The X-Stream LEAN Executive Champion Lean Leadership Training is a two-day event that exposes the Executive Champion to both the simulation of a project and the roles and responsibilities required for executive change agents who are expected to guide their organizations in the continuous improvement journey.

A generic agenda is shown in Figure One. However, X-Stream LEAN proposes to spend enough preparation time with each organization’s leadership to be able to tailor this training with the proper terms and examples to enable the participants to link our training with the desired outcomes in their own organizations.

The Leadership training provided by X-Stream LEAN is based on three concepts:

1. Leaders must be able to articulate who their Customers are, and understand the process experiences against which their Customers are judging them.

2. Leaders need to understand the methodology their teams will be using to improve the processes.

3. There must be an understanding of the roles and responsibilities required of the Leadership in order to drive change into their organizations.

Our approach is based upon extensive experience with a multitude of business organizations, functions, and government agencies. Our training modules incorporate the use of adult-based learning theory and techniques to enhance retention of the training material.

Our training also gives Leadership an understanding of the time-tested principles of Lean, Six Sigma and Theory of Constraints, and how they are inter-related in providing the most effective transformation to Process Improvement. X-Stream LEAN training uses an interactive set of tools and exercises to drive home this message.

Details

For the past several years Process Improvement has been divided into three distinct camps; Lean – as defined by Womack and Jones and based on the Toyota Production System; Six Sigma – defined by Motorola, Allied Signal and General Electric; and the Theory of Constraints – defined by Eli Goldratt and used by the U.S. Navy (among others).

It is the opinion of X-Stream LEAN that true continuous process improvement is a combination of all three. However, the underlying law of Continuous Improvement (CI) must be Lean principles first:

1. Understand VALUE from the Customer’s perspective
2. Understand the VALUE STREAM of your process
3. Remove WASTE from all steps of the value stream
4. Make FLOW AND PULL part of the process
5. Strive for PERFECTION

It makes no sense to optimize a system bottleneck or remove systemic variation from a process that contains waste. That course of action will certainly cause sub-optimization at the enterprise level Value Stream and, most assuredly, waste time and money in the effort with little or no long-term improvements sustained by the organization.

X-Stream LEAN will show during the two-day Lean Leadership Training how these principles are interwoven to provide a process that meets delivery schedules, produces defect-free output, and delivers the lowest cost.

The X-Stream LEAN structure for process improvement is based on the DMAIC process:

1. Define
2. Measure
3. Analyze
4. Improve
5. Control

After the simulation is concluded, the X-Stream LEAN Leadership Training moves into the final phase. This phase discusses what is required of the Leadership to drive and sustain process improvements.

This final section of the two-day training will discuss the reason for getting Leadership involved with their teams and will outline the qualities and responsibilities the Leaders of change must demonstrate in order to model appropriate Sponsor and Champion behaviors. This will support the efforts of their teams to change both the processes and the culture of your organization.

Included in this section is an extremely important topic, “Roles and Responsibilities”. The roles and responsibilities include the following:

• Green Belt roles
• Black Belt roles
• Team Leader roles
• Sponsor or Process Owner roles
• Executive Champion roles

The entire two days is set in the Adult Based Learning Style which provides for all learning styles including visual, auditory and kinetic. X-Stream LEAN advocates participatory training, so the audience is encouraged to ask questions, share experiences or provide feedback during the entire two days. There is also a specific time at the end of Day Two for additional questions and concerns.

X-Stream LEAN provides feedback forms to every class member and uses the comments and ratings gathered to continually improve their training – using our tools on our process.

For information on how X-Stream LEAN will tailor the Executive Lean training specifically for your company, or to get information on upcoming classes, or more specifics on the agenda, please contact Sandy Miller at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by phone at 484.941.3943.