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 and welcome. Our guest today is Andy Olrich. And Andy is a continuous improvement and innovation leader for the Hunter Water Corporation in Newcastle, Australia. And he has over 25 years experience in engineering trades, health services, manufacturing, mining, logistics, processes and support. Andy also holds formal qualifications in engineering and trade plus, Lean Six Sigma and agile methodologies. He’s passionate about developing himself further as a respected Lean leader and enjoys seeing the benefits of teams embracing continuous improvement and working together to achieve common and personal goals. Welcome to the show, Andy.

Andy Olrich

Good, Patrick, very happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Patrick Adams  

We are glad to have you here. And you are calling in from Australia. You know, we were just talking earlier, before we hit record, it’s 9am. I believe in Australia, it is 5pm in Michigan, the state of Michigan in the US. So we’re worlds apart here. But we are connected through the Lean community here. And we’re just having some really powerful conversations just about the Lean community and about the future of lean. But before we get into that, Andy, I want to ask you, you know, on a serious note, there’s been some pretty significant struggles in Australia around COVID. How are things going, you know, what’s your what’s your feel on where things are going and how people are doing?

Andy Olrich  

Yes, there have been some challenges, Patrick, however, at the moment, we are starting to open right back up again, children are heading to school this week in person, which is great. And there’s a lot of things that are coming back online, a lot of the cafes and things are starting to be frontline hospitalities, and things like that have been doing it really tough this slowly starting to, to come back open again, we do have restrictions imposed on certain things. And it’s a staged, staggered, reopening approach, I guess. Sure. However, like most countries, it’s heavily dependent on how COVID numbers react to that. And then if we need to slide back into a partial closure again, or go to a full lockdown, but it’s just basically we’re just starting to step our way back in a lot of businesses have been doing it really tough. Our hospitals and healthcare professionals have really been doing it tough since we’ve been dealing with this Omicron strain that’s out and about very active in the community now. However, on the whole, where we are, the different states have been taking different approaches as they do. But in the hallway, we’re really starting to kind of see some light at the end of the tunnel with how some of the cases are going. But at the end of the day, a lot of families and people have been doing tough and we’re just trying to try and pull together as best we can and come through the other side of whatever that looks like. So yeah, sure, thankfully, you know, on the whole, we’re slowly moving forward, it appears at this point in time.

Patrick Adams  

Yeah, that’s good. And I see you’re back in the office, though, as of recently, correct?

Andy Olrich  

Yes, yes. So we have a 25% maximum capacity of staff in the office. So we can return. However, there’s some measures and there’s some capacity limits there. And obviously, there’s lots of things around sanitization and, and lots of cool visual management around the place to make sure that where we know what desks we can sit at, or washroom facilities. And we’ve also recently introduced a program where you can, it’s an online booking system for desks, so okay, there’s a way that we can manage the spacing of people as well. So you can only book certain desks, and that’s your space. And we can then if we need to reduce the capacity of a certain space, we just click a button, we can block out certain desks. So there’s a lot of cool measures that the organization’s got in place, or is looking to put into place just to keep us safe and comply with the health orders because we are a government organization. So we certainly have fairer rules. And on the whole, everybody seems to be going okay,

Patrick Adams  

Good. I’m glad to hear that. And I love to hear, you know, the the obviously the adoption of visual management wasn’t something new for the organization, but for a lot of organizations around the world, I think, you know, they’ve they’ve really seen the value and been able to use some really good visual management to help with, you know, the spread. So that’s amazing that you guys have committed to that and are using technology as well in some different ways. So that’s great. Let’s kick into our discussion today about Lean and continuous improvement. And just I’m curious, let’s start out with what you found most rewarding and makes you know, feel passion about Lean and continuous improvement.

