If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

The Taiichi Ohno 7 wastes of production are a simple and elegant way to focus improvement actions in production process settings. The 7 wastes are taught to teams who use them as a way to observe, assess, and improve process to provide more value. The 7-item taxonomy has been so successful that it is one of the first aspects of lean thinking that is adopted.

Is the taxonomy complete? Many people think not. People have been tinkering with the taxonomy starting with the book Lean Thinking, by Jim Womack and Dan Jones, who proposed the eighth waste to be providing something that the customer doesn't value. Others followed suit making 7 other proposals that I could find.

Human potential is manifest in the actions taken with other humans.

One of the themes in the proposals for an eighth waste has to do with not making best use of the potential of people. Even Womack and Jones acknowledge the waste of that in the revised version of their book. While that is a legitimate concern, the waste of human potential doesn't fit with the materiel characteristics of the Ohno taxonomy. Look closely at the 7 wastes. All the wastes have to do with the transforming aspects in a process. Only two of the proposals fit with the taxonomy: providing something the customer doesn't value and making do. Next week I'll comment on Lauri Koskela's proposal for the eighth waste of making do.

Greg Howell and I set out to identify what we call the Two Great Wastes™ of human capital. We wanted something as simple and elegant as Ohno's taxonomy. We observed our clients. We went through our notebooks of observations and assessments of our client projects. We speculated with people doing lean initiatives. Finally, it hit us.

Human potential is manifest in the actions taken with other humans.

That waste happens principally in the conversations we have. Each of us brings value when we convey our skills, judgement, gifts, and possibilities. The failure of communication results in not accessing the human potential available. Communication takes both speaking and listening.

We need a story that is embraced and retold
that champions the success of teams who operate in a setting of respect and dignity
speaking freely while engaging in deep listening.

Not listening has been cited as the source of the tragedies of the NASA Mars Climatic Orbiter and the Columbia shuttle. Not listening results in resignation and resentment as people attempt to change a situation only to find no appreciation.

Not speaking deprives others of wisdom, perspective, and insight. Not speaking is culturally reinforced at young ages. We learn that speaking up can lead to punishment. We stifle ourselves out of fear.

Both not speaking and not listening become habits in our life and in organizations. That is the good news. The habit can be changed. The initiative for change can come from anyone taking an act of leadership.

Greg and I claim listening is the master skill of the leader. A corollary to that skill is creating the circumstances for others to speak. The only thing keeping us from bringing forth that leadership is the current story about the exercise of power and control on projects and in organizations. We must change our story of how we are most effective. We need a story that is embraced and retold that champions the success of teams who operate in a setting of respect and dignity speaking freely while engaging in deep listening. Let's battle the Two Great Wastes™.