A Letter to You From the Executive Director

The Colorado Lean Network has made great progress this year–progress that is not without a few mistakes. Albert Einstein once said “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” Our measure of mistakes is a large indication that we are innovating over here and we encourage you to partake–it’s kind of fun.

What worked this year…

It gives me great pleasure to be working right next to some of the most talented individuals who I have crossed paths with in my career. I welcome you to read more about what this team has accomplished by clicking on the interactive timeline at the bottom of the About page. Additionally, here are a few highlights:

  1. The Communications team led by Meg Chapple launched our first ever official newsletter highlighting the 2018 Colorado Lean Summit.
  2. Our Community Outreach team led by Jennifer House and Chris Baumgartner launched two successful workshops at Metro Caring focused on value-stream mapping and visual management.
  3. Leading the charge of the Event Management team, Jamie Parker was instrumental in organizing half-a-dozen very successful events, including providing a strong A3 planning foundation for the 2018 Colorado Lean Summit. At 154 attendees, this was the largest attended event to date!
  4. A new service line for this year, Kirsty Dykes and the Learning and DevelopmentOverall Favorable team led several learning and development workshops which received the highest overall customer satisfaction rating among ALL CLN service lines to date, and that is a challenge to meet considering the professional diversity of our members! Jamie Parker, you have internal competition.
  5. Sandy Schweitzer joined mid-year to take charge of the CLN’s Treasury and Finance team. As we continue to grow, we need a strong business framework to operate within and Sandy has been instrumental with exploring our legal options. More to come next year!

What didn’t work so well…

We were founded as a member-run organization in 2012 and we have offered everything

2018 Colorado Lean Summit survey results; N = 65

2018 Colorado Lean Summit survey results; N = 65

for free to our members since inception. Nevertheless, now that we are nearing the 500th member, there are certain limitations to this model. Although there were many learning points in 2018, the largest reality that we encountered is that we are limiting our ability to meet your needs without having cash-flow. Although this is an extremely sensitive topic at our BOD meetings, 97% among 65 survey respondents from the 2018 Colorado Lean Summit said that they would be willing to pay for their ticket. We haven’t ironed out the details yet as to what costs, if any, you might incur as a member in 2019. Nevertheless, please let us know your thoughts on LinkedIn or Facebook by using #CLNCosts.

Thank You, Sponsors

At the top of our list is offering a warm thanks to our sponsors–both from 2017 and 2018. As we explore alternative operations to support our service line to our members, you guys have supported us financially–some since inception. Thank you so very much for your support from all of us at the Colorado Lean Network. We could not have done it without you.

Thanks again to all of you. Here is to an amazing year ahead of us all!

See you next year!

Cheers,
-Michael Shull
Executive Director
Colorado Lean Network

CLN Sponsors

Published by Michael J. Shull

Mike began his improvement journey in the late 1990’s using Kanban cards and production boards to reduce waste in the restaurant industry. In 2005 he joined Caterpillar, Inc. where he learned how to integrate process improvement with Six Sigma to increase heavy equipment sales in two Colorado territories. With a passion for education, Mike later began teaching folks how to use these simple principles themselves--first in the private sector (2009), and then later in the public sector (2012). Mike is the Senior Manager of Continuous Improvement at Denver International Airport and he previously served as the executive director for the Colorado Lean Network from 2017 - 2020. Mike loves learning about what drives people to improve processes while teaching them how to think differently. When he is not facilitating process improvements, Mike enjoys hiking, snowshoeing, biking and traveling with his wonderful wife, Melissa.

2 thoughts on “A Letter to You From the Executive Director”

  1. Duke Nielsen says:
    Reply

    Michael,

    I very much appreciate my participation in the CLN programs and the exchanges I’ve had with fellow members. I would glad to support being charged a reasonable fee for the privilege of participating in the program offerings.

    I would also like to renew my suggestion of meeting with you personally. I am quite sure that you and I are in a position of helping each other help other LCN members as well as other organizations in general.

    Please let me know if you are wiling to meet me for coffee or lunch sometime for an understanding exchange.

    Sincerely,

    Duke Nielsen

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