How much more could your organization achieve with the people and resources it already has? What would change if teams could see problems earlier, solve them faster and spread what they learn?

Creating more value together is a skill that teams and leaders can develop. Maria Mentzer has spent years developing and honing a proven recipe for building it, drawing on operating-leadership experience and hands-on delivery of hundreds of Model Line Workshops.

In this energetic, story-driven session, Maria shows how leaders help release performance through everyday work. Teams tackle problems that matter to them, test changes and see immediate results. Leaders develop alongside them, practicing how to create the conditions for improvement and coach their teams through it.

The experience builds skill, belonging and visible progress. People get hooked and want to keep going. As that practice spreads, the gains compound across the organization.

Building on the research of her colleague and Operational Excellence thought leader, Steve Spear, Maria connects the leader’s daily behavior with an organization’s ability to learn, innovate and deliver. She shares lessons from work that has helped teams move from average performance to industry-leading results.

Expect humor, candid stories and a chance to examine your own leadership habits. You’ll identify one barrier holding your team back and choose a practical change in how you lead, support or coach improvement.

Format: Interactive keynote or leadership conference presentation, adaptable to 30–45 minutes.
Audience: Executives, business-unit and functional leaders, operations leaders, and managers responsible for team performance and leadership development.
Participants will:
• Recognize how leadership behavior can help or hinder a team’s ability to create more value.
• Explain how teams and leaders develop skill and intrinsic motivation through meaningful practice.
• Choose one change in how they lead, support or coach improvement.
This is the leadership-focused adaptation of Maria’s flagship talk. Examples and emphasis can be tailored to the audience and industry.