Andy Olrich  

The thing for me, Patrick, is the It’s just everywhere. And it’s kind of always been here, it’s just that when you have that moment when you learn to see it for what it is, I reflect back a lot on a lot of things from my previous work experiences. But also growing up as a kid, I spent a lot of time on a farm when I was a lot younger and one of the things we used to do was dose sheep, right. So when, when you count the sheep out, when you’re sending them down the race, which is for those who don’t know, it’s a very narrow section where you’re trying to have one or two wide, that’s about it. When you’re trying to count the shape out, the gate isn’t wide open. And it’s not, you know, just crept open as well. It’s about when you can get them to go out and flow. When we talk about just in time or making it flow and those sorts of things. I always for some reason, I just fall back and go here. Well, that’s why we wanted to clear the yard out with just that, that right? Pace and cadence sort of going out the gate. And everybody had a great time. If if you try to like I said, if one would if you try to put too many at a time or not enough, then yeah, that makes things difficult man. And that’s one of the things I reflect on. And I just, it’s about the key thing for me is it’s about people. It’s, it’s respect for people. And at the end of the day, if you people are engaged, and they can make some improvements themselves, not only do they feel great, and I feel great if I’m part of that, but also will defend it pretty hard. And it’s a great way for the sustainment piece, if people understand that. What you’ve done there is utilizing lean, and continuous improvement practices. But how good does it feel? And traditionally, we want to keep a hold of people like that. And it empowers them to go on and do more. And that’s, that’s the thing for me. I’m a very people oriented person. And I just see it everywhere now. And especially in COVID. I’m looking around at these things, especially for the nonbelievers in Lean and continuous improvement. I’m just going well hang on a second. Just look at what we’ve done in this walkway over here. That’s visual management. kadison five is going on, hey, how easy is it? Right. And it’s built by us for what we do not. We have to take whatever Toyota does and bolt that on. Right. So for me, it’s fully scalable. It’s, if we think about it, right, and people at the front, it’s a great day at the office tonight.

Patrick Adams  

Yeah, I love that you brought up, I didn’t realize that you grew up on a farm. We’ve had multiple conversations in the past. And that’s really cool to hear, I think about anytime I go visit a farm, I think about continuous improvement, because I have to imagine, you know, that farmers, they’re there, they have to come up with improvements. Or they’re, I mean, they’re they have it tough as it is, I mean, their job, that’s a tough job. But they’re, they’re hard workers and but they’re not going to just continue to, you know, do something that’s a waste, like they don’t have the time, they’re you know, they’re, they’re working their butts off as it is. So they’re looking for opportunities to improve and innovate on equipment. And, you know, just the way they do things I have to imagine that’s a great example that you gave, but I’m guessing there’s tons of examples out there of using continuous improvement practices on a farm.

Andy Olrich  

Yeah, and like, I actually didn’t live on the farm, like every school holiday, and I had five ankles, and four of them are on the land. Yeah. So that it, there’s usually one or two people there because you know, they can’t afford to pay the people or the wages, and especially when it doesn’t rain, or they get a lot of a lot too much rain, the ingenuity, they talked about the farmer ingenuity, there’s so many ways that they they do things. And that’s I guess, when you start to get a lot of lean and continuous improvement things put in front of you or training. And you get really great facilitators who say now just try and tie that in. And that’s where I find I get a lot of success, if I can tie it into something that is familiar with that person. So just think about this. And that’s the key thing is finding out about where they’re from, what experiences they have, and also any challenges they have, you can that’s usually my tactic to go. Okay. So let’s go and have a look at that. And so when I talk about Lean, for example, flow with the sheep, right, that might be a bit of an out of the box example. But that’s immediately where my mind goes. It’s like, hey, Geez, it’s annoying when you’re trying it five at once, or they’re just standing there looking at the guide if we get them in this state where they’re going through not only what they flow through, but my uncle wouldn’t go ballistic, because he found it hard to hide the countenance. So it was all done manually. So that’s a great thing that’s been the really cool thing. Yeah,

Patrick Adams  

yeah. If you remember in my book, avoiding the continuous appearance trap, that company continuous improvement, which was the company that I worked for that applied lean and continuous improvement principles very well. They intentionally set their businesses, their plants in farming communities, and they still do to this day, they look for rural farm communities, because they know that the culture of farmers and, you know, the the, the behaviors and the, you know, just like you said, the way that they, they, they think about innovation and just embrace the, you know, hard work because Lean is simple in concept. But it is hard work, it takes someone with ingenuity and the ability to, you know, think through things and work hard and be consistent, in order for it to to actually flourish and be sustainable. So I think it’s pretty neat.

