Training Graduated Students in an Industrial Context of a Retail Company
Graduate students are a source of knowledge to companies. Their youth, readiness to show recently acquired abilities, and high levels of motivation to “change the world” are appreciated by human resources hiring teams to complete their purpose: to identify talent that can enhance business areas accomplishing relevant goals. However, “competences” do not always come along with the “full package” of a recent graduate. This chapter describes how a Portuguese retail company developed and implemented a Lean School to (1) upskill internal knowledge, skills, and behaviors about Lean in the existing work force and to (2) prepare the newcomers to use Lean in such a good way as if they had been part of the company for years. The authors will also describe some of the active learning methods used in the Lean School programs and report the evolution on some performance indicators like number of students in attendance and satisfaction levels.