Scaling With People
Tired of spinning your startup wheels but never gaining traction? Buckle up, founders and CEOs, because this podcast is your rocket fuel to profitability! Every week, we ignite explosive conversations with bold-faced founders, brainy experts, and even a few out-of-this-world vendors. Get ready to crack the code on growth, master employee engagement, and blast through your scaling goals. We’re talking real-world strategies, actionable tips, and perspectives that’ll make your business do a cosmic dance. So, strap in and prepare for lift-off!
Scaling With People
Slow Down To Go Fast: How Continuous Improvement Powers Startup Growth with Lorraine Armijos
What if the fastest way to scale isn’t hiring more people, but removing the friction that slows the people you already have? We sit down with executive coach and lean practitioner Lorraine Armijos to break down a simple, repeatable way to grow: align strategy, process, and people, then empower the front line to solve problems where the work happens.
We start with the mindset shift founders struggle with most—slow down to go fast. Lorraine shows how to define the real problem before fixing it, using observation, data, and root cause thinking to avoid the trap of quick wins that don’t stick. From there, we dig into daily huddles and lightweight problem-solving rituals that turn scattered effort into steady momentum. Leaders set direction, teams own the path, and everyone sees how their work ties to clear metrics that ladder up to the company’s goals.
Lorraine also demystifies lean without the jargon: create value, remove waste, and build a culture where experiments are celebrated for the learning they produce. We talk about the right role for AI—after you simplify—and how to prevent automation from scaling chaos. A real client story shows how five-minute leadership huddles cascaded to frontline stand-ups, improved alignment across departments, and delivered measurable gains in performance and engagement.
If you’re a founder or operator ready to trade constant firefighting for compounding progress, this conversation gives you practical steps to start today: define success at every level, listen to the people closest to the work, and build a cadence that turns insights into action. Subscribe, share with a teammate who’s drowning in busywork, and tell us: what’s the one bottleneck you’ll cut this week?
Reach out to Lorraine and get the free tools here:
https://www.larinsights.com/scalingwithpeople
This week we will add the head of the file test for all areas of marketing styles upwards and five numbers and systems that we're going to do. This podcast is brought to you by Guide to HR, human expertise, AI powered impact. Thanks everyone for joining us today on Scaling with People podcast. I'm going to recreate your host and founder to Guide to HR. So, what if the secret to scaling your startup isn't more people and more funding, but fewer wasted steps? On today's episode, we're joined by Lorraine, our me host, a powerhouse in lean and process improvement, who's here to provide that streamlined systems aren't just for manufacturing. They're your startup unfair advantage from strategy that cuts the fluff to people development that actually sticks. Lorraine breaks down how continuous improvement thinking can build teams that hum and businesses that scale without the chaos. Let's get efficient founders. All right, Lorraine, I'm so excited to have you on the call today. Introduce yourself to our audience.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, hi, Guinevere. Thank you so much for having me today. So my name is Lorraine Armijos, and I am the founder of LART Insights. I'm an executive coach and a business consultant. The clients that come to me are feeling depleted, they've misaligned, they're feeling stuck and stuck between their operational needs, demands, and their employee needs. And what I do is I go in, I help develop leaders, and then I set in a proven structure that helps align purpose, operations, and people. And part of this structure is strategy, it's process improvement, and it's a system that helps everyone at every tier of the organization to feel empowered, feel that they can own the work and solve the problems. And so ultimately you get a place where leaders feel confident, teams are collaborating with each other, and a workplace that people and business can thrive.
SPEAKER_00:I love it. Okay, so I'm all about process improvements. The people that know me know I'm just like, I'm handing them. We finish a process, and two days later, I'm like, how can we improve it again? Right. So let's start with the bigger picture. When you walk into a company that's growing fast, um, but you know, they're starting to feel the cracks, maybe even a little stuck. What's the first sign that they need to start thinking through the lens of a continuous improvement?
