GA 604 | Creating a Culture of Problem Solvers with Sarah Tilkens and Leah Roe

This is who I am as a leader. This is what I want my impact to be. This is why I choose to lead and this is how I show up. This is my secret sauce, this is my magic. And everyone at the end of that says, I thought I was putting together, like who I am as a leader, but this is who I am as a person.

Today I am excited to welcome Sarah Tilkins to the show along with Leah Rowe. Now, as you'll hear, today is a super, super fun episod. Really enjoyed this one. Just the energy was just through the roof and I just had a blast talking to these two ladies. And so if you're a regular listener, you've probably remember Sarah, she's been on a number of times. And so we can, we can link those previous episodes up and so, but this was the first time that I've got to interact with, with Leah. And so really what we talk about today, sort of the topic is creating a culture of problem solvers. But what it ended up happening was really getting into like I always have this list of questions that I'm going to sort of plan to ask people and I asked most of them but just as one of those where I just like these random ideas popped in my mind as we were talking and I would just jump at it. And so it was just a sort of a evolving conversation just about leadership and being vulnerable and emotions and all different types of stuff. And so please listen to this one all the way to the end because it's, it's in my opinion, a fantastic episode, although I'm probably a little biased, but it was, it was a blast to record. Show notes can be found over@gembapodcast.com this is episode 604. Again. Gebapodcast.com look for episode 604. Okay, enough from me. Let's get to the show.

Sarah and Leah, how's it going?

Great. How are you?

I'm well, thank you, Sarah.

I'm also great. Leah can speak for both of us. Full permission on this conversation that we will talk on top of each other, but we probably will ultimately be saying a very similar thing.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's great having you back on Sarah and Leah. It's pleasure to have you on and I'm really excited to, to talk to you guys so. Well, Sarah knows the drill. Leah, I don't know. I don't know if you both are prepared for this, but if one of you wants to do it. But we do like to begin all of our episodes with at least One quote, but we can do two if you got two.

So, yeah, I have a quote. I know Sarah's been on before, so I know she's gotten to share quotes.

My very favorite quote, kind of, you know, I was 10 years old in a Borders bookstore, picked up a random book, flipped to a page, and this quote was on that page, and it kind of changed the trajectory of my life. So it was Dr. Wayne Dyer, and it said, when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

What's that mean to you?

What that means to me is that perspective is everything, and that we get to choose how we want to look at any situation. So circumstances that happen to us at life or at work that are out of our control, that's it, is what it is. And we get to choose how we want to look at that situation, and that really can drive the trajectory of our lives.

How's it go? The old saying, choose to feel harmed, and you have been. Choose not to be harmed, and you haven't been. Right? So, I mean, easy to say, right? Somebody cuts you off in traffic, whatever, on a bad day, and you're like, yeah, you big jerk.

What are you doing?

Yeah, but then, you know, I'm using that example. Somebody said to me, yeah, but what if they were like, they cut you off because their kid in the hospital and, you know, in bad shape or something and are rushing to get there? Oh, yeah, it could be that, right? So say a little prayer for them, you know, and hope everything is okay, buddy. You know, but it really is a superpower, if you think about it, to not sort of skip over it like the way that we handle ourselves and handle our, you know, our emotions, really. Because emotions, that's really what it is, right?

Yeah.

So wonderful. All right, well, why don't we start with maybe just some background and how you've sort of got involved in all this continuous improvement stuff. And so. So, Leah, do you want to go first?

I'll actually let Sarah go first. Okay.

All right.

That how we came to be here together. Okay.

Yeah. So I. I probably have talked about this woman on your podcast before.

I think you're right.

