Where Lisa Pulls the Trigger

Something strange was going on at the Shoe Emporium.  Lisa had barely seen Anne, Jerry or Ron ever since they had mapped out their process and found so many places for improvement.  If she didn’t know better she would have thought they were avoiding her.

But now they were all seated together at the coffee station, and Lisa took a deep breath and walked down to see them.

“Hi Jerry, hi Anne and Ron,” said Lisa, mustering the biggest smile she could as she approached.

Jerry looked around hesitantly.  Realising they couldn’t just leave, Jerry, Anne and Ron simply stopped what they were doing and stared wide eyed in her direction.

“Guys – have I done something wrong?” Lisa asked.  “We were making so much progress.  If we kept at it I know we could make a huge difference here.”

Jerry slumped a little as he spoke.  “We’re not supposed to be talking to you, Lisa.  It’s Robert.  A few days ago he sent us an email saying that if he ever caught us trying to help you again, he would fire us on the spot.”

Lisa’s jaw dropped slightly as she looked at Jerry, stunned.  “Robert did that?” she said.  She had expected bad things from Robert the Boss, but even this seemed a little too much.

Jerry looked away.  “I need this job, Lisa.  I wish we could help, but…”

And with that they walked away, leaving Lisa alone.

Making her way back to her desk, Lisa thought hard about what she could do next.  She had come so far already – fixing up the outgoing department, mapping the Shoe Emporium process.  But without her team-mates, she was stuck.

As she sat back into her chair Lisa felt someone standing next to her desk.

“Excuse me, but are you Lisa?”

Lisa looked up to see a well dressed woman in a skirt, shirt and suit jacket, neatly pressed and looking at her with a questioning look and a deep focus.  She was quite obviously a woman of power.  Despite her intensity, however, she gave Lisa a warm smile.  Lisa instantly smiled back.

“Yes, I’m Lisa,” she said, only slightly taken by surprise.

“Fabulous!” said the well-dressed lady.  “I wanted to come and thank you personally.”

Lisa could hardly think of what to say, so the well-dressed lady continued.

“I’m the manager for our incoming and outgoing items, and part of my team is the mail area over there.”  She gestured to the mail area, which until a few days ago had looked like a disaster.  Now, the space was neatly arranged, labelled, and it not only seemed more organised, it seemed calmer.

“The changes you made have had a huge impact on our team,” said the lady.  “I’ve been able to move three of my staff on to other duties and train them up to help in other areas.  They are over the moon, but as well as that our orders have never come in and gone out faster.  We’re saving days at a time.”

“Really?” said Lisa.  “It helped you that much?  But, how did you know it was me?”

“It’s my job to know these things,” said the lady, and she winked, adding:

“I see big things for you, Lisa.  Keep this up, and you’ll be telling me what to do someday.  Assuming we don’t all lose our jobs, of course.”  And with that, the well-dressed lady disappeared.

Lisa let out a deep breath, looked up at the ceiling and smiled.  Finally, something had gone her way.

She pulled up her emails and immediately a new message appeared on screen.

It was from Steve, and it simply said: “Yacht club after work?”

*

The sun was warm on her skin as Lisa made her way down to the yacht club that afternoon.  Looking around the entrance, she certainly felt out of place here, and under-dressed.  This was obviously a place for big earners – it looked like the place a CEO might hang out, not someone who worked in a call centre.

Thankfully, an energetic wave from across the entrance caught her eye, and she immediately felt more at home.  Despite his zany sense of humour and sometimes ragged style, Steve seemed to fit into this environment as though he was born into it.  Of course, Lisa knew that he had come from humble beginnings, much like where she was now.

“Hi Lisa!  Are you ready for your next lesson?  I chose this place especially,” said Steve, bounding over.

“Lesson?  And here I was thinking we were going to enjoy a nice meal,” Lisa said with a smile.

“Oh, this is going to be much better, I promise.  Besides, I can’t stand the food here.  Give me a burger and fries any day.”

Steve handed his ticket to the valet who radioed for Steve’s car to come around.  While they were waiting another car pulled up – a beautiful red convertible – and two people who were just as beautiful got in and drove away.

