How a Lean Adoption Strategy for Public Schools Applies to Everyone

Free Webinar Recording

Lean transformations often stall not because the tools don’t work, but because organizations underestimate the role of leadership, culture, and intentional design.

In this on-demand webinar, viewers examine how a large public school system approached Lean adoption—and why its strategy offers valuable lessons for any organization navigating change, regardless of industry.

Rather than focusing on isolated improvement events, this session explores how Lean becomes sustainable when it is treated as an organizational capability, not a program.

Key Insights

Lean succeeds or fails long before the first Kaizen event. The way leaders frame why improvement matters, how it connects to strategy, and what behaviors they model sets the ceiling for results.

Tools create early wins, but culture determines longevity. Organizations that over-index on training and under-invest in leadership habits often see momentum fade once consultants leave.

Ownership matters more than expertise. When improvement is “owned” by a central Lean team instead of operational leaders, change stalls at the edges of the organization.

Public-sector constraints reveal universal truths. Limited budgets, competing priorities, and stakeholder complexity expose weaknesses that exist in many private-sector transformations as well.

Problem-solving capability is the real asset. Teaching people how to think, not just what to do, creates adaptability that survives leadership turnover and shifting priorities.

View all previous KaiNexus Continuous Improvement Webinars

Who Should Watch

• Continuous improvement and operational excellence leaders

• Executives evaluating or restarting Lean initiatives

• Practitioners struggling with sustainability and adoption

• Healthcare, education, government, and service organizations

Why This Webinar Matters

The conditions facing public school systems—high accountability, limited resources, and complex human systems—mirror challenges across industries. The lessons shared here apply broadly to any organization serious about making improvement stick.

👉 Watch the full webinar on demand to learn how Lean adoption becomes durable, scalable, and leadership-driven.

About the Presenter:

Harry Kenworthy

Harry is Principal and Manager of the Quality and Productivity Improvement Center (QPIC, LLC), a consulting organization he founded in 1984 and has been with full time since 2004. He worked with Dr. W. Edwards Deming in 1983-85 on a series of 2 day seminars throughout the US, sponsored by MIT. He has spoken at over 90 conferences on Quality, Productivity, Lean, and Six Sigma, and has been published several magazines including Quality Progress, Purchasing, and Government Finance Review. 

He was one of the first practitioners to apply Lean in the Government sector in the mid-90’s, and was a founder of the Connecticut Quality Council and chaired CBIA’s (Connecticut Business and Industry Association) Manufacturing Council. He is the author of the book Lean Government NOW! and previously presented a webinar for KaiNexus titled "Ten Commandments for Lean in Government (and Beyond)." You can learn more about Harry and his work at www.leangovcenter.com.