She's a very important woman to me. So I worked for GE Healthcare for many, many years, and there was a time when I got to participate in an executive leadership development course. And at that point in time, it was a hard time for me. It was post Covid. I had a young child. I was leading a big team. It was a hard role. And all of a sudden, Ms. Leah Rowe fell into my lap through this training program. So as a coach, I got to learn from Leah. I got to work with Leah both in like a cohort and as a one on one coach. And she really set me up to understand coaching in a totally different way. For most of my life, I was told that I was being coached when in reality I was being taught or I was being mentored. But I had never experienced coaching before. So it just happened at this perfect time where I was trying to figure out, like, who am I and who am I now that I'm a mom and a leader and I'm wearing all of these different hats. And again, the coaching that I received from her truly changed my entire life. I tell the story often. People might have heard it before, but there was one particular session where I was feeling really, really stuck. I told Leah, I feel like I'm just locked in a cage right now and I am waiting for my leaders or GE healthcare, like, somebody just let me out and if you let me out, you'll see what I can do. And Leah asked Sarah, who's holding the key? And of course the answer was, oh, it's me. Back to the quote. Like, I am responsible, this is my circumstance, but I get to choose how I show up. And the coaching was just so powerful. The transformation that I went through was so powerful. It's what led me to actually walk a similar path and become a coach. And I'll segue to Leah by saying, back in the day when we were working together, I remember thinking so much about coaching and leaning and so much about as lean leaders. What we're really trying to do is we're trying to empower, we're trying to drive change, we're trying to generate curiosity and solve problems together. And probably five years ago I said to Leah, hey, I gotta teach you about this lean stuff. I think there's really something here, especially with coaching, because these leaders are undergoing this massive change. But when Leah walks out of the room when the coach isn't there, we forget to practice. We don't always have the systems in place to remember who we are and how we want to lead. So it was really fun because then Leah got to start playing in the world of lean with her natural curiosity and said, sarah, tell me more.

Nice.

Yeah. And so if I can kind of piggyback off of what Sarah said, first of all, Sarah was one of my very favorite people to coach. I remember in our first coaching session, she said she wants to start a revolution. And I was like, oh, let's effing go like this. She is ready to play. She is ready to make some big moves. So I was pumped to be her coach. But, you know, one thing I want to say about that coaching program that I got brought into GE Healthcare for was, you know, they were looking at the middle management level, and they were seeing, you know, we're having a lot of turnover at this level, so they wanted to boost retention. But also, I want to throw a shout out to the stakeholders of that program because they asked, you know, when somebody goes through your coaching program, do they ever leave the organization? And I said, yes, they do, because we coach them as humans, not as employees, as humans. And so we help them get clear on what they want in life, who they want to be and what their values are, what their motivations are. And sometimes that's not in alignment anymore with the organization. And those stakeholders said, yep, this is the program we want, because when we want to invest in our employees as whole people, so they wanted to boost retention, but also really focus on the human aspect. So that's where in the coaching with Sarah, we got to get really clear on not just who she wants to be as an employee or as a leader, but as who she wants to be as a person. Plus, there was leadership training in there as well. But, you know, Sarah went through the program and said, leah, this is great. This is fantastic. But, like, now what? Like, how do I make sure this sticks? Like, how do I make sure everyone at the company is doing these things? And so she said that, and I was like, that's a good question. And at the same time, I rediscovered a quote I love by James Clear that says, we do not rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the level of our systems. And I realized to be a great leader, having that goal is not enough. You need a system. You need a system in place. You need to be able to track it, measure it, in order to really transform the culture and organization. And so that's where Sarah and I then started playing.

Oh, that's fantastic. So this next question is an interesting one for me. So I know that you've both been, what, you co author or co keynoted at Ohio State's OPEX Summit. And I want to talk about that. But first, I gotta say I got a confession to make on this podcast. I can't believe I'm about to do this. So I grew up in Ohio. Okay, Like a farm boy in Ohio. And I grew up watching, like, Ohio State football since before I even knew what it was.

And I'm not as bad now as a, you know, grown man, but there were times in my coming up and I even say in my adult years, I'm ashamed to say that I would be so, like.

Nervous for like Ohio State football games if it was like a, A real game, right? Playing someone that they're not going to beat 50 to nothing, that like, I couldn't eat until like, okay, second quarter, we're up by three touchdowns. Now I can eat. Like, that's the level of fandom, right, That I, That I have been with Ohio State. But here's the thing. I know, and this is the. Where it gets a little bit weird. So my partners are probably. Why are you talking about this on the podcast? Ah, whatever. Like, Ohio State's obviously got big lean new stuff and all that. And some of Gemba Academy's competitors, for whatever reason are a little more connected to Ohio State than Gemba Academy is. And so like, secretly, I've always been so jealous. I'm like, why can't we be friends with Ohio State? Because I love them, you know. But it's obviously super jealous of you two for being up there on the big OPEX summit and talking about Lee to continue some Freewood. So. So there's that. But anyhow, what did you guys that when you're up there at the Ohio State talking about Lean?

