Welcome to the ASQ Ottawa Valley Community Website

The American Society for Quality (ASQ) is the largest international association for quality professionals. The ASQ Ottawa Valley Section is the local volunteer-run Chapter of ASQ representing Eastern Ontario, Canada.

ASQ Ottawa Valley hosts valuable online and in person events for members and nonmembers alike, providing networking and learning opportunities for its community of quality professionals.

This website has been created by friends of the ASQ Ottawa Valley Section in order to help facilitate communications with its local quality community.

Never miss another ASQ Ottawa Valley Event

Add your name and email address to our newsletter list to get notified of future online webinars and in person events hosted by ASQ Ottawa Valley Section. Everyone is welcome. Both ASQ members and non-members alike.

We meet Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) which protects consumers and businesses from the misuse of digital technology, including spam and other electronic threats. This means that anytime you decide to unsubscribe from the community emails, you can do so easily by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ASQ-Events-Banner-1-1024x510.png

We are now solicitating event proposals for 2027

If you are interested in submitting a proposal for an ASQ Ottawa Valley Section event in 2027, please complete the proposal form and submit. Just remember that the ASQ Ottawa Valley Section is fully run by volunteers. This means that all presenters are much appreciated volunteers as well.

Selected Proposals – all proposals will be reviewed by the ASQ Ottawa Section Member Leader Committee. If your proposal is selected, you’ll be contacted to discuss arrangements.

ASQ Ottawa Valley puts on two types of events.

Webinars – The first event type is a 1-hour webinar that may be presented at 12:00noon or in the evening at 7:00pm. Both times are Eastern Time. Different presentation subjects may include showing how to use a certain quality tool, a new quality-related concept, a review of how your organization implemented a successful program, etc. Webinars allow for 45 minutes presentation time with Q&A.

In-Person – The second event type is an interactive 3-hour in-person workshop with dinner provided, that is usually held from 6:00pm – 9:00pm in the evening. Whereas the webinar may only be a presentation, the in-person events include experiential learning activities with knowledge that the participants can take away with them. There are usually two of these events per year (June and December). In-Person events allow for 135 minutes presentation and participant activity time with Q&A.

Be assured that when you complete the proposal form, your email is NOT added to a database where you have to unsubscribe. You can join the newsletter in a separate form on this page if you wish to be notified of events.

Complete the Proposal Form Below

Name
Email
Would this be a webinar or an in-person event? Look to the left of this form for explanations.


Suggested Event Title
Event Description
The Presenter’s Credentials
Comments
The proposal form has been submitted successfully. Thank you for your proposal. It will be submitted to the ASQ Ottawa Member Leader Team for review at the next monthly meeting (except for July and August).
There has been some error while submitting the form. Please verify all form fields again.

Register for Upcoming Events

As an ASQ Section, ASQ Ottawa Valley uses Member Planet for their event registration process. This allows the Section to create a seamless experience for the user. Just select an event below and click on the link to register for the event. You will receive an email confirmation from Member Planet that you have registered. A link to the actual event (if a webinar) will be sent closer to the event date.

Don’t miss ASQ Ottawa’s next event – BRING YOUR LEADERS!

Engaging Leaders in the Lean Transformation

Date: Thursday, December 3, 2026
Time (Eastern Time): 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: In-Person
CloseReach Training Room
900 Morrison Drive, Suite 204
Ottawa, ON K2H 8K7

Type of Event
In-Person Event. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.
Continuous Education Units for this event – 0.3 RU.

Event Description
You can make considerable improvement without active leadership support. However, before long, you can only go as far as your leadership group lets you. Often transformations fall short because leaders aren’t sufficiently engaged in the change initiative. In this practical talk, Craig, who spent years as a public sector leader and executive, and who coaches leaders to optimize their transformations, will share:

  • Common reasons why leaders might not buy-in and support a Lean transformation
  • What you can do as an individual change agent to engage them
  • Critical, specific, roles for leaders to play to amplify the transformation

Hands-On Learning Activities
This is a 135-minute working session, not a talk. Each participant arrives with, or chooses on the spot, one real improvement initiative and one real leader or leadership group whose support it needs. They work that case through every activity on a one-page Leader Engagement Plan worksheet, which they take home. Short teaching segments (about 30 minutes in total) introduce each tool; the activities, pair work and table debriefs fill the remaining 100 minutes, with time for open Q&A at the end. Participants sit at tables of five or six, mixed across organizations.

    Countdown to Next Event

    –
    DAYS
    –
    HOURS
    –
    MINUTES
    –
    SECONDS

    Facilitator

    Craig Szelestowski, Craig is a thought leader in applying Lean to the work of government. Founder of Lean Agility, he has developed this public sector practice into one of the most effective providers of training and consulting in North America. Craig teaches several programs at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer Centre for Executive Leadership, including Lean Strategic Planning.

