The Lean Treasure Chest

Using Lean to Locate, Recover, and Maximize Your Hidden Capacity and Potential

By: Jay Hodge

Narrated by: Alex Freeman

Every organization, regardless of the industry, possesses a hidden operational treasure. It exists everywhere and is embedded in each and every process. Unlike a shiny coin, this raw gold is dull and dirty, providing no reason to be noticed, but it’s there.

There are “process jewels” buried deep inside your day-to-day activities - rough and uncut, just below the surface, but they are there. The potential they possess can only be realized when you find them, but their combined value is beyond estimation. These jewels make up the contents of the lean treasure chest. You may call these jewels by many names: quality, safety, productivity, capacity, service, employee engagement, effective problem-solving, growth, innovation, customer satisfaction, and any one of a thousand others.

Lean is one of the most powerful tools for any type of organization, but the true impact is realized when applied to your value-producing process. It can transform the seemingly ordinary into extraordinary, cultivate a cultural transformation, and reveal potential and capacity you never knew existed. It is not simply a tool; it is a mind-set, an attitude, and a purposeful conviction.

Understanding lean is only half of the equation for success. Effectively utilizing it is the other half. Theory without application is a jet without engines, so developing the ability to use lean effectively is the purpose of the lean treasure chest. Lean applies to the boardroom as much as it does the production line or patient floors, so don't make the mistake of thinking that the lean treasure chest is only relevant to the front line employees. It is a resource for everyone - from the CEO to the department manager, the charge nurse to the system vice president, and everyone in between.

Process waste and inefficiency consume an enormous amount of your valuable and limited resources, yet they produce no value. Understanding how to identify and eliminate this waste and inefficiency is the first step in realizing your true operational potential and capacity.

Open the lean treasure chest and begin a journey of discovery within the walls of your own organization. You and your teams will discover what you never imagined possible.

©2018 Jay R. Hodge (P)2020 Jay R. Hodge