Andy Olrich  

You gotta believe in it, and I do they believe in what they do, especially, you know, not in my family, but dairy farmers, you know, that’s we always say, that’s something you’ve got to be born into, because a lot of people who’ve come from city backgrounds or whatever, they’ve spent two hours out on the dairy farm, and they just don’t understand how people get into that sort of that I wouldn’t choose to do that normally, but they’re passionate about it, they become the culture there, it’s a family business, you know, they’re very proud, right. And, and that’s, that’s the great sort of culture I find that works with Lean is if you’ve got people that go hang on, this is my shadow board over here, and this is my or I did this, and I love it, and I feel you feel good. And you certainly like I said, They’ll defend it very, very hard. You don’t have to do much management of despise if you can, if they’ve got it set up, we’ve got the goalposts for the organization of what we want to do and the how, the more we can turn that to the people who know their job better than anyone else. It’s very easy to keep it ticking along and improve further. So it’s, like I said, it’s everywhere. It’s just common sense. And, but it’s tough, because it’s traditionally not taught that much. Thank goodness. And through some technological advancements, we can get a lot more information at a glance. But it is also yet for me, sometimes I struggle with this much information. Oh yeah, people are releasing books all the time. And this all the podcasts and things just like Well, for me, wear me out, what’s the right amount for me now? And then I’ve got to be super conscious when going into the office and saying, right, how about this, and then sitting there going, Whoa, hang on, we haven’t put the hell you talking about?

Patrick Adams  

Yeah, that’s such a great call out Andy, because there is a ton of really great information out there. And as humans, we we, you know, we try to complexify things and the more data and the more tools and the more techniques that you throw at things, you know, we’re just gonna, let’s just apply everything and hope that it works. Well, it’s not necessarily the right approach. You have to meet your team, you know where they are. And you have when I and when I say that, I mean, like, you have to really understand where your team is on their journey. And you know, you can’t start throwing, you know, some complex tools that are going to turn them off, you know, to the direction, you need to start with the techniques that are going to get them excited and engaged. And you know, celebrating wins and creating ownership, like you talked about earlier with the board, the visual boards and things, you can create ownership and get people excited about what they’re doing and celebrate the successes, but just some great first steps, even if it’s just small little as Paul Akers would say to second improvements, you know, little things, and yes, that’s part of it, right, there’s a lot more that that needs to go into it to create a true culture of continuous improvement. But there’s some simple things that we can do without having to throw, you know, all this complexity into the mix. And, you know, unfortunately, sometimes people turn them off. And if you don’t have it, you’re not doing it properly. So you know, you’re fairly early in your, in your journey and becoming a continuous improvement professional, which I think is very important for, for us to hear, you know, from someone like you who you know, you do have, you know, or 25 years experience in the trades and fairly new to continuous improvement. I’m curious to hear, you know, what, what would be some of those key enablers that you would say that have helped you to get where you’re at today, that may be like other leaders you’d like other leaders to be aware of in supporting their own emergency AI leader. So you’ve done some things, you’ve seen some things in your own career, what would be some of those things that you would say, Hey, I’d love for you to understand that this has been working or this is a good, you know, something that can support someone that that’s on the same journey.

