Developing Leadership Skills: Problem Solving, Improvement & A3 Thinking

By: Jeffrey Liker

Narrated by: George Trachilis, Jeffrey K. Liker

Dr. Liker's book, Developing Lean Leaders at All Levels: A Practical Guide, was a 2016 winner of the Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award. We have taken the time to extract the individual seminars and lectures of Dr. Liker used to create this world-renowned publication and offer them in a series of byte-sized, topic specific learning modules. Follow along as we see and hear Dr. Liker at those actual presentations delivered firsthand to the students of Lean and Lean Practitioners.

Follow along as Dr. Liker explains the Lean Leadership Development Model (LLDM), and how it aligns with the accepted principles of operational excellence. Learn about the behaviors required to sustain it long-term. Understand how leadership must walk the talk of True North. Find out how to actively engage in developing lean leader skills.

Welcome to what may be the most important module in this course. I'll be talking about problem-solving and a way of visually representing problem-solving. You may have heard this referred to as "A3 reporting" or "A3 storytelling". I will be referring to it as "A3 thinking"; that is, it's a way of thinking rather than documenting problem-solving on a piece of paper.

This is the most important module because in the Toyota Way, problem-solving drives continuous improvement and showing respect for people. Problem-solving is the core skill of a lean leader and it is the skill most leaders lack.

You'll see as we go through this module that the Toyota Way of problem-solving and the method I talk about in my books is different from what you might think. Join us on our journey.

©2014, 2017 Jeffrey K. Liker (P)2017 Lean Leadership Institute