When we hosted the How to Use A3 Thinking in Everyday Life webinar with Jess Orr, the premise was intentionally a bit provocative. A3 problem-solving is deeply associated with operations, Lean programs, and organizational problem-solving—so why talk about applying it to personal challenges?
Looking back, that framing turned out to be the point.
Jess didn’t present A3 as a template or a compliance exercise. She presented it as a disciplined way of thinking—one that helps people slow down, define problems more clearly, test assumptions, and learn their way forward. Those capabilities matter just as much to executives shaping strategy as they do to continuous improvement facilitators coaching teams day to day.
If you’d like to watch the full webinar or revisit the materials, you can find them here.
Below are a few reflections and key takeaways that continue to stand out.
One of Jess’s clearest messages was also one many organizations still struggle to internalize:
“A3 is much more than a tool. If you just check the boxes, that’s not what A3 thinking is about.”
This distinction matters, especially for leaders. When A3 becomes “something people fill out,” it stops being a learning mechanism and starts being documentation. The real value of A3 thinking lies in the discipline it creates—forcing clarity about the problem, grounding decisions in facts, and making assumptions visible.
For executives, this is about decision quality.
For CI facilitators, it’s about coaching habits—not policing templates.
Jess reinforced a principle that’s easy to agree with and hard to practice: most teams move to solutions far too quickly.
She emphasized that a meaningful A3 often spends the majority of its effort before countermeasures ever appear—defining the problem, understanding the current condition, and identifying root causes.
As Jess put it:
“Organizations and systems produce results exactly as they’re designed.”
That idea resonates at every level. If outcomes aren’t improving, it’s not a motivation problem—it’s a system-design problem. A3 thinking gives teams a structured way to see that system more clearly.
One of the most compelling parts of the webinar was Jess walking through a real A3 she created to address a personal communication challenge. Instead of treating it as a personality issue or something to “try harder” at, she treated it as a problem to be understood.
She gathered data, tested hypotheses, used the 5 Whys to explore root causes, and ran multiple PDCA/PDSA cycles on potential countermeasures.
That example reinforced an important point for leaders and facilitators alike: A3 scales because it’s grounded in learning, not authority. Whether the problem is a strategic initiative, a clinical workflow, or a personal habit, the same thinking applies.
Jess was also candid that not every countermeasure worked as intended.
“Does that mean the A3 wasn’t successful? I don’t think so.”
She saw progress, surfaced new insights, and identified where another A3 might be useful. That mindset—treating improvement as iterative learning rather than pass/fail execution—is essential for sustaining engagement.
For executives, this reinforces the importance of responding to problems as learning opportunities, not performance failures.
For CI leaders, it’s a reminder to normalize experimentation and reflection.
A3 thinking doesn’t end with results—it ends with reflection (hansei) and sharing (yokoten). Jess emphasized the importance of asking: What did we learn? What would we do differently next time? Who else could benefit from this learning?
Those questions are foundational to building organizational capability. Tools alone don’t create improvement cultures—habits do.
What makes this webinar still relevant is that it connects improvement discipline to human behavior. A3 thinking works because it slows people down, creates clarity, and builds shared understanding. Those are exactly the conditions needed for better leadership, better problem solving, and better outcomes.
Whether you’re an executive trying to strengthen decision-making, or a continuous improvement facilitator helping teams develop problem-solving capability, A3 thinking remains one of the most effective—and underutilized—learning disciplines we have.
And importantly, it’s not confined to work. When people experience A3 as a way of thinking—not just a requirement—it’s far more likely to stick.
If you haven’t revisited this session in a while, it’s worth another look.