Respect isn’t a nice-to-do practice to make employees feel better, it’s the critical component to engaging your workforce to tackle inefficiencies and drive continuous improvement.

Respect for people, one of the most critical lean principles, is also one of the most misunderstood. Without respect, a lean culture of continuous improvement is impossible. Everyone nods in agreement with such statements, but our understanding is typically superficial and likely doesn’t change behaviors.

In Respect for People—The Fundamental Lean Manufacturing Principle for Improving Operations, Dave Rizzardo, Associate Director of the Maryland World Class Consortia (MWCC), will explain how respect is critical to employee engagement and how without it, efforts to drive massive operating improvements will likely fail. Key components will include:

• Clarifying what it really means to respect people within a lean culture
• Explaining why, without alignment with this principle, a lean culture will not exist
• Understanding specific behaviors required for alignment with this principle
• Applying this principle as the catalyst for employee engagement and ongoing improvement