Are you new to management or looking to bring a fresh approach to your department? You can transform your business from managing at mid-level to becoming a proactive, productive machine with Lean Consulting.
The low down on Lean
Lean Consultants offer high quality management consultancy to all businesses, and thanks to their freelance consultant base, this service is available at flexible, affordable rates. The idea behind Lean is to analyse your business and identify the key features and unique selling points in order to streamline your processes and improve productivity. Industry specific lean consultants will quickly hone in on activities and outgoings that are wasting both your time and your money, and either improve or eliminate them.
Lean consultants use acclaimed software Six Sigma to analyse and quantify company performance. Lean Six Sigma is a fact-based, data driven method of improving business performance by prioritising defect prevention over defect detection. It can then highlight what you would need to do to achieve the prestigious Six Sigma status of less than 3.4 defects per million opportunities, with a defect being defined as anything outside of customer specifications.
Why learn to be Lean?
There are many reasons to consult a managing expert on how to best progress, but the main reason always comes back to time and money. Questions like; What can we do with the resources we have? How can I maximise my capital and increase my productivity?
Working alongside your team, your lean consultants raise the need for change and create clarity on how to achieve this around the needs of the organisation. Ultimately, businessmen and women are looking to make money, so anything you can do to increase sales, productivity and profit margin to boot is a winner. Lean consulting helps you to do just that; stripping away superfluous processes and stopping the steady trail of losses to refine and improve your efficiency from start to finish.
Let’s get lean
To get started on your Lean journey, you need to select a consultant who specialises in your industry and can set the direction to achieve your desired outcomes. You also need to get your head around your business finances so that you have all the information you need at your fingertips to get your analysis off to a flying start. This provides a solid foundation for you to build upon as you work towards the long term ‘future state’ with your lean consultant.
Long term goals
Working to a lean model is more than just investing in a one-off consultation. Yes, you need to employ a lean consultant from the off to get you on track, but operating as a long term lean business requires a complete climate change from within the company itself, and this starts with you. As a manager, you are responsible for setting the standards on attitude alongside strategic outlook and marketing plans, and delivering this from a lean perspective at the top will cascade into your team and help give your business the leading edge.