After a one-day observation at a local company, I participated in a wrap-up meeting with the general manager and his team.

“We’ve been at this for five years,” the general manager said to me, proudly referring to his division’s lean implementation. “Our 5S rating is over 85 percent, and every department spends one hour per week on problem solving.” He continued on for several more minutes, extolling the vibrancy of their transformation, citing numbers of A3s, kaizen events, and gemba walks. “I visit team huddle boards every month to monitor adherence. And our corporate maturity score is 3.5 out of 4!” Finally, in an attempt at humility, he glanced over at the other managers in the room and concluded, “Of course, there’s always room for improvement. What did you see when you visited our site today?”

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