Leadership Development Online

Whole-System Transformational Change 

Based on more than forty years of hands on work with major corporations – successfully improving performance. The instructor provides both an overview of change management, but then provides detailed instructions for leadership teams and for the design teams they will appoint. 

“The instructor is incredibly engaging, down to earth, relatable and clear.” Melissa Kress

Lean Leadership, Lean Culture and Lean Management

This course is based on practical field tested knowledge of lean culture and leadership. The course introduces the history of lean, the essential principles and practices, the “House of Lean” and the important functions of the lean leader. It also presents the two critical paths to lean implementation: first, the redesign of processes, systems and structure to create the foundation that enables teams to engage in continuous improvement; second, it presents the essential habits of teams and team leaders engaged in problem-solving and continuous improvement. Simply put, the student completing this course will be able to institute lean culture and lean leadership.

New Manager Training – The Essentials for Every Manager

Most new managers have the technical skills to succeed. What they often lack is the skill of managing, motivating and developing their employees. This course will provide those skills that are essential to your success as a manager.

This course is organized around three critical blocks of skills: First, managing and motivating individuals; second, leading high performing teams; and third, engaging their people in the continuous improvement of work processes. If a you can master these skills your success is virtually guaranteed.

The lessons in this course are strongly influenced by the instructor’s extensive background in lean management and in developing high performing teams. The course is ideally suited for new managers in companies wanting to develop lean culture. It is also perfect for young entrepreneurs who are just beginning their journey as managers.

Team Leadership Master Class

To succeed as a manager, entrepreneur, or executive, you must have the skills of team leadership. This course provides those skills. It provides the skills of facilitation, communication, problem solving, conflict resolution, process improvement and managing human performance. It is based on the principles and practices of lean management and culture (Toyota Production System) and the instructors forty years of experience implementing team management and lean culture.

The instructor has worked for forty years to institute self-managing teams or high performing teams and this course is the result of that hands on experience.

Note: this course now includes two complete ebooks –  Team Kata – The Habits of Continuous Improvement and The Lean Coach, as well as many articles and case studies on the implementation of teams.

The above is a learning/coaching map, outlining each section of the course, the action-learning assignments, and coaching questions.

Coaching Managers & Leaders for Continuous Improvement

Great teams have great coaches. Great athletes have great coaches. And, we all become great in our field with the help of a dedicated and compassionate coach. This course will help you to become a successful coach who can help others achieve their own version of greatness.

This course is focused on coaching current leaders or managers within an organization to improve performance, develop new habits, and contribute to a culture of continuous improvement. Every great athlete has a coach. Every great musician has a coach. And, within great organization, like Toyota, every manager has a coach. The cost of external coaching is too great. This course is designed to prepare managers to coach both their own team members and to coach peer managers. 

This course include both the Team Kata ebook and the Lean Coach.

Business Strategy Execution: The Agile/Lean Way

Transforming Culture and Capabilities to Execute Business Strategy: The Agile Way to Business Strategy Success

Note: Now included is the complete ebook Getting to Lean – Transformational Change Management. 

Business Strategy Execution is a hot topic in management today. The Conference Board’s recent Survey of CEOs revealed that chief executives are so concerned about strategy execution that they rated it as both their number one and number two most challenging issue.

Why does strategy execution so often fail? Because most strategic plans are little more than a series of vertically integrated objectives. But, the problem is not objectives and it is not vertical. It is the “whole-system” and its ability to adapt and align, internally and externally in fast cycles. In other words, to be agile. The problem is the culture and capabilities of the organization and a process to design and deploy those capabilities. This course provides that process and is based on forty years of experience improving the performance of organizations.

The problem is developing new capabilities and a new culture that will enable the organization to achieve its goals. The term “Agile” implies an iterative process of experimentation, learning, adaptation to the changing environment, and alignment with other business units and support groups. This course is about creating that agility, adaptation and alignment.

Consultative Selling Skills Master Class

Sell in the Spirit of Service, seek to solve problems and build lasting relationships. This is Consultative Selling Skills,  the anxiety free way to sell million dollar contracts.

