This book is an excellent addition to the body of publications on the systematic application of Lean Thinking and Continuous improvement.
Interestingly, whist the title quotes ‘Financial Services’, the learnings and practical application of the approaches shared within are relevant to other business sectors pursuing productivity improvement or CI in the pursuit of ‘excellence’. Anyone with a desire to improve their department or business would benefit from reading this book.
At 110 pages, it is easy to read, to the point with plenty of practical ‘what to do and how to do it’ activities throughout.
Very similar in approach to ‘Staying Lean’ by Hines et al, the Shingo Prize Winning book, there are a number of hints and tips in each chapter which bring the CI journey and improvement approaches to life for the reader.
The value add is the fundamental understanding of the neuroscience behind how habits are formed in our brains, and the blending of ‘ideal habits and behaviours’ at different levels of the organisation with change management models, such as Kotter with Lean Thinking and CI approaches to make change ‘stick’ and to embed a culture of CI.
Highly recommended – and I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. Also, all proceeds go to a children’s cancer charity – redkite in Australia. You can find out more about how S A Partners can help in Financial Services.
Review by Dr Toni Whitehead