參考答案
Lean consultants are tasked with serious roles that impact a company's overall management style, productivity, and profitability. Thus, unlike other consultants, such as financial auditors, who may only focus on improving one line of business, lean consultants must see the bigger organizational goal and cannot work in isolation. Their impact affects everyone in a company, from the decision-makers at the top to the shop floor personnel who discharge everyday tasks.
The influence of a lean consultant can ignite or hold back a company's culture and mindset. With this great power comes great responsibility, which requires a unique skill set to pull off. Lean consultants who are worth their weight in gold possess the following skills:
Goal-Focused
The process of achieving operational excellence in an organization cannot happen overnight. That's why the best lean consultants set specific and measurable lean goals and the time frame they plan to achieve them. For instance, consultants in lean manufacturing may set a lean goal of increasing productivity by a set percentage, say 5%, within a specified time frame, say six months.
Overall, the lean goals and objectives a consultant comes up with should mirror your company's goals. It's why consultants spend plenty of time researching your industry and your organization's business processes before they set goals or pick the lean methodology to implement.
Problem-Solvers
The core goal of lean management is identifying and eliminating process bottlenecks hindering productivity by replacing them with more fortified processes and perfecting them gradually. It means lean consultants must have a knack for spotting root errors in complex business processes and the brainpower to create and test solutions and then measure and monitor outcomes.
Experienced lean consultants know the best framework and lean tools to apply to implement long-lasting solutions and also set the tone for continuous improvement.
Excellent People Skills
While much of lean thinking is process-oriented and involves a lot of analytics and strategic planning, people are at the heart of implementation. In fact, if a lean consultant doesn't rally a company's employees behind their agenda, their lean journey and results may take a hit or crumble easily.
Lean consultants need good people skills to motivate different groups of employers, transform their mindset and behavior, and trigger enthusiasm for lean implementation. The best lean idea is as effective as the lean team behind it. Thus, lean consultants often start implementation by training and coaching a company's workforce about lean principles so they all start on the same page.
Throughout the lean journey, consultants need to deliver constructive criticism, switch up roles of lean team members for efficiency, or even replace members. They must do this with empathy and respect and at the right time and place. And this is where people skills come in handy.
Project and Process Management Skills
Project management skills are core competencies of lean consultants, especially in lean manufacturing, which is usually inundated with multiple business processes. The modern consultant is proficient in various process improvement techniques, including:
- Plan Do Check Act (PDCA) cycle
- Total Quality Management
- Business Process Management
Lean consultants are also experts at using project management tools such as value stream mapping to identify opportunities for process improvement across medium to large organizations.
Impeccable Coaching Skills
Lean consultants know process improvement isn't a one-off event you complete and forget. Instead, it should be part of your company's culture and legacy. Lean consultants focus on coaching your staff, so your lean journey continues long after their consulting contract is done. That's why the last part of lean consulting services focuses on implementing a lean thinking culture in a company through lean culture engagement approaches such as:
These approaches promote the long-term expansion and sustenance of a lean culture. When lean thinking and lean management are enshrined in your company's culture, it's easier to iterate and course-correct process errors on the go until you reach your desired level of operational excellence. Lean consultants leverage their coaching skills to ensure they impact a lean culture in your workforce.
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