The 5th Part of LEAN is the topic of this Innovative Management Tools Building Fortunes Radio Show. This week, Patrick Seaton continues with the LEAN Management series. You can hear the previous shows about LEAN on https://youmongusradio.com/imt
Each week Patrick Seaton shares his decades long knowledge and experience and this week he explains his Word Interpretation approach towards better communication and increasing productivity. Patrick gives several stories and examples and even offers an opportunity to have access to his executive level training and coaching. Contact Patrick and tell him you heard him on Building Fortunes Radio.
Patrick Seaton owns https://innovativemanagementtools.com
Here is some information about LEAN and the 15 forms of waste:
Eliminate Waste Throughout the Organization
- Lean isn’t just for production—every department has waste.
- 15 Types of Waste to Target:
Projects with No Clear Outcome or Owner
⮕ Related to: Waiting Time, Wasted Money
Initiatives started without clear goals, timelines, or accountability, leading to drift and resource drain.
Authorizations (too many approvals)
Conflicting Department Goals
Inventory (excess stock)
Order Processing Time
Overprocessing (doing more work than necessary)
Overproduction
Purchasing Reorders (poor stock control)
Scrap, Rework, and Corrections
Searching (lost files, missing tools)
Transportation (unnecessary movement of goods)
Underutilized Employees (skills not being used)Waiting Time
Redundant Activity
Wasted Money
Poor Product Design
Examples of waste:
1.Meeting Overload
⮕ Related to: Overprocessing, Waiting Time
Excessive, unstructured, or poorly facilitated meetings that consume employee time without clear outcomes or action.
Information Silos
⮕ Related to: Conflicting Department Goals, Searching
Departments hoard knowledge or data, preventing cross-functional collaboration and slowing down decision making.
Email Ping-Pong
⮕ Related to: Waiting Time, Authorizations
Chains of emails sent back and forth to clarify basic tasks or decisions due to unclear communication or lack of
ownership.
Patrick Seaton
Owner
Innovative Management Tools
pdseaton@innovativemanagementtools.com
Unused Reports and Dashboards
⮕ Related to: Overprocessing, Wasted Money
Creating detailed reports or dashboards that no one reads or uses to make decisions.
Poor Onboarding of New Employees
⮕ Related to: Waiting Time, Underutilized Employees
New hires waiting for system access, unclear training, or unstructured orientation periods that delay contribution.
Low-Value Perks or Programs
⮕ Related to: Wasted Money
Spending money on benefits, software, or wellness programs that employees don’t value or use.
Tool Overlap
⮕ Related to: Overprocessing, Inventory
Using multiple software tools that do the same thing, leading to inefficiencies and confusion.
Constant Reforecasting
⮕ Related to: Redundant Activity, Overprocessing
Frequent, unnecessary updates to business forecasts that consume valuable analyst and manager time without
significantly improving accuracy.
Manual Data Entry
⮕ Related to: Overprocessing, Rework
Entering data from one system to another instead of automating the process, increasing errors and wasting time.
Delayed Decision-Making
⮕ Related to: Authorizations, Waiting Time
Bottlenecks caused by leaders who are slow to respond or require more information than necessary to act.
Ignored Customer Feedback
⮕ Related to: Poor Product Design, Underutilized Employees
Collecting feedback and doing nothing with it, missing chances to improve services or products.
Training with No Application
⮕ Related to: Underutilized Employees, Wasted Money
Investing in training programs without ensuring employees can apply the skills in their current roles.
Duplication of Work
⮕ Related to: Redundant Activity
Two or more people unknowingly doing the same work in different systems or formats.
Unclear Roles and Responsibilities
⮕ Related to: Conflicting Goals, Redundant Activity
Employees doing tasks that overlap with others or missing tasks entirely due to role ambiguity.
Sales-Proposal Overkill
⮕ Related to: Overprocessing, Overproduction
Creating overly complex proposals with unnecessary details or formatting that adds no value to the customer.
Poorly Defined Workflows
⮕ Related to: Searching, Waiting Time
Employees unsure where to find documents, who approves what, or what step comes next.
Endless Revisions
⮕ Related to: Rework, Overprocessing
Multiple unnecessary rounds of revision on presentations, documents, or designs that don’t improve outcomes.
Multi-Level Approvals for Simple Tasks
⮕ Related to: Authorizations
Requiring multiple manager approvals for minor expenses, time off, or budget changes.
Employee Turnover Due to Frustration
⮕ Related to: Underutilized Employees, Conflicting Goals
Losing good employees who are burned out by inefficiency, poor communication, or lack of purpose.