SPEAKER_01:So I would say the moment that you start a business is a time when you need to start thinking of continuous improvement because change is always happening. We we live, most of us live in this delusional world that things will stay the same, but they don't. They never do, right? We want it to be except for taxes, right? Yes. And the other word that starts with a D, we don't want to talk about. Yes, yes. And so so we always want to have this continuous improvement mindset because we wanna, we as businesses and as leaders, we want to uh be nimble and be able to flex as change comes in. So, so so literally from the beginning of creating that organization.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so I'm thinking as the founder, okay, I gotta start building things first before I start thinking about how to improve them. But I understand the thought of like having that continuous improvement in my mindset. Maybe that's even why I built this business was to improve the industry or improve a product or services for someone. But and now I'm starting to grow, got a couple people, maybe a couple dozen people under me. What is the first step? Like, what, like, what is it that a founder could be like, aha, I got it. This is where we're getting stuck, or this is where I'm we're struggling, or that we've fallen down. This is where I need to put on my continuous improvement hat and work through the problem.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And so once you start getting the people is putting the ownership back on them. Because what happens is usually businesses are growing, right? You have leaders putting in the processes. And then we forget that the people are the ones, right? The frontline team are the ones who are either making the product or giving that service. And so when you think about continuous improvement, is at some point, right? You're giving the example of an entrepreneur growing their company, is putting it back on the people. And so one of the things that I uh said in this structure that I mentioned earlier are huddles, our daily huddles. Because what we want is we want a company to have the platform for the frontline team to be able to communicate like what do they need to be successful for the day? So that's one piece, right? Is like what do they need? And so you have uh other companies call it a stand-up, huddles, but you want it daily so you can hear their voices, see where they're at, and also give them what they what they need to know to be successful. And then on the other side, you also want to have a problem-solving huddle where where the team can start solving their own problems, right? As a leader, you give them what their goals are, but but they are the experts because they're doing it day in and day out. And so you now are giving them also this place where they can talk about the problems that are getting in the way to success, to their own success and the success of your business. And then they're coming up with solutions. And that can be very transformative uh for any organization.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the people that are living it stuck in it day to day, they likely have what good looks like. And all you need to do is ask a hundred percent. They're not looking for you to give them an answer, they're looking for you to let them give their give their answer a shot and then make improvements.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yeah. And as a leader, imagine going from you know, telling, telling, telling, or answering a thousand questions every day to having your team really owning it and solving on problem solving together.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. I could just imagine like that breath that the CEO and the other leaders would be getting to then execute in their role and continue to grow and lead the business forward. So that's the high level. Let's just like jump in and let's talk about an example. Could you share an example of when you came into one of your clients' organizations? What was a high level of the problem and how did this process help them break through?
SPEAKER_01:Yes. And so I had a client who who felt right, once again, this stuck, right? How do I grow? How do I grow? My team is growing and I want to continuously grow my organization. How do I start building some structure around this? And one of the first things that I did was having them have daily huddles as the leadership team. And the leadership team being uh supervisors, managers, directors, vice president, and CEO. So on a daily basis, they started having these uh five to 10 minute huddles to identify where they are and what do they need. And what they started seeing is they started seeing alignment, alignment across all the different departments, and they started talking about their problems also. And what ended up happening is that not only were they seeing value there, but then our next step, my next step is always like, okay, now let's start frontline. But I was so excited to hear that they started the their own huddles at the front line because that could be the hardest thing, because you have frontline people who have been doing work forever and they don't want to stop doing their work. But they had seen such success and alignment within uh the leadership team that they went ahead and started doing it in the on the front lines. Um they wanted to do it, they started seeing progress, and the leaders were able to understand what are the barriers that the frontline team faces and support them appropriately.
SPEAKER_00:What was like the outcome, like you know, fast forward six months, 12 months later, how does that actually bring ROI to the business?
SPEAKER_01:You start seeing your goal, you start meeting your goals. Because the the other piece that that is embedded in the structure is understanding what what success looks like at every level of the organization, right? Because what happens is uh sometimes, let's just say um I've been working in the healthcare industry for a long time. And so one of them, let's say it's patient satisfaction, right? And so patient satisfaction may be at the top, but as you go down each level, every tier or level owns something different within patient satisfaction, right? And so when you end up to the front line, they don't own all of the patient satisfaction questions that you answer, they may own or want to work on one small piece, right? Because you can't solve all the problems, but you need to start with one little piece. And so when you start solving one piece at a time, now you start seeing not only the frontline is being successful, but the whole organization is starting to meet the goals. So that that is the true, you you're able to see with metrics um how you are improving.
SPEAKER_00:And I feel like too, that also falls into employee satisfaction, engagement, uh lower retention. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Whenever people feel heard, right, um, they have more buy-in because they are seeing, oh, not only am I being heard, but I'm able to make a difference.
SPEAKER_00:You feel valued, like you actually are saying this needs to be fixed. Here's my solution. Oh, go do it. Great, here's the outcome. This is awesome. You do it again and you repeat because everyone loves to be praised that they're bringing value to the company.
SPEAKER_01:And also one of the things that I always tell the leaders that I support is that if that doesn't work, let's celebrate it also, right? Because it's yeah, exactly. You tried, and now let's let's help them, you know, with with the next step.
