(1) The document discusses challenges and opportunities for the future of Lean education over the next 5 years. (2) Rather than just focusing on efficiency, Lean thinking is more about challenging goals and developing people's creative capabilities. (3) Educators should teach scientific thinking skills that are transferable and applicable in complex, uncertain environments rather than just solutions. This involves experiential, hands-on learning through practice and overcoming obstacles.

1. Supporting Next-Generation Lean Thinking
Lean Education:
Reflection and Looking Ahead
Conference closing remarks
Mike Rother
September 2014

2. ELEC 2015 Conference Theme:
"Supporting Next Generation Lean Thinking"
The word "Lean" was coined in 1990 as a description of what
Toyota does to be so enduringly successful. That was 25 years
ago, or about one generation. During that time 'Lean' was
often interpreted as reducing cost and increasing productivity.
2
Today we are realizing that Toyota's approach is about much
more than just cost reduction. One could say it's about
achieving challenging goals through managers developing and
channeling people's scientific creative capability.
You could call this expanded view of Lean something like
"Next Generation Lean Thinking" or "21st Century Lean."
Mike Rother

3. 21st Century Lean vs. 20th Century Lean
Mike Rother 3

4. Visible
Less
Visible
Lean tools and techniques
to improve quality, cost
and delivery
• A systematic, scientific
way of thinking and acting
• Managers as teachers of
that way, through practice
Mike Rother 4

5. IS THE PURPOSE OF A CONFERENCE
LIKE THIS TO MAKE US COMFORTABLE?
Mike Rother 5

6. IS THE PURPOSE OF A CONFERENCE
LIKE THIS TO MAKE US COMFORTABLE?
Apparent
Certainty
The Threshold
of Knowledge is at
the edge of our
comfort zone!
Mike Rother 6

7. IS THE PURPOSE OF A CONFERENCE
LIKE THIS TO MAKE US COMFORTABLE?
Apparent
Certainty
The Threshold
of Knowledge
What capabilities should we have in
Lean education?
What changes may be happening in
the Lean education environment?
Mike Rother 7

8. TEACHERS HAVE BIG RESPONSIBILITY!
Mike Rother 8

9. 9
THE NEXT EXPERIMENTS
IN LEAN EDUCATION?
2015 – 2020
The following comments
and challenges for the Lean
Education community are
proposed with the next 5
years in mind

10. (1) LEAN IS NOT JUST ABOUT EFFICIENCY
10
ANY MORE
Focusing narrowly on cost reduction
is no guarantee of business success.
 What do you want to achieve?
The research that led to the book Toyota Kata looked into
the intention behind Toyotaʼs practices and principles. Itʼs
more about challenging and nurturing human resources -
in order to achieve tough goals - than we might think.
Mike Rother

11. 11
HOW DO WE CAPTURE THE
IMAGINATION OF STUDENTS?
Because without positive emotion,
learning is restricted
Mike Rother

12. 12
HUMAN ENDEAVOR OR CHALLENGE
Mike Rother
Working on things
that are meaningful
and compelling

13. 13
A MORE FITTING
DEFINITION OF LEAN?
Mike Rother

14. (2) IF WE CAN'T SEE INTO THE FUTURE,
14
WHAT SHOULD WE TEACH?
How do we prepare students for the future when
we don’t know what the future will bring?
We can’t predict how to get from A to B. How do
we get comfortable with challenging goals and
navigate the grey zone between here & there?
We can teach Scientific Meta Skills.
These are common, teachable, transferrable ways of
thinking that can be used over the course of a
lifetime.
Mike Rother

15. 15
IT'S SCIENTIFIC THINKING
APPLIED IN BUSINESS
The path to a challenging goals can’t be determined in
advance, and today's solutions may not fit tomorrow's
problems. But we can teach and practice a universal
means of developing your own solutions and meeting
challenges along uncertain paths.
Scientific ways of thinking and working
are a foundational habit for:
• Successfully pursuing seemingly
unattainable goals in complex systems
• Enabling teams to make decisions more
independently & maneuver effectively.
Mike Rother

16. VIDEO: Improvement Kata Application
The video on the next page is a good example of what
can happen when we teach a scientific way of working
– a meta skill – rather then just teaching solutions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EHo4KrRKbQ
Also available on the IK/CK YouTube Channel
Mike Rother 16

17. 17
(3) STRIVE TO TEACH EXPERIENTIALLY
This is a significant challenge for educators, and
will probably require lots of experimentation
and adjustment.
Mike Rother
The
Teacher!
(struggling)

18. 4 INGREDIENTS FOR
ACQUIRING NEW SKILLS
Brain research is clear: Developing new habits involves
practicing new routines and experiencing a progressive
sense of mastering them. The following ingredients help
students rewire their brains, to acquire new skills and
mindset.
COACHING
Corrective
feedback
PRACTICE
Frequent
MASTERY
Overcoming
obstacles
KATA
Structured practice
routines (beginner)
Mike Rother 18

19. VIDEO:
(Next page)
Things we know about how people learn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpfYCZa87g
Also available on the IK/CK YouTube Channel
Mike Rother 19

20. Scientific
Thinking is
for All Ages
Young scientists
practicing the
Improvement Kata
and Coaching Kata
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21. SUMMARY...
How can educators
meet these challenges?!
Mike Rother 21

22. TO MEET EDUCATION CHALLENGES...
LET'S APPLY SCIENTIFIC THINKING!
Threshold of
Knowledge
The
Teacher
Obstacles
Next
Target
Condition
Experiments
Current
Condition
Mike Rother 22

23. TO MEET EDUCATION CHALLENGES...
LET'S APPLY SCIENTIFIC THINKING!
Threshold of
Knowledge
The
Teacher
Obstacles
Next
Target
Condition
Experiments
Current
Condition
Mike Rother 23

24. TO MEET EDUCATION CHALLENGES...
LET'S APPLY SCIENTIFIC THINKING!
Threshold of
Knowledge
The
Teacher
Obstacles
Next
Target
Condition
Experiments
Current
Condition
Mike Rother 24

25. TO MEET EDUCATION CHALLENGES...
LET'S APPLY SCIENTIFIC THINKING!
Threshold of
Knowledge
The
Teacher
Obstacles
Next
Target
Condition
Experiments
Current
Condition
Mike Rother 25

26. 26
BEST WISHES
FOR YOUR EXPERIMENTING!
Share your lessons-learned
at the ELEC 2015
September 17-19 in Sweden
Mike Rother

27. 27
TO OTHER PRESENTERS
Thank you for the opportunity to share with you some
things we’re learning.
Please feel free to use any of the slides from
this presentation, which are copyrighted under
a Creative Commons Attribution license. The
only requirement is to note the source on each
slide you use, for instance by adding “By Mike
Rother” somewhere on the slide.
Best wishes for your presentations & practicing!