Organizations that promote lean thinking seek to eliminate waste throughout their manufacturing and service delivery processes, and even work to streamline their support processes. With close examination, the seven sources of waste are identified and eliminated. Yet possibly the greatest waste that exists in our organizations is the underutilization of the talent and potential that the workforce brings to the workplace.

We hire the best and the brightest and then . . . well, without training, coaching and support, our employees disengage, become complacent or frustrated. With training, and setting the right culture, we can use all employees for continuous improvement, problem solving, innovation, and delegation, making our employees happier and our organizations more successful. Leaders need training too. Without conscious intent, it can be difficult to create the culture of support and engagement that maximizes employee talent and experience.

A strategic training plan is necessary to engage and prepare employees for success in our organizations. How would you answer these questions?

• What does "on-boarding" look like in your organization?
• What do employees need to know to succeed in your environment?
• Do leaders and mangers know how support and direct employees to higher levels of performance and engagement?
• How would they know if you don't train them?

The answers can drive a training plan that will lead to more engaged employees, greater retention of good workers, more successful succession planning, and a more agile organization poised for response to any challenge put before it.

What are the possible outcomes? According to the HPO Center, " The success factors that determine what makes an organization an High Performance Organization (HPO): an organization that achieves better financial and non-financial results than comparable organizations over a period of at least five to 10 years are in brief:

Quality of management
The management of an HPO is of high quality, builds relationships based on trust by combining integrity and coaching leadership with highly exemplary behavior, is quick to make decisions (also regarding non-performers), is result-oriented and committed to a long-term vision.

Quality of employees
The employees of an HPO are diverse, complementary and well able to work together. They are flexible and resilient when it comes to achieving results. They are busy every day answering the question: "How can I make our organization more successful?".

These two qualities help foster the "Engaged Culture", which invites employees to buy-in, requires strategic leadership that asks instead of tells, fosters accountability, uses insider expertise ( but that takes time, skill and patience) and supports employee satisfaction."