What are some the KEY "take-aways" from participants during my training sessions?

Hello folks,
The subject for this blog post is about key learning points that were "take aways" from my Key Concepts of Lean class at the LEI conference in Los Angeles, CA.  There were 25 participants which is 1 above capacity for this class and they shared their "ah Ha's" with me so I felt I would share them with you.
  I believe I have written about key learning's before in a previous blog post, so I felt it was time to revisit this type of post to share with my readers what other participants are learning from my sessions, either through LEI (lean.org) or my own business Teaching Lean Inc.   These key points help me become a better trainer by understanding what my customers want and need during their lean implementation journey as well as encouraging me to write subject matter here on my site.  I have linked some of the key learning's below to previous blog posts Ive created in the past on the subject if you would like to read more on the concept.  

The Key Concepts of Lean class is structured to give participants a variety of concepts around the entire aspect of Lean.   It's a "jammed-packed full of information" type of class that has exercises, discussions, PowerPoint, and a manufacturing simulation to bring many points "to life" as we learn them throughout each day in class.
It is a common practice during my sessions to share my stories from Toyota and my experiences as a team member, team leader, and first level management as a group leader during the 10 years I was there in Production Plastics department.   Those experiences are priceless to me and my ability to translate them in a 16 hour session is my goal!  I like to hear from my participants to get a "finger on the pulse" (grasping the situation) of what they are getting from class so at the end of each day so we do a key point exercise.  This helps me understand how to be a better translator of Lean.  Continuous Improvement right?! :)   So everyone shares their key learning or a "light bulb or Aha" moment from the day and I capture them on a flip chart so they can collectively visualize what the entire class learned. 

So I will summarize them from each day.

Day 1 Key Learning's:

• Understanding the importance of defined processes
• Engaging people on a daily basis
• The 1 second lesson- how to translate everything to a "cost" for the company- see my previous blog post on the 1 second translation - http://thetoyotagal.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-translate-waste-to-cost-my-1.html
• Importance of kanban (inventory visualization)
• Importance of Visual Controls
• Necessity of "Everyday-Everybody-Problem Solving" thinking
• Difference between Leading versus Lagging Key Performance Indicators (KPI's)
• Importance of developing a culture around people
• Changing a culture through your own actions based on values and principles - http://thetoyotagal.blogspot.com/2011/01/pathway-to-creating-lean-culture.html
• Be careful with labeling Lean as the flavor of the month
• Lean is more about engaging people than just the tools
• Importance of having balanced processes in an organization (seeing waste)
• Asking "what should be happening?" versus "what is currently happening?" everyday
• Importance of communication at all levels "vertically and horizontally"
• Importance of "inter-connectedness" between processes (order to customer)
• Each person in the organization having a Line of Sight to the "true north"- see previous blog http://thetoyotagal.blogspot.com/2009/08/strategy-deployment-what-does-it-mean.html
• Importance of the "what, how, why" thinking - see previous blog post- http://thetoyotagal.blogspot.com/2009/04/visual-of-my-lean-implementation-plan.html  
• Remove the "silo" thinking within an organization
• All problems should be measured
• Using 5S more than just a way to "clean" but a standardization tool to see abnormality at a glance- see previous blog post on standardization - http://thetoyotagal.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-does-standardization-really-mean.html
• Go to Gemba, see the process with the customer in mind- see previous blog post on GO SEE - http://thetoyotagal.blogspot.com/2009/06/does-it-really-matter-if-i-go-and-see.html

Day 2 Key Learning's:

• The importance of having standards before improvement can be made
• GTS^2- (squared)- see previous blog post)- go to see, and grasp the situation- http://thetoyotagal.blogspot.com/2011/12/you-want-tangible-action-for-your.html
• Using A3 to assist in problem solving (visual thinking)
• Importance of the 4P's (people, purpose, process, problem solving) see previous blog
• That failure is a path to learning
• If it isnt broken- "break it". (created gap thinking)
• Asking the right questions - see previous blog post - http://thetoyotagal.blogspot.com/2010/01/are-you-asking-right-questions.html
• That currently designed processes may not be meeting standards
• Get past the symptoms to root causes.
• Gain stability through standardization
• Cycle Bar chart (Yamazumi boards) to visualize discrepancies
• Not having a problem is a PROBLEM.
• Do not let the results dictate your process. See previous blog post on process and results- http://thetoyotagal.blogspot.com/2009/06/process-vs-results-which-are-you.html
• Importance of a Purpose that guides the company, along with principles and values- http://thetoyotagal.blogspot.com/2011/04/organizational-purposedo-you-have-one.html
• Working as a team to eliminate the (WE / THEY) thinking- should be US!

Lots of good stuff shared over these 2 days, I hope it is helpful to see what others are learning.  I call it "planting seeds" :)
Until next time,
@tracey_san
Tracey Richardson