Andy Olrich  

So the two words that pop in is time and space. And that’s around when I was very lucky to work for an organization that had a global Lean program. So it was shouted from the rooftop. So that’s just the way we do things around here. But it didn’t have a continuous appearance. It was they would actually take especially people who showed an interest in it, they would take them off site, and they had an internal certification program. So they would actually give you not only the time and space to go and get that deeper understanding and training in the Lean tools but more importantly around the cultural enablers for lean in and how you apply the tools and I guess The disciplines and the behaviors. So, for an organization to pull me out of my day to day and do that, I found it great. And the key thing with that, too, is the leaders had been through that training as well. So they knew what I was going away to do. They not only talk the talk, they walk that and, and organize that organization is quite interesting. There was steel manufacturing, in Australia, for example, is one of those industries that’s kind of hanging on, right. I was previously working in healthcare, which you could say you’ve got a job for life. And anyway, through some circumstances, I went and had a look at a small metal foundry in Newcastle. And it’s in a site that used to be the major steel works for Australia. And I walked into the place, and it was just something different about it. And it went through the usual process of meeting some people. And there’s a lot of visual management around the place, things just kind of look like they fit wherever I looked around. And it got to a point where they took me for a walk out into the plant. And there’s shadow boards, SQ DC boards, hour by hour charts. And all this was around for such as what on the sky was a small site and how the people were and things like that. It wasn’t the highest paying job that I’d been offered at the time. But it basically walked back into the office with the leaders and sat down and said look, I’m in this is kind of a, I think this is lean, I think this is what I’ve been sort of chasing, seen some examples here and there. But this looks like a real deal. And I mean, but what do you guys do? Again, like it, whatever the process of what they are making? Yeah, it didn’t. And I mean that So honestly, and I walked away going, Oh, my goodness, I’ve just taken a job. I’ve stepped out of a, you know, an industry that’s always going to grow into a small metal foundry in the city of Newcastle. And I thought, wow, but it wasn’t, it wasn’t about what we were doing. It was how we were doing it. And the ladies gave me the time, and they had a saying there stop the line, so the line doesn’t stop. So if our teams were out on the floor, we knew there was an issue, anyone in that organization had the power to stop, shut the whole plant down. Okay. However, there were some tools, we had five wise, we had to make sure that we had a bit of a plan of attack, we wouldn’t just stop and then work out what we’re going to do, right through the training systems tools that we had at our disposal. And in the organization, it was okay, we’ll give you the power to stop. And we’ll support you all the way. And as long as we’re using the Lean tools. And we were getting to a point where we’re getting to root cause will support that and it was frowned upon heavily. If I flew in in the middle of the night with the cape on to try and get the plant going. Again, if we did that too many times, the latest would actually pull us aside and give us a talking to it’s because we can’t keep doing that I can’t keep expecting people to come in, let’s get a team together, let’s do a root cause analysis, let’s fix it forever and forever fix it instead of fixing forever. So for any ladies out there, if you want to and the term deploy lean or continuous improvement, please don’t just get a heap of tools and flashy boards and roll it out there and then go oh, well, you’re you’re a smart guy, you’re an engineer, or you’re, you know, you’re skilled trades or very good at it, whatever, off you go, you’ve got to give us coaching, you’ve got to give us regular follow up. And make sure that when the chips are down, especially your back off, and give us the time to go through and follow the processes that we’ve got in place, because that’s the only time we will really see the value. And you get the belief through the organization. So yeah,

Patrick Adams  

I love how what you’re mentioning, too, is the support structure that executive leadership was giving you there and in how there was this catch ball happening where you were having conversations back and forth, and they were helping you in that way. Can you talk about that a little bit more? What did that look like for leadership to have your back and to but to also give you maybe some restraint around what you were allowed to do and not allowed to do. But what you saw, as you said, is walking the walk, not just talking the talk. So can you talk a little bit more about that?

