A Postcard — with Leadership Insights — from Nashville
A look back at LEI’s Lean Transformation Summit in 2018 shares a few tips from CEO keynoters on how to successfully lead with lean thinking and practices – and some advice on being a good employer from LEI Founder Jim Womack.
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A Riveting Keynote: Dr. Kiame Mahaniah
Among the year’s practitioner keynotes was my new favorite conference keynote of all time. Dr. Kiame Mahaniah, CEO of the Lynn Community Health Center (LCHC), spoke about the work of this small center in the economically, culturally, and socially diverse community of Lynn, Massachusetts. The challenges faced by Kiame, LCHC, and the entire Lynn community are immense. In his address, Kiame and his predecessor Lori Berry (in video clips) described LCHC’s lean journey and how they managed the CEO transition. As described in his presentation, their journey addressed the ambitious question: “How do we transform a whole community by transforming its biggest asset, the health center?” Regarding the CEO transition, above all, they prove that a lean transformation can survive a CEO change. Lori and Kiame decided on the radical approach of cooperating in a planful way to transition as seamlessly as possible from CEO A to CEO B, preserving the excellent lean transformation work that began two years ago. Colleagues Bernadette Thomas and Kim Eng, LEI Coach Alice Lee, and the LCHC team supported their efforts. Kiame also briefly shared four critical points that help ensure a successful CEO transition:- Trumpet lean successes – While maintaining the humility Lean Thinkers are known for, you must ensure all the stakeholders know that you attribute the organization’s successes to lean thinking.
- Identify people with twin but conflicting personality traits — “who are willing to admit that things are a total mess and yet be able to believe that it can be different.”
- Set up lean thinking and practices as “a source of independent authority and wisdom to which you as the CEO, as a leader, can be held accountable.”
- Begin succession planning on Day 1.
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