Yeah. So we talked about how to build a culture of problem solvers. So really how to go from being the problem solver to developing a team of problem solvers. And an important element that we dove into was we talked about the being and doing of leadership, that it's not enough to just do Lean tools. You have to shift who you are as a leader, how you're showing up.

So I am new to Lean ever since I met Sarah a couple years ago. So I'm like a Lean fan girl. Like any. I can't get my hands on enough lean stuff. I just like, geek out hard about it. So I started reading Toyota Kata and something that stuck out to me in that was it talked about, you know, everyone went to study Toyota and then they brought back all the Lean tools. They're like, this is going to be amazing. And then they're like, why aren't we as successful as Toyota? And they went back and they're like, oh, because it's not just about the tools. It's about the people. It's about the culture. It's about how they're developing that problem solving mindset.

Thinking.

Yeah.

And so that's really what we were talking about in this keynote.

Okay.

And it was fun because so Leah and I are both coactive coaches and coactive talks a lot about the being and the doing. Right. Like sometimes we have to just reflect, we have to be with ourselves. We have to get curious about what now. And sometimes it's a time for action. So what was really fun is even in the keynote we played off of this theme where Leah really built a ton of resonance. We talked a lot about like, what does culture mean? We talked about trust, we talked about curiosity, we talked about leadership. And then I brought a bunch of tools in different ways. So we talked about daily management, we talked about leader standard work, we talked about kata. But it was reframing how you, how you do both at the same time, how you shift your mindset and then how with that shifted mindset, you act and to create a totally different type of result.

Hey, can I jump on something you just, you guys mentioned, both of you mentioned trust. I'm wondering if we could explore that a little bit and specifically what happens if they're in an organization for whatever reason.

Previous management or whatever. I don't know, could be a million things like trust is not where it should be. Maybe it's low even within the organization. And now, you know, Leah and Sarah write in and they're the management team now and it's going to be better. But there are people are like, yeah, like, I don't know. I've seen this before. Oh, lean. Here we go. Right, like, so what do you, what's your advice for anyone who might be in that sort of a situation to where for whatever reason, trust isn't where it should be.

Did Leah pay you to ask that question?

No, she really didn't. It's not even on my list here, I don't think, is it?

I love trust. So we do a lot of work with culture and ultimately a strong organizational culture, high performing teams. It comes down to three elements. Trust, communication and alignment. And if you have an issue on your team or in your culture, it's one of those three things. It's a trust issue, a communication issue or an alignment issue. A mixture, sometimes a mixture of all of them. But ultimately when you break it down, it's usually a trust issue. So for your example, if you're coming in to a team where the trust is low, you need. I would start by having a conversation by really listening, asking questions and just understanding where did the trust break down and then ultimately what needs to be done for the trust to build back up. So there are. We always break it down. Trust is built and broken by behavior. So you have to get super clear on like what are the behaviors that leaders have done in the past that have broken trust with this team? Okay. Now you know, as the new leader, those, if I do those things, that's how I'm going to break trust. Often like a big trust breaker is like not doing the things that you say you're going to do. So a lot of times we hear from teams like, you know, my leader always said they were going to do this thing, but they never actually followed through. So now I don't trust leadership. So getting clear on what are the behaviors that have been done in the past that have broken trust and then asking them what could I do? What are some things I could do to demonstrate for you that I'm a trustworthy leader. And so then you can learn from that team what are the things that build trust for them and what are the things that break trust for them.

Yeah. Well said. Sarah, do you anything to add?

Only that I think when you, when you talk about trust in this way, I think it's such a cool opportunity again from a tool perspective to consider the role that leader standard work can play for all of us. I think leader standard work is a great way to remind ourselves like not to go to a specific meeting, but how we need to show up, what things we have to audit, what things we have to standardize. And so whenever Leah talks about trust, like to me it's just we can again systematize those things. Once I know what good looks like, I can use one of these lean tools and lean systems to help me remember to show up every single day. And I expect if I do this thing, it's gonna generate a specific result. So if you have a really good reflection mechanism around your leader standard work, it allows you to adopt to that new culture in a very playful and experimental way where you're able to get evidence and that you're making progress by just by doing the things that you said you were going to do.

