Transforming as a Problem-Solver

Josh Howell and Mark Reich, LEI President and Chief Engineer Strategy, respectively, speak with Scott Heydon, former VP of Global Strategy at Starbucks, McKinsey & Co. consultant, and a Senior Lean Coach with LEI since 2014. They discuss Scott’s efforts to transform Starbucks with lean thinking, learning lean methods and new ways of problem-solving along the way, and how he’s taken that knowledge to other organizations.

Scott says at Starbucks he evolved his own problem-solving from that of a top-down, MBA-style focused on financials and strategic analysis to include a recognition of problems from the bottom up and a need to develop the capability of others to incrementally improve and problem-solve at the local level to “get better every day.” His work at Starbucks included a four-store lean experiment, which involved then Starbucks colleague Josh and was eventually expanded across the coffeehouse chain. The effort was revised midcourse, says Scott, as his programmatic approach shifted to a better understanding of the processes and problems that need to be solved specific to individual stores and asking store leaders, “What problem are you trying to solve?”

Scott offers two pieces of advice for those in leadership positions progressing with their own lean learning and working to develop and support others who are learning with them:

• “Spend more time where the work happens. That can be challenging as a leader because people will operate differently” and the perspective viewed may not always be authentic. Scott worked in a local store as a barista for a few hours each week, and told people on the line he was trying to learn and was not there to judge. It also helped that he had an idea of what to look for, a key skill learned from LEI coach Jeff Smith while at Starbucks.

• Turn off the problem-solving in your brain as you talk to someone, and instead ask questions to learn from them about what they are doing and ask questions that can help them become a better problem-solver. “To develop that capability in others and to create improvement by supporting others is a really important capability for leaders.”