Andy Olrich  

Yeah, so the cat, the catch was right, from strategy deployment. You know, it was important that these Hoshin Kanri to, to get right down to that, you know, frontline from the top right down to the frontline workers, everybody would have alignment on what they’re what they’re doing today, where that fitted in next level up, up, up, but also horizontally. So they made sure that the strategic planning was not only highly visible, but there was a lot of consultation, there was things that we would set as targets for the organization. However, as I mentioned, the How was very much open to well, what do you think this is our target? Let’s get together and talk about how we could achieve that to get that locked in. There was a lot of times where I would get frustrated where I would go in and I’d know that a certain leader would have the answer or know the exact right approach to do that. However, they wouldn’t give me that. And that even the best tradesmen that I learned under were the ones that would make me pull it apart and put it back together again, for example, because even though the plant was down, or even though there was a particular bottleneck of the process, they would hold their line and say, I’ll just go away and have me have a bit more of a look at that, or have you thought about this or that that really takes it out of it. So they weren’t just giving me the answers and, and through that time, I knew, look, if it totally fell apart, then they would definitely have my back. But I also knew that they were helping me by just getting me to think a bit more about and go hang on, remember your training? Remember the tools? Why don’t you go? Yeah, we used to say Don’t, don’t come in with a whinge. Right, which is basically coming in saying, this is a bargain, you know, okay, so I’m sorry.

Patrick Adams

We’re learning more than just lean today.

Andy Olrich  

Yeah, so it’s like this, then it’s like, Okay, so what’s that next level, if you didn’t have? Well, the team has spoken about it, we’ve done a five why’s or here’s some ideas on what we think we could improve it with. Yeah, you would get shut away, it’s like, Well, look, that’s not gonna help you or us in the longer term. And a lot of things in some of the good organizations I’ve been in are around not rewarding the firefighters, if everyone had this one super person that would come in and fix it all, and then they disappear. Again, in the cloud smoke will not only did we not understand what they’re done. So we could learn from that. But it was the next time if they weren’t available, or we just had to make sure that we were, whatever we did, it was visible, we share that knowledge and we’d lock it down. And if that was to become our new standard, then there was also some consultation around that because sometimes that the firefighting gets you to, to do a bit of a workaround is to get going, and then that can lead to more heartache and attract. So the leaders definitely need to be disciplined. And if we’re, if we’re reaching out and want to know more about this stuff, for them, give us the time to not only go and do the training, but if we’re not showing results out in the plant, or you can’t see the fruits of the investment you’ve done in sending us away to these things and call it out. Because it’s not. We want to make sure the expectations are two eyes. That’s right. Yeah, yeah.

Patrick Adams  

transparent, open conversation. I love it. What’s been your, your biggest aha, your or your lightbulb moment in lean so far in your career?

Andy Olrich  

Yeah. Some training I did, as part of it. organization with the global program, I had to this day that the greatest lean facilitator that I’ve had personal experience with no, wait, hey, he, we had years and years of experience super energetic positive, but we always had this training course. And we had finance managers for the organization down to, you know, middle management, right or right across the board, different trades things. And he just came out and he said, we started off and he said, no standard, no kaizen. And, and he just taught through that. Because we’re all we had brought out pre prepared projects. And when he came out with that, and talk through a couple of examples there, I just went at it. Like, for me, it’s we talk about doing improvements or cars in if you don’t have a clearly defined standard, to base it on what are you doing, and, and especially with down the track, when you want to look back and demonstrate that you’re giving me the time to do this stuff is working. And I just went, that’s it. It’s so simple that at the end of the day, we all want to improve, but are we doing the right things or just doing things right? And I just want to make sure that when I go into conversations with people, and using a Toyota right step tool, for example, you know, the eight step. A lot of times we get stuck on step one, it’s like, well, what’s the standard? What do you mean? It’s like, oh, hang on, and then it’s amazing just to sit there and go well, either if you’ve got the authority, or you can find it somewhere and tell us otherwise, we’ve had to pause and come back in a week and go Well, okay. What are we comparing it against now, because we don’t just want to get, we can’t just improve without actually being able to tie back to something physical. So that was it. For me, I just went, gosh, I’ve been thinking about all the tools I’m going to learn. But at the end of the day, if we don’t have good standards in place, and we can’t see it, and people that know about it, it burns a lot of energy, potentially doing the wrong things. And moving forward, I can’t see the leader supporting that going on. Keep sort of shooting in the dark, so to speak. 

