Are you a Lean Thinker? More importantly, are you a Lean Doer? Then, think about this Lean career opportunity with LEI, the Lean Enterprise Institute…

Education Manager, LEI, Cambridge, MA

Organization Background
The Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. founded by James P. Womack in 1997, is a nonprofit education, publishing, research, and

Jim Womack

conference organization. Compared with traditional “think” tanks, we are a “do” tank. We carefully develop hypotheses about lean thinking and experiment to see which approaches work best in the real world. We then write about and teach what we discover, providing new methods for organizational transformation.

We have a very simple objective at LEI. We try to describe in plain language the fundamental ideas of lean thinking. We have derived these from Toyota, which derived many of them in turn from Henry Ford’s breakthroughs at Highland Park early in the 20th Century.

We diffuse these ideas through our website lean.org, books, workbooks, workshops, training packages, learning events at customer sites, and Lean Summits. Also, we conduct research projects and support other lean initiatives such as the Lean Education Academic Network, the Lean Global Network, and the Healthcare Value Network.

Great Location
We are located in the Kendall Square area of Cambridge, MA, one of the most rapidly developing districts of the city. Our office building is in close proximity to public transportation, MIT, shops, and restaurants. It has a great open-office environment, state-of the art gym, and a parking lot right next to the building.

Outstanding Team
We are a small but very effective team of 14 who accomplish a lot because we consistently apply PDCA thinking to everything we do. We work together on most of our projects to ensure the delivery of maximum value to our customers.

Why YOU should be here!
By joining our team, you become a member of the flagship for the global Lean Community and will work side-by-side with LEI’s founder Jim Womack and our CEO John Shook, world-renowned writers, Lean Thinkers, and sensei, recognized for their invaluable contribution in advancing lean thinking around the world.

LEI faculty are another great source of learning and inspiration. All our instructors have years of experience implementing lean in all sorts of organizations, and every meeting with them leads to learning something new.

Through our workshops, events and website, you will be exposed to hundreds of companies and organizations all around the globe, and will be able to make a positive impact helping them improve their processes and develop their management teams. Everything you’ll do will matter a lot!

Finally, as part of the LEI family, you’ll be constantly contributing to shaping our strategy while doing your daily work in a very positive, collaborative, and high-energy environment.

Position
The Education value stream within LEI is one of three core lines of business, along with Learning Materials, and Lean Summits and Conferences. Our Education business consists of open enrollment workshops which we offer across North America (8-9 sessions a year), workshops that we conduct in our office in Cambridge, MA, and customized learning events at customer facilities.

Until now, all types of workshops have been handled by 2 people – Director of Education and Education Coordinator. However, due to the rapid expansion of our connections with individual organizations seeking help on many different levels – from a one-time delivery of our workshops at their sites to the development of complex, highly customized, long-term learning processes, sometimes on a global scale – we decided to add another member to our Education Team to run this line of business.

As Education Manager, you will be responsible for all aspects of our in-house education business focusing on the development of long-term relationships with customers. It will allow LEI to provide effective learning support to our customers while gathering information for research projects that are used to develop new education programs, publications, case studies, etc.

Education Manager will:
• Be the first point of contact for any individual or organization seeking help with on-site training;
• Work with LEI faculty to identify the needs of prospective customers and make recommendations on the learning content/format that best suits the needs of each individual customer;
• Write proposals and prepare other documentation needed to support every project;
• Work with LEI faculty to edit or create materials for each project;
• Be responsible for printing & shipping materials to customer sites, as well as handle all other logistics issues relative to this line of business;
• Attend at least one workshop at a customer site per quarter to observe the process first-hand, get customer feedback, and identify areas for improvement;
• Conduct reflection sessions – in person or over the phone – with every customer and make process improvements as needed;

In addition to the responsibilities associated with the execution of onsite learning programs, the Education Manager will:

• Work closely with Director of Education and Education Coordinator on the identification of process improvement opportunities in other lines of Education business;
• Participate in the development of annual business plans for his/her line of business and the entire Education value stream;
• Attend at least two sessions of public workshops and one major LEI event annually in order to continuously develop relationships with customers and LEI faculty, and better understand the overall LEI business.

What You Bring to the Table as a Candidate

A successful candidate must offer:

• Excellent understanding of the key principles of lean and some experience applying them in any kind of an organization.
• Experience in teaching lean workshops and/or providing coaching support. Knowledge of LEI workshops and programs is a major plus.
• Deep experience in working with customers (external or internal), including executive and senior management, to understand their needs and expectations, develop curricula and effectively organize learning events;
• Solid knowledge of instructional design and expertise to assist LEI Faculty with workshop material development;
• Strong project management experience and the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines;
• Great ability and desire to work collaboratively with other members of the LEI team;
• Passion for continuous improvement of all processes and practices within his/her area of responsibility.
• Flexibility to travel 25-30% of the time.

Compensation
Competitive salary is commensurate with the candidate’s experience and skills. LEI offers a great benefit package, including medical and dental insurance, company contributions to a 401K plan, financial support for individual training and development, etc.

Contact
Please contact LEI Director of Education Olga Flory with your questions or to submit your qualifications: E-mail: oflory@lean.org Tel: 617-871-2946

Or, you can also connect with Adam Zak, CEO, Adam Zak Executive Search at 847.304.5300, or az@LeanRecruiter.com

Adam Zak. Lean Executive Search. Your bridge to exceptional Lean executive leadership talent. Your connection to outstanding Lean executive career opportunity.