Try this Icebreaker with your teams to stimulate discussion about "where to start".
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Goal:
To enable your staff to visually see the annoyances in their daily jobs. Background: This simple exercise was conducted at AALAS in Austin TX as an icebreaker and a warm-up for the discussion on "Waste" ahead. What may seem like a silly meaningless task quickly becomes an obvious way to identify where the effects of invisible waste are infuriating your staff. The staff from the JW Marriott hotel conference center participated in this exercise as well and were amazed at how good it felt to participate, relate and "vent". Method: Each statement on slides 2-9 correlates to one of the 8-"DOWNTIME" Wastes (note the letter on the bottom right hand corner of the sheet). Slide 10 demonstrates how ignoring problems will lead to a universal feeling of defeat. Modify the statements to reflect the audience, but try to relate them to the "8-Wastes". Use this exercise for a single meeting, or you can leave the sheets up for a few days and ask people to add to them anonymously each day. Stir the pot and see what happens! 
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Instructions:
1) Print out the pages of the document. 2) Tape the pages 2-9 to a wall with slide 1 as the title. 3) Provide your staff with 3-5 Post-it notes. 4) Ask your staff to place a Post-it note on each statement that resonates with them or is how they feel. 5) Optional: ask them to write an example on each Post-it note. Discussion: 1) By popularity, identify the top 4 statements that your staff chose. 2) Identify the waste(s) that they voted on. 3) Ask them to give examples of this statement at work. 4) Ask them what is causing them to feel that way and how they should fix it as a team. 5) Ask them which 2 or 3 examples they would like to work on and which team they would like to serve on to get rid of the problem. 6) Celebrate their participation and help them by using a Problem-Solving Sheet or A3 Problem-Solving tool. | ||