What is this program and why is it different?

To sustain an organization's continuous improvement efforts and be most effective leading change, lean leaders need to not only champion the deployment of lean tools but to look beyond the tools to the supporting management systems. They need to create an environment for effective and comprehensive problem-solving at all levels of the organization, and model the behaviors that support this open problem-solving environment.

These leadership behaviors cannot be learned without practice; leaders must go through their own Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA) learning cycles of experimentation to understand the basic underlying drivers of the existing performance and develop a new model for organizational learning and change.

Our Transformational Leadership program uses an experiential approach to provide first-hand leadership experience and help senior leaders learn to create the environment for effective and comprehensive problem solving by conducting a series of rapid PDCA cycles. Going through two rounds of an organizational simulation, participants get to better understand their individual and collective leadership styles and learn to apply lean thinking patterns to move toward a more effective leadership model required to support a lean transformation.

What can I expect to learn?

Through participation in a realistic business situation (simulation) followed by deep reflection, you will:

• Uncover the assumptions (thinking patterns) that form the foundation of an organizational culture and drive leaders' behaviors.
• Create a new lens that lean leaders can use to address and change these thinking patterns and support a lean transformation.
• Develop experiments that will create a new problem-solving culture to implement in your home organization.

What will this program do for me?

This program will help attendees:

• Understand the current thinking behind their organizational behaviors.
• Assess the gaps in their leadership systems and organizational structure that need to be addressed to allow the culture of problem-solving and continuous improvement to develop.
• Identify core behaviors and practices that characterize lean leaders.
• Clarify their role as a leadership change agent.
• Develop an action plan that addresses identified gaps.

How is this program structured?

Day 1

• Overview.
• Introduction to experiential learning.
• Organizational simulation, Round 1:
  Participants will analyze their own leadership styles and develop an understanding of the thinking patterns that form the foundation of any organizational culture.
• Debrief and reflection.

There will be a reception after Day 1 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Day 2

• Learning session: leadership that supports problem solving.
• Organizational simulation, Round 2:
  Participants will be challenged to apply lean thinking patterns introduced in the program to move toward a more-effective leadership model.
• Debrief and reflection.

Day 3

• Debrief and reflection continued.
• Developing a plan for personal and/or organizational transformation to create an open problem-solving culture.

Who should attend?
This program is specifically designed to show senior executives, functional leaders, and executive change agents the individual and organizational adjustments in culture, behaviors, and thinking needed to successfully sustain their improvement efforts.