So many leaders are stuck working “IN” the business and don’t make time to work “ON” the business. This can be a BIG problem. There are many ways to support positive transformation, however, I am going to focus on the three that take your leadership team outside their “comfort zone.”

So many companies rely on their own internal knowledge which leaves them limited when it comes to solutioning and solving problems. Their creativity is limited to only what they have seen inside their four walls. This is where they are most comfortable. And, as we all know, ‘comfort’ and ‘growth’ cannot exist together. So, lets focus on getting our team outside the four walls of their own work environments!

Hack #1: Take Time to Go See Best Practices.

“You want me to take my team away from the office when we can’t even keep up with the current workload?? Not a chance.”

This was a direct quote from a leader at a company I was recently visiting. It was in response to my suggestion I made to take their leadership team to a location off-site and experience a material flow best practice example.

I explained to this leader that her entire leadership team had been promoted, trained, and developed from within their four walls; most had never been at another company to experience anything different that what they knew at their current company.

You see, they had been struggling with inventory problems, delays, waiting, etc. and no matter how many times I tried to explain what a future state might look like for them, they just couldn’t envision it in their minds. My first suggestion was to experiment themselves; however, they were reluctant due to the position they were in with their customers. Eventually, she caved, and decided to take her leadership team to ‘go see’ and experience a best practice down the street.

They were absolutely amazed. During our reflection session, you could feel the excitement pouring our of the team as they discussed what they saw and experienced.

When you take time to go see best practices with your team, you are developing a learning culture where team members can develop solutions that work much quicker!

Hack #2: Leverage External Training Providers

Hear me out! I will preface: The ultimate goal is for companies to own their training and development internally. However, lets be real. Many companies have struggled to provide learning consistency for a variety of reasons. And while that can be your future state vision, it may be beneficial to consider a trusted training provider that can bring a wide range of benefits—from improved operational efficiency to excellent learning results.

The right training experts will work alongside you to plan custom learning paths that meet diverse business needs and learning interests. And, lets face it, many companies just don’t have the essential skills and expertise needed up front to lead training programs that boost overall learning consistency in the right areas necessary to impact business results.

A great external training provider will help you identify and develop internal trainers to co-train and acquire knowledge on the latest training tools, hone their skills, and ultimately assume ownership of a robust training system.

Hack #3: Develop Team Talent with Conference Experiences

Imagine the impact of a 2-day leadership focused conference designed to bring organizational leaders together to discuss current trends, strategic insights and best practices in an ever-evolving business environment. A conference where best practices from industry leaders are delivered to help your team truly understand how you will secure your place in the evolving companies of tomorrow!

While there are many great conferences to choose from, I am referring specifically to The Lean Solutions Summit this October in West Michigan! This conference caters to continuous improvement practitioners of every level — from beginners to experts — in every role from the C-suite to the frontlines, from manufacturing, government, healthcare and higher education.

We have thought of everything to ensure your team has an amazing experience, from industry expert speakers, to interactive workshops, best practice tours, and team building excursions, your team will walk away from this conference with a refreshed sense of purpose and defined direction for positive organizational change.

If your boss is already a strong advocate for lean/continuous improvement, you’re in good shape.

If your stakeholders and leaders are still wrapping their heads around the work you do (and why it even matters), it might take some extra work to convince them to invest in skills development and team training in the first place. Here’s how you can make the case to your boss for getting the budget you need:

Step 1: Uncover what stakeholders care about right now: What are their primary goals, motivations, and frustrations? What keeps them up at night? Once you understand their immediate business priorities, you’re ready to tie this back to your goal: get that training budget!

Step 2: Connect business goals to team goals: Look at the conference program, talk topics, and workshop themes to see how the sessions tie back to your stakeholder goals.

Step 3: Show the value of attending together. Your training budget might be tight, but not investing in your team can cost in employee turnover, burnout, and even bigger problems in the future. Your organization can’t afford that, can it? (The answer is no.) You’ll be learning about industry trends together, increasing team learning and sharing, and inspiring your team with new ideas.