FOCUS ON LEAN: The Lean Leader – Building Trust, Culture and Improvement

In collaboration with the Midlands Lean Network and Jigsaw Better Business, join us for a practical two-hour workshop exploring the behaviours that make Lean leadership effective in the real world.

Event Format:

• Networking Lunch from 1pm
• Start Time 2pm – 4pm
• Coffee and Networking 4pm – 5pm

This session introduces The Lean Leader, Jigsaw’s award-winning Lean leadership model, developed to help leaders understand how trust, culture, behaviour, and psychological safety directly influence operational excellence and continuous improvement. The model is practical, tangible, and easy to use for people working at the Gemba, while also being peer reviewed, academically published, and grounded in real business application.

Lean improvement does not succeed through tools alone. It is shaped by the behaviours leaders demonstrate every day, the environment they create for their teams, and their ability to build a culture where people feel safe to contribute, learn, challenge, and improve. This workshop gives participants an introduction to the key behaviours of a Lean leader, the impact those behaviours have on teams, and how leaders can intentionally develop the skills needed to lead improvement well.

Participants will be introduced to the Jigsaw Lean Leadership and Lean Culture Benchmark, helping them understand the core dimensions of Lean leadership and how these can be observed, measured, and strengthened over time. The workshop will also explore how Lean leadership connects to psychological safety, team engagement, and a stronger culture of accountability and learning.

As part of the session, attendees will have the opportunity to reflect on their own leadership practice and complete a leadership self-assessment based on the Jigsaw benchmark. This will help them identify strengths, highlight development areas, and see how coaching and personal development can build the leadership capability needed to support operational excellence.

Throughout the workshop, participants will be given practical examples of behaviours and actions that can be used immediately in their own role. The focus is on making Lean leadership tangible, measurable, learnable, and easy to apply, especially for leaders working close to the day-to-day reality of teams, performance, and improvement.

What participants will gain

• an introduction to Jigsaw’s award-winning Lean leadership model
• insight into the key behaviours that make a Lean leader
• a better understanding of the relationship between leadership, culture, and improvement
• practical guidance on creating a psychologically safe team environment
• a self-assessment against the Jigsaw Lean Culture Benchmark
• clear, practical actions that can be applied immediately in the workplace

Who should attend

This workshop is ideal for:

• business owners
• managers and supervisors
• team leaders
• operational excellence leads
• continuous improvement practitioners
• anyone responsible for leading people, change, or improvement activity

About Stuart Nelson

Stuart Nelson is Co-Founder of Jigsaw Better Business, Senior Lean Coach, and a specialist in operational excellence, Lean culture, and business transformation. He has worked extensively with micro, small, and growing businesses to help them improve performance through practical Lean implementation, leadership development, and culture change. Stuart’s work combines operational improvement with a strong focus on how leaders shape the behaviours, routines, and conditions that allow improvement to succeed in practice. He has also received recognition for his work in Lean learning and development and brings both practitioner experience and academic insight to this field.

About Julie O’Sullivan

Julie O’Sullivan is Head of People at Jigsaw Better Business, an organisational psychologist, Lean practitioner, and leadership development specialist. Her work focuses on leadership behaviour, team development, psychological safety, and helping people and organisations create healthier, higher-performing workplace cultures. Julie brings a strong psychology and coaching perspective to Lean leadership, helping leaders understand not just what they need to improve, but how to develop the mindset, self-awareness, and behaviours needed to lead teams effectively through change and improvement.

Fearless Organisation Partner

Jigsaw Better Business is also a certified partner of Amy Edmondson’s Fearless Organisation, supporting leaders and teams to strengthen psychological safety as a foundation for learning, contribution, challenge, and continuous improvement. This partnership strengthens Jigsaw’s Lean leadership approach by connecting practical operational excellence with globally recognised thinking and tools in psychological safety. Together, these perspectives help leaders build environments where people feel safe to speak up, engage, solve problems, and improve performance.

Hosted by

Midlands Lean Network in partnership with Jigsaw Better Business and Local Enterprise Office Kildare.

Booking essential.

This event is being provided free of charge to our clients.

Please only book if you intend to attend.

This supports our team to correctly prepare for the event and that those that want to attend get the opportunity to do so. Thank you for your cooperation.

GDPR NOTICE: Photo and video content will be taken at this event for social media, reporting and promotion of future events. Please advise a member of the LEO team prior to the event if you wish to be not recognisable in that content.