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Managing to Learn with the A3 Process
Learn how to solve problems and develop problem solvers.
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Notify MeAre recurring issues preventing your team from consistently delivering value to your customers? Are you struggling with measurable gaps in safety, quality, timeliness, or cost that are affecting your performance? Are your meetings driven by the loudest voice rather than by facts, data, and first-hand observations?
We’ve transformed the unmatched A3 problem-solving process from Managing to Learn—the award-winning, best-selling workbook by management expert and former CEO John Shook—into a course that teaches you how to apply the powerful A3 problem-solving methodology. Based on the proven scientific method of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), Managing to Learn with the A3 Process course, will help you address critical business problems within your organization.
What makes the A3 problem-solving approach so powerful is that it is a complete process — a way of thinking, leading, communicating, learning, getting things done, and developing an entire organization of problem solvers.
You will be guided you step by step through creating your own A3. Attending each live session is crucial, as it provides instant feedback to enhance your abilities in real time. By consistently participating in every class and applying the lessons at work between sessions, you’ll steadily refine your A3 problem-solving skills using this proven approach.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Select, define, and investigate real problems from your work environment, leading to practical and impactful solutions.
- Ensure you have a shared understanding of the problem and therefore a shared motivation to address it.
- Investigate and confirm underlying causes of problems, and analyze barriers to improvement, ensuring that solutions address the root of issues.
- Lead the planning and implementation of countermeasures, and follow up to resolve execution issues, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and organizational learning.
Group Discounts
- Register three or more students from your organization and save 12.5% off every registration. This discount will be automatically applied at checkout when you register with your group.
- LEI Co-Learning Partners: Receive 25% off the current price. No group discount can be applied.
Cancellation Policy
To cancel, please call LEI at (617) 871-2900 or email registrar@lean.org.
- Two+ weeks before start date: full refund
- Less than two weeks before the start date: $350 fee
- After the start date: no refund
Schedule Overview – Online
The session will be 6 sessions that are hosted over 6 weeks with one to two hours of assignments in between.
April 17 – May 22, 2025 Course
All sessions hosted 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM ET and instructed by Lavon Medlock
- Thursday, April 17
- Thursday, April 24
- Thursday, May 1
- Thursday, May 8
- Thursday, May 15
- Thursday, May 22
• Grasp the problem’s scope and impact
• Understand the PDCA cycle as part of the A3 story
• Visualize and describe the workflow
• Find facts to confirm problem conditions
• State the problem as a measurable gap to close
• Set a goal and target for the performance improvement
• Identify and check direct cause(s)
• Prioritize to the most likely direct cause
• Analyze to root cause
• Test logic of the 5-Why chain
• Evaluate, rank, and propose countermeasures
• Lead scheduled Plan versus Actual reviews
• Identify and resolve problems during execution where needed

Eric Ethington
Senior Coach and Chief Engineer
Product and Process Development
Lean Enterprise Institute
President, Lean Shift Consulting

Mark Reich
Senior Coach and Chief Engineer, Strategy
Lean Enterprise Institute

David Verble
Lean Coach, Lean Enterprise Institute
Partner, Lean Transformations Group
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