My latest article for the Lean Enterprise Institute’s Lean Post was published today: “Do You Practice Routine Personal Development?”

I’ve been musing a lot lately on the concepts of structures of practice and how we can improve ourselves as people, thinkers and leaders. I enjoyed how Terell Stafford shared his routines of practice at the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit and his comments made me think about routines and structures that we can use for problem solving and self-improvement.

The article was inspired by several experiences over the past few months, including:

• Terell Stafford’s keynote at the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit
• Conversations with my friend Mr. Isao Yoshino when I was in Japan in May
• Working on refining the teaching materials for my class Coaching for Personal Development (come join me next month in Indianapolis!)
• Reading “The Lean Strategy” and discussions with Michael Balle about frames and structures, and
• Conversations with Lean thinkers such as Mike Rother, Margie Hagene, Mark Graban and others.

As LEI wrote in a tagline about the article:

“Once we learn lean we often start seeing it everywhere, even in places we least expect it. In this instance, Katie Anderson saw a connection to personal [improvement] A3 thinking – in a musician talking about how he practices the trumpet.”

Read the article “Do you Practice Routine Personal Development?” and let me know what you think!

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Other Lean Post articles

My writing for the Lean Post seems to be mainly on two themes, which have been combined together for my newest post.

1. Reflections on personal development for important leadership behaviors, particularly through using the Personal Improvement A3 process

• Developing Better Habits Through A3 Thinking
• Be More than a Coach, Be a Coach Who Listens
• How To Get Out of the Habit of Telling
• Building Capability, Transforming Organizations

2. Reflections from various Lean Summits over the past three years:

• Summit Reflections: Knowing What You Need to Improv
• Standout Lessons from the 4th Annual Lean Coaching Summit

Okay, and I’ve also written about Japan for both the Lean Post and Planet Lean:

• Lean in Japan: the Benefit of an Outsider’s View
• If You Think Lean is Inherently Japanese, Think Again

What do you think?

What do you think about the post and the concepts of routines for personal development? Please leave your comments below or on the article directly.