Lean U.S. Senator Candidate Launches LeanAmerica.org

By Jon Miller | Post Date: August 18, 2010 7:19 PM | Comments: 6

It's mostly politics as usual in the race for the U.S. Senate seat in Washington State. The top 2 system has narrowed the race down to incumbent Democrat Patty Murray and Republican Challenger Dino Rossi. Our friend and lean thinker Paul Akers sadly was not able to break through the Republican political machine with his message of lean government. You can view Paul's inspiring speech here. Judging from his new LeanAmerica.org website he is far from finished in his fight to bring some lean sense into the U.S. government. So far it's a one-page website but I am sure more is soon to follow.

What's Lean America about?

Lean America is all about helping government organizations throughout America learn and implement lean thinking; by empowering their workers to continuously improve, eliminate waste, and to add value for all Americans.

It's clear Paul will continue his fight to bring Lean to the U.S. government:

Lean America helps other public organizations learn the secret to unlock the creative genius of their employees and improve the way governments operate.

How will Lean America do this?

In order to implement lean, you must build a culture of continuous improvement. Lean America's model is to place a lean teacher in every government organization. That teacher will work with a group of 10-30 people in a single department for 30 consecutive days. The lean teacher will conduct meetings that will last between 15-30 minutes every morning with the entire department.

What's the goal of this?

The goal is to turn every team member into a world class problem solver who seeks and destroys waste everyday.

The strategy of LeanAmerica.org is to start a snowball effect:

after one year, the original team will send its own lean teachers to other department and the snowball is going; creating world class lean thinkers and problem solvers throughout our government.

Paul continues to support his AM radio talk show The American Innovator, promoting lean and innovation in business and government. Call in on Saturday and ask him how you can help LeanAmerica.org bring lean to public sector organization near you.

As much as I like the concept of lean in government, I don't see how this canned approach will succeed. I've seen firsthand that any organization has to begin a lean journey in a method that fits with it. For example, my hospital tried to become "Thedacare West" when we started our journey - it was rammed down our people's throats. To put it mildly, they didn't like it. These journeys take years and a lot of nurturing. I can't see a 15-30 minute daily meeting, ending after 30 days, is going to have any sustainment at all. I like the intentions, but I can't see this method being successful in the long run.

Poster: Mark Welch | Post Date: August 19, 2010 6:08 AM

The ONE thing I like about government is that it is a big, dumb, slow moving animal that often is ineffective. I once heard a reporter lamenting the fact that the legislature hadn't passed a law in 9 months. I say, bravo! The faster these yahoos pass legislation, the more it erodes the wealth of individuals which drive the collective health of our economy.

Poster: Bryan | Post Date: August 19, 2010 6:55 AM

While the potential cost savings would appear to be enormous, I have little hope that this can actually take place. The waste is so pervasive and is so tied to jobs and unions that there is no chance a lean agenda in government can get off the ground. Unions will continually fight for more jobs before they allow efficiency and lean methods to be implemented. It is the nature of the political beast.

Poster: Norm | Post Date: August 20, 2010 5:37 AM

Dear Jon,
The intention may be all good but do you think it is a field that Lean will thrive and sustain itself? There must be justifiable reasons why even the Japanese has yet to champion this in their own government as a a whole even if its culture closely resembles the discipline and practice of their daily life...

Poster: John Santomer | Post Date: August 21, 2010 12:34 AM

Hi John

It's hard to say isn't it? Since governments can literally print money, go into almost unlimited debt and even go bust and reform with no consequences, it seems like the critical sense of urgency will never be there. The mindset needs to change first.

Japan may not be a model for lean government, but their government is one where the ministries (bureaucrats) are particularly strong. There are significant efforts in Britain at the local and national level, in the UAE and a handful of other countries so lean government itself is not without precedent. I think Paul's model with Lean America is to start local, or wherever there is interest, rather than tackle Washington D.C. head on, which would be futile at this point.

Poster: Jon Miller | Post Date: August 21, 2010 5:10 AM

Jon.
As you know I live in a small American State called England.

I am amazed that most Americans do not know how great their country is.

Here is a man who is trying to stop the slide and instead of helping him people stand by and do nothing.

The systems of government that have been in place for 50 plus years are killing you. So why not support CHANGE and give LEAN a chance. Support him. One term in office will show if he is a fraud. You know the current people are frauds so maybe you are happy to be run by people that are failing your country.

The only thing this man has done wrong is to tell people up front what he is going to do. Most politicians don't say what they are going to do because they intend to do nothing.

If nothing changes then you just get more of the same. Vote for Paul Akers and see if you have put a FOX into the chicken run. If nothing else it should be worth watching.

Poster: Joseph | Post Date: August 21, 2010 7:08 AM

Comments are moderated to filter spam and inappropriate content. There may be a delay before your comment is published.