The Wheel of Sustainability Explained

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

In this episode, Andy Olrich sits down with returning guest Adam Lawrence to explore why so many improvement efforts fail to stick and what leaders can do to create lasting, sustainable change.

Adam shares the origin story behind his “Wheel of Sustainability” framework and explains why sustainability is ultimately a leadership process, not just a technical one. The conversation dives into the importance of preparation before a Kaizen event, including leadership alignment, clear expectations, strong sponsorship, and creating accountability systems before improvement work even begins.

You’ll also learn practical ways to strengthen sustainability after an event through audits, visuals, standard work, Gemba walks, and leadership engagement. Adam and Andy discuss why culture, trust, and respect for people are just as important as financial results—and how the true test of success is when employees start asking, “When can you come help my area next?”

If you’ve ever struggled with improvements fading over time or leaders failing to stay engaged after an event, this episode provides a practical roadmap for building improvements that last.

Key Takeaways:

Sustainable improvement starts with leadership commitment and preparation
Kaizen events fail when leaders don’t stay visibly engaged before, during, and after the work
Audits, visuals, standard work, and accountability systems help improvements stick
The strongest sign of success is when teams ask for more improvement work in their own areas

Links:

Adam Lawrence LinkedIn

PI Partners

The Wheel of Sustainability

Lean Solutions Summit
Lean Solutions Website

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