I came across some interesting data from a report by PEX .   The PEX researchers spoke to 400 people in process or operational improvement rolls in July 2014.  One of the questions they asked was about terminology.  What is the term used in your organisation to describe operational excellence.   See answer below.  The measurement is % of people who mentioned a term … so I guess it should add up to 100%.  Sorry about the quality of the picture.

Does this mean that we are all one big happy family despite calling ourselves by different names – no chance.   What it means is that this is a young, emerging field where there are lots of new ideas and tools and methods.  Along with these come new names and terms.  Until the innovation starts to slow down, I don’t see the current situation changing much …. and I don’t want the innovation to slow down.

So, I guess, we just need to be able to speak multiple languages (lean, agile, transformation, world class, business model, total quality, operating model, etc ) to be effective .