the most amazing pleasure to work with some of the very best in the continuous improvement business and lead some of the biggest global improvement projects in large and small companies like FedEx, Cameron International, and Amazon.

Many companies today are looking for the “silver bullet” to drive the next major innovation or industry disruptive change that will send shockwaves throughout the industry sector. While the silver bullet eludes most, the secret to sustained improvement may also unlock a major leap forward in your business and industry. Lean Six Sigma tools continue to be the most complete and rewarding approach for continuous improvement (Kaizen), yielding amazing results over time.

Example: Through a weeklong Kaizen event, by improving safety performance in the trailer yard within Amazon Sort Centers, the Kaizen team unlocked opportunities to improve dock door utilization with technology that scaled to all global locations in both the middle mile and first mile. This resulted in significant improvements in safety, efficiency, productivity, and capacity utilization across the entire company and the team won the innovation of the year award!

“There is no elevator to success… you have to take the stairs.”

~Zig Ziglar

 

 The right approach combined with excellent leadership and enthusiasm is key to long-term success. There is nothing that can stop a team from success when they are hungry, driven, enthusiastic, possess a CAN-DO attitude, and are properly equipped to meet the challenge.

"You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win."

~ Zig Ziglar

Start your journey towards SUSTAINED SUCCESS with the continuous improvement fundamentals training. We also have partnered with Adonis Partners to certify you and your team in the belts of Lean Six Sigma. Engage with our team in a full week Kaizen event and see the power of continues improvement!

“Potential is one of the most powerful words in any language. It looks forward with optimism, it heralds hope. It implies possibilities and it unveils greatness. And to reach your potential, you must grow.”

~John C. Maxwell

This works! Contact us today to book your journey!

https://coachfoss.com/contact

Never give up & Never Settle!

#CoachFoss

#ContinuousImprovement

#Kaizen

#Lean

#SixSigma

#NeverSettle

#Innovation

#Disruption

#FromHereItsPossible #GloriousPossibility

#Ownership

#StartToday

#NoMatterWhat

#NeverGiveUp

#Believe

#Purpose

#Success

The MINDSET to be Your Very BEST!
 
CoachFoss BLOG Michael Foss 2 The Mindset to be Your Very Best Arnold Schwarzenegger Bo Eason
 

Do you want to be your very best?

Do you want to take control of your life, regardless of external circumstances, and live up to your full potential?

Do you want to release the full maximum level of greatness that is already within you?

I sure do! I want there to be NO GAP between the man I am intentionally becoming and the man I God created me to be.

This is a story that is worth repeating. Stories are what we tell ourselves and eventually become. And your story comes from your mindset, your belief system.

And it is a choice!

To be the best, you must choose the right mindset!

A success mindset.

A mindset of growth, positivity, and forward thinking.

 
CoachFoss BLOG Michael Foss 1 The Mindset to be Your Very Best Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger

 

In a recent presentation, Arnold Schwarzenegger shared his key mindset of full commitment that led to his tremendous success in achieving his big goals.

Arnold shared:

“I hate Plan B!”

Everything he ever did, the thing he heard out of everyone’s mouth was: ‘that’s impossible, that can’t be done, and no.’

Arnold continued:

“We have so many doubters and naysayers. And when you doubt yourself, that is very dangerous, because now what you’re basically saying that if my plan does not work, I have a fall-back plan. I have a Plan B.”

And when you have a Plan B, it takes thought, energy, drive, and tenacity, away from your Plan A.

When people said to Arnold, he changed it in his mind to:

It can’t be done => It CAN be done

No => YES

It’s impossible => It IS possible

Arnold never had a Plan B. He made a full commitment toward his goals and went all in.

  • To be a bodybuilding champion

  • To get into show business and be leading man

  • To be governor of California

 

NO PLAN B!

Bo Eason

 

I recently read Bo Eason’s book “There’s no Plan B for your A-game”. In this book, Bo explains how to develop the character, integrity, and commitment it takes to become the best.

Bo’s four step process to attain skill, maintain effort, and persist through challenges covers four key mindsets needed to become the best!

  1. Declaration

  2. Preparation

  3. Acceleration

  4. Domination

Bo says when you make your declaration to be your best, you have to adapt the mindset towards your declaration, in effect, change the way you think about your own identity. This requires your mindset to be intimate and profound with your future best self.

I highly recommend Bo’s book!

It all comes down to your mindset!

Start by asking yourself, what does your life look like with you at your very best?

What does your greatness look like with you at your best?

Dream big and be audacious! Begin to envision a life at your very best. See it. Feel it. Believe it. Replace the old thought pattern with where you now see yourself at your very best!

It’s time to think differently about yourself and your future. Now is the time!

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
— George Bernard Shaw

Never give up and Never Settle!

Seven Rules to Help you Achieve Anything in Life you Desire!
 
CoachFoss BLOG Michael Foss Saraha Deset
 

What drives you for success?