“Do you see what’s happening here?” asked Steve.

“What, you mean apart from the fact that everyone seems to be driving cars worth as much as my house?” joked Lisa.

“Well, apart from that.  Dig a little deeper – it’s to do with the process,” Steve said, and continued:

“The cars only come around when they are needed.  By giving this nice young man my ticket, I’ve triggered a call to action where they bring my car around.  In other words, they deliver to me – their customer – only when I request it.

“Can you imagine what would happen if they kept bringing cars around, whether we asked for them or not?”

“Well, they’d have a build-up of unwanted cars,” observed Lisa.  “I think things would get pretty crazy around here pretty fast.”

“Exactly,” said Steve.  “And here’s the kicker – most businesses are run like a valet bringing cars without a ticket.

“They create product without customers requesting it because they can’t make it on time and by request.  And they push work onto the next people in the process, regardless of whether they are ready for it and regardless of how much of it piles up.  And then everyone wonders why they have so much unused inventory left hanging around!  All of this results in waste.”

“And I’ve already seen first-hand how waste can ruin a company.  I’m working in it,” said Lisa.

“That’s right,” said Steve.  “So by using the tools you’ve already learned, you can make a process work quickly and work towards a Pull System, where you only create product or move work at the request of your downstream customer.”

The valet brought Steve’s car around and offered him the keys.

“Now,” said Steve as he got in and sat behind the wheel.  “Feel like something to eat?  I’ve got a craving for some French Fries.”

“Count me in!” said Lisa.

It wasn’t long before they were doing a very comfortable speed down the main road towards their local burger joint.  As old friends, it was easy to hold a good conversation.  The top was down and the wind in her hair gave Lisa a feeling of freedom.

“So I’ve been hearing some very disturbing things about your company,” said Steve.  “People are starting to talk as though it actually might not make it.”

Lisa sighed uncomfortably.  As hard as she wanted to believe that one person could make a difference, it truly seemed as though the odds were against her.

“It’s true Steve.  Robert the Boss told me a few days ago that what doesn’t get closed down in the next two weeks will probably be sent off-shore.  He said they are having one last meeting with the board of directors in two weeks’ time to decide.”

“Two weeks eh?” said Steve.  “Hey look, I know things are hard for you right now.  You’ve got problems with your team-mates, your job, but there are still a few more things we can do.  As far as Lean tools go, we’re just getting started.”

Lisa looked over at her friend, but found it hard to shake her worried expression.

“Steve, you mentioned using a Pull System before.  Is there more to it?  I’m still not quite sure I understand it completely.”  These daily lessons were a lot to take in, but Lisa was determined to learn as much as possible.

“Of course,” said Steve.  “The idea is simply that we don’t work on anything unless it is triggered by our downstream customer – whether it is the end customer or just the next “customer” of our process.  The most common way to do it is with a Kanban signal.  It’s a signal sent to your supplier to say that you’re ready for more product – often with the item details and amounts.

“Take this car for example.  When the car needs more fuel, the fuel light goes on.  This is a basic example of a Kanban – it is a signal given to me as the supplier, to replenish the fuel.”

A look of clarity came over Lisa’s face.  “That actually makes a lot of sense!”

“I just came up with that,” said Steve, looking pleased, and he paused for a moment as though he was filing it away in his memory so he could use it later.  “But, while we’re on it, there is something else in this car that I can show you.

“Do you see that USB port?  Many cars have them these days, and many computers.”  Steve gestured to the dash.

“Of course,” said Lisa.

“Well have you ever tried to put a different plug into a USB port?” continued Steve.

“No, that would be ridiculous, it simply wouldn’t fit,” said Lisa.

“Exactly!” smiled Steve, looking over but with one eye still on the road.  “They have made it impossible to make a mistake.  For us, we call this Error Proofing.  You’d be surprised at how many things in your job you can change so that it is impossible to make a mistake, and the results are incredible.”

“I can think of a few things already,” said Lisa.  “The payment forms our customers fill out often have mistakes on them, forcing us to call our customers back more than once.  I know some companies have drop down boxes that make sure they only choose the options available to them to save them time.”

