Patrick Adams  

Welcome to the Lean solutions podcast where we discuss business solutions to help listeners develop and implement action plans for true Lean process improvement. I am your host, Patrick Adams. Hello, everybody. My guest today is Karyn Ross. And Karyn has been on our show before, this is her second time on the show. So I’m excited to have her back. Karyn Ross is on a mission to help people improve the world. And we talked a lot about that in the last podcast. She is the author of How to coach for creativity and service excellence, as well as the co author of the Shingo award winning the Toyota way to service excellence. And we’ll get back to those books later on in the show because they’re important. And that good tie back to what we’re going to be talking about today. But welcome to the show, Karyn.

Karyn Ross  

Thank you, Patrick. Thank you for having me on. For the second time.

Patrick Adams  

Absolutely. So today, we’re going to be talking about the love and kindness project. And for those that are listening in on the Lean solutions podcast, I have to start out by asking the question, Karyn, why kindness? Why would we be talking about kindness on the Lean solutions podcast? Why would we do that?

Karyn Ross  

Well, you know, kindness is super important. And I always say that kindness is the key to respect for people. And why do I say that? Well, when we talk about transformation, and we want to change from one thing to another, when we want to have a Lean transformation, lean is a thing, people as part of organizations, those are people are going to transform, they’re going to have to work in new ways, they’re going to have to think differently, they’re going to have to do things differently. And that creates a lot of fear for people. And the thing that actually allows them to have the courage to learn, to create to work in New in different ways, is actually, kindness. And just like all living things, people grow, flourish and blossom, through kindness when they’re not afraid, when they trust when they say okay, I I’m safe to actually give this new and different way of working a try. So if we really want to respect people, if we want our organizations to become lean to transform, what we really need is kindness and kind leadership.

Patrick Adams  

I love that. And when I was in the military, I heard someone say to me, that managers manage things like equipment, resources, assets, that’s what managers do. And true leaders are the ones that lead people and really being a good Lean leader is a mixture of the two, right, you have to be able to manage your assets and your things and your resources, but also the ability to lead people. I mean, people are complex beings, right? There’s a lot going on there, especially for me, I don’t know for myself and my family. There’s some complex stuff going on. But I just think about, like, when you say kindness, I mean, and tie that back to respect for people. And I just think about, like empathy and understanding, you know, putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. And I mean, that’s what a true leader has to do. And that those are the types of leaders that are going to follow people, right?

Karyn Ross  

Absolutely. And when you think about it, we can you think of that lean practice, going to gamba. Going to see so as a leader, if I’m going to gamba, I really want to do two things. First of all, when we talk about answer results are the things I’m going to check on. What’s happening, right? Are the products being made or the services being provided that’s checking on things, those are the ends, when I go, I’m going to actually check in with people because none of those ends, those results are going to occur without the efforts of people. And I have to go to gemba with open eyes, open yours open mind and an open heart to see and hear and really listen to the problems that people are having to get to know them as people to see Oh, I wonder why this person is afraid to give this a try? Well, they’ve only done this the other way for 30 years, and maybe before I as a leader came along, the leader came along when they tried something differently. And it didn’t work out exactly as planned and the results didn’t turn out, right. They were chastised for it. They were ridiculed for it. They were embarrassed, maybe they were demoted. Right. So we check in with people. And we are empathetic and compassionate and act with kindness to help them and then actually the results are going to be also going to be what we expect.

Patrick Adams  

Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned listening. And I think that sometimes as leaders we get so busy that we don’t take the time to listen and you may know for those that are listening right now, you may have to intentionally, you know, cause yourself to, to create opportunities to listen. And I just think about asking questions instead of directing or telling, you know, really just ask a question, maybe even if you know the answer, but then practice listening, and really be intentional about creating those opportunities where you can connect with your, with your team and, and listen to them. Because that is kind, that is the right thing to do. It’s, you know, in business, it’s not all about, you know, speed and trying to get things done as quickly as I can. And just, you know, it doesn’t matter who I run over in the process, no, it’s different when it comes to people. And we have to treat people with respect and in love and kindness.

