Patrick Adams  

Welcome to the Lean solutions podcast where we discuss business solutions to help listeners develop and implement action plans for true Lean process improvement. I am your host, Patrick Adams. Hello, everybody. Our guest today is Brian Bolen. And Brian has 12 years of quality and CI experience. He’s an ASQ, certified Six Sigma Black Belt. He also has his master’s degree in operational excellence from Eastern Michigan University, which is where I also went to, by the way, and fun fact about Brian, he is a Christian camping advocate, which is amazing, because, as a lot of you know, I also volunteer and work regularly with Christian camping services as well. So, Brian, welcome to the show.

Brian Bolen  

Thanks, Patrick. It’s great to be here. It’s an honor to be on a podcast. It’s so many of the leaders that I learned from over the years. And it’s just really fun to be here. So I’m looking forward to this. 

Patrick Adams  

Well, I’m excited to have you. And so you talk about inspiration, and some of those great lean leaders that are out there that inspire both of us. But I’m curious to hear what you would say would be maybe a quote or a topic or something that maybe inspires you, what would you say would be one thing, that one quote that inspires you?

Brian Bolen  

Yeah, I mean, there’s so many things I go to, and so many great people you can point to. But for me, the biggest thing I point to is the Bible, and there’s a verse I’ve centered through a big portion of my life that’s really carried me to where I am, it’s Colossians 323. And it says, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for God, that man, and it’s just been a really powerful grounding point for me to stay focused on work, do work, that’s good. And it’s going to help people, no matter what’s happening around you independent of circumstances and things like that. And for those who don’t know, the context that was written to slaves, back there. And so it’s a really good reminder for what you should focus on. That’s powerful.

Patrick Adams  

I love that. So thank you. Thank you for sharing that with us today. And I guess I’m curious, also, if we, you know, think about I mentioned a little bit about your background, but I’d love to hear a little bit more about you know, just where you came from, and what your CI journey has looked like, you know, how did you get started, take us all the way back. And let’s talk about how you got started in the CI, you know, what was your initial upbringing, I guess in continuous improvement?

Brian Bolen  

Yeah. So I was exposed to what I would call excellence very early on in my teenage years. I was in a leadership development program at a camp that I work with, but was just going to as a kid, where they had a servant leadership program. And they talked about that, that same message that talked about doing it, and even every small thing, you do it with joy and excellence. So I was cleaning dishes for the campers that were in there and doing it with joy. And excellence, you know, because it’s important that kids have clean plates teed off, right? Everything has things that have value in the world, we tend to downplay the sorts of things and there was a good Ephesus, and serving other people and doing that. And that really set me up before I, you know, went through school and started in career work and things like that to be focused on what are the right things. And I started my career in a pharma quality lab. And like any place where people at entry, entry level positions are put, there were lots of problems, things that were supposed to match up. And the nice thing about a farmer quality world is it’s really clear what’s right and what’s wrong. Sure. And that’s not the case in every environment. But in that case, it really was. And then if, you know, clearly, if something’s right or wrong, you instantly have to make a choice. And for me, there was no question if I was gonna make a choice to address the thing that was wrong, or find a way to fix it. And that was what started my career there. And I didn’t know anything about continuous improvement or lean back, then I just knew something’s wrong. And I’m in the position that I see it, so I should be doing something about it. So I started doing that, and then getting more interested in quality work. And I kept working in that environment and fixing things as they came about, and then started a master’s program at Eastern and it was originally operational excellence and quality management. Okay. And I was reading it, and I was like, I don’t, I didn’t know there was a whole field about doing things the right way. Like, I feel like I’ve just been programmed to do that people work full time convincing people that this is a thing to do. Like, it didn’t even compete with me. And I was like, Well, of course, I’m gonna learn more about that and get engaged. And I just feel more deeply in love with it and trying to ignite that fire and people about, you know, if there’s a problem, you can do something about it, and there’s value in fixing it and making sure the right things are getting done.

Patrick Adams  

So true. So true. And I love hearing, you know, just a tidbit of your background, because I know I know a little bit more about you know, you and what the areas that you’ve worked in CI and we’ll talk more about those here in a little bit. But one of the things that you mentioned is servant leadership. And that’s one of the things that you learned while you were working at that summer camp. And I would say you and I both probably have that in common But servant leadership is one of those things that I think helps make a good Lean leader, anybody that’s working in really any that doesn’t have to be a Lean leader, you know, anyone working in any organization that is in a leadership position, should understand what servant leadership is because not only does it help you be a better leader of others, but it also helps you to be a better person in general, and just a better person, for yourself. And so I’m curious to hear what your thoughts are, when it comes to servant leadership and how that can help leaders be more effective in their roles, you know, in an organization, what do you think about that?

