21Sep 2023 by Jennifer Ayers
Lean Leadership Skills to Engage the Heart, Head, and Hands – Sept thru Dec 2023 (5, 1-day sessions)

Lean Leadership Skills to Engage the Heart, Head, and Hands – Sept thru Dec 2023 (5, 1-day sessions)

Application~, Classes, Developing People~, Intermediate~, 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.  Our 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…
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21Sep 2023 by Jennifer Ayers
Webinar: Enterprise Excellence is Inclusive Excellence – Oct 9th

Webinar: Enterprise Excellence is Inclusive Excellence – Oct 9th

Developing People~, Leadership~, Webinar
Join our DEIA focus group as we hear from a guest speaker, William Harvey, on the topic of inclusion. Enterprise excellence and inclusive excellence are closely linked, and real-world challenges have shown that both are essential to the success of any organization. To achieve enterprise excellence, organizations must focus on improving their operations and processes while creating an inclusive environment that engages everyone. In this interactive session, the facilitator will invite participants to explore inclusive excellence at their organization. Join William Harvey in a discussion on the following topics: • The business case for DEIA and why a business case is a bad idea• Lessons from the United States Military• How certification systems and CI teams can destroy inclusive practices• Leadership is language and how language invites everyone to the…
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21Sep 2023 by Jennifer Ayers
Webinar: Excavating Best Practices to Mine Improvements – October 19th

Webinar: Excavating Best Practices to Mine Improvements – October 19th

Beginner~, Deploying Strategy~, Igniting Innovation~, Solving Problems~, Webinar
In 2021 the Weir ESCO Covington site was experiencing hiccups in productivity and knew they needed to put some time and effort into stabilizing their processes and productivity in a way that would make a positive impact on the team members in the area. In this webinar, you’ll hear Kara Herndon talk about: The driving force behind our focus on improvement How we’ve improved over time Unveiling the tools that proved most effective, including process management, Kaizen events, tier meetings, and takt time Candid insights into our failures and the invaluable lessons learned along the way Where we are now, and what’s next Our presenters and contributors: Kara Herndon - CI Leader at the Weir ESCO Covington, KY plant, Joe Sodano - Warehouse Supervisor (and former CI Leader), and Danielle…
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20Aug 2023 by Jennifer Ayers
Lean 101 – 6 week series, 2 options: Starts Sept 19th (FULL) & Sept 21st

Lean 101 – 6 week series, 2 options: Starts Sept 19th (FULL) & Sept 21st

Beginner~, Classes, Foundational~
Lean 101(a virtual learning experience) 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, one-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 participants who work in office or manufacturing environments and includes…
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15Aug 2023 by Jennifer Ayers
Virtual Tour: Kaas Tailored – Sept 11-14th

Virtual Tour: Kaas Tailored – Sept 11-14th

Application~, Developing People~, Leadership~, Learning Tours
Who is “Kaas Tailored”? We are a manufacturing facility located in Mukilteo, Washington. We want our workplace to be one of joy and learning, which is why we are committed to developing people through a culture of Continuous Improvement. To fund these efforts, we produce high-quality upholstered goods and provide design services to like-minded customers. What can be learned on the virtual tour? We want to help you answer the question, "Why should I bother learning about this?" Our method includes conversations with a variety of Kaas team members, in-depth training on the 7 wastes, and an intro to the improvement tools we use. You will experience team train, team clean, visual management tools, and Kaizen problem-solving. The day ends with 30 minutes of Q & A with Kaas leadership.…
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14Aug 2023 by Jennifer Ayers
CI Open House – Sept 14th

CI Open House – Sept 14th

Learning Tours
A-dec is holding their 6th annual CI Open House on Sept 14th. This event was launched as an opportunity for people to share the fun things they are doing, be recognized for their hard work, and inspire others to action. Think of this as a high school science fair with a focus on process improvement. Teams/individuals will have booths set up with tri-fold displays and will share a 3-4 minute presentation about their implemented improvement. This is such a cool event and something I always look forward to attending. Kelly has graciously invited a small group of people from NWHPEC to the event on the 14th. We will start out with a brief intro about the history of the Open House and their CI Journey. We will then “tour” the…
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10Aug 2023 by Jennifer Ayers
Coaching for Engagement – Sept 29th (Class is FULL)

Coaching for Engagement – Sept 29th (Class is FULL)

Classes, Developing People~, Intermediate~, Leadership~
The true role of a leader is a coach. This includes coaching to develop, coaching to improve, and coaching to engage. Engagement comes when people feel supported and trusted to make decisions and to accept failures as learning opportunities. This class focuses on teaching the foundational skills required to create engagement within your team. When done effectively, coaching for engagement helps develop capability and creates motivation to innovate, improve, and solve problems. This course will teach you a different approach to conversations, ones that focus on development vs. just sharing information. This ultimately translates into a team that is motivated, engaged, and empowered to drive improvement and solve problems.Join us for this interactive four hour in person class to learn the critical coaching skills that allow you to become a…
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