Psychological Safety and Autonomy in a Lean Culture with Gary Peterson

Gary Peterson recently retired from O.C. Tanner, where he helped lead the continuous improvement work that earned the company the Shingo Prize in 1999. In this episode we talk about psychological safety and autonomy, and why Gary believes neither one accomplishes much on its own.

Gary also shares the hardest story he tells. An employee was right that a system was failing, and he argued her down until she cried. His apology, delivered in front of her whole department, changed something. A few hours later, two people knocked on his door with an idea they wanted to try. We also get into leading change from the middle, halving a workforce through attrition without layoffs, and why Gary says discipline, not tools, is the hardest part of Lean.