KaiNexus: Continuous Improvement, Leadership, and More

Enterprise Account Executive Matt Banna joins host Mark Graban to talk about his almost seven years working for KaiNexus.    Find Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-banna/   Enterprise Account Executive at KaiNexus from Chicagoland area, currently living in Austin, Texas. Skilled in interpersonal communication, sales strategy, and discovery, he loves meeting our customers and hearing about how they use KaiNexus!   KaiNexus is a continuous improvement software platform designed to help organizations collaborate and report on continuous improvement projects by giving visibility, breaking down silos, tracking metrics, and more.

Magdalen Vaughn joined KaiNexus in 2022 as a Solutions Engineer. In this episode, we talk about: Why she joined the company What she does as a Solutions Engineer Her passion for acting and theatre From her LinkedIn bio: "I am a professional problem solver and learner at a Continuous Improvement Software company based in beautiful Austin, Tx. I love my company because we help businesses amplify the voices of their front line workers, and to care about one another's quality of life much the same way we care about our coworkers. I am also a professional actor and dialect coach! I write creatively, teach when I can, direct and can be found auditioning for theatre, tv and film during much of my free time. I excel at reading people, thinking outside the box and communicating. I believe in the power of storytelling, representation, equal rights, integrity and systemic solutions."

Stephanie Hill recently joined KaiNexus as a Senior Lean Strategist. Read her blog post: https://blog.kainexus.com/the-importance-of-proving-impact-in-continuous-improvement From her bio: "I have more than 20 years of experience applying Continuous Improvement and Leadership in manufacturing, retail, insurance, government, non-profit, and health industries. I have a Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, certifications in SAFe 5.0 (Scaled Agile) and Strategic HR Leadership, a Master's degree in Public Health, and a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Kenyon College. My passion is contributing to the betterment of: organizational culture, individual self worth, and socioeconomic conditions. I practice my passion by enabling people’s natural tendency to see and solve problems in order to leave the world better than we found it."

Video and more Presented by Nick Katko Lean is a long-term business strategy, primarily focusing on employees and learning. Through various continuous improvement practices, employees learn to master their work, solve the right problems and help an organization learn how to do things tomorrow it cannot do today. The operational impact of continuous improvement is well known. Eliminating waste creates capacity, which can be used to serve customers better, improve productivity and improve employee satisfaction. But what about the financial impact? Oftentimes conventional financial analytical practices do not capture the true financial benefits of continuous improvement. This becomes a “problem to be solved.” This webinar will explain how to make the true cause-effect relationships between continuous improvement and financial improvement visible throughout the organization. Integrating these relationships will improve the quality of business decision-making and leverage continuous improvement for financial success for the entire organization. In this webinar, you will learn: the numbers to establish the true cause-effect relationships between continuous improvement and financial improvement. how to use the economics of lean to calculate the financial benefit of continuous improvement how continuous improvement achieves cost reduction over time why certain conventional financial analyses can show that continuous improvement is “not working” financially Nick is the President and owner of BMA. Since 2002, Nick has leveraged his Lean Accounting experience and philosophy in assisting BMA clients in developing, leading, and coaching them in their Lean Accounting transformations. Clients Nick has served a range of organizations worldwide, from family-owned businesses to multi-national companies in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, software, engineering, and service. Nick is an early pioneer of Lean Accounting. In the 1990s, as CFO of Bullard, Nick implemented a complete lean management accounting system in conjunction with Bullard’s Lean transformation, which included eliminating standard costing. Nick is a regular speaker at the annual Lean Accounting Summit and has also presented at conferences in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Nick has written extensively on lean accounting. He is the author of “The Lean CFO – 2nd edition” (2023), which is an updated version of the 2013 publication “The Lean CFO.” The Lean CFO has been translated and published in Turkish and Italian. Nick co-authored “Practicing Lean Accounting” (2021), which has also been published in Italian.

Register to attend live or view the recording January 10 from 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET Presented by Nick Katko Lean is a long-term business strategy, primarily focusing on employees and learning. Through various continuous improvement practices, employees learn to master their work, solve the right problems and help an organization learn how to do things tomorrow it cannot do today. The operational impact of continuous improvement is well known. Eliminating waste creates capacity, which can be used to serve customers better, improve productivity and improve employee satisfaction. But what about the financial impact? Oftentimes conventional financial analytical practices do not capture the true financial benefits of continuous improvement. This becomes a “problem to be solved.” This webinar will explain how to make the true cause-effect relationships between continuous improvement and financial improvement visible throughout the organization. Integrating these relationships will improve the quality of business decision-making and leverage continuous improvement for financial success for the entire organization. In this webinar, you will learn: the numbers to establish the true cause-effect relationships between continuous improvement and financial improvement. how to use the economics of lean to calculate the financial benefit of continuous improvement how continuous improvement achieves cost reduction over time why certain conventional financial analyses can show that continuous improvement is “not working” financially Nick is the President and owner of BMA. Since 2002, Nick has leveraged his Lean Accounting experience and philosophy in assisting BMA clients in developing, leading, and coaching them in their Lean Accounting transformations. Clients Nick has served a range of organizations worldwide, from family-owned businesses to multi-national companies in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, software, engineering, and service. Nick is an early pioneer of Lean Accounting. In the 1990s, as CFO of Bullard, Nick implemented a complete lean management accounting system in conjunction with Bullard’s Lean transformation, which included eliminating standard costing. Nick is a regular speaker at the annual Lean Accounting Summit and has also presented at conferences in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Nick has written extensively on lean accounting. He is the author of “The Lean CFO – 2nd edition” (2023), which is an updated version of the 2013 publication “The Lean CFO.” The Lean CFO has been translated and published in Turkish and Italian. Nick co-authored “Practicing Lean Accounting” (2021), which has also been published in Italian.

