The Lean Solutions Podcast

What You'll Learn in This Episode:
In this episode, Catherine McDonald is joined by Stephanie Angelo to explore why culture is the hidden process behind organizational performance. They discuss how organizations can improve processes all day long, but without a culture that supports trust, accountability, and engagement, those improvements are unlikely to stick.
Stephanie explains why company culture should be viewed as a business strategy and offers a simple way to understand it: the personality of an organization. The conversation explores how leaders can intentionally shape that personality through values, behaviors, policies, and everyday interactions—and why creating a strong culture requires active involvement from senior leadership, not just middle managers or HR.
The discussion also looks at psychological safety, differences in culture across teams, and the importance of creating alignment between departments. Stephanie shares practical insights into hiring for culture through behavior-based interviewing and explains how understanding a candidate's past behavior can provide a better picture of how they may contribute to an organization's culture.
Finally, Catherine and Stephanie explore the growing role of AI in the workplace and why it should be used as a tool to prompt, assist, and support human thinking rather than replace it. They discuss the potential for AI to support team communication and collaboration while emphasizing the need to maintain human judgment and intentionality.
Key Takeaways:
1. Culture is the hidden process that determines whether improvements truly stick
2. A strong company culture should be treated as an intentional business strategy
3. Culture is a shared responsibility, but senior leaders must actively model and support it
4. Hiring for culture requires understanding behaviors—not just skills and experience
Links:
https://stephanieangelo.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanieangelosphr
https://www.findleansolutions.com/summit-2026/
https://www.findleansolutions.com/

What You'll Learn in This Episode:
In this episode, Patrick Adams and Andy Olrich are joined by Dr. William Harvey to explore one of the biggest challenges in continuous improvement: sustainment. Together, they discuss why organizations can be great at launching improvement initiatives but struggle to maintain momentum and achieve lasting results.

William identifies three fundamental conditions that influence whether improvement efforts stick: the work must feel meaningful, people must feel safe doing it, and they must have the time to do it. The conversation explores the critical role psychological safety plays in building ownership and engagement, along with how leaders can create trust by consistently listening to employees, removing obstacles, and following through on commitments.

The discussion also dives into Toyota Kata and deliberate practice as practical approaches for developing problem-solving capability throughout an organization. William explains how small experiments, daily coaching, and shared responsibility between coaches and improvers can turn continuous improvement from a temporary initiative into an everyday habit.

Whether you're leading a team, coaching problem solvers, building an improvement culture, or trying to prevent your latest initiative from becoming another "flash in the pan," this episode provides practical insights for creating an environment where continuous improvement can truly sustain.

Key Takeaways:
Sustainment requires meaningful work, psychological safety, and protected time
Leaders build trust by listening, removing barriers, and consistently following through
Continuous improvement must become part of the work—not something added on top of it
Toyota Kata builds problem-solving capability through deliberate practice and experimentation
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drwilliamharvey

https://www.findleansolutions.com/summit-2026/
https://www.findleansolutions.com/

What You'll Learn in This Episode:
In this episode of the Lean Solutions Podcast, Natalie Howden is joined by Cindy Darnell, Steve Burgett, and Jordan Kimball for a preview of their sessions at the Lean Solutions Global Summit. Together, they explore how organizations can design better processes, reduce ambiguity, strengthen communication, and develop people through continuous improvement.
Steve and Jordan share how their work at Gentex focuses on designing systems that make problems visible, reduce noise and chaos, and create the stability needed for people to become proactive problem solvers rather than constant firefighters. They also discuss how these principles can be applied beyond manufacturing to support and administrative environments.
Cindy dives into DISC and how understanding different communication and behavioral styles can help leaders navigate change, strengthen teams, and support lean culture transformation. The conversation also explores the connection between people and innovation, the importance of understanding ourselves and others, and how Kata can become a powerful people development process.
Whether you're leading change, improving processes, developing people, or building a stronger continuous improvement culture, this episode offers practical insights for creating systems that work better and teams that work better together.
Key Takeaways:
1. Design processes to make problems visible and reduce ambiguity
2. Standardization and stability give people more room to problem-solve and innovate
3. Understanding different communication styles can make change more effective
4. People and innovation are better together when communication and systems support both
Links:
https://www.findleansolutions.com/summit-2026/
https://www.findleansolutions.com/

What You'll Learn in This Episode:
In this episode of the Lean Solutions Podcast, Shayne Daughenbaugh and Andy Olrich welcome James Martin to explore why batching often feels more efficient, but can actually hurt the flow of an entire organization. James shares real-world examples of reducing batch sizes and moving toward flow, including a transformation that reduced processing time from 14 hours to as little as 1.5 hours while significantly increasing output.
The conversation explores how batching creates waiting, excess inventory, bottlenecks, and localized efficiency, and why teams need to focus on the flow of the entire system rather than individual productivity. James also explains how smaller batch sizes, experimentation, visual management, and employee empowerment can help organizations identify problems more quickly and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Whether you're trying to reduce waste, improve manufacturing flow, or build a stronger continuous improvement culture, this episode offers practical examples of how reducing batching can help work move faster and more effectively through an organization.

Key Takeaways:
Focus on flow—not localized efficiency
Smaller batches can expose and eliminate waste
Make bottlenecks and problems visible
Empower teams to experiment and improve
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-martin-4a4629254/
https://srasolutions.com.au/
https://www.findleansolutions.com/lean-summit/
https://www.findleansolutions.com/

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

In this episode, Patrick Adams is joined by Rebecca Moyers, Director of Operational Excellence for the State of Missouri, for a preview of her session at the Lean Solutions Summit, The Feedback Advantage. Rebecca shares how the State of Missouri is using employee and customer feedback to guide process improvement, strengthen experiences, and focus limited resources on the improvements that matter most.

The conversation explores how Missouri built an operational excellence community across 17 executive agencies, uses feedback to support both employee and customer experience, and applies omni-channel listening to better understand the entire customer journey. Rebecca also explains why organizations need to look beyond internal silos and consider whether every part of an experience connects seamlessly from the customer's perspective.

Rebecca shares practical examples of collecting feedback through website interactions, surveys, call centers, and operational data, and emphasizes that organizations shouldn't ask for feedback unless they're prepared to act on it. Most importantly, she explains that these principles aren't limited to government or large organizations; teams in virtually any industry can use intentional feedback to improve processes, culture, and the experiences they create.

Key Takeaways:
Feedback helps organizations focus improvement efforts on what matters most
Great customer experiences require looking at the entire journey—not individual silos
Employee and customer feedback become more powerful when paired with operational data
Don't ask for feedback unless you're prepared to act on it
Links:
https://www.findleansolutions.com/lean-summit/
https://www.findleansolutions.com/