    Hands-On Learning Activities Expected in this Event

    1. Diagnose the Gap (8 min). Using the map of nine common causes of low leader buy-in (wrong problem, weak understanding of Lean, problem and benefits not compelling, no peer examples, leaders don’t know what or how to support, our credibility, our influence, lack of ongoing contact, finish line in the wrong place), participants score each cause for their leader and circle their top two. Tables dot-vote on a room chart, producing a live heat map of the causes most common in the room; Craig uses it to weight the rest of the session.
      • Take-away: A diagnosis of why this leader is not yet on board.
    2. The Trust Equation (8 min). Participants score themselves on credibility, reliability, intimacy and self-orientation – as their leader would score them, not as they see themselves. They pick the weakest factor and write one tactic to raise it within 30 days. In pairs, they test the scores: would your leader agree?
      • Take-away: One concrete tactic to raise your own standing with this leader.
    3. Pick Your Case (8 min). Each participant chooses one real improvement initiative (planned or under way) and one real leader or leadership group whose support it needs, and writes each in a single sentence. Quick round at the table: 30 seconds each.
      • Take-away: A focused case that the rest of the evening is built on.
    4. The 3 AM Test (15 min). Left column: the problem your initiative solves, as you describe it today. Right column: the three things keeping your leader awake at night (what their boss asks them about, what is in their performance agreement, what they complain about in meetings). Participants draw the connections. If no line connects, they rewrite the problem statement in the leader’s terms – or choose a different first project. In pairs, the partner plays the leader, hears the rewrite and says what they heard.
      • Take-away: A problem statement the leader recognizes as their own.
    5. Leader-Controlled Waste Hunt (12 min). Twelve wastes that only leaders can remove (too many priorities, sequential approvals, approval too high, meetings, interruptions, shiny objects, island behaviours, no voice of the customer, invisible process, lack of alignment, unclear job of the task, no signal checks) are laid out on cards. Each participant picks the three causing the most frustration and delay in their organization; tables dot-vote and the room tally is read out. Then each participant answers: which of these sits with my chosen leader, and what would one small fix look like? Leaders in the room do this as a self-assessment: which of these do I create?
      • Take-away: An entry-point conversation about a waste the leader can act on quickly.
    6. Write the 53-Word Pitch (18 min). Using the seven S’s of a successful elevator pitch (short, specific, surprising, stirring, sound, safe, saving), participants draft a pitch of 50 to 60 words for their leader. They deliver it to a partner in 30 seconds; the partner scores it against the seven S’s and names one improvement; they rewrite. Two or three volunteers deliver to the room with live coaching.
      • Take-away: A tested pitch, ready to use the next time you have two minutes with the leader.
    7. Influence Without Authority Map (15 min). Following the Bradford and Cohen model, participants map their leader: what currencies they value (recognition, time, lower risk, relationships, the results they are measured on), what the participant can offer in return, and the specific support they will request. In pairs, they role-play the two-minute exchange, then swap roles.
      • Take-away: A specific, well-timed ask backed by something the leader values.
    8. Sponsor Questions and the Finish Line (8 min). Using a one-page list of sponsor questions for each phase of an improvement project (Define through Continue to Improve), participants mark the phase their initiative is in and pick the three questions they most want this leader to be asking. They decide how they will put those questions in front of the leader: a standing 15-minute check-in, a visible project board, a calendar appointment. They then mark where their initiative’s finish line sits today on the continuum from “present the slide deck” to “self-sufficient continuous improvement”, where it should sit, and the one thing they will ask the leader to insist on. Leaders in the room choose the three questions they will start asking next week.
      • Take-away: A contact cadence and a finish line the leader owns.
    9. Commit and Pair Up (8 min). Participants complete their one-page Leader Engagement Plan, pick one action to take in the next seven days, share it with their table and exchange contact details with an accountability partner. Followed by open Q&A.
      • Take-away: A completed plan and a peer to report back to.

    Future Upcoming Events in 2027

    See above for information about the next future event. As more future events are scheduled, we will list them below. You can click on the link for the speaker to access their LinkedIn profile. If there is a REGISTER NOW! link provided, you can click on it to register for the event.

    Got an idea for a webinar or in-person event in 2027? Scroll up and fill out the event proposal form for 2027. We’d be happy to hear from you!

    Access Past Event Presentations/Video

    Missed an event? Click on the links below to get access to the presentation in pdf file format or view as a video of the event. Please note that not all event presentations are made available by the presenters.

    Important Links

    Below are several important links to online ASQ Ottawa Valley Section pages

    Want to know more about ASQ membership?

    Contact Us
    Scroll to Top