Guest Post: Using Single Point Lessons as a Teaching Aide

Today I am happy to be guest blogging on Christian Paulsen's Lean Leadership Blog. Chris recently did a couple guest posts while I was on vacation and now I get to return the favor. I decided that I would talk about the benefits of using a single point lesson as a teaching aide.


It is often said that lean is 90% people and 10% tools. Knowledge is the factor which determines the rate of change in organizations. How do we learn and teach this knowledge within our organization? Many organizations use a “train the trainer” method where knowledge is handed down from one individual to the next. This is like the school age game “telephone” where one person tells a story to someone who tells someone else and so on till the end of the line where the final result is a variant of the original. The variation from this type of training can result in confusion, longer cycle times, rework, and defects.

A lean tool that can be employed for teaching is a Single Point Lesson, SPL (or One Point Lesson). Single point lessons originated from TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) as a method to teach knowledge and skills necessary for autonomous maintenance.

Keeping in mind this mantra:

• Teaching occurs when an opportunity for Learning is presented.
• Learning occurs when there is a change in behavior.
• Teaching is only VALUABLE when there is a subsequent change in behavior.

To learn about about single point lessons and to see an example continue reading here.




Stay connect to A Lean Journey on our Facebook page or LinkedIn group.
Follow me on Twitter or connect with me on Linkedin. 
You can also subscribe to this feed or email to stay updated on all posts.