LCS Conference & Awards 2026: Meet the Speakers

In this special (Live not Live) episode of the Ever-So-Lean Podcast, I’m joined by Lean Competency System 2026 Conference Speakers, Beth Lee Wilson from The University of Manchester, Bart van Waes from Leanprofs and Leon Hardwick from OpX.io, ahead of this year’s LCS Conference & Awards in Manchester on September 23rd.. We get a preview of what each of them will be bringing to the conference, but the conversation quickly goes much wider. We talk about why brilliant improvement work so often stays trapped in isolated pockets, why organisations struggle to scale continuous improvement, and why being able to actually show the impact of improvement matters. There’s also a big conversation around change and something I think we sometimes overcomplicate. People don’t necessarily resist change. They resist feeling like change is being done to them. We explore the psychology behind that, the importance of involvement, and why the best tools and methodologies in the world will only take you so far if people aren’t engaged. And we get into failure too. Why are organisations so frightened of getting things wrong? What if failure was treated as learning rather than something to hide? And what would that change about the way we approach improvement? A really natural conversation about people, change, technology, learning and what you can expect from this years Lean Competency System Conference & Awards, which take place at the Manchester Marriott Hotel Piccadilly on 23rd September 2026.   Tickets are available now at https://lcs.leancompetency.org/lcs-conference-awards-tickets   Find out more about Ever-So-Lean, including our learning programmes at 👉 www.eversolean.com Explore the Lean Competency System 👉 https://www.leancompetency.org/ If you’re enjoying the Ever-So-Lean Podcast, please take a moment to rate and review it. It genuinely helps more people find the show and keeps these conversations going. Where people thrive, performance follows.