4. Microsoft Copilot for Lean Leaders
- Faster, higher-quality leadership outputs — use Copilot to draft A3 reports, SOPs and meeting summaries quickly with consistent structure and fewer errors.
- Better meeting effectiveness & follow-through — automatically summarise meeting transcripts, extract actions with owners and due dates, and convert them into tracked improvement plans.
- Practical, low-risk adoption — learn simple guardrails and human-in-the-loop patterns to safely introduce AI into leadership routines and maintain Lean coaching discipline.
Introduction
This one-day, hands-on workshop introduces Lean leaders, supervisors and improvement coaches to Microsoft Copilot and shows how to use it pragmatically to amplify daily leadership activities. The course focuses on real-world leadership tasks — running effective huddles and problem-solving meetings, summarising actions, creating A3 reports, and drafting standard operating procedures — and demonstrates how Copilot in Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint can make those tasks faster, more consistent and more actionable.
We combine short demonstrations with interactive exercises where participants practice using Copilot prompts, refine outputs, and apply simple guardrails to ensure quality and alignment with Lean thinking. You’ll learn patterns for turning meeting transcripts into prioritized improvement plans, using Copilot to draft hypothesis-driven A3s from data, and producing SOPs that are clear, auditable and ready for standard work. The course emphasises human-in-the-loop workflows: Copilot speeds drafting and synthesis while leaders keep final judgment, context and coaching responsibilities.
Deliverables: a Copilot prompt library for Lean routines, sample A3 templates, SOP starter templates, meeting-to-action templates for Teams transcripts, and a short playbook for governance and best practices.
About the course
Overview & Objectives
Learn how to use Microsoft Copilot to improve leadership routines, meeting effectiveness and standard work creation. The course combines demos and hands-on exercises focused on practical outputs leaders can use immediately.
- Course goals
- Workshop format and expectations
- Deliverables and success criteria
Copilot Fundamentals
Brief orientation to Copilot capabilities across Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint and a set of leadership-focused prompt patterns.
- Where Copilot helps leaders
- Prompt basics and examples
- Quality checks and human review
Meeting Capture to Action
Hands-on workshop where participants use Copilot to draft A3 problem reports from a scenario and refine them with coaching checkpoints.
- A3 structure and coaching prompts
- Data inputs and simple analysis with Copilot
- Peer review and iteration
SOPs & Standard Work
Use Copilot to draft SOPs, convert SOPs to standard work checklists, and ensure they are suitable for audits and training.
- SOP templates and best practices
- Converting SOPs into checklists
- Version control and distribution patterns
Reports & Presentations
Use Copilot in Excel and PowerPoint to summarise simple datasets, create visuals and build slide decks that communicate improvement stories effectively.
- Data summarisation prompts
- Chart and slide generation tips
- Editing and narrative alignment
Governance & Adoption
Practical playbook for safe Copilot adoption: review gates, prompt libraries, role responsibilities and coaching changes to maintain Lean discipline.
- Human-in-the-loop checks
- Prompt library & quality control
- Rollout and coaching plan
Implementation Plan & Next Steps
Create a short 30/60/90 plan to pilot Copilot for leadership routines and scale across teams while maintaining quality and governance.
- Pilot checklist
- Success metrics
- Scale & sustain plan
Instructors
Frederic Brouillet
Founding Managing Director
Fred has spent the past + 15 years running Lean Transformation Programmes in Europe, Asia & Africa. He has experience in Financial Services, Mining and Manufacturing. Fred is a pioneer in digitalising, automating, and augmenting Lean Management Systems with AI inside Microsoft 365. The idea for Digital Lean Management was born in 2020, during the COVID pandemic. While working remotely, Fred realized that the Excel files and physical boards — he was using — hadn’t changed since the early 2000s. At the same time, Microsoft Teams and 365 were becoming the digital backbone of collaboration.