“Yes!” said Steve.  “There you go!”

“But Steve, if you’re going to be teaching any more lessons this afternoon I am definitely going to need something to eat.  A full head and an empty stomach is not a good combination.”

“I agree, we’re almost there,” said Steve as he turned in to the burger drive-through. “I just love this place.  Burger and fries?”

Lisa enthusiastically nodded her approval.

They ordered their meal and drove through to the pick-up window.  Steve shifted in his seat and craned his neck to try and see inside.  “This is just the best thing,” he said.

“You must really like burgers, Steve,” said Lisa, her stomach grumbling.

Steve got back into his seat.  “I do, but I love their process of making burgers even more.  These guys have stores all over the country, and you know what?  The experience is the same no matter which store I visit.  Hot, fresh food delivered quickly.  Not only that, but almost the entire store is run by young men and women, often just out of school.  How is it that these people can make such a world-class experience in their company?”

Despite her hunger, Lisa’s brow furrowed in thought.  “You know, Steve, I never thought about it like that,” she said.

Steve continued.  “The difference is that they have a single standard process that they teach and enforce throughout their company.  Using this, it is done the same way every time.  They also make things very visual.  With the monitors, the beeps and alarms, it is fairly obvious if something is ready or is not working as it should, and everyone can do something about it.  And what’s more, the set timers for cooking each product are a great example of error proofing – it’s almost impossible to get it wrong.”

“Wow, Steve.  I’m kinda glad we didn’t eat at the yacht club now.  This is really an experience.”  Lisa’s mood brightened a little, and then brightened even more as the service staff brought their meal.

“Boy am I looking forward to this,” she said and, before they had even driven away, she was digging into a freshly cooked burger and fries.

*

It was late in the evening by the time Lisa walked through her door.  It had been another long day of hard work and hard learning but, despite how draining it should have been, Lisa had never felt more alive.

In fact, she felt as though she was working towards something worthwhile.  But the night wouldn’t stop here.  Lisa sat down at her computer, logged into her emails and began putting the finishing touches on her Value Stream Map.  As she worked and checked through her emails there were two that caught her eye.  One read:

>From: Jerry, Anne, Ron

>Subject: We’ll do it.  Count us in.

Lisa breathed a sigh of relief.  They were willing to help!  But at what cost, she didn’t know.  As long as Robert the Boss didn’t find out, Lisa hoped they would be OK.

But the other email read:

“Robert: Important Information Regarding Your Job”

I can’t imagine anything worse than another announcement, thought Lisa, and she clicked on the email from Robert the Boss.

But as the email opened and she began to read, Lisa realised something terrible.  She looked at the contents of the email – and she read it again because it just couldn’t be right.  It was worse than an announcement, much worse.

Life at the Shoe Emporium was about to take a terrible turn.

Selected chapters from the story within Five minute Lean:

• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Makes a Change
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Discovers a New Way
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Performs a Balancing Act
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Pulls the Trigger
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Sets a New Standard
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Becomes a Leader

Check out these selected chapters from the teachings within Five Minute Lean:

• Five Minute Lean – Create a Pull System with FIFO, Kanban Triggers and Visual Management
• Five Minute Lean Summary
• Five Minute Lean – Organise Your Process with Five S
• Five Minute Lean – Get Your Map Started with a SIPOC
• Five Minute Lean: Glossary
• Five Minute Lean – Work Towards One-Piece-Flow (and Reducing Silos or Batching)
• Five Minute Lean – Go to the Gemba
• Five Minute Lean – The Power of Incentives – What is Measured and Rewarded Improves
• Five Minute Lean – Make Feedback Meaningful with Kano Analysis
• Five Minute Lean – Use Pareto to Find Where to Start
• Five Minute Lean – Eliminate the Eight Wastes to Improve Flow
• Five Minute Lean – Put it Together With Design for Ease of Use
• Five Minute Lean – Value is Determined by the Customer
• Five Minute Lean – Implement With Agile for Fast Iterations and Feedback
• Five Minute Lean – Build in Quality with Error-Proofing and Autonomation
• The Five Minute Catch-up
• Five Minute Lean – Introduction
• Five Minute Lean – Map the Value Stream to Reveal Opportunities
• Five Minute Lean – Solve the Real Cause of the Problem
• Five Minute Lean – Heijunka: Level the Workload when Demand Fluctuates

Where Lisa Sets a New Standard

Lisa read over the email again, and felt her blood boil.

