Skip to content

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

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 morale and engagement is the willingness of our employees to step forward and help wherever needed (providing their hands 🙌🏻).

The best way to become a more effective leader is by learning how to tap into the heart, head, and hands of your employees so they can execute on important strategic and business goals.


This is by far our most popular and impactful leadership course, offered each Fall. It is a series of five focused conversations for leaders ready to engage in the development of their leadership skills to connect with both the hearts and the heads of employees and, in doing so, create a truly high-performance organization. The series content focuses on the following:

  1. Personal Responsibility
  2. Personal Communication
  3. Leading People for Performance & Improvement
  4. Responding to Criticism and Constructive Confrontation
  5. Managing Change and Transition

Each session builds on each other as we provide participants with the opportunity to learn and demonstrate valuable soft skills through interactions and simulations, teaching them how to become more effective leaders. Participants will gain a new perspective on how they show up and learn to use emotional intelligence to connect with those around them.

This course design is five, 1-day sessions, three weeks apart.

  • Aligned with Lean as the “respect for humanity” system and the key Lean concepts of True North performance, value add, non-value add, and value stream teams.
  • Grounded in behavior science and neuroscience – the science of human interactions – and needs-based communications.
  • Designed for participants to explore and discover concepts through classroom simulations, experiences, and discussions.
  • Built on a foundation of work done by Dan Miller of Dan Miller and Associates, LLC who generously gave NWHPEC and Kari Penca and Associates (KPA) the gift of content and mentorship.

Click here for more info on the series. Click here to learn who should attend, why they should attend, and read testimonials from past participants.


Dates: Sept 27, Oct 18, Nov 8, Nov 29, Dec 13, 2023

Time: 8am – 4:30pm

Location: GFU Portland Center, 12753 SW 68th Ave Room 155, Portland, OR 97223, USA

Cost: $800 members ($1400 nonmembers); group discount available for teams of 5+

Email [email protected] to register. Include name, email, and job title.

Note: Invoices will be sent to the primary contact at your organization on Sept 13th. No refunds available after Sept 13th (but you can swap out someone else from your company). A 3% passthrough charge will be added for those wishing to pay with credit card.

Here is recent data from participants showing their starting and ending points regarding their effectiveness as a Leader after the series: