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In 2026, We’re Building the Member Experience With You

In 2026, We’re Building the Member Experience with You

If you’ve engaged with the Lean Construction Institute over the past few years, you’ve probably noticed a shift: more opportunities to learn together, more ways to connect with peers, and easier access to the resources you use most. None of that happened by accident.

Our member events for the upcoming year, and the way you experience them, have been shaped directly by your feedback, from annual Member surveys to Lean Coffees, Town Halls, and the Member Advisory Group.

Whether you’re already part of the LCI member community or you’re Lean-curious and watching from the sidelines, here’s a look at what’s coming in 2026 and how your input is guiding what we do next.

What We Heard in 2025

This fall, we wrapped up the 2025 Member Survey. Primary contacts, the people in organizations responsible for managing their company’s LCI membership, shared candid feedback about what’s working, what needs attention, and where they’d like us to invest next.

A few themes rose to the surface:

  • Member-only resources carry significant value. Recorded webinars, past Congress and Design Forum presentations, and eLearning consistently rank near the top for both personal and organizational benefit.
  • The Member Hub has moved into the top spot as the most useful resource. What started as a response to member requests for “one place, one click” access to resources is now the central home base members rely on to learn, share, and stay current.
  • Networking and peer learning really matter. Owners’ Lean Coffees, Lean Practitioners Coffees, Town Halls, and Member-to-Member webinars are being used as safe spaces to ask questions, share lessons learned, and compare approaches across companies.

You also sent a clear message: keep going with what’s working. Make it even easier and more intuitive to access it all, especially through the Member Hub.

How Member Feedback Has Shaped 2026 Events

When you look at the 2026 membership event calendar (below), you can see your fingerprints all over it. Member feedback, survey results, and day-to-day conversations with LCI staff have directly influenced what’s on deck.

Here are a few examples.

1. “Intro to Lean”: An On-Ramp for the Industry

One of the clearest messages we’ve heard from the field is that many teams are still at the very beginning of their Lean journey. They’ve heard about Lean, they’re curious, but they aren’t yet ready to commit to training or membership.

That’s exactly why Intro to Lean was created. It was not a member-only benefit; it was an open on-ramp for the broader AEC industry. These 90-minute sessions were designed for non-members and early-stage Lean adopters who want a practical, research-informed overview of:

  • What Lean is (and isn’t)
  • How Lean connects to project outcomes, safety, schedule, and cost
  • How organizations are applying Lean in real projects today

Offered regularly throughout 2025, Intro to Lean was part of LCI’s outreach to the entire industry, beyond our membership. It gave individuals and organizations a safe way to “test drive” Lean concepts, ask questions, and see how others are approaching implementation.

From there, attendees who wanted to go deeper could explore additional learning opportunities — including courses, events, and, for those who choose to join, member-only resources that live in the Member Hub. In this way, Intro to Lean acted as a bridge: helping the wider industry understand the value of Lean, while also pointing to the community and tools that support long-term adoption. Intro to Lean is being retooled and will relaunch in 2026, shaped by lessons learned and feedback received from the nearly 400 people that attended the sessions in 2025.

2. Lean Coffees: Peer Learning, by Request

Owners asked for dedicated spaces where they could talk candidly with other Owners—no sales pitches, no slide decks, just real conversation. The Owners’ Lean Coffee series grew directly from that request.

Lean champions and practitioners asked for the same kind of space, tailored to their role. That’s how the Lean Practitioners Lean Coffee series came to life, now routinely drawing participants from a significant portion of LCI member companies.

Both series will continue in 2026, scheduled throughout the year so members can plan ahead and build them into their regular learning rhythm.

3. Showcasing Solutions: The Lean Marketplace

Members told us they wanted help finding tools and partners that support Lean. Vendors wanted better ways to demonstrate how their products actually support Lean practices. In response, we launched The Lean Marketplace, a vendor showcase designed to connect members with technology and service providers aligned to Lean.

In 2026, the Marketplace will return as a multi-day online event, giving members time to explore offerings, ask questions, and connect with vendors in a low-pressure, learning-centric environment.

4. Supporting People: Mental Health First Aid

Lean is about Respect for People. One component of that is mental health. Members expressed a desire for tangible skills that help them support teammates and colleagues, especially in high-pressure project environments.

That feedback helped bring Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) into our event lineup. These full-day, certification-eligible courses will continue in 2026, scheduled several times during the year to make it easier for members to participate.

5. New in 2026: Marketing Roundtables & Open Onboarding

Two new offerings in 2026 respond directly to member input:

  • Build Better: Marketing Leaders Quarterly Meet-up – Quarterly meetups for marketing and communications leaders at member firms who are tasked with telling their organization’s Lean story. These sessions will spotlight ways to use LCI programs like “5 Questions With…”, Member-to-Member webinars, enhanced Member Directory profiles, and Project Highlights to showcase Lean internally and externally.
  • Build Better: Member Connect – In addition to company-specific orientations, these open sessions will give new and existing members a guided tour of key resources (especially within the Member Hub), plus a short “lite Lean Coffee” for Q&A and connection.

The Member Hub: From Portal to Home Base

When we formed the first Member Advisory Group, their message was straightforward: “Make it easier to find everything we’re paying for.”

That guidance led to the creation of the Member Hub — a one-click starting point that consolidates eLearning, recorded webinars, past event presentations, guides, learning pathways, and more.

Since then, we’ve continued to refine and add resources, including:

  • Expanded eLearning
  • Faster posting of recorded webinars
  • Better tagging and search for Congress presentations
  • The LCI Member Resource Guide
  • Employee welcome guides
  • A growing Member Toolkit to support onboarding and activation

The 2025 Member Survey confirmed what we were seeing in behavior: the Member Hub has moved into the top spot as the most useful resource for members.

What’s Next for the Member Hub in 2026

Because you’ve told us the Hub is where you start, we’re treating it as the central place to improve the member experience. In 2026, we’ll begin exploring ways to:

  • Improve navigation and discoverability so it’s easier to move from an event to related resources, eLearning, and guides.
  • Connect events and Hub content more tightly, so every event you attend links to follow-up materials in one place.
  • Capture and utilize new engagement insights, so we can better understand how members are using the Hub, where support is needed, and how to spot and support at-risk members sooner.

For Non-Members: A Window into What Membership Offers

If you’re not yet an LCI member, consider this your invitation to take a closer look.

The 2026 lineup — from Intro to Lean and Lean Coffees to Lean Marketplace, Mental Health First Aid, Town Halls, and onboarding/refresher sessions — is designed to do two things:

  1. Help organizations build better through Lean: stronger project outcomes, healthier teams, and better business performance.
  2. Make it easy for your teams to access practical, ready-to-use resources in the Member Hub that support real-world implementation once you join.

If you’ve been considering membership, joining now means stepping into a community that listens, evolves, and designs its offerings based on real input — including your own, if you choose to add your voice.

Looking Ahead

Over the past several years, LCI has shifted from traditional membership administration to a research-informed, system-supported membership engine that blends:

  • Scalable infrastructure (renewals, Member Hub, analytics)
  • High-value content (eLearning, recordings, event archives)
  • High-touch engagement (Coffees, Town Halls, Member Advisory Groups, and more)

The 2026 Member Event Calendar (below) and planned improvements to the Member Hub are the next step in that journey — and they’re built on what you’ve told us you need.

Thank you for being honest, specific, and forward-looking with your feedback. Keep it coming. Together, we can keep building a member experience that truly helps you build better projects, teams, and companies. As always, reach out to me directly anytime I can be helpful.