Jennifer Ayers, Author at NWHPEC

02Jun 2026 by Jennifer Ayers

Lean Happy Hour – June 17th

Uncategorized

It's time to connect, socialize, and network while enjoying some tasty food and beverages! Our "westside" Happy Hour is scheduled for Wednesday, June 17, 2024 from 4:15-6:30pm. Please join us! We’ll be getting to know each other better through conversations about summer, lean, and beyond. It’s a fun way to connect and network with others in the lean community. Open to everyone! Location: Lazy Days Brewing Co. 4505 SW Watson, Beaverton NWHPEC provides appetizers, attendees cover their own drinks and additional food (they have amazing pizza!). RSVP link

01Jun 2026 by Jennifer Ayers

Lean 101 (6-week virtual series) Sept 15-Oct 20 (waitlist only)

Beginner~, Classes

Lean 101 - Fall 2026 series starting soon... Join us on a journey to discover the basic elements of lean principles and see the impact they make when you put them into practice. This course consists of six, 1.5 hour classes focused on the foundational elements of lean. During this course, you will learn more about the history/background of lean, why these principles are important to creating a culture of excellence, standard work, 8 wastes, 5S, PDCA, and visual management. Each week will include instruction, discussion, and simulations followed by small project assignments between each class to help you practice the concepts in your own environment.Lean 101 is a beginning-level course that teaches participants the basic concepts of Lean Thinking. It is suitable for those who work in office or…

01Jun 2026 by Jennifer Ayers

Foundational AI for CI Professionals | Sept 21-Oct 8 (FULL)

Application~, Beginner~, Classes, Igniting Innovation~, Intermediate~

From Prompt to Standard Work Note: This class is full, reach out to be added to the waitlist so we can evaluate holding another class. This six-module virtual workshop is for people focusing on process improvements in their organization and want to use AI tools the right way, not just poke around and hope for good results. You'll start by learning how AI language models actually work and what makes them useful (or not) for your work. From there, you'll build your own simple, reusable files that AI can use to help with the recurring CI tasks you already do, like writing reports, standardizing templates, or summarizing data. Think of it as building standard work for AI collaboration: a repeatable process with built-in checks, so you can trust the results.…

01Jun 2026 by Jennifer Ayers

Lean Leadership Skills to Engage the Heart, Head, and Hands (3H) – Starts Sept 30 (>90% full)

Application~, Classes, Developing People~, Leadership~

A day in the life of a Leader can be challenging. Leaders are faced with pressures from the business (quality, delivery, productivity) along with the often highly emotional demands of managing people. Your people are the foundation and critical link to the success of your business. To be an effective leader, one must first develop an understanding of and a system for building and maintaining relationships (engaging the heart 💜). Culture begins with us. If we are not primed to emulate the core values and culture of our organization, we can’t expect our team members to consistently perform and respond to situations and problems in ways we expect by engaging their critical thinking skills (using their head 😊). Unleashed potential is a hidden gem within your team/organization. The leading indicator for morale and engagement is the willingness of our employees to step…

01Jun 2026 by Jennifer Ayers

Benchmarking: Measuring CI Results – Oct 7th

Benchmark Request, Member Sharing

October Benchmarking Discussion: Measuring and Reporting CI Savings and Business Impact Join us online at The Bench for engaging roundtable discussions where members can connect, collaborate, learn, and share best practices. We’ll dive into specific topics each time we gather. How does your organization determine whether a Continuous Improvement result is a realized cost saving, cost avoidance, productivity gain, capacity gain, or revenue improvement? This benchmarking session will provide an open forum to discuss how organizations define, validate, and report the results of Continuous Improvement activities. Participants are encouraged to share the measures they use, how they work with Finance and leadership to validate results, and the challenges they face in connecting improvement activity to business performance. Bring examples, questions, and challenges related to measuring and communicating the financial and…

01Jun 2026 by Jennifer Ayers

Executive Leadership Keynote: Ideal Behaviors that Drive Ideal Results – Nov 5

Developing People~, Events, Webinar

Ideal Behaviors that Drive Ideal Results - Creating an environment for an “I Matter” Culture What if the biggest lever for improving your business results wasn't a new process or a new tool, but how your people feel about coming to work? That's the question Gary Peterson has spent his career answering. Gary will join NWHPEC for a keynote built on a simple but hard-won idea: when leaders create an "I matter" atmosphere for every employee, those employees add more value to customers, and they make their teams better in the process. Gary's talk isn't theory. It's story-based, drawn from his own career, including the moments he got it wrong and what he changed because of it. He'll touch on what leaders should expect of themselves, how discipline and resilience…

02May 2026 by Jennifer Ayers

Benchmarking Tour: OHSU Hospital – June 8th (FULL)

Events, Learning Tours

Host Company: OHSU is Oregon's only public academic health center, encompassing a system of hospitals and clinics across Oregon and southwest Washington. As an institution of higher learning, they offer schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and public health. They are a national research hub, Portland's largest employer, and a statewide economic engine. As a public organization, they serve vulnerable Oregonians and work to improve health across the state. OHSU has been focusing on performance excellence through our own performance Excellence system – OPEx. OPEx is OHSU's approach to performance excellence. Grounded in respect for people and continuous improvement, our true north is to deliver excellent care for our patients, today and tomorrow. OPEx methods, management systems and mindset empower OHSU members and teams to identify and solve problems, improve…

Author: Jennifer Ayers