What to Look for in a Lean Coach or Consultant
Mark DeLuzio
Lean Pioneer and Architect of the DANAHER Business System, Gold Star Father
Today’s Lean industry consists of thousands, if not millions, of Lean consultants whose competency varies widely. Let’s review the factors you should consider and questions to ask when selecting a Lean consultant or coach:
· Does the consultant have “Brownfield” experience? In other words, experience with introducing a Lean transformation to a company brand new to Lean. We have found that consultants who only have “Greenfield” experience (executing Lean in a company that has a rather well-established Lean program) struggle when faced with implementing Lean in a Brownfield environment.
· Does the consultant have ties back to the original founding of the Toyota Production System? It is important to understand their lineage and where they learned and gained their Lean experience.
· Does the consultant have successful Lean transformation experience? Many consultants enter the Lean consulting industry with experience limited to running kaizen events. It amazes me that CEOs look to these people to help them lead a full Lean transformation. I would say most Lean consultants do not have transformation experience, let alone successful transformation experience.
· Does the consultant commit to “teach you and your people how to fish?” In other words, does he/she have a process to transfer knowledge to your organization? Developing a Lean organization within the company requires great teaching and facilitation skills.
· Does the consultant have tacit, hands-on experience? You need to ensure that they they don’t mainly possess explicit (book) knowledge and that they have actual implementation experience with a Lean transformation. Ask for examples and case studies, including the specific role the consultant played and at what level (the shop floor? administration?). Remember, success has many fathers and failure is an orphan.
· Does the consultant have the ability to coach senior leadership to understand how to deploy a strategy and align Lean efforts to support the strategy?
· Does the consultant possess business experience or are they solely Lean zealots? You need both.
· Does the consultant have experience with designing a Lean organization for your company?
· Does the consultant promote Lean basics or are they attempting to sell you some silver bullet that will take you and your organization away for the basics?
· Finally, if you, as a CEO or senior executive are looking to hire a Lean coach, does the consultant have experience in dealing with senior leadership?
Colleen Soppelsa, Rehumanizing the Workplace | Lean & Six Sigma | Continuous Improvement | Business Transformation |Systemic Approach to Organizational Change Management
4 年Both green & brownfield experience allow you to SEE how deeply the "gan" (願 or cancer)* has spread within your organization and to ANTICIPATE how and where it can manifest itself. (1) RFP - Not recognizing that a gap exists regarding the "Respect For People" principle and many ways represented via processes impacting all stakeholders (employees, customers, shareholders, society, environment). (2) FEAR - Absence of psychological safety that will prevent people from engaging in the "positive friction" or open dialogue needed to change minds. (3) EDUCATION - Need to couple theory (problem solving, strategic alignment) with hands-on exp through trial and error. (4) INVENTORY - Not recognizing internal Lean talent in terms of problem solving, hoshin kanri strategic alignment, point & enterprise-wide kaizen exp. Any consultant will need this talent embebbed into operations to fortify the infrastructure. (5) ACCOUNTABILITY - Way to gauge each person's commitment to and demonstration of Lean at each level/function without it becoming another command and control tool. *Gan (願 or cancer) is thinking leading to behaviors contradictory to Lean (internal competition, focus on self preservation, using Lean as cost reduction tool).
LEAN
5 年According to the standards, this kind of talents are very rare, and should also be very expensive. If a small or midlle size company don't have enough resources to finding and recruiting the most excellent talents of this standard, how can they move the first step? looking forward to the answers...
Operation and Lean Professional
5 年Can the lean consultant link hoshin kanri through all of the business to the very basics of lean. If not they have not lived it, don't fully understand it. Ive heard so many people pick up the buzz words and profess they know lean. I've been attempting to do lean for 20 years since starting my career and always learn something new everyday from both successful and not so successful implementation of the tools.? Turning a loss making division around to profit making tough me how to adapt and stop following it exactly to the general follow the book consensus. True lean consultants can adapt the tools to suit the situation. Those who feverish follow the books would not always make good consultants.? Remember every department interlinks in the value chain and this is basis for any consultant.?
Passionately Working on Improvement Projects
5 年EZ one .... interview them ask them to describe their actual project work, use your BS meter, their answers must demonstrate a tactical approach with results. The same is true with hiring black belts, back in the day it was mandatory to demonstrate knowledge and a successful project that was validated. Today not so much.... (just attend a ASQ certification meeting )Anytime I meet a Blackbelt I immediately ask about their project, if they don’t get excited or have to think about it, to me they haven’t put in the hard work meeting the requirements of a black belt.
Leadership Analyst ?? and Multi-Book Author ??
5 年I wrote about the training lineage aspect in 2014. Based on what has transpired over the last 30 years, it does seem to matter. https://bobemiliani.com/lean-training-lineage-matters/