Patrick Adams  

I think there’s so many organizations that struggle with that, and they’re, they’re in this state of instability and they’re trying to figure out how do we get out of this? What do we need to do to stabilize you know, or we’re struggling to keep employees we know, whatever it might be, but just a state of instability. I think you’re spot on with your point of standards. I mean, standards can take you so far and not just not just having an SOP in a book up on a shelf full of dust, but really committing to standards. And you know, because right now if you Have one person, a new person is coming in. And I’ve worked with many organizations that I saw this where one person would come in, they would work with someone on, you know, before lunch, who would train in one way, then they’d meet with someone after lunch, we train them a different way, you know, then second shift comes in and says, that’s all crap, you need to learn it this way. And, you know, by the time they’re ready to punch out, they’re like, I’m not coming back here. Well, how am I supposed I’m How am I going to be successful if I’m trained three different ways from three different people, and you know that everybody’s doing things differently. And the second shift, you know, comes in and they shut down the machine, reset it up the way they like it, and then turn it back on. Again, companies are not going to be successful in an environment like that, you have to commit to standards, make sure that you found the one best way to do things, and train the team to that way, and make sure that everybody understands the why behind it. There’s an audit setup to, you know, to make sure that we’re doing it, but you have to be committed. And once you do that, stability will come. And then to your point, Andy, now we can look at opportunities to improve, how do we get better?

Andy Olrich  

Yeah, and when your table of the three different training methods of health data. And in the, you know, when we’re talking about information management, capturing documents in an organization, for example, or accessing, or how you save, especially sensitive material that needs to has to go to a special place, if we don’t have good standards in how we follow that process through and train people that way for how we might, it’s never going to be the best standard we’ve ever had. But at least we can predict a bit better the result, the outcome, absolutely, someone might, that fourth new person will get their own way. And we’re just getting further away from what it is. And the key thing for me too, is without good standards. And having the visible is we usually can’t tell it we’re off, or things are going the wrong way until it’s kind of too late. And it’s just like now instead of a little bit of a bit of a tweak, to get us back to where we said we were going to be. We’ve got this massive project now. And now we’re going to upset people telling them they know how they’ve got to change what they’re doing. And what’s like, that’s just no standard no cause and for me is and that’s that’s where things like five s come to life around the disciplines and standards of the areas and files in your computer and things like that. It’s just, and if you don’t have one look just a crappy standard is better than no standard. And immediately, especially the people in the room that may not want to be part of it. They’ll throw rocks at it straight away I’ve found and they’ll go, well hang on. I do it this way. It’s like, okay, why do you do it that way? And hey, guys, look at that x y Zed person’s just shown us the way. And then I think you’ve got a new ally onboard, because they’re going on to actually listen to me. And that’s that’s that writing that’s in there or that video that we made on how to do that. I told them that that’s ran away. But it’s pretty hard, you know, organizations that have not done that have standards, but like you said in a book on a shelf, and the training might only tell them what? That’s right. It doesn’t go into that detail at all. If you don’t, this is what could happen. Yes. Was it getting the why so yeah.

Patrick Adams  

And I can just see people listening on the other end saying yes, it’s easy to talk about, right? I mean, Andy and I just talked about it for three or four minutes. And you know, it seems pretty simple, right? For a three or four minute explanation. But like we talked about earlier, it just because it’s simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy, it’s going to be hard, it’s tough. It’s hard to get standards in place to get people following those standards to get training to those standards to get on still the standards. And you know, a lot of it has to start with leadership, supporting and driving that change and making sure that there’s expectations that are clear for the people that are out there doing the work. So that’s great. But I want to transition here just a little bit because last few episodes, I think I’m trying to think now, three or four maybe episodes, we’ve talked a lot about Lean outside of the work environment even you know, and Paul Akers on and he was talking about kite surfing and how he uses lean to be a better kite surfer. Pretty cool stuff. But can you tell me some examples of how you’ve been creative with Lean? And how maybe that’s helped you, not only in your specific role, but also in other areas of your life? Yeah. 

