Learning Lab

Why Problem-Solving Fails—and How to Fix It

Problem-solving isn’t just about having the right tools—it’s about how we apply those tools in different problem-solving scenarios. In these videos, we’ll challenge conventional thinking, revealing why standardization alone doesn’t drive better solutions. This section explores the real issues behind ineffective problem-solving and how to bridge the gap between tools and action.

Because solving problems isn’t just about what you use—it’s about how you think

Coaching Problem Solving: Building Thinkers, Not Just Fixers

Real impact doesn’t come from giving answers—it comes from building better problem solvers.
Great leaders don’t just solve problems—they develop others to do the same. Coaching Problem Solving explores how to guide teams toward solutions through self-discovery, questioning, and structured coaching models. This series analyzes when, where, and how to coach problem-solving effectively, turning challenges into learning opportunities.

People-Centered Problem Solving: The Missing Link in Every Organization

Tools don’t solve problems—people do.

The best solutions don’t come from checklists—they come from thinking, learning, and adapting.
This video series covers section 2 of People Solve Problems, where we explore the skills that drive real solutions, from crafting the right problem statements to integrating intuition and testing ideas in the real world. These videos shift the focus from rigid frameworks to the human capabilities that make problem-solving effective.

The Culture of Problem Solving: How Leaders Shape Success

A strong culture doesn’t just solve problems—it prevents them.
A problem-solving culture isn’t built on processes alone—it’s built on behaviors. Key Behaviors of a Problem-Solving Culture explores the role leaders play in shaping environments where critical thinking thrives. From leading by example to architecting systems that support continuous learning, this series uncovers the essentials of building a culture where solving problems is second nature.

Beyond Tools: The Mindset That Drives Real Problem-Solving

The best solutions don’t come from the tools you have—they come from the way you think, act, and lead.
Great problem-solvers don’t just follow processes—they take ownership, collaborate, and learn deliberately. This series from Section 3 of People Solve Problems, shifts the focus from tools to behaviors, showing why creativity, trust, and initiative matter more than capital or rigid frameworks. And we’ll explore the human elements that make problem-solving truly effective.

This 25-video series outlines and builds on the book People Solve Problems. Learn about the capabilities needed to elevate your problem solving game, and the behaviors that shape an effective problem solving culture. For those building teams or organizations, also learn about how coaching is the most vital investment you can make, and why the role of the leader is undervalued, while showing you how to get it right. These videos can be used completely independent of reading the book, or as a companion learning tool.

Management systems isn’t the most fun topic, but it’s one of the most vital for any leader at any level to deliver consistent results. Effective leaders treat their management systems like top racing drivers treat their instruments and controls – it’s as vital as the engine and steering. Learn about how to think about your management systems, how to design them, and how to keep them from being burdensome and wasteful. This 8 video series is a great opportunity for a leadership team to watch, learn, and apply together, and also a great way for brand new managers to get a handle on a new aspect of their work.

Culture is one of the most long-term competitive advantages when done right, and also a company- or team-killer when it falls apart. Why would you leave it to chance? In this 6-video series, you’ll get ideas about how to both design and shape your culture. This can apply to individual leaders at any level in the organization, as well as leadership teams looking at organizational-wide culture.

Strategic planning is done in a static moment to look forward, and strategic decisions are made, sometimes frequently and with great impact, between those planning windows. Both of those activities require a critical element: strategic thinking. This is one the most sought-after capabilities in leadership roles, yet one of the hardest to develop. This video series is a combination of 10 videos, 6 interviews, and a webinar recording included at the end. It was developed early during the pandemic to help the many companies, large and small, who were going through dramatic and rapid strategic shifts. There are many ways to be a strategic thinker, and this series doesn’t propose a singular method but helps you find and development the approach that best fits you.

Elevating the effectiveness of your lean efforts depends greatly on leadership engagement; not just leadership support, but engagement. In this 6-video course, we cover 5 leadership moves that are really useful in a lean transformation. They are the ones that you hear about time and time again for any leadership challenge, but each has a distinct fit and function in supporting a transformational lean journey.

This 3-video course explains the concept and practice of an operating system. You’ve heard of examples such as the Toyota Production Systems and the Danaher Business System, as well as a couple Jamie Flinchbaugh was heavily involved in such as the Chrysler Operating System and the DTE Energy Operating System. This is your playbook, your common approach, your common language, for how an organization performs their mission.

Effective sponsorship can make or break cross-organizational work, whether a major transformation project or just a problem-solving team. Yet, it is rarely, if ever, taught. This video course both provides guidance to sponsors as well as those needing sponsorship.

Crafting a lean journey isn’t just about change management. Like several other effects-everyone, embed-in-the-work transformations, such as a digital transformation, it requires a more nuanced and comprehensive approach to transformation. In this course, hear about a structure to organize the change and practical advice about how to execute it. There is no single right strategy, but there is a right plan for your needs.

Bad systems and processes beat good people. Good process design can help a company scale more easily, reduce errors, gain efficiency, and even free up talent for more valuable work. What’s often missing is a common and effective framework for how to design, manage, and improve that work. This 6-video course provides that perspective, whether the work to be designed is individual or enterprise-wide.

Lean is born from how we think. Most effort at lean transformation focus too much on only tools and projects, but its the principles and behaviors that separate excellent lean journeys from the rest. Jamie Flinchbaugh and Andy Carlino outlined 5 principles for lean thinking in the book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean, and this video course walks you through these lean principles.

Getting the culture right is vital to lean. This video course is a more conceptual complement to the Lean Principles course. The Lean Principles course lays out 5 specific principles, whereas this course outlines the logic around why it’s so important to make your journey about principles and behaviors, whether they be your own or you adopt what I’ve already laid out. This is one of the earlier courses developed in the Learning Lab.

This 3-video course explains the concept and practice of an operating system. You’ve heard of examples such as the Toyota Production Systems and the Danaher Business System, as well as a couple Jamie Flinchbaugh was heavily involved in such as the Chrysler Operating System and the DTE Energy Operating System. This is your playbook, your common approach, your common language, for how an organization performs their mission.

Getting stuck during problem solving is inevitable, and it also seems advantageous. The goal is not to avoid getting stuck, but to find ways to navigate through it. In this course, we outline four different methods to help you get unstuck, whether you’re a problem owner, sponsor, facilitator, or team member. 

People Solve Problem Podcast are approximately 20-minutes conversations with thought leaders, business leaders, change agents, practitioners, and more from a wide swatch of perspectives talking about different aspects of problem solving. You’ll learn different frameworks, tips and tricks, perspectives, leadership approaches, principles and more. This podcast is available publicly but the videos are included here for easy and early access.

This 9-video series was done in partnership with IndustryWeek and highlights leaders in factories. Through interviews we cover their practices and ideas for the effective leadership within operations. Some participants are CEOs of smaller one-site companies and others are plant managers within larger companies. There are nuggets and lessons for everyone within each interview.

Happy Heuristics was a single-season podcast, in partnership with MG Strategy’s Jeff Grimshaw, that explores the use of heuristics in leadership. Heuristics, or rules of thumb, help speed up and make more consistent decisions in a complex world. Each episode explores a theme, and Jeff and Jamie Flinchbaugh each offer, and stress test, heuristics related to that theme.