Brian Bolen  

Yeah, I mean, this is where I can get into the those old names, and Deming has a whole whole bit that I always like to talk about, where he, he talks about our management doesn’t even know what their job is it because it’s the responsibility of management to serve the people who are doing the value added work. And you know, that that gets lost on people and all the perks and, you know, advantages of being a leader and you get lost, and we’re here to serve. Right. And there’s another quote, John Maxwell quote that I always go to about when I think of servant leadership is nobody cares what you know, until they know that you care. And I that’s something I found to be true in my career, especially that it’s, it’s a big deal to take the time to get to know somebody and listen to their pain and do something about it. Lots of people, you know, get complaint too. But how many people take that complaint and action it right and care about a person in that way?

Patrick Adams  

That’s so true. And I would say, especially nowadays, you think about, you know, how many organizations are struggling to keep employees are struggling to find employees today? I mean, how much more effort should we be putting in to create an environment where people want to work, right? I mean, the large majority of people leave their jobs because of bad leaders. And when a leader takes on a servant heart, and is there to help remove roadblocks and to help support their employees, people like to work for servant leaders, you know, they struggle, in my experience, people struggle working for leaders that are maybe more managed by fear, or the type of leaders that are taking on all the accountability themselves, and making all the decisions themselves versus someone who’s engaging the team in the process of change, and asking them how they can help support, you know, fixing things that are causing them problems out on the production floor, wherever it is that they work. So I’m in 100% agreement there, Brian, what would you say is your favorite improvement example, if you had to go through your you know, your entire background, all the places you’ve worked at? It doesn’t have to be something specifically CI related, I guess, but I’m just thinking like, improvement, something that you’ve done, where, where something was improved, or you’ve been involved with a project or something like that be anything.

Brian Bolen  

Yeah, love to think back on my career. And but most of my career has been sent spent in multibillion dollar global organizations. And there’s all these big programs and people, you know, talk about what’s important, and it’s easy to get lost and all that what was my measurable impact here. So I always I always go back to a story where I was able to see the real impact of work that was done. So we were working with an r&d organization that had had a big process. And we did a Kaizen event and Value Stream Map with what’s going on in the process and where the waste is. And one of the things we took out of that wastewater was the technician in that group was was spending a huge chunk of his morning three to four hours each day digging through the computer systems of that organization to figure out what samples were available for him to pull it’s a complete their program that they’re testing program to make sure the products were good. And you know, he was he was doing a tremendous amount of work. And, you know, he was working overtime to make sure that all the work got done. And we spent the time it was probably a day’s worth of effort to figure out exactly what inputs he needed, what the data was. And we built up an automated report that showed up in his inbox every morning. And it took him 10 minutes to figure out what samples he needed me at all that those hours of time back. And I was like, Yeah, that’s a good improvement. And I didn’t think much of it when I did it. Like, we were like, oh, yeah, that’s that’s an easy one. Check the box that that piece in the Kaiser newspapers done? Sure, right. Sure. It was until a month later, I came back and that this was an off site thing. So I traveled there and I came back and I saw that guy and said, Hey, Mark, how you doing? And he was like, oh, Brian, it’s so great to see you. You know, ever since we did this one change, you know, I have time to go mountain biking with my kids on the weekend. Oh my gosh. And I was like, Okay, well, alright, that I wasn’t ready for that. You know, hey, you know, that’s that’s a real impact. Like you think about how many dads aren’t spending time with their kids on the weekend because they’re buried in work and we remove one of those from the world.

Patrick Adams  

That’s amazing. I love that story. And it’s so true to and You know, for those people that are listening, they some understand the impact that continuous improvement can have on the workplace. Other people maybe are new to continuous improvement and in the Lean world, but these are the types of stories that I hear all the time about how Lean is literally changing lives, you know, obviously, in the workplace, but also personal lives. So thank you for sharing that story. I mean, there’s so many, so many ways that lean can impact us, not just in the workplace, but also outside and in any industry. And that’s what’s so amazing about Lean and continuous improvement. So thanks for sharing that story. On the flip side of that, I’d love to hear an example of when maybe you were involved in something that was challenging from a continuous improvement perspective, maybe a project or anything at all, from an improvement perspective, that was just really challenging. Maybe it was difficult, maybe maybe you didn’t even feel like it was a success. Maybe it didn’t end up turning out the way that you expected. What would an example be for that?

