Creatively Lean

Bella Englebach has been applying continuous improvement and Lean thinking to operations and R&D for over fifteen years. Trained as a scientist, she helps people to see that the heart of improvement is the scientific method. Humans naturally respond to the scientific method, because as children we were all excited to ask why - and we all loved to conduct experiments to find out why! Along the way, many of us left that type of exploration behind, and came to believe that we were not good at problem-solving or creativity.

Bella believes that everyone can regain their excited inner scientist to drive people-centered improvement for any type of organization. She works with leaders and managers to create environments where problems can be seen, innovative solutions can be discovered and tested, and people can truly drive improvement.

Bella spent 18 years at Johnson & Johnson, where she was a process excellence and business improvement leader, bringing the worlds of Lean and creativity together in research and development, regulatory affairs, and IT implementations. She opened her own business, Lean for Humans, Inc, in 2018.

Bella is a Creative Problem Solving (CPS) Facilitator and is also an Associate Partner at?New & Improved, Inc, a consulting firm specializing in helping organizations create the environments for innovation thought the CPS approach. She is an experienced facilitator trained in continuous improvement, Creative Problem Solving, Lean improvement, Lean product and process development, and change management.

Bella was a member of the Board of Directors of the Lean Product and Process Development Exchange for six years, where she served as Board Secretary and Conference Chair. LPPDE is a nonprofit organization created to foster opportunities to grow and share the knowledge, expertise and experiences that help organizations use Lean product development to dramatically improve product development performance.

She is a popular speaker and workshop facilitator at Lean, operational excellence, and continuous improvement conferences.