Choose the Right Consulting Partner
Few things can derail a Continuous Improvement journey as badly as bringing in the wrong training and consulting firm. While there are a number of good ones out there, there many that do more damage than good to the reputation of Lean.
We’re Not Militant
There are a handful of very well known Lean consulting firms that you can pay up to $60K/week to come into your business to bark at you and make you feel bad about your current processes. They bring a “proven”, canned, one-size-fits-all Lean deployment system and expect you to refer to them as “sensei”.
They are definitely experts in Lean (and they are not shy about telling you so), but they don’t seem to want to be experts in your processes.
Most of the stories I hear about these “Lean boot camp” companies end with relief once they were gone, frustrated employees who want no more part of Lean, and weeks of “putting things back to normal”.
We Only Do Process Excellence
There are also several large “do everything” consulting companies. They are like the “big box stores” of consulting, with IT consultants, accounting consultants, risk consultants, Lean consultants, logistics consultants, etc. That’s not necessarily a bad thing if you are looking for a “one stop shop” for all of your consulting and aren’t terribly concerned about depth of knowledge.
Unfortunately, I have run across far too many young consultants from these companies who got their “certification” on-line and simply do not have the breadth of hands-on experience to handle complex business problems or the change management skill that is often necessary to manage the business culture challenges they will face.
You Get What You Pay For
Then there are the websites that promise you that your people can get “certified” in an entire rainbow of belt colors and they have prices that just can’t be beat. Their offerings can often be on-line classes or quick “certification” services. Unfortunately, you will not be able to customize your learning solutions with these folks, nor will you get the personal attention of a dedicated coach.
In my mind, these groups are a lot like the McLasik shops that will do surgery on your eyes for $99 apiece. They may be the right option for some people, however, wouldn’t trust my eyes – or my business – to the lowest bidder.
Just remember that you get what you pay for…
The percipiant difference
With Percipiant, you get not just a trainer and consultant; you get a partner. I care about your business. I want to understand your processes, your customers and your problems so that we can put together a training and coaching solution tailored to meet your needs.
The percipiant mission
I don’t want to be your full-time, permanent Continuous Improvement consultant. I want to be the person who inspires your employees to innovate and solve problems and deliver amazing customer experiences because they have the passion to do so.
Leverage me as you need me — from training your employees to helping you develop you own in-house Continuous Improvement team, I can scale my solutions to meet your needs.