Yes, and that's very much like in the leadership training that Sarah went through with us. We're teaching leaders how to build trust with their teams. That's what we're teaching is trust building behaviors is curiosity, Listening to understand, not just respond. So we're teaching these behaviors, but if leaders don't do them consistently, then there's no trust being built. And so that's where it was like Sarah was like, great, I know how to Build trust. How do I make sure it's done consistently? How am I tracking it, how am I measuring it? Who's auditing to make sure I'm doing it and doing it right. And so that's, that's really where we started playing together because the systems piece can make that trust really consistent on the team.

What are your thoughts? Either one of you can, or both of you can jump in on this. What are your thoughts on? We think about trust, but trusting yourself.

Because sometimes, you know, we all, from time to time in our careers or even today, you know, imposter syndrome or whatever it might be can sort of creep in and doubt creeps in and we don't believe in ourselves like we should. Like what do you, what do you think about that? Like just from our own.

Our own selves.

I've been thinking about this all a lot. I now believe that there's a lot of different versions again of like what leader standard work can be. And I've started naming them a little bit differently. But I think first and foremost it's inner leader standard work, which is kind of what you're talking about, Ron. So with a lot of my coaching clients, and a lot of them are OPEX leaders, it's really understanding again, what do I value, what makes me who I am and how do I every single morning like turn on these three light switches and activate that version of myself. So if I don't even know what my superpowers are, I can't even recognize in myself what makes me great. That's the place to start. Then I think there's leadership standard work, which is a lot of again, what Leah talks about and what Leah brings. It's, you know, how we have one on ones, how we have check ins with people, how we give recognition, how we so, so there's a system of if we do these things, then we will be showing up from a behavior perspective as a good leader. And then the one we're more familiar with in Lean is the traditional leader standard work, which again for me it's all about change management. It's all about how we as leaders teach our staff and teach our teams. This is important to me. This new change that you're implementing matters. And so I'm going to show up every day and I'm going to make sure that it's going the way that we think it's going to go. Not so when it's broken I can point the finger at you, but when it's broken, so I can help and get really Curious with you about what do we need to do to get back on track. So it's not meant to like add complexity, but I think that so many people misinterpret that tool because I really think depending on the situation and where you are in your journey, you can leverage it for so many different things.

Yeah. And I think on your spot, I'm a self trust. Like that has to be. You have to have that. You need to. And Sarah, I'd be interested from your perspective. I feel like coaching, like, true. You know, the coaching we were doing where it's not just performance coaching, it's really developing you as a person who's a human, deepening your self awareness. Like, I'd be interested to hear from you how that helped you in terms of self trust.

I mean, yeah, for me it was a full journey in self trust because I think that especially when you look around the room and everyone has more experience or everyone's a little bit smarter, you know, and this is all just the belief in your head, but it tends to make you doubt the ideas and doubt again what you're bringing to the table. So the first thing to recognize, like with coaching, I always said you have to learn to love yourself before you can really learn to love others in the way they deserve to be loved. Because what stands in the way of true connection and relationship is I'm too busy in my head to actually see you and hear you and appreciate you in the way that you deserve. So I think that when you go through coaching, it helps you again, like recognize who you are. Recognize that, like, you have a unique perspective and voice and you can offer it in this way. And when you learn to rely on yourself and love yourself from that angle, how you show up as a leader, it's just, it's crazy. It's so different because again, your self doubt, your imposter syndrome, your need to be right and control the outcome is not standing in the way of you supporting the people that you're intending to support.

Yeah. And through the program we did with Sarah too, one of the capstone projects was your leadership brand. So everyone had to present, this is who I am as a leader. This is what I want my impact to be. This is why I choose to lead and this is how I show up. This is my secret sauce, this is my magic. And everyone at the end of that says, I, I thought I was putting together, like, who I am as a leader, but this is who I am as a person. And like, that builds self trust and self confidence. And I also think, you know, from my perspective, again, I'm not the lean expert, but I feel like having standard, like standards for leadership, like this is what good leadership looks like. I feel like that would build self trust too. Because that's something that I see missing in a lot of organizations is they're just being told to be good leaders. But it's like. But what is the standard? Yeah, what does that look like? And that's a. That's a problem that Sarah and I are working on solving is helping organizations to create that standard. This is what a good leader looks like. Now you have clear expectations.

Wonderful. Good stuff. So next thing I want to kind of move into is this problem solver revolution that you guys tag teamed. It sounds like first of all, what is that? What's the problem solver revolution?

