“Steve possesses remarkable strategic vision, consistently focused on long-term transformation rather than short-term fixes. Perhaps most importantly, he demonstrated that responding with love is infinitely more powerful than reacting from fear—a lesson that will stay with me forever.”
- Linmin (Michelle) Zhang, Director of Professional Development, IAF
20+
Years Experience
leading change
£1M+
Transformation
technology rollout
400+
Global Institutions
in Lean HE network
130+
Academic Citations
from 19 indexed papers
Drawing on over 20 years of experience navigating complex environments, I leverage structured, evidence-based practices to align organisational culture with strategic objectives, empowering authentic leadership to drive sustainable, long-term change.
I have done this through translating Lean improvement to the University sector, an experience that has taught me that very different organisations can learn valuable lessons from each other and that our core purpose and our people must always take precedence.
My strategic interventions have consistently delivered high-value, measurable outcomes, including projects and programmes releasing 24+ full-time equivalent (FTE) posts to value-added activity, securing £280k+ in recurring annual savings, reducing student wait times from 10 days to on-demand, and returning 14 additional days to teams for critical tasks. All of these deliver vital cost efficiencies while also driving long term organisational effectiveness.
Get in touch: mail@stephenorkstone.com
As the founder of the global Lean Higher Education movement spanning 35 countries and 400+ institutions, I pioneer continuous improvement approaches that balance human-centric culture with rigorous operational returns. Co-developing the "St Andrews Model" of lean application in HE has directly impacted universities worldwide. I have personally delivered programmes as an embedded leader in the University of St Andrews, Edinburgh Napier University and as an external consultant for institutions including the University of Sheffield, York St John University, and The British School at Rome.
Following an ERASMUS-funded collaboration with UiT the Arctic University of Norway, I co-developed the Bærekraftig (Sustainable) Facilitation model, which provides a robust structure to enable facilitators to excel. To share the insights behind the model, I co-launched a dedicated weekly facilitation vlog. Now spanning over 220 episodes, the series regularly receives positive endorsement from senior academic and professional service colleagues throughout the UK and overseas.
As an international speaker and moderator, my presentations are widely described as "popular, energising and dynamic." I regularly address global audiences on the intersection of continuous improvement, AI governance, and leadership resilience. Recent high-impact engagements include delivering the keynote for the Canadian Universities CI/CM conference, moderating UC San Diego’s "Process PaloozAI" webinar, and anchoring mainstage panel discussions for the European Lean Educator Programme and the International Association of Facilitators (IAF).
Bringing what executives describe as "creativity, resilience, and professional fortitude," I design and lead high-stakes interventions that translate ambiguous institutional challenges into concrete, actionable roadmaps. My track record spans guiding Senior Leadership through strategy development to pioneering innovative, highly engaging visual frameworks like LEGO® Serious Play® and Minecraft to drive group dynamics. Whether facilitating large-scale workshops with 25+ executive stakeholders to co-create long-term strategic plans, delivering targeted capability training in facilitation, or leading sensitive touchpoint analyses across student and staff cohorts, my focus remains on "silo-busting" leadership that accelerates alignment and drives lasting, collective impact.
My written contributions to organisational change are widely recognised, including authoring the foundational chapter on Higher Education in the Shingo Prize-winning Routledge Companion to Lean Management and editing the definitive text Global Lean for Higher Education. Addressing the contemporary landscape, my chapters in Navigating Crisis in Higher Education focus on crisis management and the downstream consequences of decision-making. Beyond academic volumes, I regularly write for major platforms like Times Higher Education and Planet Lean, translating complex operational frameworks into practical toolkits for change leadership.
In 2025, my dedication to sector-wide transformation was recognised with the inaugural Lean Higher Education Global Impact Award. This honour celebrated an exceptional and sustained contribution to the field, specifically highlighting my role in founding and leading the global Lean HE network and positively influencing hundreds of universities worldwide.
My commitment to professional excellence is reflected in senior fellowships and credentials across leading global bodies. I am a Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA), and a Fellow of the Association for Coaching (FAC), the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and the Institute of Continuous Improvement in Public Services (FICiPS). I hold long-standing professional membership with the International Association of Facilitators (IAF).
I drive leadership and professional standards at the highest level through strategic governance and advisory roles across prominent international and national bodies. As Secretary to the Board of the International Association of Facilitators (IAF), I steward a 2,000-member global association, recently modernising its board governance structures. Nationally, I serve as an appointed lay panel member for the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), who directly regulate the teaching profession to safeguard public trust. This commitment to systemic capability extends to my work as an international coach within the United Nations system (UNV and UNDP), delivering targeted leadership development and coaching across complex, mission-driven environments.