Brian Bolen  

I would, yeah, there’s one specific example that jumps out in my mind. And there was a case where I was actually recruited to go to this company. And then they talked about this, this Lean turnaround we’re going to do with this company, and, you know, China’s really killing us on price. And we can’t produce effectively, but the executive told me, we believe, if we do this Lean turnaround thing, we can do this. And it was exciting. And I jumped in with both feet. And we looked at it and we made the assessment and another leader came in, and we worked together on a plan. And it was it was an exciting time for a long period of time where we did, you know, events, multiple events, each and every week, to figure out what that new future look like, you know, we had a situation where we did 14 Kaizen events in a four month span, wow, and handed the design of the future to the people who did the work. Okay, right. And that was an exciting experience, because these people had worked in this place for 20 years, and nobody had ever asked him what they thought about how the work should be done. And it was challenging for them to, to engage that process and, and do that. And the other thing is believe it was going to happen, because they had seen these, you know, these these types of things roll through and nothing happened. And I think the the exciting thing about that was, we were able to secure a $10 million investment in that factory, and, you know, to keep jobs in the states here in my hometown, where I grew up, you know, roughly 500 people working on that factory and put that investment there in the future to ensure that there’s jobs there. And we did a lot of that work operationally. And so we lined that up, and we said, you know, we did a lot of the typical, you know, event stuff of, here’s the runners, here’s where we’re gonna make our money. Here’s what the media is consistent on, here’s the stuff that needs to go away for this to be effective. Sure. And what had been sold on and what was discussed at the executive leadership level didn’t necessarily come to fruition. And that’s what made it challenging at the end, because there were promises made to the teams. Well, if you’re going to deliver this and deal with half as many people, I’ll do whatever you say. And I said, Okay, well, we want to get rid of these things that we barely sell. And later we’d come through, and they would say, well, I need those things, you need to, you know, destroy your plan for the future to make sure we, we make these things that don’t make the business money. And that alignment sort of broke down. And there were a lot of challenges that the rest of the business that the team and the factory and operations really, you know, rallied to make a lot of that reality. Come to fruition physically. So it could happen. Sure. But, you know, the support structure was a big challenge. And we, you know, didn’t necessarily get there. We’re not there yet. Right on the front end. And then I moved on from that, but I don’t think that story is finished. You talk about maybe it was a failure? Sure. I think I still hear that from people there. Okay, well, now we can see the flow in the factory. And before it was, it was a complete mess. Sure, sure. Nobody knew who their customer was, where their stuff was coming from, there’s I don’t know, it’s not here. And now, it’s a situation where people are set up for success. The organization has to choose to go with that and align to their flow and do things like that. And so I do believe, you know, it can be successful long term. And I, I take into that a lot of, you know, pride that we did good work, right. And the results, we don’t get to choose all of the results. Right. Those are not necessarily in our hands.

Patrick Adams  

Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, obviously, that’s an amazing story. And I hear both challenges and successes, you know, coming from, from what you’re the story that you’re telling, I would be curious to hear what you learned, like if you had a hand up, you had to write these out and you had to think about, you know, what, what were your house or what were your learning points when you reflect back on the time that you spent at that organization and working through those projects and this total transformation that you were enjoying In, you know, what were the what were the learnings? What were the takeaways?

Brian Bolen  

Yeah, I mean, the biggest thing for me was the ticket chance. I’d worked eight years professionally in a large corporate environment and was recruited for this opportunity. And I knew it would be a chance to learn. And I just did not do much, right. Like, I learned more in that 18 months than I learned in the prior years of work. Sure. Guaranteed. And definitely could my college and there as well, right, yeah, and just in how things actually work. And you know, that the practical side of it, you can read as many books and I am an avid lean book reader, I’m kind of a junkie on it, but it doesn’t teach you what you need to prepare for how people are going to react, especially like, you know, we can talk all day about Toyota, but people at Toyota are in an environment that’s built a certain way, and most people aren’t in that environment. So true. And but it’s, that was the biggest thing is take a chance and go learn something, and it’ll be okay. And as long as you’re learning and putting your best effort forth, you’ll have plenty of things to point to as positives, and there’ll be plenty of work to do. There’s no shortage of problems to solve.

Patrick Adams  

That’s right. Absolutely. So for anyone that’s listening, right now, your advice would be take a chance, step out, make something happen. Don’t wait. Just Just do it. Right. And learn. Adjust as you go.

Brian Bolen  

Yeah. And I guess, I would say, you know, you can go back and I when I think back about what I might have done differently.

Patrick Adams  

Yeah. Well, that’s my next question. Anyways, right?