So that's really taking what we kind of talked about at our keynote, how to build a problem solving culture and now actually doing it with organization. So it's going from being like, here's a nice theory of what you could do. And now we're working with organizations side by side to really build a problem solving culture.

Yeah. And what that looks like. So everything that you kind of are hearing us talk about here. So this is aimed at a lot of different areas of the organization. There's impact for the executives, there's impact for the middle managers, and there's impact with like the frontline team. But ultimately what we're doing is we're teaching leaders how to lead in a different way. We're doing that by teaching them what coaching is. Again, our first thing that we talked about is coaching is not teaching. Coaching is not mentorship. Coaching is something else. So we're going to teach them how to listen and how to create results as a coach. From our background of learning and knowing how to do that, we're going to also teach them Katana. Right. So there's coaching which opens up this whole world from a development standpoint and opens up the ability to again generate curiosity and lead differently and learn differently. And then kata is more around the practice. So we're bringing these two things together, paired with leader standard work, paired with the ideas around Kaizen. But ultimately what we're creating is an environment where we're not just going to tell you what good looks like. We're not just going to tell you what it means to be a good leader. We are going to show you watch us coach. Watch the energy in the room shift. When you witness this type of different conversation, I get goosebumps. Thinking about it. Because if you've ever been in a real coaching container, it is so transformative. And then I'm going to say, okay, Ron, it's your turn. I want you to practice. Okay, here's what you did. Great. Next time, I want you to practice these skills. Do it again. Great. Do it again. Great. Do it again. So it is taking again everything that we've learned, teaching the skills differently and then empowering people to practice in a more accessible way and supporting them through the journey, through all of the learnings and systematizing the behavior. So when Leah and I walk out of that shop at the end of the day, they've got daily management systems with KPIs leading indicator, KPIs for leadership behavior. We can look at your daily management board and we can say that we are exhibiting the behaviors that we have decided are our cultural norm for our leaders. We have evidence from our kata boards that we are actually tackling and solving big problems. And it is a full organizational uplift to again, becoming a better culture of problem solvers, which everybody wants. Everyone that we talk to about this says, I just want my staff to be better problem solvers. I want our culture to focus more on problem solving instead of firefighting. Great. Let us show you how.

So I know that you guys have been involved with something called, I think you call it culture Kaizen. Is this sort of like all the things that you're talking about or is there more to it?

So culture Kaizen is part of it. We have ideas on culture Kaizen and there's a couple different kaizens that we are running within this realm. One is a coaching Kaizen where again, we teach leaders how to be coaches. That's what people experience when we're doing the problem solving culture, stuff like that. We also have a kaizen around accountability and we have a kaizen around innovation. So it's taking less traditional, you know, more soft cultural topics. They mean very different things to different people. Who has ever said in their organization that our accountability is, you know, 10 out of 10? Right. So these, these problems that we find and we are using coaching foundations, we're using our playfulness and our desire to create transformation, and we are going to do just that. We're bringing these transformative experiences into organizations to change their culture in five days.

Yeah, and I. I got to experience my first kaizen with Sarah. You were like the head of it, right? What's like the term, I don't know.

The internal sensei, maybe? We had Shingajitsu there at the time though. So I don't think that I get to call myself the hat. But I was.

She seemed like the top dog there. So she was so kind and invited me to be a part of this. I've heard of Kaiser. I'm like, this sounds awesome. It sounds amazing. So I went and I experienced it. I was like, this is even better than I thought. And so, you know, they're solving all these problems and I'm like, do you think you could do this for culture? Because I mean that's my line of work is like solving culture problems. And I'd never experienced a Kaizen and I was like, could we do a culture kaizen? Like is that a thing where we could spend five days and solve a bunch of culture issues in an organization? So that's like kind of where the inspiration came from. And then. Yeah. So our three different flavors of culture kaizen right now are innovation, accountability and then coaching skills. Because those are the three problems we're hearing over and over from organizations is we want people to be more innovative and creative. We have an accountability issue and we want better problem solvers. We need people to be better coaches. So we're solving those big problems. The other thing is in my line of work, in terms of leadership development, learning and development, everyone has gotten used to convenience and they just want a convenient leadership development program. They don't want disruption, they don't want to pull their leaders away from things. So people are doing things, you know, like LinkedIn learning, which is great. And also it's just not going to transform behavior. So what I like about kaizen is it's disruptive. It's a five day thing. We're getting super into it. We're really immersed and I truly, Sarah and I are talking, we truly believe that disruption equals transformation. So with what we're doing, we're kind of saying, you know, two hour workshops are out, like five day kaizens are in. Like let's actually transform organizations, let's actually transform behavior. Let's change the way people lead and transform them for the rest of their lives. So that's really what we're excited about with culture kaizen.

