Greg Williams

President

Greg worked in the energy sector (oil and gas exploration and production) for over 36 years before retiring as Lean Director at Aera Energy LLC (Aera) in December 2016. 

His last 20 years at Aera were dedicated to the areas of innovation, continuous improvement, strategy deployment, and all aspects of Lean deployment including executive coaching.

He was also a certified and experienced instructor for a long list of internal and external Lean and leadership courses. Greg has presented at international conferences, regional summits, and major universities.  

During his career at Shell Oil Company and Aera, he had the opportunity to gain a lot of valuable experience, training, and education including:

• Balanced Scorecard training from Kaplan & Norton at Harvard University

• Engineering Management certificate at Caltech in Pasadena, CA

• Professional certifications through ASQ including CQE, CQM, CQA, and CQIA

• Lean certification at Arizona State University

• AME/SME Lean Bronze certification

• TWI-JI master trainer certification

• and other Lean and leadership curricula

In Greg’s personal journey to understanding what it takes for an organization to become a world class, high performing organization, he has visited hundreds of facilities including factories, hospitals, distribution centers, farms, agricultural processing plants, refineries, universities, military academies, and others. 

He has also been blessed with the opportunity to know, work, and collaborate with many tremendously successful leaders from business, JPL/NASA, academia, non-profits, and others including several Lean "guru's" to learn about their personal journeys and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.

Greg has been passionately involved with Association for Manufacturing Excellence (www.AME.org) since 1999. He has served as President for the western region, Chairman for the president’s council, Conference Chair for the 2016 AME international conference, AME Excellence Award examiner, AME Executive Board Member, and AME Chairman of the Board.

Greg is first and foremost a Christian, and that identity drives his passion for honesty, integrity, and respect.

After a long and successful career helping Aera become a world-class organization, Greg is excited about the opportunity to help other organizations achieve world class performance.  In his extensive personal and professional journey, he has seen many business models and many different systems and approaches to pursuing enterprise excellence. Greg served as an examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and is currently serving as an assessor for the AME Excellence Award www.ame.org/excellence-awards. 

He has also seen and experienced many different leadership models, leadership styles and cultures. Greg has spent countless hours reflecting on each of these approaches and has landed on what he believes is a very powerful system to guide organizations (whether they be energy, manufacturing, service, health care, banking, or any other industry) in their pursuit of enterprise excellence.

The Western Sensei System for Enterprise Excellence (SEE) Framework might seem simple, but it’s not easy.  For this system to successfully set an organization up for an exceptional competitive advantage, leaders need to learn a new approach to leading both people and performance. 

Anyone who has led an enterprise-wide Lean transformation will attest that it is very hard work and requires a significant amount of experimentation, practice, teaching and coaching. While the framework appears simple, there is a lot behind each one of the pillars and each one of the cultural elements. 

Every organization and every leader is at a different place in their journey.  It is important to understand that how and when to approach and apply each element of the framework completely depends on where you are on your journey – we understand that we need to meet you where you are to help you get to where you want to be, and every engagement is unique.

Western Sensei Consulting looks forward to working with organizations and leaders to help them assess where they are on their journey, where they want to be, and how to close the gaps.

Assessments & Coaching

(observe and analyze current process, recommend improvements, and coach clients through the implementation phase)

• Western Sensei Consulting can assess a specific function within an organization (e.g., strategy deployment, innovation process, visual management, leader standard work, safety systems, etc.)

• Or, assess the current state of the management system & leadership model and coach an organization through the adoption and implementation of the System for Enterprise Excellence.

Onsite training is tailored to fit your specific requirements

Many of the training topics are listed below, but others are available based on your specific needs

Training duration and structure depends on your specific requirements 

"Engage Like a Leader" Workshop

Problem Solving

Introduction to Lean

TWI-JI (Job Instruction)

Introduction to System of Enterprise Excellence

Introduction to Continuous Improvement

Lean for Knowledge Workers

Effective Gemba Visits

Lean Leadership

Facilitation Skills

A3 Thinking

Creative Problem Solving

Kaizen Event Facilitation

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