If you have been practicing lean design and construction for several years, you will realize the importance of being part of a community. Why is community involvement crucial?

1. Lean methodologies are continuously evolving, necessitating collaboration with peers to stay updated on best practices.
2. The nature of lean requires an ecosystem; no individual or company can drive industry change alone.
3. Innovation can arise from diverse sources, making a community invaluable for learning from others' insights.
4. Without community engagement, there is a risk of stagnation for both individuals and companies.

Considering the significance of community, what options are available to you?

1. Join a local community of practice or chapter advocating for lean design and construction, fostering networking and local ecosystem development.
2. Engage in online communities like the Lean Construction Blog, offering regular content, webinars, and conferences for broader industry insights.

If you are in a place where there is no local community of practice or no local chapter, you can start with the online community. Over time, you can build your own local in-person community.

Picture 1. NorCal LCI Community of Practice

If you live in a place with a vibrant local community, we encourage you to also be a part of the online community. Information moves and exchanges much faster online. In a few months you can make as much progress as several years. With the online community, you do not need to wait several months for certain training and information to come to you. You can access the full library of blog posts and past webinar recordings to aid you in your lean journey.

Regardless of where you are in the world, you should not approach learning and applying lean construction on your own. It is too large of a task and too daunting for any one person to undertake. It is far more effective and far more fun to learn as a community. So if you are the first person in your company to discover lean construction, you will find that it is much more beneficial to recruit your colleagues to join in the adventure. Together you will make more progress and you will get better results.

Picture 2. Diverse audience learning and applying lean

So if you haven’t joined a community whether online or offline, what is stopping you? If you are approaching lean construction alone, why? It is better to have allies and people join you in this journey of learning and continuous improvement.

Picture 3. Panel discussion with the people actively applying lean and what it means for them

If you would like to join an online community, send me a message. We have communities on LinkedIn, Discord, WhatsApp, and Telegram. Everyone in these communities are actively learning and trying to improve. It’s a lot easier and more fun to do so with a community rather than doing it solo.

This blog post was written in collaboration with the Northern California LCI Community of Practice. Be sure to check out a local in-person event through the COP and use the online events from the LCB to provide the quality materials that you need to start and sustain your lean journey.