The Four Capabilities: Lean Glossary

– Back to Lean Glossary –

The Four Capabilities: What Are They?

The Four Capabilities are taken from Steven Spears’ book the High Velocity Edge, and they are the capabilities found in high performing leaders.  They are:

  1. Designing work to reveal problems
  2. Containing and solving problems close to the source
  3. Accumulate and share knowledge
  4. Leaders coaching these capabilities in others

While they are not the be-all and end-all of lean techniques and tools, they offer a good insight into Autonomation or Jidoka, which is one of the main pillars of Lean.

By David McLachlan

– Back to Lean Glossary –