Giving Wings to Her Team

<p><em>Denise dreamed of being the kind of leader who empowered and engaged her people, but was becoming frustrated and disillusioned.</em></p><p>Denise -- a fast-rising, young consultant at a large advisory firm -- lands a job as a manager in industry. Crisis strikes as low-cost competitors take market share and general chaos generates late shipments. Denise goes into Lean consulting mode but quickly learns her supervisors are not buying it. They're not engaged, and they find the Lean tools confusing and a distraction from their goals of getting product out. It's going to take some magic -- magic that's available to you, the reader, too!</p><p>Come with Denise on a journey of discovery and skill development, as she moves beyond the tools and concepts of Lean and focuses on daily practice that helps her supervisors achieve their goals. It's about an approach called Toyota Kata that helps anyone develop and apply scientific thinking -- an exploratory mindset of curiosity and experimentation. A mentor from an unlikely place appears and shares with Denise how to coach her team. Once her supervisors dig into real problems they face every day, they begin to engage. Step by step, with insightful inputs from her mentor, Denise starts developing the skills to become a coaching manager. She watches her team meet their current challenges and be ready for more.</p><p>When you teach and practice scientific thinking and coaching skills you give wings to your team, and new worlds of opportunity open up. If you're a manager you'll identify with how the team in this story goes beyond general preaching about best practices, to practicing how to get to where they want to be. If you're a Lean practitioner frustrated with applying tools with a limited half life, you'll learn how to develop people so they can achieve their most important goals and keep going. And if you're already a Toyota Kata practitioner, well ... you will love this book!</p> <p>PART I - Learning to Think Scientifically while Producing Results Chapter 1 - Another day, another crisis Chapter 2 - Getting to Work with Lean Chapter 3 – What’s our Challenge? Chapter 4 – More Pressure Leads & a Breakthrough in Thinking Chapter 5 – Getting Down to Kata Planning Chapter 6- Telling a Story on the Storyboard Chapter 7 - At Last, Experimenting! Chapter 8 - May the Coaching Lessons Begin PART II - Coaching as Learning Chapter 9 - Starting to Coach (with Some Struggles) Chapter 10 - A Little Japanese Cuisine, and a Lot of Learning Chapter 11 - A Coach for the Coach Chapter 12 - Spot-on Answers to Coaching Questions Chapter 13 - Digging Deeper into the Real Obstacles Chapter 14 - A Green Drink, and Fresh Look at Storyboards Chapter 15 - Obstacles and Experiments: It’s Complicated Chapter 16 - We Deliver Same Day Chapter 17 - Fun in the Learning Group? Chapter 18 - A Big Promotion…and a Bigger Crisis PART III - SCALING UP AGAINST THE ODDS Chapter 19 - A Confrontation, Then a Way Forward Chapter 20 - Denise Becomes a Motivational Speaker Chapter 21 - Preparing for Launch Day Chapter 22 - At Last: Grasping Current Condition Chapter 23 - Workshop Day 2: A Deeper Dive into the Current Condition Chapter 24 - Establishing Goals to set up the 3-1-1 Chapter 25 - Prepping for Fun with Puzzles Chapter 26 - Kata to Grow Exercise Chapter 27 - Welcome to the Coaching Dojo, Shoes off at the Door PART IV - Upping the Pace: It’s a Sprint <i>and</i> a Marathon to the Finish Chapter 28 - A Month Down the Road Chapter 29 - A Fleet of Coaches is Born Chapter 30 - If Only You Could Kata Your Love Life Chapter 31 - Victories and Setbacks Chapter 32 -The Grand Finale Chapter 33 - New Beginnings</p>