In fact, she had read it many times over the past few days just to make sure she had gotten it right.  It was because of this email that she had been forced to work back an extra two hours every day, or risk losing her job when she needed it most.

Robert the Boss had seen her speaking with the manager of the outgoing department and somehow got permission from their CEO to offload some of his work on to her.

She read it again:

>From: Robert

>Subject: Important Information Regarding Your Job

“After speaking with our company CEO, and seeing as you obviously have time to chat with other managers, I am assigning you some additional work at his request.  If you do not want to complete this work, I will take it as the tender of your resignation.”

There was nothing she could do but stay back the extra hours each day to complete the work.  Lisa couldn’t lose her job, but she also couldn’t continue to work there without making some positive changes, and the board of directors were meeting in a week to decide the fate of 300 employees.

A sudden thump snapped Lisa out of her thoughts as a pile of paper slammed onto her desk.

“Got time for a catch-up?” It was Jerry, standing next to her with a big smile on his face.

In fact, he had been smiling like this ever since he’d agreed to help on Lisa’s journey.  Everything they did now was based on trying to reduce the waste in their process, and the results were starting to show.

They would carefully form an idea for change, noting and minimising the risks using the tools Steve had taught them, then try the new method themselves and if the change worked they documented it.  They felt like scientists, according to Jerry, and Lisa passed on all of Steve’s lessons faithfully as he taught them.

Ron joined them as well, and Jerry continued:

“I worked on them all night, Lisa.  I think this is it!  I turned our changes into a standard checklist of things to do, so that anyone can follow it.

“And I also did the numbers – if everyone on the floor follows the process this way, we will cut our process time in half.”

“Not to mention we could probably move two whole departments,” added Anne, as she sidled up to Lisa’s desk.  “Did I hear somebody say “catch-up”?” she smiled.

Anne wasn’t joking.  The way they did their job now meant that they left out two whole departments – payments and customer forms – as they were able to complete these on the initial phone call.  Even though changes like this were seriously above their pay-grade, they knew that based on the evidence they had gathered they could move those departments elsewhere, like sales or fulfilment, and bring much more value to the company.

It was beginning to be a typical type of meeting with Jerry, Anne and Ron, and Lisa smiled.  They were actually glad to be at work.

“I’ll take these down to see Steve now, guys.  He can check it to make sure we’re on the right track.

“I know it’s not ideal, but once they’re ready we will have to show them to Robert the Boss so we can try and save the company before next week’s board meeting.”

Jerry and Anne looked worried at this, but Lisa put on a brave face.

“I’ll meet you back here soon.”

She made for the elevator, pressed the button and waited.

As she did so there was a large commotion on the floor.  People began to get up from their desks and move towards the common area.  Not another announcement!  Lisa craned her neck to see.  These things never seemed to be good news.

The people around her moved faster and started to yell.

“They’re deciding today!” they said.  “The shareholder meeting is today!”

Did she hear them correctly?  The meeting can’t be today, they weren’t ready!

“I’m too late!”  Lisa thought, and a terrible feeling washed over her as she realised that she could lose her job, and all that she had worked so hard for.

There must be something she could do.  As Lisa struggled to think, there was a loud:

Ding!

The doors to the elevator opened, and standing to one side was a tall man, handsome and well-dressed apart from the fact that he looked like he had been awake for three days.  His shirt was crinkled, and it was only 10 in the morning but he had a dark five o’clock shadow across his chin.

He held the elevator doors.

“Going down, or coming up?” said the man, managing a half smile.

Going down or coming up – that was it.  Lisa realised she could go down the elevator, leave the building and never return to her job – or have no job to return to.  Or she could go up the elevator to the board meeting with the documents she held in her hand, and do everything in her power to save the employees and the company.  Considering how far she’d come already, there was only one real choice.