Have your achievements been equal to your full potential?

I had the pleasure to listen to a recording of a speech by Brian Tracy given to the Million Dollar Round Table in 1989 titled “Success is a Journey”, where Brian shared an remarkable life story where he, as a young man, set out on an amazing journey to trek from Canada, cross the sea to London, and travel south to Africa. At age 18, in 1963, Brian and a few friends set out to “see the world.” – A journey of about 8,000 miles!

 
CoachFoss BLOG Michael Foss Brian Tracy

Nothing succeeds like success

Set a goal and stay with it until you achieve success.

 

What Brian learned on this journey changed his life forever. Please find below my highlights and notes from his talk.


Set a goal and stay with it until you achieve success. Nothing succeeds like success. You become naturally programed to achieve it. Alternatively, quitting is dangerous. Once you do it, it becomes a habit.

Below are Brian’s learnings from the 500 mile Sahara Desert Crossing, during the ~8,000 mile journey!

1.     Decide upon your goal and then launch. Get Started. Take Action. Do Something. Move. A 12 year study at Babson College concluded the act of taking the first step is what separates the winners from the losers.

2.     Never consider the possibility of failure. Always forward, never backward. Refuse to quit. Your ability to persist in the face of setbacks and disappointments is vital to all great achievement, and it’s always a decision that you make. It’s not the external environment, it’s always the internal environment.

 
CoachFoss BLOG Michael Foss Always Forward, Never Backward
 

3.     The biggest goal in the world can be accomplished if you just take it one barrel at a time. (Reference to the 500 mile journey across the Sahara Desert where barrels are placed every 5km on the road for directional visibility). Do what lies clearly ahead. The only time you will ever have is NOW. Live every day, every hour the best you can.

4.     Watch out for the naysayers, the negative people around you. Get around positive people, winners. Fly with the eagles and refuse to listen to objections and reasons why you can’t succeed.

5.     Welcome obstacles and difficulties as valuable and inevitable steps on the ladder of success. The difficulties come not to obstruct, but to instruct. They are the price you pay for success. And no success is possible without them.

 
CoachFoss BLOG Michael Foss Brian Tracy

The Sahara Desert Crossing

Geoffrey Lundy and Brian Tracy

 

6.     Be clear about your goal and be flexible about the process of achieving it. Be willing to change, try something new. Keep your mind open and fluid. Be willing to accept feedback and adjust your course. It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with what you do have that separates winners from losers. It’s not what happens to you but how you respond to what happens to you that counts.

7.     Nobody does it alone. People help with resources, and especially, warmth, kindness, and generosity. When life is over, it will be the people that we live, laugh, and love with will be what we remember and cherish more than anything else. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, it’s a mark of strength, courage, and character. And give generously of yourself to others. It’s a mark of caring, compassion, and personal greatness.

Brian kept this poem by Robert William Service front of mind during his long journey!

 
CoachFoss BLOG Michael Foss Robert William Service Carry On

Carry on, my soul! Carry on!

 

Carry On! Poem by Robert William Service

 

It's easy to fight when everything's right,

And you're mad with the thrill and the glory;

It's easy to cheer when victory's near,

And wallow in fields that are gory.

It's a different song when everything's wrong,

When you're feeling infernally mortal;

When it's ten against one, and hope there is none,

Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:

 

Carry on! Carry on!

There isn't much punch in your blow.

You're glaring and staring and hitting out blind;

You're muddy and bloody, but never you mind.

Carry on! Carry on!

You haven't the ghost of a show.

It's looking like death, but while you've a breath,

Carry on, my son! Carry on!

 

And so in the strife of the battle of life

It's easy to fight when you're winning;

It's easy to slave, and starve and be brave,

When the dawn of success is beginning.

But the man who can meet despair and defeat

With a cheer, there's the man of God's choosing;

The man who can fight to Heaven's own height

Is the man who can fight when he's losing.

 

Carry on! Carry on!

Things never were looming so black.

But show that you haven't a cowardly streak,

And though you're unlucky you never are weak.

Carry on! Carry on!

Brace up for another attack.

It's looking like hell, but -- you never can tell:

Carry on, old man! Carry on!

 

There are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt,

And some who in brutishness wallow;

There are others, I know, who in piety go

Because of a Heaven to follow.

But to labour with zest, and to give of your best,

For the sweetness and joy of the giving;

To help folks along with a hand and a song;

Why, there's the real sunshine of living.

 

Carry on! Carry on!

Fight the good fight and true;

Believe in your mission, greet life with a cheer;

There's big work to do, and that's why you are here.

Carry on! Carry on!

Let the world be the better for you;

And at last when you die, let this be your cry:

Carry on, my soul! Carry on!

CoachFoss BLOG Michael Foss Robert William Service Carry On

Please enjoy hearing about this directly from Brian at the following links and learn more about what Brian is doing today!

 
 
 
 

Never give up and Never Settle!