Kevin Meyer

Daydreaming Lean

By Kevin Meyer

Understanding lean manufacturing is often a difficult undertaking due to how counterintuitive it can be.  How can a process yield more with less?  Move faster, with higher quality, by making one unit at a time instead of in batches?  Sometimes it just doesn't make sense... until you see it in action or the constellation of nuances suddenly becomes clear.  The underpinnings of that "a-ha!" moment are becoming better understood.

It happened to Archimedes in the bath. To Descartes it took place in bed while watching flies on his ceiling. And to Newton it occurred in an orchard, when he saw an apple fall. Each had a moment of insight. To Archimedes came a way to calculate density and volume; to Descartes, the idea of coordinate geometry; and to Newton, the law of universal gravity.

In our fables of science and discovery, the crucial role of insight is a cherished theme. To these epiphanies, we owe the concept of alternating electrical current, the discovery of penicillin, and on a less lofty note, the invention of Post-its, ice-cream cones, and Velcro. The burst of mental clarity can be so powerful that, as legend would have it, Archimedes jumped out of his tub and ran naked through the streets, shouting to his startled neighbors: "Eureka! I've got it."

So what is actually happening?

These sudden insights, they found, are the culmination of an intense and complex series of brain states that require more neural resources than methodical reasoning. People who solve problems through insight generate different patterns of brain waves than those who solve problems analytically.

In fact, our brain may be most actively engaged when our mind is wandering and we've actually lost track of our thoughts, a new brain-scanning study suggests. "Solving a problem with insight is fundamentally different from solving a problem analytically," Dr. Kounios says.

This explains a lot, at least to people at my company.  I have a 40 minute commute along the coast, through avocado orchards, and ending with a nice long winding drive through some vineyards.  Every now and then I try to listen to books on CD but find I don't remember a thing.  My mind is wandering.  And I usually have some hair-brained idea to try by the time I get to the office.

By most measures, we spend about a third of our time daydreaming, yet our brain is unusually active during these seemingly idle moments. Left to its own devices, our brain activates several areas associated with complex problem solving, which researchers had previously assumed were dormant during daydreams. Moreover, it appears to be the only time these areas work in unison.

She suspects that the flypaper of an unfocused mind may trap new ideas and unexpected associations more effectively than methodical reasoning. That may create the mental framework for new ideas.

So besides allowing our team members to daydream, how do we promote a propensity for insight?

Even before we are presented with a problem, our state of mind can affect whether or not we will likely resort to insightful thinking. People in a positive mood were more likely to experience an insight, researchers at Drexel and Northwestern found. "How you are thinking beforehand is going to affect what you do with the problems you get," Dr. Jung-Beeman says.

A positive mood.  Perhaps by treating people right... respect for people.  The second pillar of lean.

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