“I’m going up,” said Lisa, and the doors closed behind her.

As the elevator moved, the man leaned against the wall and sighed.  He looked as though he was having a very bad day.

“Is… everything ok?”  Lisa ventured cautiously.

“Let’s just say it’s been a long week, erm…” and he trailed off expectantly, waiting for a name.

“Lisa,” said Lisa.  “I work in the call centre.”

The man seemed to do a double take.

“You’re Lisa?” he said, looking up and brightening a little.  Lisa was unsure of what to say, so she said nothing.  “You’re Lisa from the call centre, the one who has been making changes in my company?”

“Yes, I -” Hang on.  Lisa’s eyes widened.  His company?  Oh my God, thought Lisa, and her stomach turned.  The nice suit, the lack of sleep before a major board meeting, it suddenly clicked.

This was Michael Pilbury, company CEO and the man she had once so admired in the early days of the business.  By going up the elevator to the board meeting they had inadvertently chosen the same path.

“It was the only thing I could do.  I’ve… been trying to save my job.”

Michael Pilbury laughed a big, bellowing laugh.  “So have I, Lisa-from-the-call-centre, so have I.

“I’ve been hearing a lot about you, Lisa,” he continued.  “People are starting to talk.  I’ve heard about your group of high performers, and the changes you made to incoming and outgoing have made a huge difference to that department.”

Michael thought for a moment, and then said:

“And even though your boss Robert has taken the credit for the new sales initiatives, I have a feeling they are related to the other changes you’ve made.  Am I right?”

“That’s right,” said Lisa.

“Did you know that in the past week, your team has outperformed the others and sales have improved by ten percent?  Ten percent, Lisa.  That is huge!  I wanted to ask, how did you do it?”

Lisa looked down at the small pile of papers in her hand.

“It’s all in here,” she said.  “We were just about to finish them and show them to my boss in the hope that it could somehow save the company.”

Michael looked sceptical.

“I wouldn’t have too much faith in that approach, Lisa-from-the-call-centre, if Robert’s past behaviour is anything to go by.”

Lisa only nodded in response.  He was right.

“I’ve got a meeting with the board of directors right now.  They’re not waiting until next week to decide the fate of my company; they want to close up shop today.  Based on the changes you’ve made and the documents you have in your hand, I’d like to try and convince them to keep us here.  No downsizing, no offshoring, just improved service and growth.  What do you say?”

Lisa felt a sudden pang of doubt as she remembered:  “They’re not ready.”

“But they are all we have,” countered Michael.

There was no other way.  Lisa handed over the documents.  “There’s an A3 summary of the whole thing on the front page,” she said.  “That will help.”

The doors to the elevator opened.  Michael stepped out to a large room with polished wooden floors and two large oak doors at one end.  Lisa quickly reached out and held the lift.

“Wait – Michael, is this why you gave me all that extra work to do?” she asked.

Michael turned and looked over his shoulder.  “I didn’t give you any extra work Lisa,” he said with a sympathetic smile, and with that the doors closed behind him leaving Lisa alone to digest what had just happened.

So, it wasn’t him?  That means Robert the Boss had lied.  He had used the CEO as an excuse to get Lisa to do his dirty work, and Lisa had had no choice but to do it, or risk losing her job.  She clenched her fists, half in anger and half in determination, and gave a silent vow to herself to somehow make things right.

Her entire future was now based on a prayer and some only just finished documents.

Selected chapters from the story within Five minute Lean:

• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Makes a Change
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Discovers a New Way
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Performs a Balancing Act
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Pulls the Trigger
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Sets a New Standard
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Becomes a Leader

Check out these selected chapters from the teachings within Five Minute Lean:

• Five Minute Lean – Add Important Data to Your Map
• Five Minute Lean – Make Feedback Meaningful with Kano Analysis
• Five Minute Lean – The Power of Incentives – What is Measured and Rewarded Improves
• Five Minute Lean – Organise Your Process with Five S
• Five Minute Lean – Gather Direct Feedback and Indirect Feedback
• Five Minute Lean – Go to the Gemba
• The Five Minute Catch-up
• Five Minute Lean – Build in Quality with Error-Proofing and Autonomation
• Five Minute Lean Summary
• Five Minute Lean – Introduction
• Five Minute Lean – Use Pareto to Find Where to Start
• Five Minute Lean – Create a Future State Value Stream Map
• Five Minute Lean – Get Your Map Started with a SIPOC
• Five Minute Lean – Eliminate the Eight Wastes to Improve Flow
• Five Minute Lean – Heijunka: Level the Workload when Demand Fluctuates
• Five Minute Lean – Solve the Real Cause of the Problem
• Five Minute Lean – Use Kaizen and Kaizen Events to Help Stakeholder Buy-In
• Five Minute Lean – Work Towards One-Piece-Flow (and Reducing Silos or Batching)
• Five Minute Lean – Put it Together With Design for Ease of Use
• Five Minute Lean – Value is Determined by the Customer

Where Lisa Becomes a Leader

They had been in the boardroom under lock and key for over four hours – the highest paid people in the company undertaking a fierce debate on whether to close the call centre and offshore the other staff, or save the company and keep the jobs of 300 people.

The end of Lisa’s shift for the day had come and gone, as had the clock-off time for every other person at the Shoe Emporium.  But no one had left.  They had all come to the boardroom floor to await the announcement of their future and their life.

Security had been called in to guard the doors in case the announcement went bad – although nearly all of the people already expected the worst.  Then suddenly over the noise of the crowd, came the loud “click” of a door unlocking.

There was silence within a moment, and every eye turned towards the door.  It creaked as it opened, and out walked Michael Pilbury, CEO, taking his place in front of the crowd.

There was not a sound in the room as Michael declined a microphone to speak from.  He would deliver the news without it.

“Thank you for being here everyone,” said Michael.  “I’ve always known the people at the Shoe Emporium cared deeply about their jobs and the company, but now I can see it all with my own eyes.”  And he let out a deep sigh.  The pause seemed to last forever.

“It is with deep regret…” Michael started, but the crowd, sensing the worst, erupted in collective outrage and his voice was drowned by the noise.  Michael raised his hands and spoke in his deep resonant voice.

“Friends!” and the noise quietened.  “It is with deep regret, that I announce the resignation of one of our senior board members, Alan.”

Dead silence.  Board member?  Resignation?

“During our meeting today and based on some last minute information, the board has decided not only to postpone any offshore initiatives,” Michael paused again for effect, “but also at this stage to keep every single staff member of the Shoe Emporium employed in this fine company!  Yes there will be changes, and yes we have some work to do, but I believe that we can do it together.”

And the crowd could contain itself no longer.  Cheers and applause echoed through the floor, and didn’t stop even as the board members filtered out from the room and into the crowd.  Lisa caught the eye of Jerry, Anne and Ron and broke into a beaming smile.  “It worked!” she shouted above the noise.

Team-mates were hugging as the news sank in, some were even crying tears of relief and joy as they realised what it meant for them.  As nobody seemed to be leaving, pizza was soon ordered, bottles of champagne were bought and opened and the party really began.

But not everyone was in good spirits.  Over the noise of the crowd bellowed a voice that Lisa had been trying to avoid.

“LISA!  Did you finish that extra work I gave you to do?” Robert the Boss came storming into Lisa’s space and got so close she could smell his awful breath.  He took a hold of the pizza in Lisa’s hand and shook it as he bellowed.  “You don’t get to enjoy this until you’ve finished your work, SO GET BACK TO IT.”

Lisa stood her ground.  She looked Robert the Boss in the eye, let go of the pizza he was shaking and got ready to tell him exactly what she thought.  But she wasn’t alone.

“I think you mean your work, Robert,” it was the voice of Michael Pilbury, calmly but fiercely standing behind him.

“And she won’t be taking orders from you anymore,” he said.  Lisa looked over at Michael in surprise.  “In fact,” he continued, “You won’t have anything to do with this company at all.  You are fired!”

Robert’s face grew red.  He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, but no words came out.  Seeing that he had no allies here, he quickly ran out of the room.  And that was the last time anyone saw Robert the Boss.

