One of the hazards of being a performance improvement practitioner and coach is that most of us see “opportunities for improvement” everywhere we go and many of us can be impatient customers (who, me?) when we bump up against inefficiency, poor quality, and disrespect for people. Sometimes these “opportunities” are raging problems that scream for attention. My Friday post will include a glaring example of this regarding my maddening interactions with Chase to refi my mortgage. Stay tuned for that. It ain’t pretty.
But the flip side of seeing the world through a Lean lens is that seeing a single example of Lean in action, can counteract a day of wasteful encounters and poor customer service. Enter my eye doctor. This practice, Arena Eyeworks in San Diego, has it DOWN. From the moment you walk in, their belief in customer value is apparent.
One of the most intriguing examples is their screening/testing room. They’ve arranged their equipment on a Lazy Susan of sorts, so that the equipment comes to the patient instead of the patient moving to the equipment as you see in many practices. Notice how the equipment slides out. Simple. Elegant. No unnecessary motion. Now THAT’S Lean in action! Kudos to Drs. Goldsmid and Langford and the entire Arena Eyeworks team!