Congratulations! You are participating in a new learning program.

Your company is taking part in the first Pull Ahead BC program because the owners and managers want a better work culture with improved safety, morale, efficiency and quality — that means your company will perform better and it will be a better place to work and learn.

At the same time, through Pull Ahead BC, you will have a chance to improve your own skills like problem-solving, using documents and working with numbers. We have expert instructors to help you as we go.

Pull Ahead BC is about Continuous Improvement also known as “Lean Manufacturing.” People in your workplace will work together on projects to make changes for the better. Through shared training, you may have a chance to visit other companies in the program, or learn with people who come to your workplace for Pull Ahead BC events.

	Our Pull Ahead BC team creates a summary report with the group benchmarking information and the Lean Assessment for the owners. The summary report will be shared with everyone in the company. The owners set goals and priorities in discussion with our Pull Ahead BC team who are experienced in learning at work and in continuous improvement culture change.
	Your company joins a cooperative learning group called a consortium with other companies in the program in your area who will share information and training. The first consortium meeting will take place sometime in the next month. At this meeting learning plans will be set and your training will start.

For the company, we start with a one-day assessment of the current work culture. Our Pull Ahead BC staff tour your facility. We will interview some people about:

	Leadership
	Communication systems
	Ways of solving problems
	The normal ways things happen at the company

The report about the company work culture is called the Lean Assessment.

For individuals, we start the program with skills assessment tools like:

	Lean problem-solving
	Reading and writing
	Math
	Oral Communication for English as a Second Language speakers

The description of where individuals’ skills are now is called a benchmark.

You are enrolling in a program under the BC Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market. Programs funded under Labour Market Agreements across Canada keep statistics about participants, using the answers from questions 1-10. Your personal information, in the boxed area, is separated from your answers to the questions before information is passed on to the federal government. Your privacy will be protected just like you were taking a college course. Does everyone sign up? People with a trades certificate or a Canadian university degree are not eligible for the funded program, but will still take part in Continuous Improvement changes at your workplace.

There is an exit form, too. The data from that form will be used to measure changes made during our program and all the other funded programs across Canada. The funder will contact some participants after the program for feedback at the address, email or phone numbers from the forms.