SPEAKER_00:And so I think that is so key. I've been in many cultures uh working with founders and they don't celebrate the misses. And not meaning like, oh, isn't this great that we missed it, but more of like, isn't this awesome that this person had a hypothesis or had a thought process that we could improve in this area? So we gave it a shot. It's unfortunate that it didn't actually improve the way we thought it would, but it was awesome that they came to the table with this idea and we tried it. Bring more ideas to the table. Because not everyone's gonna, you know, it's like kind of like the basket uh basketball. Like you shoot for the basket, you're not always gonna get it. Maybe nine out of 10 you do. But that one time, let's also still learn from that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And what did and yeah, exactly. What did you learn from it? Right. And and usually what happens in the process that I won't walk through teams is what did you learn from it? And then what small tweak can we do from that uh experiment that didn't work? Yeah. So um, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so at the beginning you talked about the your you break down lean um for your clients is strategy, process, and people. And most founders, including myself, I think, too, we just jump straight to the process. But why is that a mistake? Like, what are the um assumptions that we would as founders make if we jump to the process and we don't look at the strategy and the people along with it?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and so the first is is the why, right? And and I think that uh founders uh usually are very clear with their why because they started it. Um, but it's really to understand and share with a team of what are you, what problem are you trying to solve, right? Why are your pain points? Yeah, what are your pain points? Why does this uh business exist and what are the long-term goals? So, first is really being clear about that and being able to share to everyone and anyone, um, in a very simple, simple way of explaining it. It's not getting caught up with all the jargon that sometimes uh we get caught up in. So that's that's the first is is the what what are we trying to solve? Um, and then the next thing is the up the processes within the operations. And the next step is the the process or the operations. And the way that the reason you don't want to just go in and solve it, which is what we all do usually, is like, I have an idea, go in and solve, is that you don't want to solve the wrong problem. Yeah, or or just or mix something that doesn't exist. Yes, exactly. And so so with lean, um, which is the the structure that I put in, it's about really understanding what the problem is, is is doing your homework, is going out and observe, uh, not only collecting data, I think data is important, but also going to see, uh, ask questions to the team and really put this together and understand the problem to then be able to solve.
SPEAKER_00:You're kind of doing a root cause analysis. That and that is part of it.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Yeah, yes, that is part of it. And if I may, let me just backtrack a little for your listeners about what lean is. So lean, yeah, lean was created by uh was developed by Toyota. And in the simplest form, lean is about creating value to the customer by eliminating waste, um, improving processes, and empowering the team. And so that is the structure that I use when I go into uh companies to align their you know purpose, operations, and people. And lean has a lot of jargony words. And so I try with my clients to minimize it as much as possible and to really understand what they are trying to solve so I can tailor it to their needs.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. Yeah, I was also thinking, like, I'm such an AI junkie. I was thinking it's like the pre-AI, the non-tech AI of you know, like AI is all about making things lean more efficient, workflow, simplify your workforce, take off the admin steps. Maybe you still need those steps, but you know, now you can have AI do it. You're also coming in and saying, hey, you don't need these 10 steps when five of them will do.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. And you know, and that's exactly another reason why you don't want to just solve a problem without really understanding it, because what you may be doing, you may be adding extra steps to a process. And so what I always say is let's make sure that this is really solving your problem. Otherwise, let's scrap it. I mean, the last thing you want to do is add more work to people who, you know, who are ready, you need more time to complete it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. Well, especially if you want to try to streamline your process so you can move faster as a business. Maybe you need to push the deadline so you get your product out sooner. Maybe you, maybe your sales team promised something to your customer and now you got to execute on it. And if you have 10 less steps, that helps you be able to make that happen and continue growing and improving your own business. All right, I gotta I got a tricky question for you now. Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:What is one process improvement, fad or misconception that drives you crazy? And what should a founder be doing instead? And if you don't have an answer, it's okay.