Karyn Ross  

Absolutely. And actually on the topic of listening, and listening, with open eyes, open ears, open mind. And an open heart is one of the three key app behaviors that you’ll find in the act kindly section of the kind leader. And maybe most people don’t know this. But listening is as a human being our worst skill. So our brains process much faster than people can speak. So your brain is already processing. And you’re bored, because I’m speaking too slowly. So you’re thinking of all the things you’re thinking of and what you might want to respond to, you’re thinking about, Oh, what am I going to get for groceries for dinner? And so listening is very hard for people. But when you think about it, we send people to training for many things, public speaking, right? How many people have actually gone to training for listening? much fewer. And we talk all the time and lean a bit by asking better questions. But here’s what I think. If we don’t actually put just as much emphasis on being better listeners, it’s unkind. To ask a question, if you’re not actually really going to pay attention, because how is that other person going to feel? We can ask someone a question, they can give us their great ideas, they can give us their opinions, they can pour their heart out to us. And if we go away, and we do nothing with that, it may have been better not to ask the question in the first place.

Patrick Adams  

Absolutely. I love that that’s such a great point. And really something that leaders should really consider and take inventory. You know, what, what does your day look like and how much of it is spent being kind and being intentional about some of those things. So thank you for that reminder. Karyn, I want to ask you specifically about the love and kindness Project Foundation. So this is an organization that you started, and I’d love to just let our listeners know a little bit more about it can you talk to us about the Love and Kindness Project Foundation, what it is and why you started it?

Karyn Ross  

Sure. And thank you so much for asking me that question. Because I know a lot of listeners know that might lean work and less of the mean, oh, but the love and kindness Project Foundation? Well, some of you probably know that, as a person, as a coach or consultant, when I see a problem, I always think somebody should do something about the problem. And actually, that somebody should be me. So as I was traveling around, teaching, and speaking about all kinds of Lean topics, I noticed that there was a lot of unkindness going on. So we hear right now there’s so much focus on all those passengers who are being disrupted by the airlines. That’s not new. I saw all of those things in all of the years that I was traveling, and it was really bothering me. And I thought, you know, there’s so much kindness, but we don’t actually notice it. I would be in the airport, and somebody would drop their scarf, and somebody else would pick it up and give it to them. And I thought I wish I had a way to recognize people who were doing kind of things to accentuate the positive, nice actuate the negative. And so I created these little buttons, which I call love and kindness buttons. Yeah. And I started giving them out. When I saw someone do something kind I started giving them out to people with this little slip of paper that says plant kindness rollout. And so I would be in the airport and they’d see the person dropped their scarf and someone else pick it up and I take a button out of my pocket. I go up to the person who picked up this guy, tap them on the shoulder and say, Hi, I noticed you just did this really kind of thing. Can I give you this little button and slip of paper to thank you for your kindness? And I was totally shocked at what happened. People went crazy. They hugged me. They asked if they could take a selfie to send to their family. They said this kind of thing never happens to me. And as I gave it more and more buttons and I realized the positive impact of just noticing times acts of kindness that are happening all around us. I thought, wow. And then I had some friends who encouraged me. Why don’t we create a foundation? So we created the love and kindness Project Foundation, and we’re a registered 501 C three, we’re actually a global foundation now. So we’re working in Brazil, in the Caribbean, in the UK, in Canada, we have directors all over the world. And our mission is to spread kindness, person to person around the world, just through small acts of kindness. And we’ve done many, many different projects to help doing that. And you can go on our website, and when you go on our website, one of the things you’re going to find is that everything there is for free. And the reason is that kindness is free. And we really, really want to encourage you to practice kindness and to understand that your tiny, kind act, even though it might seem small, actually makes a huge positive difference for others and changes the system. Because you’re a better Kinder system.

