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Lean Team Building Program

Lean Project Teams deliver projects at less cost, in less time and with much less risk. By creating a collaborative work environment, we engage with project teams for productive work that results in much higher levels of performance. This makes for happy customers and repeat business, key components for business success.

"By adopting Lean Project Delivery, we were able to fix a $10M broken budget, deliver a signature LEED Gold laboratory project on schedule, with a 2% contingency that exceeded our expectations for value and sustainable performance."

Sherman Kreiner, U of W Community Renewal Corporation

Lean teams can expect to achieve an average of 18% less cost in the design, and to deliver at up to 40% less cost overall with experience. This level of performance seems almost too good to be true, but the stats are there. However, there is no lean project university developing the talent we need to fix a broken industry.

To provide the building industry with fully integrated lean professional development solutions, Shift2Lean has developed a Lean Team Building Program (LTBP). The LTBP includes all of the ingredients needed to build lean project capabilities and execute a lean project. The hands on workshops are designed to ramp up skill levels quickly. The project playbook, including guides and components co-developed with participants, provides the strategies, systems, check sheets and templates needed to deliver a lean project. Coaching helps move the needle even further with implementation on individual projects and within organizations. And our associated certification program provides the measuring stick for bench marking and measuring lean capacity building progress. 

TESTIMONIALS

"Last week’s training with Murray was really good, the group really responded to his enthusiasm and broad knowledge."

Choosing Online or In-person

The Lean Team Building Program begins with one of two bootcamp series called "Take the Fast Lane to Project Success", and "The Full Jump-Start Lean Project Delivery Series". Each are meant to build the foundations for lean project implementation, each delivered in different ways as described below. 

 

It is expected that at the end of either bootcamp, participants will know how to make the business case for LPD, build a collaborative team, and implement the three main Lean Project Delivery Systems:

  • Target Value Delivery: A design system to deliver the best value to target cost.

  • Last Planner System: A work coordination system to delivery projects in much less time.

  • Big Room: A system used to facilitate collaboration, good behaviour, and getting the right work done.

 

Hosted online, the Fast Lane bootcamp runs over a 6-week period, and includes 30 hours of interactive sessions, preparatory review of guidance materials and project examples, homework assignments, as well as mini-quizzes to test learning uptake. The assignments are built around one project that we work on throughout the series, to demonstrate the application of the various systems and tools. 

Hosted in person, within your organization, the Jump Start bootcamp is run over 3 separate weeks, typically with 2 full days on site per week, totalling nearly 50 hours of learning and coached practice for your team. Similar to the online program, everything is delivered in an interactive way, and involves approximately 50% hands-on exercises, but the additional hours means we go more in-depth and are able to deal with more specific questions and challenges of your team. We can also customize and utilize an in-house project and adapt exercises to suit where your team is at in terms of Lean knowledge, practice and team behaviours. Quizzes are optional, but recommended.

 

Read on below for further details of each option, and some information to help you decide the best learning path for your team members.

The pros and cons of choosing online vs. in-person:

 

  • The online program allows for fewer individuals to participate from each of several organizations, such that the cost of the delivery of the learning program is shared amongst many.

  • The online program often brings together participants from various regions around the world, bringing unique diversity, perspectives and experience from projects into the shared-learning sessions. 

  • The online program is broken down into shorter bite-sized learning segments and more time in between these mini-lessons to test and digest information as you go.

  • The online program allows learning from any device, no matter where the participant is located - on a job site, at a desk, at home, on vacation... they decide where they want to be to join the sessions. In person is pre-designed at one location, with everyone coming to one place.

  • The online sessions are recorded - in the event that a participant cannot attend a session, they can review what they missed so they can participate effectively in all stages of the series.

  • For organizations looking to train larger teams in Lean Project Delivery, peer to peer engagement is most effective with the in-person sessions, where your team members are interacting face-to-face. For smaller and/or remote teams, the on-line training is live and interactive, allowing all learners to interact in real time.

  • Our on-line session utilizes an example project in order to see the practical application of the learning, whereas our in-person sessions allow the use of a project of your choice in order to apply the learning.

  • An in-person program can be customized to your own project teams' needs and capabilities.

  • Because travel is required for the instructors, to make things more economical for any one business, the in-person program involves more hours during each on-site session. However, this allows our instructors to go more in-depth and cover more overlapping topics during each day. It also allows greater engagement, team building aspects (also allowing for more than 10 participants), direct application and more extensive practice of the learning for your own project. 

Why get certified?

 

At Shift2Lean, our goal is to create a cultural transformation within the construction industry by developing the knowledge and capability to form effective, collaborative teams to deliver highly successful projects and create value for customers.

Our Lean Project Delivery Certification program provides the measuring stick for bench marking and measuring your lean capacity building progress. The three level certification program measures progress on skill development and tracks lean project work experience.

 

Participating in the Shift2Lean Certification Program will give practitioners a structured, goal oriented learning platform that will recognize skills development to achieving better outcomes within the industry and on your projects.

