Course Introduction

Lean Skills Development

The materials and processes that we develop are based on a fundamental principle – “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” – Lao Tzu

You may have come here because you want to get the most out of one of the books “Managing to Learn”, “Understanding A3 Thinking” or “Four Types of Problems” you’ve purchased.

You may be here because you want to start or further develop your skills on problem solving or A3 Thinking.

Whatever the reason, we hope to encourage the lean community to become effective learners for life. Focusing on your skill development rather than training completion or certification!

David Brunt CEO Lean Enterprise Academy

The Learning Process

We have done a lot of research to understand how to learn lean most effectively. We know from practical application that skill/capability development is best described as a journey. A guided learning path, progressing from awareness and knowledge of a subject, through understanding, being capable and finally to being able to teach and coach others.

This course is all about basic subject Knowledge – Skill Level 1

However, you can go onto develop a deeper understanding of the topic by learning yourself online, using the A3 Practical Problem Solving Level 2 course.

To become capable however – you need to practice. This is best done on real problems, at the workplace.We offer teaching and coaching for this and we offer a process to help you (once capable) to be able to train and teach others in your organisation. Contact Us if you want more information about this

This learning approach mirrors what we know from the way excellent lean companies like Toyota develop capability. It is simple and effective. It uses a Plan-Do-Check-Act methodology at each stage and is far removed from the Lean Competency Systems, belt approach and certifications we see offered by some consultancies to “sell” workshops and training days.

Teach Poster Concept

Problem Solving Course Introduction

For a sustainable Lean Transformation, we believe in the concept of “Leaders as Teachers”.

That is Leaders who take the time to teach & coach their team, on the job to develop their capabilities rather than relying on others to do it for them.

As you know, the benefits of doing this are huge in terms of advancing your lean journey better, faster and cheaper, the challenge is however how to provide materials that enable leaders to do that.

After many years of research and experimentation, we have found that this Teach Poster concept works best.

Rather than having long slide presentations, we have tried to distil the subject matter down on to one piece of paper .

This is much less daunting for the leaders to use and also much more informal than sitting down in a class room looking at a screen.

All the Posters have a similar layout and structure making them easier to follow and remember. Images/pictures are used over words to stimulate interest and discussion.

Finally, the Poster can be put up in your workspace for future reference rather than being hidden on a pc.

Teach Poster Facilitation Guide

Problem Solving Teach Poster Guide

A facilitation guide is written for each poster covering the “Important Steps”, “Key Points” and “Reasons” for each of the images to assist you when starting out to Teach.

It is available to purchase as a digital download or printed version from our e-shop


Using the Web Based Learning Platform

Use the menu side bar to follow & track your progress through the learning steps

The Level 1 Awareness course can be completed in a relatively short space of time (Approx 2.5hrs) You may however take longer or complete more quickly – it depends upon your existing knowledge base & experience

If you can partner with other people to do the learning together, this would be good – but not essential

It will make it more fun and you will learn other people’s perspectives – we all see things differently!

Make sure you critically reflect on your current thinking against the informatiom provided

Doing a reflection and learning from your mistakes will enable you to be more effective and develop your thinking way.


Now use the menu sidebar to progress through the rest of the Prepare the Learner Section