Andy Olrich  

So the old adage that, well, that stuff doesn’t work here, because we’re not in manufacturing, or we’re not we either or all those things that anyone in the car space would get thrown at them from time to time. I used to think about okay, well, how could I used the process, I guess, and the tools to just do anything. So there was a time when I’d gained a fair bit of weight. Right. So I, I thought, well, what if i What if I could utilize the SQ DC process to help me lose some weight over the next five or six weeks? Hmm, so I grabbed the forms. We had all of the Pareto charts and the five why’s countermeasures, all those things that we used everyday out out in the plant or in the offices and When I set up metrics, safety, quality, delivery cost around what I thought would help me keep on track and shed a few kilos or call them over there, and I put it off at work, and I made sure that the people that you know, got a few laughs and they go, what, what is wrong with you? You know, why are you doing you don’t need to do that I just, I want to improve myself. Yeah, but this would be pretty cool if this works. And yeah, and when people would see me doing the five why’s on, when I didn’t hit my weight goal for the week, or, you know, if I had a cost metric, I still love pulling in at the service station, or the gas station on the way home from work, and I get myself a pack of chips and whatever. So I actually put myself in the limit of $2 a day. So that was basically bottled mineral water, right? So I just did all those things that they laughed at, and I said, but I think that’s what’s gonna work for me. Yeah, five weeks, nine kilos down. And it was, you know, I made sure I had a 30 minute exercise metric, you know, track there. So if I don’t hit 30 minutes, I’ll have to do five why’s and put a countermeasure in. And so that was one example. And I share that when I went down and tried to rip in the certification program, actually presented that story to save up. And if you don’t think SQ DC can work anywhere, check this out. The other thing I found really powerful was when COVID first hit Australia, and the government sent everybody into a full lockdown in 2021. My kids was at school, my wife works, and we were all at home. And we had to manage the family and work life together too. And so one of the things that kept me alive, especially in the tough times has been Leader Standard Work. So I actually created a combined Leader Standard Work for my wife and I because we had to stagger out start finish times with kids. So where did we put it? Well, where’s the place that I think a lot of people went to too many times when they’re in lockdown was the fridge. So I actually had a Leader Standard Work on the fridge where my wife and I could see what work tasks we’re planning to do for the day. And when, but also, what about the family stuff? Like that’s the most important stuff. So I had this hybrid Family Leader Standard Work tool that I use at home. And yeah, that was another way that I’ve been able to share that with people who say, Well, if you think later standard work is you know, it’s a bit of a waste of time, when the chips are down, that kept us at home. That was one key tool to keep things in a happy place. And the other things I’ve done too, is an organization I was at where we were trying to get some inertia on fire this or momentum, I should say, I went and grabbed a couple of people I was in the gym, we used to have a gym there, and people would go in it and cursing and swearing trying to find weights. And you know, no one puts any gear back or where the hills are and so I grabbed a couple of the regulars and said, Why don’t we try putting some of this fiber stuff in the gym. And we did a little bit of a fight just to showcase the area where we set it up for the weights and had some visual management there. And we had one or two people who kept an eye on things. And the people who were there and saw what was going on. I said I had this like, I know that this was supposed to be for weights there? Or how easy is it to put that kettlebell back there, because there’s a teacher there. And then people started coming to me saying you know that you’re using fibers in the gym? Sure, I can use it out here. And I’m going, let’s go, let’s go for one. So it’s just one of those things where again, it just demonstrates not only the tools and the processes flickable anyway, but you can have a lot of fun with it, and improves your personal life as well. Which is that’s the thing we should all be working towards, I think but I get off track at times and sustain peace around the weight. skip over that night. I’m with you. If we fix it.

Patrick Adams  

Now that’s great. I love creativity. And you know that you truly are committed when you’re when you’re using lean in your personal life and really believing in it, you know, because it shows when, you know, we’ve talked, I’ve talked with other guests in the past just about utilizing lean around the house and how I have to be careful because my wife, you know, she she gets on me when I try to throw out certain Lean tools and things and she’s like, don’t use that stuff in here. 

