Team building workshop series: laying the foundation of a Lean Construction transformation

This paper describes the early stages of a Lean Construction journey with a focus on the social aspects of a broader organisational transformation undertaken by a Japanese construction company. The Team Building Workshop Series was designed not to teach methods and tools, but to create team awareness and a constructive communication environment by closing gaps between functions, roles, and generations with different value systems, thereby promoting a more collaborative work style. Action research was the methodological approach selected to guide the continuous improvement of workshop design and implementation in a real-world setting. The empirical activity involved cycles of planning, conducting, and reflecting on the observed impacts of six workshops conducted between 2023 and 2025, involving 176 professionals. Participants reported immediate positive effects on communication and mutual support, noting benefits from attentive listening and increased opportunities to share thoughts in a psychologically safe environment. These workshops have provided the foundation for further Lean activities such as Takt Production training, BIM-based collaborative sessions, and retrospective meetings to transfer lessons learned to future projects. The study demonstrated how systematically designed team-building workshops can address the often-overlooked social foundations of Lean Construction through a scalable approach from individual awareness to organisational change.