LEAN COACH

Lean Coach, Lean Evangelist, Lean Champion, Lean Leader, etc. But translated into Christian means: "the person who is going to be the driver and responsible for the change towards Lean methodology". (for this TIP we are going to stay with the Lean Coach denomination, for ease of expression and understanding). 

As you will see I make no distinction between internal and external, i.e. whether it is part of the company or whether it is an external mentor to help and guide us along the way.

He is an entrepreneur's guide, coach and teacher. 

As an entrepreneur it will help you to He will give you valuable feedback and guide you with his experience to achieve your goals.

You learn through experience and a lot of self-training. But having an expert in their field by your side, accompanying you along the way and validating the different phases of the project, is priceless. Do you want to know more about Lean?

If you advance in the mentorDay acceleration programme working with your project, you will have a private Lean Coach who will accompany you at all times.

You will learn to identify and resolve specific needs of you and your entrepreneurs. You will define your PMV and Value Proposition. You will monitor key metrics for your project and optimise results. An Inbound Marketing plan will help you reach your entrepreneurs.

Although it is perhaps worth introducing the nuance that sensei does not appear in this list because it is generally understood that to be considered sensei, one must have a minimum of 10 years of real practice (usually more). In Toyota, the "Master Trainer" (which is the figure of the sensei) must have more than 25 years of experience with the system.

An effective Lean Coach must be able to draw out people's talents and judge whether or not their philosophies are compatible, and whether or not they have a high level of acquired skills. He or she must lead the team to develop a common approach, build relationships and establish credibility. 

The basic technical skills to understand Lean processes and tools:

• Curiosity natural.
• Strong desire for learning and personal growth.
• Basic presentation skills.
• Ability to relate to different types of people, at all levels of the organisation.
• Great listening skills.
• Respect for the rest.
• Passion for improvement.
• Appropriate temperament.
• Social skills to manage change.

But learning complex skills is not a quick fix but requires time and effort, y Being an effective Lean Coach is certainly complex.

The Dreyfus brothers developed a model that outlines the steps or stages necessary to acquire complex skills. (playing the piano, playing chess, etc.) and that can be very helpful in our Lean way.

They are as follows (if you want you can think of someone learning to play the piano):

• Novice. Total and rigid adherence to the teacher's rules with no deviation allowed. The teacher will divide the task into individual basic elements that are taught one at a time.
• Initiated advanced. You can start to merge elements into one by building more advanced routines, but each element is still treated individually and separately. The learner is not yet able to adapt the routines to the real situation.
• Competent. It is capable of carry out routines without the need to focus intensely on them (almost internalised) and can begin to see the long-term benefits as well as adapt routines to different situations.
• Proficient. It has a holistic view of the situation and can apply appropriate routines to solve real problems. Follow the basic rules as guidelines.
• Expert. You do not need application rules and can intuitively adapt the routines to each situation. It has a in-depth understanding of the tools and principles, how to implement them and the reasons for each of the actions taken.

Following the fantastic Dreyfus modelwe must start in the Novice level, breaking the tasks down into small individual units and repeating them with feedback from the guide or coach until we can do them accurately. 

Then we can move on to the next stage. It is important to have feedback in order to be able to correct on the fly and prevent bad habits.

As we said, getting to the highest level, to the Expert level (Sensei) requires a minimum of 10 yearsbut unfortunately very few companies keep the Lean philosophy in action during this time to develop such leaders. On the contrary, they often drop out for another "programme of the month".

Instead of thinking of Lean as a process improvement methodology, think of it as a way to develop truly excellent people/workers.

After the question and before think of yourself.

You can also consult other related TIPs.

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