In lean thinking, we talk a lot about respect for people. And that means we need to understand the physical and mental conditions affecting the people we work with. I know that my training as a lean thinking, continuous improvement professional included very little about how our brains work – and even less about the effects of mental health and mental illness on how our organizations work. Yet many of the people we work with, and even we ourselves, struggle with aspects of mental illness and seek better mental health.
In this episode of “The Edges of Lean” Michelle Dickinson and Gemma Jones share their learnings about mental health and mental illness – and we talk about what it means for anyone working in continuous improvement.
September is Suicide Awareness Month, an important time to pay attention to everyone’s mental health.
If you or someone you know are having suicidal thoughts, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24-hours a day at 1-800-273-8255
In the UK, you can ring the Samaritans (also 24 hours a day) on 116 123.