“A journey of a thousand miles beings with a single step” – Confucius
Let’s take a trip back to August of 2022 when 10 aspiring Lean Green Belts began their journey to become Lean Black Belts. Before August, Dagmar Vlahos and Thomas Lencki Jr. interviewed each candidate as they applied for the program and set expectations at the start of each journey.
This ten-month program was designed to enhance each participant’s Lean skills and encourage each participant to understand their skill set which included identifying their strengths as well as their weaknesses. Many of the participants spoke of having ‘imposter syndrome’ and through coaching and mentorship soon learned that they in fact had the skill and determination to complete the program.
Throughout the ten-month program, they applied their learning to an individual project which was forward-thinking, strategic, and impacted either a single department, multiple departments, an organization, or multiple campuses. They engaged many and utilized their research to conclude a solution which was presented to their sponsors towards the end of the program.
Projects included:
- Strategic Planning and Governance
- Mobile Credentials
- Building an Agile Organization
- Improvements in Enrollment Data Reporting at UNH Online
- Effectively Delivering Career Services to UNH’s Newest College
- Leaning into the Future of the School of Education
- Appreciative Communication 2.0
- Monitoring Progress Toward Degree (PTD) for Matriculated Undergraduate Students
- Improving Processes by Going to the GEMBA
- Shingo Model for Process Improvement for New Hampshire Hospital
Please join the USNH Enterprise Lean Team made up of Dagmar Vlahos and Thomas Lencki Jr. in congratulating the first Lean Black Belt Certification cohort.
- Katherine Acker – College of Professional Studies
- Michael Bennet – Enterprise Technology and Services
- Kristin Bolton – UNH Registrar’s Office
- Crystal Gaff - Enterprise Technology and Services
- Amy Hodgdon - Enterprise Technology and Services
- Jasmine Huffman – UNH Career and Professional Success
- Jackie Klatt – Wake Forest University School of Business
- Jenny Masana – College of Professional Studies
- Blaise Masse - Enterprise Technology and Services
- Timothy Whitman – New Hampshire Hospital
For more information about the Lean training program please visit https://www.usnh.edu/lean/lean-training