Patrick Adams  

That’s right. It’s the small things, I love that you that you’re using the word small acts of kindness, because sometimes people think like, oh, it’s got to be this big elaborate thing that I planned out, or whatever it might be, but you’re talking about small little things that are already happening, people are kind, you know, in things are happening around us. And it’s about noticing, noticing those little things, but also being intentional, to to be kind and to do those little things. And the small things are going to add up to something very big. And I talk a lot about the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River and how one drop of water that started. And eventually, you know that one drop of water turned into a crick and then turned into a river and then, you know, eroded and broke away at the rock. And now look at this massive, Grand Canyon that has been created from one drop of water. And if you think about that, with with kindness, these these small little acts of kindness in your organization, in your team that you have that you manage, that you have control of, maybe you’re not a leader, maybe you’re not a manager, maybe you’re part of a team, your small acts of kindness can still add up to big things just in your little group. And so I love the point that it’s small things that add up to something big.

Karyn Ross  

Absolutely. And people say to me all the time, how are you one person, one middle aged lady out there in, shaking up the land, going to create a better kind of world. And I said, it’s not just me, actually, what’s going to happen is, I’m going to encourage you to do an act of kindness, you’re going to do an act of kindness, which is going to encourage someone else to do an act of kindness, which is going to encourage someone else to do it act of kindness. And again, each of our small daily acts is going to add up. And when we hear about kindness that other people do. First of all, it helps us think Oh, actually, that’s happening around me too. Right? And now we start to notice and recognize kindness as well. And then it makes us think, well, that person could do that. I could do it as well. And I’m going to give you a really simple example. I was walking my dog’s big karma two days ago, and we had a lot of snow here. And actually, I was walking Vin karma at 330 in the afternoon, because I had been coaching people and helping people since 730. This morning, at 7: 30, it was the first time I got out of my seat. My husband was at work. It was super busy. He just managed to get the car out of the driveway. And as I walked on my way home, my next door neighbors were getting out of their car and my next door neighbor son said, I see your driveway isn’t shoveled. I said, Oh, you know, my husband was super busy. I was super busy. This is the first time I got out of my chair, went back up into my studio and I noticed a look through my window. My next door neighbor’s son was shoveling my driveway. totally simple. Yeah. Right. Again, it has to do with listening, listening. It has to do with that empathy and that compassion, say, Oh, they’re super busy over next door. I’m not busy right now. Let me just go and shovel their snow. You did an act of kindness for me the other day, you put a post that had a quote of mine and you can’t imagine how that made my day. Right? Recognizing that someone who is your work colleague came over and said, Could I help you with this piece of work I noticed you seem a little overwhelmed. Right? And again, accentuate the positive, decent joy, the negative. And now we start to notice people who need help and offer our help. Every single person can help every single person and every single person can do an act of kindness and none of them are too small. A single one makes a huge positive difference that you may never even know what the difference you made? Is?

Patrick Adams  

That’s right. And Karyn, I’ve been seeing this, this hashtag float around on the internet, different social media areas. And I’m curious to hear more about it. It’s a hashtag for stories of kindness. So can you tell us a little bit about what the hashtag stories of kindness project is all about?

Karyn Ross  

Thank you. And every year, the love and kindness Project Foundation takes on a theme and has one major project that we work on. We do all kinds of projects. But every last year, we did a kindness challenge every month. This year, hashtag stories of kindness and also hashtag everyday kindness is the project that we’ve created. And it’s super simple. I have a little instruction guide here. And all you need to do is download our free stories and kindness notes template, you can create a board, oh, if you have a huddle board, you could just create a little card on your headboard. Given these, these little notes to everybody. And when people notice a kindness, have them write it up with the date. So here’s one that I filled out. And all they need to do is posted on the board. And this one is my fabulous next door neighbor Michael shoveling,

Patrick Adams  

Oh, nice. So for those that are listening in , the template is available for download on the website, which we’ll put in the notes. But Karyn’s holding it up to the screen here. And if it has, she had written out exactly what happened with the date. And on the top it says stories of kindness. And then on the bottom it says hashtag everyday kindness. And then she just wrote that yesterday was a super busy, super snowy day. My fabulous next door neighbor, Michael, shoveled my driveway and walkway, how kind and it warmed my heart. And that was on January 25 2022. So just an amazing reminder of just a small act of kindness. And I’m sure you post those on your board or around your desk there. So like she said, You could do that on your huddle board or, you know, in your office or you know, somewhere break room, I mean, anywhere right?

Karyn Ross  

I’m gonna turn my computer on a little bit. So you can see because I don’t have a board, but she’s got all kinds of them up there. This is actually just starting in January, because I just started and I had some other things up on my board. And I’ve had to take them down because there’s so many acts of kindness. When you look for and notice those acts of kindness, you’re going to be amazed at what you find. And can you imagine the positive impact this is going to make to your team right now. First of all it is almost February, we have people who suffer from seasonal affective disorder. So it’s winter blues February blahs it’s a downtime. People were so hoping to get out of Coronavirus. And now we’ve just had the overcrowded search. People are tired, people are seeing the negative. Yeah, these are absolutely simple, free ways to help focus people on the positive and kind that’s going around.

Patrick Adams  

That’s right. And we’re talking about small acts of kindness. I’m wondering if there’s people listening who are going to Small Kindness? I mean, I don’t know what benefit that can have to my organization? Is it really going to make a difference? I mean, it’s a small act, I’m guessing there could be people that are thinking like, what’s the ROI on this if I implement it into my, you know, team or whatever it is? So I’m curious for someone that’s maybe thinking it’s useless to do these small acts of kindness, or it’s useless to look for these little things that are happening around us? What would be your response to them?

Karyn Ross  

Well, I wouldn’t say right now, I think all of us are experiencing another hashtag, the great resignation, right? And so many people are changing jobs, so many people are unhappy with their employees. And I think one of the things that really I reflected on a lot during this time about this is actually though people go to work for money. I think the reason that they are leaving and choosing different paths is that they realize that time is short. None of us knows how much time we’re going to have. And they’re not willing to give what I call the precious time of their lives, which they’re actually going to get back working in atmospheres that are unkind, that are toxic, but don’t care about them as people that only care about the ends. Not the how we get there, right the way we do things. And actually, I think that employers now would behoove them to focus on kindness to focus on helping people see kindness to focus on doing small acts of kindness. To focus on kind of leadership, as well, because that’s going to help keep people happy and keep them engaged. And also, when we see unkindness, it’s going to give us some ideas of where we need to spend our time working. People simply are not willing just to work for a paycheck anymore, right? They absolutely aren’t willing to do little acts of kindness. Change the World. Patrick, in Lean, we’re systems thinkers, we talk about the system, right? Yep. If we want to change the output of the system, we have to change the input. And if each of us put something different into that system, we put in kindness, we put in recognizing kindness, actually, what’s going to come out as a different output. And those are going to change a lot of things. If you don’t have anybody sitting in the chairs to do the work in your organization, you’re not gonna have any ROI. It’s super simple, right?

Patrick Adams  

That’s right. Yeah, I always love to use the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So if you are, if you’ve been dealing with, you know, struggling to get people in, if you’re struggling to keep people working for you, and you’re doing the same thing over and over again, but you’re expecting it to change, it’s not going to change unless you change the inputs unless you change something about what’s happening. Now, there are definitely some external forces there as well. But you know, what’s within your control? And kindness is one of those things, if people don’t like where they’re working, if it’s a toxic environment, they have so many options now to leave no problem. So what are you doing in order to keep your team there in order to create a healthy environment where they like to work where they want to be, and kindness is one of those inputs that you can, that you can use to change the output. If it’s not being done today, and we’re not talking about, again, it’s not a huge project, that’s going to take three to figure out, it’s, it’s little things, little things that you can find around you or be intentional about.