Brian Bolen  

Is, is, you know, go back and think about what are you going to need on the back end, instead of what do you need right now? I got, you know, we did it so fast, because it just felt urgent, right? Sure. And it’d be interesting to learn what would have happened if we had spent more time aligning what was going to happen after than what happened during the events and making sure the support was in place. And it’s not like we didn’t do things afterwards to make sure things got done. I mean, we moved over 200 work centers, and that in that event, and spent a lot of money, we aligned presses, there’s all sorts of work that was definitely done. Yeah. But in terms of, you know, those are things that don’t necessarily make people feel supported, right. And to do those little things, like we talked about earlier, if you make sure that there’s people there to do those little things, that’s what’s really going to drive the culture home, that’s gonna, you know, make the flywheel turn, so it won’t stop.

Patrick Adams  

Yeah, I agree. 100%, you mentioned that you’re an avid lean junkie, book reader, podcast listener, what would you say, you know, maybe some of your favorite points that you’ve taken away from some of the books that you’ve read, or podcasts, you’ve listened to, you know, some things, maybe some, some tidbits that people can take away and apply that you’ve picked up along the way that you said, Yeah, this is a really good point out of this. And that doesn’t really matter what books it came out over. But what would you say would be some, some points that you would want people to learn that you’ve picked up?

Brian Bolen  

I mean, I, I honestly would say anybody who hasn’t checked out your book should definitely do so that I mean, when when you talk about the difference between continuous appearance and true continuous improvement, I’ve lived in more than one continuous appearance, culture, trying to do the right thing that’s real and make improvements for people. Yeah. And that’s not to say that that’s not possible in those situations, but your impact becomes limited. And how many people get along that ride with you matter? And I think asking those driving questions and having honest discussions about hard questions is super critical. And that’s one of the things I’m excited about the organization I’m in right now that we ask a lot of hard questions consistently. And that’s a big deal. There’s another thing I think of that I use all the time, because of continuous appearance, sculptors like to say we don’t have problems, we have opportunities. Yeah. And then Toyota for Lean service. I think it’s the first or second chapter, the first paragraph, they say at Toyota, they don’t have opportunities, they have problems and problems exist to be solved. And, you know, to me, that just struck a chord of Yeah, what are we talking about, like, Opportunity means something you’re not going to do. A problem exists to be solved. Like that. And that’s something that stuck with me big time. And honestly, like that was a textbook for grad class I was taking for my master’s degree. And I still, it’s, it’s very impactful. And I really enjoyed that. You know, that one, I can’t, I can’t get out of my head. When every time somebody says it’s an opportunity. I’m like, let’s, let’s maybe talk about that a different way. What are we going to do about it?

Patrick Adams  

Yeah, yeah, I like that a lot. Thanks for sharing that. We have listeners all that range all over the place. And I’m curious to hear for someone that maybe is just starting out in their Lean journey. What advice would you give to somebody that’s just starting out if you could go back to your days at Grace youth camp and someone introduced you to lean and you were like, servant leadership? It’s already beginning. What would you do? how someone would be should be their next steps. And on their Lean journey, if someone’s just learning about Lean,

Brian Bolen  

I’m my, I’m a big context and big reader and say, See what you can learn more. Right? And pick something that interests you. Like, if it doesn’t interest you, you’re not, it’s not gonna grow. Sure, right. So whatever the right angle is for you, whatever you’d like to do, what, where’s the place they’re doing that most excellently and try and learn about Well, that makes that go. Because what I’ve, what I’ve learned over the years is if you study excellence, you’re going to see the principles and themes that pop out, which is just what we do. We talked about those principles and themes, like, you know, there’s consistent things that winners do all the time, right? And if you want to do those things, that’s how you become a winner.

Patrick Adams  

Exactly. Yeah. No, that’s great. I appreciate that. If anybody has any questions about your story, about your background, about some of the things that you said in the podcast, you know, maybe they want to reach out to you with some questions. What’s the best place to get a hold of you?

Brian Bolen  

I’m on LinkedIn. So I’m easy to find there. I’m pretty active, maybe more active than I should be. Social media is kind of a time thing. But I always appreciate your comments. Yeah. Love to, you know, ask driving questions and not be too abrasive and be kind, right? I. But you know, I love to get in debates and have discussions and learn more about the stuff because that, you know, people who study these things together, we got to make each other stronger. So if anybody wants to reach out,

Patrick Adams  

all right, so they can search by your name and find you on LinkedIn. And I appreciate you coming on. I’d love to dive in another time, get you back on the show. And maybe we’ll pick a specific topic that we can dive into around some of the work that you’re doing in your new role. So I’ll have you back another time.  Thanks, Brian. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the lean solutions podcast. If you haven’t done so already, please be sure to subscribe. This way you’ll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined. Please give us a review. Thank you so much.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai