the LGO journey

…if management stopped demotivating their employees then they wouldn’t have to worry so much about motivating them.

If management stopped demotivating their employees… — Lean Blog

The first time I heard about the program formerly known as LFM was through a blogger, Mark Graban. He is the author of one of the best Lean resources on the web, leanblog.org. I read it in college and knew that I wanted to consider this program down the line. It’s pretty cool that I am now a student blogger and can touch on some of the professional things I am passionate about.

Right now, I cannot hold a candle to Graban, so I would suggest checking out this piece on Deming and motivation at employers. I’ve been in situations where employers are GREAT at demotivating their employees, so I find this kind of thinking fascinating. People are obsessed with getting lean.black belt certifies, but never bother to understand what the goal is or how to actually treat others. Deming was one of the first thinkers in this area and more recently Daniel Pink (just read his exceptional book, Drive).

My biggest fear that Mark and ultimately, Deming, brought up is that extrinsic motivation gradually replaces intrinsic motivation throughout ones career. I’ve seen the challenging consequences of this at Raytheon, where most people have been in this extrinsically driven environment at only this company for their entire career. If the right leader took over at the front lines, could they turn people, or is it too late?

I’m glad people like Mark keep pushing the agenda on this kind of thinking. Companies, especially the large ones, do not “get it” yet. I hope to change that during my career.

23 May 2011 · Comments