Selling is an essential skill in our economy and for your personal development. To earn your full potential you must be able to sell your self, your ideas, your product or service. Consultative Selling reduces the anxiety of selling by focusing on shared problem-solving and building trusting relationships. Those who become partners or principles in professional service firms (consultants, lawyers, etc.) are those who bring in the business. This course describes exactly how to bring in high value contracts by building trusting relationships with clients. To succeed as an entrepreneur you must have the selling skills taught in this course.

Giving and Receiving Feedback for Management and Leadership

Giving employees or team members feedback is an essential skill for every manager or team leader. If you do this well, your team members will perform well. Their success is your success. That is the purpose of this course.

Feedback should be a primary learning activity, welcomed as an opportunity for growth by the recipient. Unfortunately, very often feedback is viewed as punishment, a source of anxiety that inhibits one’s ability to learn. The purpose of this course is to help you develop the skill of giving feedback in a way that reduces anxiety and maximizes the opportunity for learning and continuous improvement on the part of the individual. 

This course is intended to be very concise and direct, focused solely on this important skill of both giving and receiving feedback.

Team Facilitation: The Core Skill of Great Team Leaders

This is a focused course on team  facilitation which is appropriate for both team leaders and team members. 

If you are an entrepreneur, a manager wanting to move up in responsibility, or someone who simply wants to work well with others, this course provides the essential skills of leading teams. You cannot succeed today without the skills of leading groups well.

This course provides all of the essential skills of creating unity of energy and effort on a team; bring the team to consensus; and conducting virtual team meetings.

Lean Problem-Solving for Team Members and Leaders

The Core Activity of Continuous Improvement Every Team Member Should Know

Your personal success depends on your ability to lead teams! Great team leaders are promoted and are successful entrepreneurs. Leading teams is the critical competence for leaders at all levels today. And, problem-solving is the basic methodology that drives improvement by teams and lean organizations. This short course provides the basic skills and philosophy of effective problem solving. It is based on 45 years of experience developing teams and implementing lean management. 

This short course covers…

• The Lean philosophy of problem-solving and continuous improvement.

• Root cause analysis – the “five why’s?”

• Brainstorming causes of problems.

• The PDCA & A3 problem solving model.

• The skill of brainstorming.

• Action-Planning and follow-up.

Motivation: The Science of Motivating Yourself and Your Team

Motivation Mastery for Every Team Leader and Entrepreneur – The Critical Leadership Skill

Your success is your ability to motivate and develop your team and team members. If they perform, you perform. This course will provide those skills that are critical to your success.   

Motivation is not a speech or pep talk! It is the skill of creating a worthy purpose, an effective team environment, designing work for intrinsic motivation, and using positive reinforcement in an effective way. This course will enable you to develop a system of sustained motivation for yourself and your team. 

Value-Centered Transformational Leadership & Culture

The Nine Principles of Transformational Leadership That Build Winning Teams and Culture

You will succeed as a leader if you create trust and respect, and challenge your team toward a worthy purpose. That is what you will gain from this course.

Great leaders know their principles, their beliefs, and ethics. Now, perhaps more than ever, we need leaders who are grounded in a set of principles that makes them trustworthy and worthy of our dedication. Leaders generate dedication and loyalty based on their adherence to principles.

This course is for all leaders, those aspiring to leadership, and for entrepreneurs who have the golden opportunity to create a culture that will attract the best talent and promote high performing teams.

The purpose of this course is not to prescribe principles, but to offer for consideration and discussion, a set of nine principles upon which transformational leadership can be based.

Leadership Styles and Corporate Culture

Leadership Lessons from the Rise and Fall of Corporate Culture – Align Your Style to Your Company Life Cycle

Your success as a leader depends on your ability to display those quality that are essential at different periods of your company’s life cycle. Leadership is not one thing. It is addressing the needs for the age in which you, or your company, lives. This course will help you recognize the life cycle stage of your company and the style of leadership that will help your company succeed; and, therefore help you succeed!

During this course you will assess your own leadership style, the dominant style of your organization, and place your organization on the life cycle curve. You will understand the attributes of leaders who can renew and rescue a company from what may appear to be the inevitable decline. And, you will understand the necessary diversity of leadership styles required to maintain a company on the growth curve.