The PB&J Challenge: Using Value‐Stream Mapping to Drive Learning Loops*

Today, leading companies win competitive battles not on what they make but on how they make it. By focusing on the “how,” managers promote the learning needed to stay relevant in a fastclockspeed age when all competitive advantage is temporary. Value-stream mapping helps promote such learning. Yet, most classroom discussions of value-stream mapping are anything but transparent. An interactive exercise is needed to give decision makers an opportunity to 1) run and map a simple, but real process, 2) engage in a structured, process-improvement brainstorming exercise, 3) implement process-improvement ideas and document performance improvements, and 4) report findings to an executive steering committee to build initiative momentum. As an experiential learning exercise, “The PB&J Challenge” helps managers learn mapping skills as they become levers of organizational change. Impressive improvements are often reported: cycle times are reduced by as much as 50-80% and quality is improved by upwards of 90%. Most importantly, students feel confident that they have learned new skills.