“Which means there is a space for someone to be promoted,” said Michael, looking knowingly at Lisa.

“Do you mean me?  I couldn’t,” said Lisa.  “Michael I can’t.   I’m not a boss like Robert.”

“That’s right – you’re not a boss, Lisa.  You are a Leader.  Despite your title you still managed to lead the people around you.  The changes you’ve made and will continue to make have saved the jobs of over 300 of us here.  Which is why I would be honoured and grateful if you continued to work on and improve this company in your new role as manager.”

Lisa smiled.  In fact, she couldn’t think of anything she would rather do.  “Well… if you put it that way,” she smiled.  “You can count me in.”

Michael’s face broke into a beaming smile.

“I was hoping your answer would be yes,” said another familiar voice, and Lisa spotted a ragged mop of light brown hair bounding through the crowd.

“Steve?” Lisa nearly squealed with joy.  “What on earth are you doing here?”

“I heard about what was happening, and came right over,” said Steve.

“Steve happens to be a recent friend of mine,” said Michael with a grin.  “And he may have let it slip about some of the great things you’ve been doing,” he added.

“It’s amazing who you meet at the yacht club,” said Steve.  “Michael was very interested in what was happening at his company – very interested indeed.  Sometimes it’s easy to lose touch with the process, but with Lisa around somehow I don’t think that will be a problem anymore.”  Steve smiled and looked at Michael, who nodded.

Lisa looked accusingly at Steve.  “Why am I not surprised that you know my CEO?” she asked and then said half to herself, half to Michael, “Now I understand how you knew what I was trying to do here.”

“That’s right.  And thanks to you Lisa, I feel as though we could get back to the old days, when it was about our passion for shoes and it was fun to come to work.”  It seemed as though now it would be impossible to wipe the smile from Michael’s face.

Lisa nodded, and felt a swell of emotion and any words she wanted to say got caught in her throat.  Tears started to well around her eyes.

“Thank you!” she said and threw her arms around the CEO.  “And you!” she turned to Steve and gave him a hug.

Together they got another champagne, talked more about the way things could be and the impromptu party lasted long into the night.  People discussed their jobs, their lives, and the changes they could make, and the futures that awaited them.

As the party raged on, Steve slipped quietly into the background and away into the night.  He couldn’t stay out too late – after all, he had a meeting with an old friend over lunch tomorrow who was having trouble with their job.

Steve chuckled to himself.  It should be an interesting lunch.

Selected chapters from the story within Five minute Lean:

• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Makes a Change
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Discovers a New Way
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Performs a Balancing Act
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Pulls the Trigger
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Sets a New Standard
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Becomes a Leader

Check out these selected chapters from the teachings within Five Minute Lean:

• Five Minute Lean – Build in Quality with Error-Proofing and Autonomation
• Five Minute Lean – Add Important Data to Your Map
• Five Minute Lean – Map the Value Stream to Reveal Opportunities
• Five Minute Lean – Create a New Standard Procedure and Checklist for Quality Control
• Five Minute Lean – Put it Together With Design for Ease of Use
• Five Minute Lean – Gather Direct Feedback and Indirect Feedback
• Five Minute Lean – Create a Future State Value Stream Map
• Five Minute Lean: Glossary
• Five Minute Lean – Get Your Map Started with a SIPOC
• Five Minute Lean – Solve the Real Cause of the Problem
• Five Minute Lean – Value is Determined by the Customer
• Five Minute Lean – Work Towards One-Piece-Flow (and Reducing Silos or Batching)
• Five Minute Lean – Use Kaizen and Kaizen Events to Help Stakeholder Buy-In
• The Five Minute Catch-up
• Five Minute Lean – Introduction
• Five Minute Lean – Heijunka: Level the Workload when Demand Fluctuates
• Five Minute Lean – Present and Manage Your Change Using an A3 and LCA
• Five Minute Lean – Organise Your Process with Five S
• Five Minute Lean – Implement With Agile for Fast Iterations and Feedback
• Five Minute Lean – Use Feedback to Fix and Guarantee