Positive Vocabulary
As a Lean practitioner, I have learned that how you say something matters. When giving your advice about a process you need to ensure you are not speaking negatively about it, you don’t know who created it and how important it is to them.
Listening to why the process was created (What problem were they trying to solve?)
Thank them for coming up with such a great problem-solving solution then discuss opportunities for continuous improvement.
After all, you are not fixing the process you are improving using methods not used before. The previous process was great and worked well for them up until the point where they asked for help, we as professionals have to see how we can improve it for what they need it for today.
Instilling this method of thought that we are improving not fixing will do wonders!
Best example: Cell Phone. No one fixed the cell phone; they improved it and made it work for what we need it for now. We are always improving and seeing what our client base wants/needs.
Try to interchange these words and see if they work for you!
Instead of “Waste” or “Defect” use “Opportunity”
“Waste” or “Defect” implies what they are doing is trash, we want to eliminate that feeling and show them we are finding these opportunities for change.
2. Instead of “Idiot Proof” use “Mistake Proof”
Mistake proof or Poke-Yoke means not letting people do the process step incorrectly, if the process step can be done incorrectly it is because you did not lay out the steps correctly.
3. Instead of “Does that make sense?” use “Did I explain that correctly?”
How do you know if someone understood the subject matter?
It’s all about how they receive the information.
Studies show that the facilitator is responsible for whether or not someone understands the subject matter. Keeping that in mind we want to know if we explain it in a way they can receive it or try and explain it again.
“Does that make sense?” is a very condescending term.
Remember: Connection before Correction
