The Leading Edge Group Podcast

We are delighted to announce a 6-part podcast series called ”Breaking The Mould” in which Joe Aherne, CEO, Leading Edge Group, will interview a number of professionals who have followed their dreams and achieved or embarked on some unique and exciting ventures. Many of these are unsung heroes and we are delighted to share their experiences with an international audience.]

Our second podcast is now available for download. Joe Aherne interviews John Seward, international specialist in developing business markets with over 30 years experience in the food and drinks sector.

As General Manager of the iconic Middle Eastern brand and product portfolio that is Almarai, John pioneered the expansion of the milk and Laban business across the Gulf states from his base in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. John recently served as Region Director of Middle East & Pakistan at Coca-Cola spending over 10 years in the Coca-Cola system. Prior to this, John served in senior positions in the FMCG and packaging businesses in Europe, the Middle East and US. The majority of his career has been in sales & operations and senior general management roles, especially in Developing Countries. His experience of the food and drinks business is un-paralleled.

In this podcast Dave Murray discusses how a national postal service dealt with increased demand throughout Covid-19 and Christmas with the use of Lean principles.

On the first episode we’re being joined by Clodagh McCarthy who will be discussing the opportunities and benefits of adopting Lean and Agile in the Film-making and Creative Industries where continuous improvement is still in its infancy.

On the second episode we’re being joined by Joanna Koprowicz who provides amazing insight into the world of Agile and why more and more companies are adopting it.

We are delighted to be joined by Wes Anderson from the city of Mississauga.

Wes is the Manager of Financial & Treasury Services at the City of Mississauga, where he oversees the banking, cash management, payroll, payables, investment portfolio and accounting needs for Canada’s 6th largest City.

In this podcast he will be discussing how Lean has allowed his municipality to continuously improve.

In these weeks podcast we are joined by David Murray, Head of Mails Operational Excellence at An Post. David explains how An Post adopted the Lean methodology which has enabled to plan for and deal with peak demand. As people turn more and more to online shopping this brings it’s own challenges for the postal service as the traditional letter volumes are decreasing while parcel volumes are ever growing.

We are delighted to be joined by Justin Swain who is currently working for Eastern Health which is the largest integrated health organization in Newfoundland and Labrador.

On this episode, Justin discusses how Lean has impacted the healthcare industry.

This week on the podcast we’re joined by Bella Engelbach who discusses Lean & creative problem solving.

Bella trained as a scientist and worked at a major life sciences company as a process excellence and business improvement leader, bringing the worlds of lean and creativity together in research and development. She is experienced in Continuous Improvement, Lean Improvement, Lean Product and Process Development, Change Management and is a Creative Problem Solving (CPS) facilitator. She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Lean Product and Process Development Exchange (LPPDE.) Bella is the author of “Creatively Lean: How to Get Out of Your Own Way and Drive Innovation throughout Your Organization”

In this weeks podcast we’re joined by Leading Edge Group board member, Joe Lane. Joe has considerable experience across geographies and cultures in manufacturing, outsourcing, engineering, supply chain management, new product introduction and end-to-end business processes. In addition, he has experience managing complex, high value capital and technology projects and an extensive track record in successfully restructuring organisations from a cost, performance and market access perspective.

‘Everybody experienced stresses due to Covid…what was interesting is the organizations that had been practicing Lean, this Lean thinking really enabled them to adapt quickly. I noticed folks leveraging…root cause, problem solving tools, using the PDCA problem solving framework to test and experiment and learn and adjust …that just started happening in meetings - they were grabbing fishpond diagrams and doing 5Ys and making decisions. And they saw it really being applied outside of a scripted Lean project.’

Catch up on our final podcast episode of this series featuring Callie Woodward, Lean Transformation Consultant with the Leading Edge Group, who shares her experience of the positive change Lean can bring to Local Government organizations.

‘The tools captured through Lean and its applicability across multiple platforms and spaces has really transformed how I personally function as both an employee and a leader. Lean challenges us to look at how we do the things we do…I would say it challenges me to ask questions versus providing answers, and that curiosity can help get to the root cause of issues versus looking at quick fixes that often result in a resurfacing of problems.’

On this week’s episode we are speaking to Kinza Trimm, Corporate Efficiency and Strategic Initiatives Manager for the City of Grande Prairie in Alberta. Kinza gives us an overview of the structure and growth of the city’s Lean program, and the impact it is having on its organisational culture.

‘My first introduction to continuous improvement happened when I was working with the Government of Canada and I was asked to attend a week-long meeting called a Kaizen. I had no idea what it is and was and I really did not know anything about the process, but the fearless leader assured us all of that that wouldn't matter…as the work started, we were making tremendous progress very quickly. I loved looking at the system as a whole, not just a piece of the process. As a facilitator, I was naturally drawn to a lot of those brainstorming tools and walked away from that week-long event thinking about how I would love to start employing some of those tools and methodology to my own work.’

On this week’s episode we are speaking to Victoria Etchegary, Manager of Organizational Performance and Strategy at the City of St. John’s, about the positive impact Lean and continuous improvement has made to her own career and to the City of St. John’s.

On today's podcast we're speaking to Simon Stafford, Senior Organizational Development Consultant with the Town of Oakville. The Town of Oakville is undergoing enormous growth and a rapidly changing demographic. Simon is responsible for developing a culture at the Town focused on continuous improvement and Lean thinking as a way of working. During the podcast, Simon also discusses the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on progress.

Our first episode featuring Lisa Brant, Senior Organizational Development Specialist with the Town of Whitby, is now live. 

This episode is not to be missed for any local government who are considering embarking on a continuous improvement program, or those whose CI programs are in their infancy.