Lean Consulting

Every organisation wants to improve, to thrive, to stay ahead of the competition.  Often, the biggest barrier to this is simply time. Sometimes, you need a short term partner who’ll be able to invest the time you don’t have available to help you achieve your goals and vision.

Other times, you need a partner that has the specific expertise to help you transform your business. Sometimes, you need both.

All our consultants have worked in operational environments and led operational teams so we know what you’re up against when it comes to change and transformation.

We are experts in Lean and Six Sigma methodologies and when coupled with our leadership, stakeholder management and project management skills, we can truly help you make a difference in your organisation.

For the last 10 years, we’ve helped dozens of companies achieve exactly that.

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

Operational Excellence is about maximising the performance of an organisation using lean six sigma tools and techniques, whilst creating a culture of continuous improvement that sustains the improved performance over the long term.

Audit

Our approach to discovery audits is to talk with people using a structured set of questions, observe and listen to processes and analyse data.

Design

The Design Phase is where we produce quantified improvement opportunities. We use systems thinking to help inform detailed designs which we present as ‘improvement Storyboards’. These define the issue, scope, opportunity, solution and benefits available.

Implement

On completion of the Design Phase, we move into implementation. This is where the approved ‘improvement storyboards’ are operationalised.

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Sustaining change is often talked about, but rarely acted upon. We work closely with your management team to ensure that you don’t need us to come back in 12 months time.

BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT

Whether recognise it or not, everything we do is a process. In operational environments, most of these processes are repeated over and over again.

Most organisations try to ensure that processes are completed consistently, but don’t spend enough time ensuring this is the case. Most organisation will provide some sort of training and may complete some kind of quality monitoring.

But induction training tends to not cover everything – there’s always an expectation that you’ll pick the rest up on the job. And quality monitoring systems tend to only review a few items of work a month.

Without a robust approach to Business Process Management or BPM, variation can appear in our processes that present increased compliance risks, reduced efficiency, low quality and poor customer experience.

Our 4 pillars of BPM can ensure that your processes are managed properly and effectively.

PROCESS DOCUMENTATION

We help you create a Lean approach to documentation that allows people to easily understand process levelling, naming conventions, referencing, stencils and symbols, so that process documentation doesn’t become a burden.

Whether you use a product like Blueworks, ARIS, or even the humble MS Visio, we can help you build or improve your process documentation.

PROCESS OWNERSHIP

Often neglected, Process Ownership is critical for any successful BPM implementation. A single person needs to be accountable for ensuring that processes are up to date, relevant, standardised and constantly being reviewed for improvement opportunities.

But the real value of the Process Owner role is to be able to own a process across the value stream or system – which usually spans different departments or even divisions. We have a dedicated 10 point plan for implementing Process Ownership in any organisation – contact us to find out more.

PROCESS STANDARDISATION

There are many challenges to Standardisation. How do you get many people completing a process in exactly the same way? How do we complete different processes in the same manner? How do we combine similar processes so that there is one best way to complete?

Standardisation being with there being a common and consistent view of your processes across the business. Then it takes a dedicated approach in terms of both initial rollout and ongoing review to ensure standardisation becomes the norm.
But the real value of the Process Owner role is to be able to own a process across the value stream or system – which usually spans different departments or even divisions. We have a dedicated 10 point plan for implementing Process Ownership in any organisation – contact us to find out more.

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

Once you have your approach to Documentation and Standardisation, under the guidance of a dedicated Process Owner – you are now set up to drive continuous improvement, using your BPM process to uncover opportunities and more importantly, act to change processes in your organisation.

Your entire organisation is a system. Processes completed within these makeup smaller systems. Systems thinking is about looking at how processes interact to see the whole picture and identify real waste or failure. Good process documentation can make systems thinking easier to deploy.

A Business Process Management approach like ours can significantly mitigate regulatory and compliance risks and provide the governance you need to improve performance.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Develop a culture of continuous improvement where innovation and improvement become the norm.

There is no quick solution for creating a culture of continuous improvement. It cannot be achieved in 6 months. In our experience, a program to develop a culture of CI takes between 18 months to 3 years.

But what does a culture of Continuous Improvement even mean?

It means that every single person in your organisation believes that it’s their responsibility to improve processes and the system of work. To speak up if there is something not working right. To say something if there is a better way to complete a process. To look at ways in which we can rapidly implement lean six sigma improvements.

This can have huge benefits for an organisation:

  • Reducing operating costs
  • Providing amazing customer service and experience
  • Retention of both customers and increased market share
  • Reduced risk and governance
  • Higher employee engagement
  • Higher quality and a reduction in errors and complaints

INTERIM MANAGEMENT

Sometimes you need someone to help steady the ship or fill a gap between the changing of permanent colleagues.

COULD AN INTERIM MANAGER HELP YOU?

  • Do you have a short term gap between a colleague leaving and a replacement commencing?
  • Would you like some time to find a replacement colleague without rushing to unrealistic deadlines?
  • Do you need someone who will be mindful of your companies culture, but is not constrained by politics?
  • Do you need someone to manage a temporary function or program and can’t spare any permanent colleagues?
  • Do you need a highly qualified person to help mentor and prepare an internal colleague for a promotion?

BENEFITS OF INTERIM MANAGEMENT

  • We can typically have a suitable expert interviewed and deployed within 1-2 weeks
  • Seasoned expert who is often over-qualified for the role you are looking to fill
  • Our consultants have extensive experience from other organisations and sectors that can benefit your company
  • Can be dedicated to a specific task and bring focus to a particular issue, risk or crisis

TYPES OF ROLES WE FULFILL

  • Operational Management
  • Change Management
  • Training & Development
  • Executive Management
  • Programme & Project Managers
  • Risk Management & Compliance
  • Customer Experience Management