You've both mentioned the word accountability a few times and I'm wondering, I've asked a few guests this. So people, regular listeners are probably sick of me asking this. But so I've got like myself, I got seven kids. Like my oldest is married and just had our first grandson. So I'm a grandpa, how's that? But then I've got, you know, younger ones in high school and college age right now and it's easy to pick on the kids, you know, but with the sore, you know, whole sort of like tick tock generation. Right. Like just super short attention spans and just, you know, like. And I'm wondering if you guys have thoughts on like how are we going to reach this generation? When they enter into the workforce, they're very different and I'll say they're worse. They're just different than, than we are. Right. As far as they're just the things they're interested in. And again they like quick, fast, which could be fantastic for Kaizen and maybe they'll love that. I don't know if you can go in and get some quick wins. But like what are your thoughts? Have you done much work with sort of the, I don't know, kind of like the younger generation just coming into the workforce?

I would say I have just in the way that, you know, GE Healthcare, where I just left in October, but like very rich culture of our leadership development program. So we always have the most amazing summer interns. We have the most amazing, you know, out of college talent that are coming to the rotational programs to learn and they always are key contributor in driving Kaizens. So what I like about that group is again like they do want fast and I think Kaizen is the perfect container for that because we're talking about like rapid prototyping. Like instead of explaining it and researching it forever, show me, go try a thing and what can you learn and how can you create results? So I think it's a good example where we can use Kaizen to scope a specific problem but also just create an environment for play and collaboration and quick learning. And I've never been a part of a Kaizen where I've told you how, I tell you, here's the thing that we've got to do. Here's a bunch of random stuff you can use to solve the problem. Here's a moonshine shop, here's a, you know, bunch of Legos. Go. And I think that that really fosters what we need out of the up and coming generations is to think about how they ask questions. I don't need you to know how to tell me the technical definition of taktime or how to do a value stream map, you know, by rote memorization. Let's use AI for that. What I need you to do is I need you to unlock your creative brain. I need you to get curious. I need you to ask really good questions. And again, I need you to go out there and fail fast and see what you learn and then do it again. And I don't know of any environment that's conducive to that type of movement as what Kaizen actually is.

And in the Kaizen that I experienced, and again, I only got to experience that one at GE Healthcare and seeing how people were interacting with each other, the relationships that were being built, like there was a lot of fun being had. They were solving problems, but they were connecting, they were having a good time, they were celebrating each other. And it's been really interesting because at least in our area, I've been working with a lot of organizations and they're saying that those that are coming out of college, they don't want the remote jobs, they want to be on site because a lot of them for college had to be remote during COVID And so they're looking for this connection, for relationships, they're looking for that community. And I feel like Kaizen is a way to do that at work where it's like you're bringing people together, they're solving problems together, they're having fun, they're playing, they're celebrating. So I actually think that, you know, the next generation of the workforce is going to really enjoy this kind of problem solving experience.

It was funny, you. I had a really vivid memory, Sarah, when you were talking about just Kaizen and report outs and whatnot. And I'll never forget for the rest of my life. And this has been 20 years ago, I don't know, a long time ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. We were doing a Kaizen event in Sulphur Springs, Texas and it was just a great event. I think it was like a smed event or something. And you know, the team was doing their report out. They cut change over time, massive. 50. I don't know. It was a really good, successful event, which was fine and great. But the thing that I remember most vividly is there was this young man who was on the team and he was kind of quiet all week and you know, we just, you know, just involved him as much as we could and as much as he wanted to be involved. And he did, he had some good ideas and was in there and all the rest of it. And as the week went on, he got more and more engaged. Well, during the report out, everybody had their little part, you know, to do and, and he was towards the end and, and he did his part that we had practiced, you know, and, and so that was fine. And Then he said, and I just want to say one other thing now, I forget this. He said, I just want to acknowledge this team and to say that no one. And at this point, tears were welling in his eyes. And he said, no one has ever listened to my ideas like this team has. And by the time he was done, tears were rolling down his face. And it was sort of at that moment that I realized the true power of what we're doing. You know, 50, great, fantastic. Make more parts, make more money, wonderful. But the transformation in that young man's heart, you know, like, that's what I'll never forget. So I don't know what you guys. I'm sure you guys got a million.

