18 August 2008                 www.strategosinc.com

Action Learning & Cultural Change

Beyond Kaizen

Changing a corporate culture (the human side of Lean) is the fuzziest, most uncertain, most uncontrollable, most frustrating part of lean. More initiatives flounder here than on any other element.

Action Learning can help immensely with the change process. The concept explains why some firms that use kaizen find their culture improving and others do not. It explains why Toyota has been so successful with lean and most others struggle.

By constantly interweaving learning and reflection, Action Learning increases discernment and brings deeper understanding. Participants in Action Learning teams go beyond their pre-programmed assumptions and mental models. At the same time they find solutions to often intractable problems.

Our new web pages on Action Learning offer a fairly extensive view of the topic with several examples. They show how to turn an ordinary Kaizen Event into a culture-changing experience. You may also download these pages in print format.

At Strategos we have used the concepts for many years. But the discovery of a discipline and framework now helps us fine-tune the techniques and use them more explicitly. For example, our new online workshop, Cycle Counting & Inventory Accuracy, specifically incorporates Action Learning and guides the client's team through the design of an inventory accuracy program.

I hope you find these new pages interesting and useful. As always, we are available to assist with consulting or training.

Regards,

Quarterman Lee

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