Karyn Ross  

Just think about the difference you’re gonna make if you’re a leader. And actually, you spend time with each of your people every day. And you wrote one story of kindness about each thing that they were doing, you saw something they were doing at the end of the day, you post these and you say to each person, hey, thank you for doing this today. I really appreciated it because I heard you were dealing with that difficult client and you didn’t lose your temper, you help them. Right? That’s right. By the end, I get here. They had a smile. Thank you. I know you had a hard day. But you came in here with a smile today and helped the colleague, can you imagine the difference? A tiny little piece of paper at story of kindness and a thank you would make a

Patrick Adams  

huge, huge difference. And obviously, we’re talking a lot about business right now. You know, I think about this project, the stories of kindness and who all it could impact, right? We’re talking about teams and business and things like that. But who is this project suitable for? I mean, is it all ages? Is it, you know, only adults? Is it? Does it work? Is it family, you know, what, who can take part in this project?

Karyn Ross  

This project is meant for everybody, and anybody. So we’re talking, you know, we’re here talking about business, but just think stories of kindness, bored at home, or have been some magnets on your fridge? That’s right. And I didn’t put lines on the forum because it gives them a little, they can draw the picture.

Patrick Adams  

Oh, that’s a great idea.

Karyn Ross  

Talk about it at dinner, right? Sit down for dinner and talk about the stories of kindness that’s going to improve your family, atmosphere and your bonds together at school, if you’re a teacher, have stories of kindness boards in your classroom or stories of kindness boards at school, if you work in a community group. Right? If you volunteer, how about that, you know, if you’re a scout, you can do this, all of these things. And it’s all it’s for all ages, but I really do want people to remember something. And people often ask me about loving kindness Project Foundation. Well, why aren’t you focused specifically on teaching kindness to children, because then when kids grow up, they’re going to be kind of adults. I’m going to tell you the chicken in the egg here is that we really do focus on adults because as adults, we have the ability to actually influence and change many more things and children and children. Look at us. We are our child’s first leader and our child’s first teacher. And when we act kindly, speak kindly and think and teach them to recognize acts of kindness actually Then they’re going to grow up. But we have to model that behavior, we have to model that behavior, that is what is going to change the system. But this is totally suitable, totally suitable for anyone and everyone.

Patrick Adams  

That’s right. And, you know, sometimes kindness comes natural to people. But you know, depending on how you’re brought up in the culture that you’re in, it might not come naturally, and that’s okay. What I would say is, the act of kindness is the right thing to do. And even if you don’t feel like being kind, you can be intentional, to be kind. And sometimes that means acting yourself into a feeling. And I promise you that if you continue to act, be intentional to do kind acts, eventually, the feeling will come because you’ll see the ripples, you’ll see the the the output, you’ll see what it does for someone to like Karen said when she was in the airport, and they gave her a hug. And you know, you don’t know how much I needed that or, you know, your child who you know, at the kitchen table just needed to hear, you know how good she did during her basketball game, or whatever it was, you know, and you’ll start to see the ripples in the results of kindness, you know, all around you and that that act will eventually become the feeling. So I don’t want people who are thinking about going, well, just kindness just doesn’t come natural to me. I’m not good at being kind. I mean, I have to imagine there are people out there feeling that way. Karyn, what do you think?

Karyn Ross  

I agree and actually is an extremely important point to bring up. Because I don’t assume anybody knows how to be kind or that kindness is natural. Kindness is learned. It’s learned from the people who model behavior to us. So if someone acts unkindly, I don’t just think, Oh, well, that person should have known better. I think that person may not know another way to respond, perhaps they grew up in a home situation in which kindness was not modeled to them, they were not treated with kindness, this is just the sad truth. They may have gone to school, they may have been bullied by other children, they didn’t learn kindness there, then they go to work. And maybe they have an unkind leader. People act, speak and think, in the ways that they are taught. And so when they respond, especially, you can look at this in your organization, or you can look at this in your family. Sometimes we look when we see oh, people are responding like that, because that’s the way the leader acted. Patrick, maybe you’ve been in this situation where your child has said something and then you’re like, oh, I don’t know where they learned to say that. And you think, Oh, it for me?

Patrick Adams  

Absolutely, all the time.

 

Karyn Ross  

So when someone is unkind, we should assume that they don’t know how to be kind. They’re acting in a habitual way, in those ways, it’s going to change their behavior. Because again, what’s the theory of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again, is for us to give them a different input. Respond, kindly give them a different model, about how they could act or react or interact with people, give them different words that they could use. That’s, that’s what kind of leadership is all about? It’s not easy. Yeah. But that’s what kind of leadership is all about.