Stories like that, but it's so powerful. It's so powerful. And you know, one of my favorite. We're talking a lot about quotes today. So, Ron, I'm Ledger. Because you know Oprah, one of my favorites of her is that everyone, no matter who you're, everyone just wants to know, do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say mean anything to you?

Yeah. And I think.

And that's exactly, you know, your story. He felt seen, he felt heard. He felt like what he said actually mattered to all of you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So for everybody listening, don't ever minimize the things that we're doing in continuous improvement. I mean.

You can change people's lives for the better, Right? And I would argue if you aren't, you're probably not doing it right. You know, so, like, that's really the goal here, is to change hearts and minds towards, you know, a better way of working, a better way of. Of living, you know, as human beings kind of thing, you know, like just this mindset of growth. And it's so important, it's so powerful. That's why I feel like this is the best job in the whole world. I don't know what else could be better. Maybe heart surgeon or something. I don't know. Saving lives.

The power of giving people a seat at the table I think is just like, that's what we're talking about. And I think that's so cool. Is like a lot of the problems that we solve with Kaizen. Could we solve them in a closed door conference room? Maybe. Would it be as fun? No. Would we get the same result?

No.

But when you. Again, like disruption equals transformation. When you do it in this different way, maybe it's not the problem that is actually transformed. Maybe it's the people in the room. Exactly. To what you're Speaking to. And I have a lot of stories like that as well. Of, of someone being so grateful just to sit at the same table as an executive leader or as a professional problem solver. Right. And just to be. Whether they're hearing, whether they're offering, just to feel like a part of the team in a different way. And, and what an amazing. Again, you said it. What an amazing gift that we can offer when we, as the facilitators or the organizers of these events, do it the right way. And it's not just about solving the problem. It's again, about building problem solvers. Yeah, we'll get there. We'll solve the problem.

Right.

Let's do it in a way that really, really builds the people first.

Fantastic. Oh, my gosh, this has been so fun. I know I told you guys at the beginning we always have like a little list of questions or whatever they could ask. And I'm like, and I'll probably just go off script. And we did.

But this has been a super fun conversation. I really appreciate you ladies for coming on. I wonder if there's any sort of final words of wisdom or final things or parting thoughts that you guys want to leave with listeners.

Maybe a question to you, Ron. What do you think is the most important concept or the most important idea that you've heard today from us? What are you taking away from this?

The power of.

The power of just involving and believing in others. You know, like, that's the key takeaway for me is just there's true power in that. And I feel like many times we forget that again, we can get lost in all of our tools. And the tools are great. I mean, I love them, you know, I mean, and everybody should learn them, but don't get lost in them because in the end, it might just be a marker and a piece of flip chart paper and some brainstorming that unlocks.

Unlimited potential. Right? So.

Yeah. Great. All right. Hey, if folks want to connect with you too, what's the best way with me?

You can go on LinkedIn. Find me Leah Rowe. Also, my website, www.choosetheform.perk.com.

Wait, choose the what?

The Perk. P, R, k. Yep.

Okay.

Perk.com.

Okay. Nice. All right, Sarah.

And same LinkedIn. Sarah tokens. And my website is the kpilab.com.

Nice. Nice. Kpilab.com was taken, I guess.

Well, yes, it was. I think. No, I don't even know. I think I like the.

The.

I don't remember, but.

Okay, well, you should go snag it. Up if it's still available.

Right?

Yeah right exactly.

We did buy the domain leahand sarah.com so eventually he'll be able to go.

Oh I love it, I love it, I love it. I'll keep being nice to you while at Enron.

Let's go buy it for that.

It's probably available.

Just saying.

Awesome. All right ladies, this is been a blast. Take care. Thank you.

Thanks Ron.

Thanks for listening. Whether you've been on the continuous improvement journey for many years or perhaps you're just getting started, Gemba Academy is here to support you. And while we're best known for our more than 1500 Lean and Six Sigma teaching and virtual tour videos, we also have a team of experienced Lean and Six Sigma practitioners available for one on one coaching as well as a variety of Lean and Six Sigma certification options. To learn more and to schedule a demo, head on over to gembaacademy. Com.