Andy Olrich  

What are you experimenting on me? My wife Kate, she’s like, what experiments are you doing now? And I’ve got to be careful. Yeah, you gotta it’s a standard. I keep saying look, at the end of the day. It’s a standard we believe we can sustain. So if I go to town on something that I think is right, that’s not fair. That’s not in the spirit of lean. And yeah, I’ll probably get chased out of the house again, so you’re gonna go with it.

Patrick Adams  

Absolutely. Andy, what would you say is a key message for people that are listening right now who are passionate about Lean and are also trying to make their way through the Lean jungle and become respected leaders and professionals in their space? What advice would you give to them?

Andy Olrich  

They it’s just find a way of getting comfortable with the uncomfortable and is many times especially in organization where I can feel the adrenaline going, I’m stepping into a space where I’m going to try some or suggest some things or get support for certain things that are maybe not commonplace or really frowned upon in some people’s minds or whatever, try and use that adrenaline and to if you have some good examples in your back pocket of where it’s already happening in the organization, or we you can show that it has worked elsewhere. I mean, the tools, the process, the methods, there’s so many organizations around the world that have done it right and flying, Okay, keep going. And people need to remind me that about that at times as well as, it’s not always going to be easy. Like I said, it seems so simple, but it’s hard, it takes discipline. And whenever you think about, you know, with my desk in an office space, where I had some demarcation set up on my desk, five s happening, take that extra 30 seconds to set everything back because as soon as somebody sees you’re not doing it, the lingo or not doing it, then you’ve kind of already lost them. The other thing is reflect off and stay humble. I love telling people the things that I’ve messed up along the way, especially when they’re trying to get some runs on the board themselves. Have a laugh about it. And just remember that you’re never going to know anything and, and there’s always people out there who can help you. So for those out there who are listening in a similar vein to me, and I think I’m making some kind of sense, I see you and I really want to talk to you. And we’ve got ways to connect. Now the earth is flat, as I say, now with all the technology, reach out. Because if I can teach you something, I guarantee you’ll teach me something as well trust the process, and make sure you have fun with it. And you’ll be okay. Because at the end of the day, if your main focus is about people, and in pairing them to make their lives easier, I just not gonna buy it. But at the end of the day, I’ll sleep like a baby because no matter what’s going on, I’m trying to help someone and I think that’s a good thing. If you can give back in that servant leadership space, you’ll get more wins and losses. But hey, they said, Patrick, it’s I’m kind of finding my way at the moment, mate. So just trust what you’re doing and have your heart in the right place. And I think you’ll be okay. And hopefully I can.

Patrick Adams  

No, I think you hit the nail on the head as we say in the US. I don’t know if that’s a term in Australia or not, but it’s the perfect way to end the show today. And he just I love the just who you are what you’re about, obviously a very humble person, but definitely have some serious, some seriously good advice for those of us that are on the journey together. And you know, I love learning from I love learning in general. But you know, you and I, when we have conversations, I love to hear the different things that you’re working on, and just the the learnings that you’ve had, because they make so much sense again, in any space, and whatever, whatever I’m working on at the time, I just appreciate your willingness to share. So thank you very much for being on the show today. And I think there’s many people who have are walking away today with some serious value add that they can go and apply right away. So thank you again for that.

Andy Olrich  

Thank you, Patrick. And thank you for all the work that you’re doing with the podcasts and those sorts of things because I put them on and there could be that one phrase or statement in that and I’m off on set for the week, because it’s like that’s exactly what I was thinking. So to all of your previous guests and future please keep it coming because you’re really helping me and yeah, I want to get back to you. So it’s been fantastic to have the opportunity, mate and hopefully I can catch up with you in person one day.

Patrick Adams  

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Without a doubt I’m definitely coming down under to check out what you guys got going on out there. We got to wait for things to settle down a little bit on the COVID stuff, the COVID side of things, but we’ll definitely meet in person and get together at a conference or something somewhere. So now it’s been great. Thanks again, Andy. And enjoy your week.

Andy Olrich

It’s a night, all the best. Thank you.

Patrick Adams  

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Transcribed by https://otter.ai