Patrick Adams  

That’s right. It does sound simple, you know, to say it, but I’m glad that you said that it does take a lot of work, it’s not going to be easy. But if you’re intentional and consistent, right, it’ll eventually become a habit. And that’s what we want. That’s why we want that to be the case. Karen, what are some other ways that that myself or anyone listening in could get involved with the love and kindness Project Foundation and help spread kindness?

Karyn Ross  

Well, first of all, if you go to our website, www dot loving kindness project.org. And I know you’re gonna post that, which I appreciate these loving kindness buttons, which I’m wearing, and we’re happy to send them to you to use in any way that you want to recognize kindness, they’re free. Shipping is free to Wow, that’s great. You’ll find so many different things to download for free, that are fun activities, like this tiny book containing kindness ideas, where actually you can unfold it and then you write your own. So we have 10 days of kindness, practice and love it. We have, again, many posters that you can download. We have from last year’s project, monthly challenges, very nice this year, and we also have some books, and oh yeah, I’m a family you can have been Carmen little Cosmo help each other. And this is actually my real real dog and cat. And obviously, if a dog and cat can be kind to each other, we have Think kindly and speak kindly and kindly. And this is simply a prompt for you to use every day. If you follow the loving kindness Project Foundation page on LinkedIn, or on Facebook, I feel I’ll send you the links to those as well. I also show notes. I post a practical idea that you can use every day to think kindly, speak kindly, and act kindly. Because kindness is a practice that takes practice. And there was one other book I wanted to tell people about. This is a love and kindness Project Foundation publication, and it’s actually how to teach continuous improvement to people of different abilities. Oh, nice, that we published last year. So if you have workers who have autism, or physical differences, or ADHD OCD, this is how you would teach continuous improvement.

Patrick Adams  

Amazing. I love it. And Karyn, speaking of books, we mentioned a couple of your books earlier, but you have a new book out and I want to wrap up with you just can you give us a quick overview of your book, because I think it’s important that we wrap up with the fact that your books are available out on Amazon, and a portion of the proceeds helps fund the foundation. So can you tell us a little bit about your newest release and how the proceeds are being used?

Karyn Ross  

Yeah, the newest and the six actually is the kind of leader A Practical Guide to eliminating fear, creating trust, and leading with kindness. And this book actually is a practical guide for you as a leader. And please remember, you may not have a formal leadership title at work, but people are following you, your leader at home, when you coach your child’s sports team. And it is full of theory, practice and ways for you to actually practice leading with kindness, and all of the books so whether they’re published by loving kindness Project Foundation, or Toyota way to service excellence, or how to coach for creativity, and service excellence, and the kind leader, all of the royalties that come to me, I go 100% to fund the foundation. So this is the way we send out buttons for free for people. And we also give micro grants and coaching, free coaching to people who want to create projects to create more kindness in the world. So every time you buy a book that I’ve written, or loving kindness Project Foundation has published, you’re actually making a donation to the love and kindness Project Foundation, 100% of the world’s he’s in helping me fulfill my purpose and mission to help people improve the world and create a better kind of world. So thank you for everybody who does that?

Patrick Adams  

Well, it’s been great to have you on Karyn, always love talking to you, and just hearing about the amazing stuff that you’re involved with and helping to improve the world. And just again, just love it. Love everything you do. The love and kindness project is amazing. We will definitely post all those links so that anybody that’s listening in can click on those and go get some of those free downloads. If you’re interested in reaching out to Karyn Ross, we’ll also put her contact information in the show notes as well. So Karyn, thank you again for being on the show. We appreciate having you here.

Karyn Ross  

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate your kindness and I appreciate your leadership. Patrick,

Patrick Adams  

Thank you so much. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the lean solutions podcast. If you haven’t done so already, please be sure to subscribe. This way you’ll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined. Please give us a review. Thank you so much.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai