Lean Training
The Lean Six Sigma Company offers two different Lean programmes in an open enrolment format, the Lean Practitioner and the Lean Leader course.
Choose the Lean course that best suits your role and ambitions
International certification that is globally recognised
Course content aligned with ISO 18404 standards
Lean roles
Practioners and Leaders
The Lean Six Sigma framework for Continuous Improvement distinguishes its practitioners across several roles, each with their own tasks and responsibilities. Two of these specialised Lean roles are Lean Practitioner and Lean Leader.
Lean Practitioners specialise in leading their team’s daily improvement initiatives and process improvement projects. They have the skills and mindset needed to improve processes, resulting in higher efficiency and productivity.
Lean Leaders play a crucial role in guiding their team or department towards a culture of continuous improvement. They are able to implement a blueprint of Lean mechanisms to create a system that facilitates continuous improvement. Combined with their ability to coach team members in their Lean initiatives, they are well equipped to embed and sustain this culture over the long term.
Benefits of Lean
Why practice Lean?
Lean training empowers individuals with the skills to eliminate waste, optimise workflows, and enhance daily operations. Participants learn to identify inefficiencies at their root, streamlining processes to reduce delays, lower costs, and improve overall productivity. This hands-on approach delivers quick, measurable results while promoting operational excellence.
Lean principles also encourage teams to embrace a mindset of continuous improvement, enabling employees to take ownership of small, impactful changes that build lasting value. By focusing on practical solutions and fostering collaboration, Lean training helps organisations achieve higher efficiency, maximise resources, and stay competitive in fast-paced industries.
Less waste, more value
Lean helps you identify all the little things that slow you down and do not add any real value to our work. We cut out these wasteful steps, making processes smoother and more efficient. This means less time wasted, more work done.
High-level teamwork
Lean isn’t just about what one person can do, it’s about everyone working together. When we all share ideas and suggestions, we find better ways to do things. This teamwork boosts morale and makes the workplace a happier and more productive place.
Maximise customer satisfaction
Lean isn’t only about doing things faster; it’s also about doing things right. By catching mistakes early and ensuring quality, we make sure customers get what they want, when they want it. This means happy customers who keep coming back.
Hands-on approach
Each student will be guided towards their first project from day one. By discussing project ideas, hurdles and insights, we effectively help you bridge the gap between training and achieving results that create support for future initiatives.
From Lean to Green Belt
Become an expert in Lean and Six Sigma by upgrading your Lean course to a Green Belt course.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
1. What is Lean and how does it differ from Six Sigma?
Lean is a process improvement methodology focused on maximising customer value by eliminating waste and improving flow within processes. It helps organisations deliver products and services faster, more efficiently, and with fewer resources by removing non-value-adding activities. Lean is often applied when organisations want to increase efficiency and productivity.
Six Sigma, on the other hand, focuses on reducing variation and improving process quality through data and statistical analysis. While Lean improves speed and efficiency, Six Sigma improves consistency and accuracy.
In practice, many organisations combine both approaches into Lean Six Sigma to improve both flow and quality at the same time.
2. What are the 8 Wastes in Lean and why are they important?
The 8 Wastes in Lean represent common types of inefficiencies that do not add value for the customer. Identifying and reducing these wastes is central to improving process efficiency and performance.
The 8 Wastes are:
- Transport
- Inventory
- Motion
- Waiting
- Overproduction
- Overprocessing
- Defects
- Skills (underutilised talent)
These wastes are important because they directly impact cost, speed, quality, and customer satisfaction. By identifying them in daily processes, organisations can significantly improve efficiency and create smoother, more reliable workflows.
3. How can I build a continuous improvement culture with Lean?
A continuous improvement culture starts with engaging employees at all levels to identify problems, suggest improvements, and take ownership of processes.
Lean supports this by providing simple, structured tools that make it easy to spot waste and inefficiencies in daily work. When teams are trained in Lean thinking, improvement becomes part of everyday behaviour rather than a separate initiative.
Leadership support, clear communication, and consistent use of Lean tools are essential to embedding this culture across departments.
4. Which Lean course is best for my department: Lean Practitioner or Lean Leader?
The right course depends on your role and level of responsibility in continuous improvement activities.
The Lean Practitioner course is designed for those who are involved in Lean initiatives and improvement projects within their team or department. You will learn the most commonly used Lean tools to improve processes effectively. Practitioners are able to lead improvement initiatives using the A3 methodology, with a focus on maximising customer value by eliminating waste and improving flow within processes.
The Lean Leader course is a leadership-focused module for professionals who are in a manager or team leader role and want to embed a continuous improvement mindset within their team. It goes beyond tools and focuses on how to sustain Lean thinking in daily operations. You will learn how to implement systems and methods such as 5S, Kaizen, and Coaching Kata to drive long-term behavioural and process change.
This course is especially suitable for professionals who already have experience with Lean Practitioner, Green Belt, or Black Belt training and are now responsible for leading others in continuous improvement.
If you are unsure, Lean Practitioner is often the best starting point, with Lean Leader being the natural next step for those taking on broader leadership responsibilities.
5. How can Lean help simplify complex business processes?
Lean helps simplify complex processes by identifying and removing steps that do not add value for the customer. This reduces unnecessary complexity, improves flow, and makes processes easier to manage and understand.
By focusing on value from the customer’s perspective, Lean encourages organisations to redesign processes in a more logical and efficient way. This often leads to shorter lead times, fewer errors, and more consistent outcomes.
The result is a simpler, more transparent way of working that improves both operational performance and employee clarity.
6. Is Lean certification internationally recognised for UK professionals?
Yes. Lean certification from The Lean Six Sigma Company is internationally recognised and aligned with ISO 18404 and ISO 13053 standards, which define globally accepted frameworks for Lean Six Sigma competence and improvement methodology.
While Lean itself is a methodology rather than a regulated qualification, structured certifications based on ISO standards provide consistency, credibility, and recognition across industries and countries. This makes Lean Practitioner and Lean Leader certifications highly relevant for UK professionals working in operations, management, healthcare, services, and manufacturing.
As a result, Lean certification is widely valued by employers as evidence of practical capability in improving efficiency, productivity, and process performance.
Want more information?
Perhaps you are still in doubt which course is the right choice for you, or whether you should choose Lean or Lean Six Sigma. Let us help you with all your questions, so you can always make the right choice. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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