Who We Are
We are a team of coaches who work collaboratively with you to create a safe environment for staff to nurture their spirit of innovation and assist leaders to effectively lead in a lean organization. We are committed to working with your leadership team as they develop a deeper understanding of themselves, their people; the organizations processes and how to effectively drive out waste to improve your business.
Our Team
Jim Rhode and Bonnie Blakley co-founded Lead 2 Lean Solutions Inc. in 2014 to respond to growing demand for a lean management system that is flexible, customizable and more effectively involves those doing the work.
Jim Rhode
Jim Rhode received his Global Production System Lean Leader Certification in 2014. Jim is a strong champion for implementing lean management within Saskatchewan, particularly in the health care sector. In his roles as Chair of both the Saskatoon Regional Health Authority and 3sHealth as well as board member of eHealth Saskatchewan, he provided strong governance support to the leadership teams working to adopt the new system. Jim’s commitment to the work led him to pursue full Lean Leader Certification on his own time. Jim is also the President/Owner of Davis Machine Co (1960) Ltd. a custom manufacturing company where he has had exposure to lean since the mid 1980s.
Bonnie Blakley
Bonnie Blakley received her Global Production System Lean Leader Certification in 2014. Her journey into continuous improvement began in 2008 as the Vice-President, People Strategies at the Saskatoon Health Region. Bonnie’s passion for this work evolved quickly and resulted in her pursuing a Masters Degree at Royal Roads University where she focused her studies on the critical success factors of leading in a lean organization. She completed her Masters in 2012. In 2013, Bonnie became the Vice-President, People & Culture with 3sHealth; where she also led the Kaizen Promotion Office.
Erin Christiaens
Erin Christiaens, Lead 2 Lean Coach since mid 2016 received her Global Production System Lean Leader Certification in July 2013. Previously, she had been trained through Maple Leaf Foods' Six Sigma Black Belt program which is where her passion for improvement work took hold. She is a continuous learner as demonstrated by her completion of a Masters of Business Administration, through Athabasca University, in December 2017. Erin thrives on training, coaching, and mentoring leaders at all levels of organizations through their own development and growth journeys. She has experience in several industries, such as health care, food processing, transportation and the service industry.
Anton Canitz
Anton Canitz, Lead 2 Lean Coach, majored in Operations Management, as part of his 2011 Bachelor of Commerce. As a Quality Improvement Consultant, he completed Global Production System Lean Leader Certification in 2014. Anton enjoys a mix of technical and social pursuits, having trained thousands of staff and developing several applications, based primarily in Python and Excel. He has experience in several industries, such as health care, manufacturing, non-profits, and the service industry.
Kendall Wylie
Kendall Wylie, Lead 2 Lean Coach, was introduced to the Lean business principles in March 2015 in her role as a Senior Human Resources Advisor within the investment industry where she received her Lean White Belt training. From this time Kendall has developed a passion and dedication to improvement work. Kendall’s background is in Human Resources and she holds her Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR) in addition to a Bachelor of Communications degree from the University of Calgary. Her career has spanned across different industries including engineering, oil & gas, land development and financial investment. Kendall is inspired by working with management to engage their staff in adopting a lean business culture and seeing results.
Testimonials & Results
As a lean leader, Jim advanced the vision of how to organize our system to reach full potential, how to generate system improvements that create measured excellence and most importantly how to empower our staff and leaders to create an environment of daily system improvements.
- Mike Stensrud, Chairperson Saskatoon Regional Health Authority
I have been fortunate to know Bonnie as a coach and mentor. In that role, she is supportive, honest, probing, and unflinching in her assessments; encouraging, empowering and proactive in her coaching.
- Val Klassen, Director of Supply Chain at 3sHealth
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