Please read more about the certification program at this link.

Starter Learning Paths

On demand

The Lean "Kick-Start": Taking the Fast Lane to Project Success

This online learning journey, carried out over a 6-week period, is designed to introduce your team members to the foundations of Lean Project Delivery.

Week 1: Business Case & Lean Fundamentals
Week 2: Aligning on the Owner's Project Requirements

Week 3: Selecting & Building the Team

Week 4: Target Value Delivery

Week 5: Last Planner System

Week 6: Big Room, Close-out & Getting Certified

This online series meets the formal training requirements for Lean Intern certification and puts hours towards Lean Implementer certification. 

 

Please contact us to coordinate a dedicated, in-house online series for only your team members. We can arrange preferred timelines and discuss any customization you may desire.

On demand

The Full "Jump-Start" Lean Project Delivery Series

This program is designed to both introduce you to foundations of Lean project delivery, as well as take you through a number of exercises to quickly get your teams started in applying Lean. Each week will involve 2 - 3 days of interactive training and opportunities to apply learnings to actual project scenarios and in-the-field exercises wherever possible. Course examples will be adapted to the needs of the participants over the duration, and customization with use of an in-house project can be incorporated if desired.

Week 1: Lean Project Delivery Fundamentals, Going to Market & Building the Team for Lean Projects, Last Planner System Bootcamp

Week 2: Target Value Delivery & Value Stream Mapping

Week 3: Set up and Manage the Big Room, Seeing Waste with the Gemba, Lean Commissioning with the Last Planner System (Lean Cx)

The recommended sequence would include at least one working week in between each training week, in order to allow some time to apply or practice some of the learnings. The overall schedule would be designed according to your preferences, and alternate course options can be discussed.

If this option interests you, please contact us to discuss details.

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Deeper Dive Workshops

Once you have completed some preliminary learning about Lean Project Delivery, the Lean Team Building Program continues through our packaged team-learning series, which allows for deeper dives into the areas that your teams need the most. Our packaged learning program is still under development, as we seek to combine the most logical systems and tools together with relevant examples and games.

 

Until we have completed our program development, you will find below a number of workshops that we have designed as standalone sessions, each focused on specific tools or systems. Each are meant to build the foundations for lean project implementation, each delivered in different ways.

 

As our packaged program develops, we will remove these standalone sessions from our lineup and replace them with bundled workshops and coaching options. Watch our site for updates! 

This half day fundamentals course will present why there is a business case for Lean Project Delivery. Delivered through a presentation and hands-on simulations, supplemented with a guide, this Intern level course will demonstrate how the system improves collaboration and work flow.

This half day course will focus Owners on preparing a winning Project Delivery strategy including how and when to procure the Team using a value-based selection process that aligns with procurement Policy – Open, Fair, Transparent. Designers and Contractors will learn how to respond to a value-based selection process that considers more than low price. This includes an overview of existing CCDC contracts and how they are being used to support Lean project methodology.

Wanting to learn more about Gemba Walks, understand their purpose and benefits, and perform one on your working site? Contact us to schedule an event for your team.

The Lean Project Delivery Boot Camp is a full day, interactive workshop that introduces participants to Lean project fundamentals and practices, and covers the process and requirements of the Last Planner® System (LPS). The LPS is part of the Lean Project Delivery methodology, enabling improved project outcomes.

The Last Planner® System is a highly collaborative planning process that is based on trust, commitment and respect which enables teams to plan projects to maximize value and minimize waste. In this full day, interactive workshop, participants will come to understand the process through the use of hands-on simulations and a presentation, supplemented with a guide, preparing your team to implement LPS on your projects.

The Big Room is not just a physical space that co-locates owners, designers and contractors to support cross-functional team collaboration. It is about breaking down the ‘silo’ mindset of traditional projects and enabling teams to make more effective, value based decisions.

 

This half day workshop will introduce the mindset and purpose of the Big Room, present the benefits of using one, and review the operational and physical components necessary for successful implementation of a Big Room.

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a Lean “problem solving” method designed to make process waste visible, so you can eliminate it. We provide an overview of the method and ask you “what process bugs you”. During this half-day course, participants will create a VSM of that ‘current state’ process, then create a ‘future state’ map and identify counter-measures to improve the process.

 

This course will give you a different way to solve problems within your projects and your company and to keep improving the processes through the Plan-Do-Check-Adjust cycle (PDCA). 

Target Value Delivery (TVD) is a dynamic, collaborative process that involves establishing a clear target cost and developing a fully integrated design solution that meets that target cost – the budget influences the design as opposed to project cost being the result of the design process. The TVD workshop is a hands-on, full day course using presentation material and simulations, supplemented with a guide, which will prepare participants to implement Target Value Delivery on their projects.

LeanCx is a full day, interactive workshop on a proactive commissioning approach that utilizes the Last Planner® System to manage commissioning work flow, and Target Value Design to help manage the design commissioning process, for achieving clearly defined value and system performance targets.

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