Lean Leadership Training Course

Participants can analyse a value stream and prioritise waste and flow problems for improvement.

• Map end-to-end value streams from customer request to fulfilled demand
• Separate value-added, necessary non-value-added and waste activities using VA/NVA analysis
• Identify eight wastes: defects, overproduction, waiting, talent, transport, inventory, motion, processing
• Calculate takt time, cycle time, lead time and process capacity
• Use spaghetti diagrams to expose movement, handoffs and layout losses
• Prioritise improvement opportunities through effort-impact matrices and Pareto analysis

Participants can establish the stable operating conditions required before improving flow.

• Define standard work using sequence, timing, work-in-process and expected outcomes
• Apply 5S to organise workplaces, information flows and shared digital spaces
• Document critical work steps using standard operating procedure formats
• Identify variation sources through check sheets, observation and process confirmation
• Use visual controls to make abnormal conditions immediately visible
• Set audit frequencies, ownership and corrective-action rules for sustaining standards

Participants can design daily management routines that expose performance gaps and trigger action.

• Select SQDCP measures for safety, quality, delivery, cost and people
• Build tiered daily accountability boards with targets, actuals and actions
• Define escalation triggers, response times and decision rights by management tier
• Use red-green status signals without concealing trends or unresolved issues
• Structure daily huddles around exceptions, commitments and support requirements
• Review leading indicators alongside lagging results to prevent recurring failures

Participants can conduct purposeful gemba walks and convert observations into leadership routines.

• Plan gemba walks around customer impact, process conditions and team obstacles
• Observe work directly before proposing solutions or requesting performance explanations
• Ask open questions that distinguish facts, assumptions, standards and countermeasures
• Create leader standard work for daily, weekly and monthly management tasks
• Balance floor presence with reporting, meetings and administrative responsibilities
• Record observations, commitments and follow-up dates using a gemba log

Participants can use A3 thinking to investigate operational problems and manage countermeasures.

• Frame problems with a measurable gap, scope, owner and business impact
• Construct A3 background statements using customer, process and performance evidence
• Analyse causes using five whys, fishbone diagrams and cause verification
• Differentiate containment actions, corrective actions and preventive controls
• Develop countermeasures linked directly to verified causal mechanisms
• Track implementation through owners, dates, checks and expected results

Participants can coach teams through structured improvement cycles and learning-focused conversations.

• Apply the Improvement Kata: challenge, current condition, target condition and experiments
• Break long-term objectives into observable near-term target conditions
• Use Plan-Do-Check-Act cycles to test assumptions and countermeasures
• Conduct Coaching Kata conversations using the five coaching questions
• Distinguish coaching from directing, rescuing and performance appraisal
• Build team capability through frequent feedback, reflection and documented learning

Participants can align local improvement work with strategic priorities through Hoshin Kanri.

• Translate strategic goals into breakthrough objectives, annual objectives and measures
• Use Hoshin Kanri X-matrices to connect priorities, owners and metrics
• Apply catchball to test feasibility, dependencies and resource commitments
• Limit active priorities to protect focus and execution capacity
• Link departmental targets with frontline measures and improvement themes
• Review strategy deployment through monthly reflection and course correction

Participants can sustain Lean routines by addressing adoption risks, accountability and reinforcement.

• Identify common resistance patterns during standardisation, measurement and role changes
• Explain the operational case for change using facts and customer consequences
• Involve frontline teams in standard design, testing and revision
• Reinforce desired behaviours through recognition, coaching and visible follow-through
• Monitor adherence using layered process audits and management review
• Address backsliding through observation, feedback and corrective action routines

Participants can prepare a practical 90-day plan for introducing Lean leadership practices in their area.

• Assess readiness across leadership commitment, process stability, measures and team capability
• Select one operational area with visible demand, performance and ownership
• Sequence early actions using a 30-60-90 day implementation plan
• Define success measures, review cadence, sponsors and escalation routes
• Anticipate resource constraints, stakeholder concerns and implementation dependencies
• Prepare communication messages for managers, supervisors and frontline teams