SPEAKER_01:No, it's um I and I think we talked about it is the the jumping in. I think that what happens is leaders get into these positions because they have been so good at solving problems. And so when I go in, I'm asking everyone to slow down. And that can be frustrating. Um, but at the end of the day, it's very eye-opening when they start seeing uh the results because you are able to now really understand the problem and solve it uh in a permanent way, versus what happens is people are solving things so fast, and then the problem comes back again, comes back again, comes back again. And so if any of your listeners have that where the problem is back and you're like, but I thought we solved it, I would challenge them to look deeper and say, did I really know what the problem was? And really take time to understand it before solving it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. They might have solved it, you know, at the 10-foot level, 10,000 foot level, but it still hurts for the people on the ground because you've only solved it at that 10,000 foot. And now you gotta like, okay, you gotta go down again, going back to that root cause analysis. You can come up with the solution, but if it actually doesn't deal with the root of the issue, it's just gonna come back. I I literally just de-weeded my uh my lawn yesterday, my yard yesterday, and I didn't get all of the actual like roots, and I know they're gonna be coming back in like a week or two, and it just frustrates me. And it's the same thing with business, right? Like you have to get the actual root in order for that weed not to fester in your business again.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and you know, the other thing that I would add to that is don't do it alone. Because we're so good at sitting in our offices and coming up with that and then going out and being like, I found it. So I would say don't do it alone because you have the experts out there, which are the people who are doing the work. And so find your team, find who are those people that you want to work with to help solve those problems.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. I have a CEO I work with who, um, when he's got a situation, he actually will tell his executive team, I'm bringing what I think is the problem. I do not want solutions at this conversation. I want us to think about it. I want us to dive into the data, dive into the mindset, like look into this, and we will circle back at the end of the week to confirm if the data in the issue that I presented is accurate, is true. And if so, then we'll discuss solutions next week. If not, what is the problem? Let's talk about that. And then next week we'll start thinking about solutions. And I think what is so powerful about that is it creates the space. First of all, it sets expectations, right? Of what is expected of the leaders to do, their CEOs bringing a problem to them. Like you said earlier. If you're an executive, you're probably there because you are a good problem solver. But it gives them that space, like, I don't even want you to go into that mindset. I want you to be open and hear about this problem. Let's talk about it, let's dive into it, let's consume it, let's sit in it for a minute, and then let's validate it, come back and make sure that this is the problem, and then we'll deal with it next week. And I just that permission and that I love that expectations, it just sets such a good structure for everyone to be in a different mindset before he even shows what the problem is.
SPEAKER_01:I I I love that number one, because he is thinking of the long term, right, versus the short term. And also, I hope his team knows that he is developing them by doing that.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. Tell me more. What do you mean by that?
SPEAKER_01:Because he is giving he's a giving them the time to think deeper, right? And he is teaching them a process of looking through through these problems that not many CEOs do that, yeah. See CEOs are looking uh sometimes for results immediate results, right? Um, but he or she, I think you said he. Um he you know, he he's really taking the time, he's developing them and thinking of the long term. So that's I love it. Thank you for sharing that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'll have to tell him this. Uh, make sure he watches this one. Yes, yes. Yeah, have his whole team watch it. Exactly, exactly. Well, Lorraine, uh, this has been a fun topic. I definitely love it. Uh, one of my background histories of process improvement is I remember building charts and um Gantt charts basically and saying, like, well, this happens, then this happens, or that happens. And then uh I remember first couple ones, it was like five or six pages. I would take it to my my manager and be like, uh, this is ridiculous. Can't we simplify it? And she's like, Yeah, go figure it out. And I'm like, okay. And I became known as the process improvement queen in my 20s because I was like, this is ridiculous. I don't need 40 steps when 20 will do, right? So I this is my jam. I totally love it. We could be talking about it all day long. But as we wrap up here, is there any last final thoughts, tips, or tricks you'd like to share with the audience today?
SPEAKER_01:So, what I'd like to remind everyone, you know, we already talked about this, but to all your listeners to slow down. Um, and I am asking you the opposite of what probably you're being told, but slow down to ensure that you're solving the right problem. And don't forget that the heart of your business is your people. And you know, ask them and involve them in problem solving.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I I've heard and also say to go fast, you slow down, slow down to go fast, right? Like because if you slow down and you make the right direction change and then you go fast, you're in you're way ahead of if you go fast and then you're like, oh, I gotta backup, I missed that expand. Now I gotta turn around and now you're like two months behind. If you had just let yourself have two days or two weeks, whatever the situation might be. Well, uh Lorraine, thanks so much for joining us today. Um, how can our audience get in touch with you? We'll put all the links down and into the description, but just a quick shout out.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, so they can reach me at www.larinsights, l-ar insights.com forward slash hr. I'm gonna have for your listeners um some tools for them to be able to use.
SPEAKER_00:We love freebies. Yes. Awesome. We'll put the link in the description and thanks again for joining us. And for the audience, thank you so much for listening. And we'll see you on the next podcast. Have a great one. That's a wrap for today's episode of Dealing with People. If you got value from this conversation, do me a favor. Start with someone building something big. And hey, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Drop a comment, starting with this, or start a conversation. And don't forget to subscribe. So you never miss the old until subscribers we drop every week. I'm gonna refer standard and people aside to HR. So we have five companies that still start with people for strategies, we have AI tower systems.com and that's people.