UMass Memorial Health Webinar page Presented by Cliona Archambeault and Penny Iannelli of UMass Memorial Health Join us for a panel discussion with two leaders from UMass Memorial Health (UMMH) as we discuss how they’ve created a culture of continuous improvement at UMMH that has led to more than 100,000 employee ideas being implemented! They both work for a healthcare organization – this is true – but please keep reading (and join us!) if you work in other sectors, including manufacturing. Why? Our two panelists both worked in industry (including Intel), and they (and other UMMH leaders) are influenced by former Toyota people. We know there will be stories and lessons learned that are transferrable to other healthcare organizations – or companies in any industry – because it comes down to the three things we always talk about at KaiNexus: methodology, leadership, and technology. We are proud that UMMH is a KaiNexus customer and that they use our technology platform to facilitate and document their work – in addition to tabulating their great results. Cliona Archambeault Senior Director, Process Improvement, UMass Memorial Health Care   Penny Iannelli Chief Transformation Officer, UMass Memorial Health Care

Webinar video and more November 15, 2022 -- Presented by Dave Kippen  Are you a Lean Leader who wants to learn more about Mindfulness? Do you practice Mindfulness and want to understand how to apply those principles directly to your Lean leadership? There is a strong connection between great Lean Leaders and the principles and tenets of Mindfulness.  This quick and focused session will make the connection between four key Mindfulness tenets and how they mirror and support how we practice improving hearts and minds through our Lean leadership. You will walk away with many simple ideas and concepts to practice, both on your Mindfulness journey and your Lean journey!   About the Presenter:  For the past 15+ years, Dave Kippen has served as a Lean leader, change agent, coach and educational instructor. Over the last 3 years, Dave has been on a Meditation and Mindfulness journey which has helped deepen his passion for improving the human condition on our beautiful planet. Dave’s passion is to aid in the development of leadership and growth throughout all levels of the organization. During this time, Dave has successfully coached more than 250 people through Lean 101, 102 and 103 classes, and facilitated well over 100 Kaizen events throughout the United States and Europe.  Dave’s ultimate goal is to help end workplace suffering by making the workplace a little more engaging, fun, and meaningful for employees at all levels. In addition, Dave is Bronze certified through the SME/AME/Shingo Prize/ASQ Partnership. For more information, please connect with him via his LinkedIn profile or at davekippen@yahoo.com.

Register for the live webinar (or get the recording after November 15) Preview of a webinar to be presented by Dave Kippen Are you a Lean Leader who wants to learn more about Mindfulness? Do you practice Mindfulness and want to understand how to apply those principles directly to your Lean leadership? There is a strong connection between great Lean Leaders and the principles and tenets of Mindfulness. This quick and focused session will make the connection between four key Mindfulness tenets and how they mirror and support how we practice improving hearts and minds through our Lean leadership. You will walk away with many simple ideas and concepts to practice, both on your Mindfulness journey and your Lean journey! In this episode, Mark Graban, senior advisor with KaiNexus, chats with Dave about what mindfulness means to him and he gives a preview of the webinar.

Listen to Episode 30 of our popular Ask Us Anything webinar series to listen to questions answered by this dynamic duo from KaiNexus' team of continuous improvement experts: Mark Graban & Greg Jacobson.  In this webinar, questions and topics included: Mindfulness? What was your dream job when you were a kid? Are you all fully back in the office now and what Covid safety precautions do you still take? Thoughts on timing to get the new Omicron booster? Who should get it? What do you think are the most common mistakes when implementing Kanban and how would you mitigate them? (generalize this about most common mistakes implementing any Lean tool) Creating a culture of learning from mistakes?? How important is that, Greg, and what are some things you do as CEO? How do you know the impact you're having on customers? What is more important than a Cultural Transformation from Top Management down to the people on Shop Floor before implementing LEAN and using LEAN tools?

Get slides, video, and more Presented by Paul Critchley, President & Lean Consultant at New England Lean Consulting Telling stories is one of the most powerful methods that leaders have to influence, teach, and inspire people. Beyond numbers, goals, and KPIs, stories help to convey the culture and the values that can unite and inspire everyone within the workplace. In this webinar, we’ll learn more about how storytelling can help garner support for Lean and Continuous Improvement by making it more tangible and more relatable for those faced with practicing it. Paul Critchley is the President and Lead Consultant here at New England Lean Consulting. With over 20 years of experience in organizational leadership, Paul is an internationally-recognized thought leader on using employee engagement and continuous improvement to improve business’ top and bottom lines. Paul is a former Board Member of the Northeast Region of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, and a proud supporter of several civic organizations in and throughout New England. He is passionate about Lean and creating organizational cultures that are sustainably engaged. He co-authored his first book – The Whole Professional – to bring a fresh perspective on Work/Life Balance and how individuals and organizations can work together to achieve greater levels of attainment for all. Paul holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University, a M.S. in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a M.S. in Organizational Leadership from Quinnipiac University. He also is the holder of U.S. Patent 5,927,868