Inspiring Sustainable Higher Education and Lean through a lean ambassadors network.

The chapter describes and reflects on the evolution of a Lean Ambassadors Network (LeAN 1.0) at a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the UK. Building on a successful foundation of Business Excellence, and winning the BQF Excellence Model Award in 2016, the HEI have a strategic goal of embedding continuous improvement within the organisation. Professional Service, Academic Staff and Students were invited to participate in the network from Oct 2016 – Sept 17. As part of the pilot, a series of three training and one celebration workshop and were held. The aims of the workshops were to introduce the concepts of Lean, identify opportunities for improvement at the institution, and to introduce the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control) cycle and value stream mapping (Brouwer-Hadzialic, L., & Wiegel, V. (2015) for use in subsequent continuous improvement projects. The chapter explores the successes, barriers and key requisites for the introduction of a HEI Lean Ambassadors Network using workshops and live projects. We conclude with a summary of successes and key challenges, and summarise the next steps for the launch of LeAN 2.0 in the spirit of continuous improvement and Lean Learning.