While there is nothing wrong with learning in the classroom, real learning only occurs with application and/or repetition.  Lean also will never be truly successful unless leaders in the organization become more than supporters, they become teachers. With the Go and See workshop, both of those challenges can be overcome.  Participants will be engaged in a fast-paced multi-model approach that includes short teaching segments, team application exercises, and personal reflection.  A major part of the workshop involves your teams working in facilitated exercises in their work environments identifying and implementing improvements in their processes.

A major aspect of the workshop is that it involves your teams working in facilitated exercises in their work environments identifying and implementing improvements in their processes.  During the workshop the teams will develop deep observation skills and apply those skills on the shop floor and, through rapid problem solving and experimentation, will improve work in their key processes.

The 3-day workshop teaches 3 critical lean skills.  First is the ability to observe work and understand the current state at a deep level. It is not enough just to go to the Gemba, or the real place where real work is done. Observation without skills is simply “tourism”. The ability to understand and analyze what is observed through a structured lens and framework of activities, connections, flows, and outputs is a critical lean skill that will contribute to meaningful improvements, often quickly and easily.  The second skill is the ability to design work. Participants will learn how to structure work and improve processes with small improvements that accumulate benefit over time. These skills will enable both small rapid improvement with cumulative benefits as well as complex process improvement. The focus of this training is small rapid improvement. They will apply that skill on their processes based on observations made during the workshop. Finally, the third skill to master is improving through rapid experimentation. The key for any improvement program is the utilization of the scientific method to implement rapid, low cost solutions. Additionally, experimentation is the core ingredient to individual and organizational learning.

One of the essential benefits of this workshop is that most of the learning is achieved through practical application. As a result, it is the perfect structure for cascade teaching, meaning executives and managers teaching their staffs, and their staffs in turn teaching their staffs. The course and approach is designed with that specific objective.

Key Benefits

1. Learn how to structure direct observation.
2. Learn how to design processes to achieve better results for the customer.
3. Learn how to experiment quickly and cheaply to test ideas and generate learning.
4. Learn while doing and experience meaningful process improvements in only a few days.
5. Engage team members working in focus practice areas.

Day 1: Direct Observation

Teams practice observation on a real process without a framework, so that they understand how difficult it is to have a common understanding of the current state without a framework and common lens, or understand how to effectively improve work without it. Participants learn how to observe work through a structured framework and lens of activities, connections, flows, and outputs in their process. Application sessions will be conducted in focus processes in the host site operations and/or business processes.

Day 2 : Designing the Work

Participants learn how to identify and design structured activities, connections, flows and outputs.  They will apply this newfound skill in their assigned processes by developing solutions and improvements to the processes based on their observations and new skills.

Day 3: Experimentation

First, the group will develop the skill of how to properly design experiments with structured hypothesis and find quick and easy ways to validate their concept. Then teams return to their assigned processes.  Based on their proposed solutions from the previous day, teams develop and then execute experiments to test those proposals and implement rapid improvements to their focused areas.

Throughout all 3 days, participants determine how they might integrate these newly learned skills into their everyday work, and what might stand in the way. Any improvements not implemented during the workshop will be documented on an action plan.