Finding Continuous Improvement Information

Last updated by Jeff Hajek on March 12, 2019

A successful continuous improvement program is built upon effective training materials, information, and tools. The forms you choose to use, the philosophies you adopt, the books you read, the slides you teach from, the videos you watch, and even the processes you copy and improve upon form the backbone of your improvement effort. Choose well, and your journey becomes much easier. Select poorly, and you can be fighting obstacles for years to come.

This section is intended to provide you with a better understanding of what is available to help you, and who will be providing you with that information.

Prerequisites

None, though previous continuous improvement experience leads to more informed decisions when selecting providers and materials to build a training program.

Section Details

Estimated Time for Section: 1-3 Days (may be longer if you review multiple providers)

Difficulty: Medium

Risk: Moderate

Materials Required

Various review materials to assess options

What is the Problem

The problem of selecting training materials and other information affects both newcomers to continuous improvement as well as those with moderate experience.

Those just starting out on their Lean journey have the double challenge of both not knowing what is available and not knowing what they need.

Those with more experience may have a better understanding of the information available to them, but may become biased through personal experience. In some cases, this experience provides good insight. In many cases, though, people gravitate towards what they are familiar with, and often choices end up being made by default as a result.

While we prefer that you use Velaction for all of your training needs, we recognize two things. First, as quickly as we are growing our library of information, we don’t have everything that you might need. Secondly, for whatever reason, we may not be the best fit for you.

This section is intended to give you the skills you need to make informed decisions about the continuous improvement training materials you choose.

Providers of Continuous Improvement Information

Lean information comes from a long list of sources. With the constant march of technology, that list is longer than ever and continues to grow.

Independent Consultants

Overview:

The majority of independent consultants come from the ranks of internal experts within companies that have a robust continuous improvement program. Some also may have had experience in a consulting group but decided to hang a shingle out for themselves.

Pros:

Flexibility in how they approach a problem (no corporate policies to follow)
Often available locally
Less expensive than consultants from larger groups.
Many are eager to earn your business and will be accommodating to your requests.
Tend to be more available after hours
As business owners, independent consultants are motivated to make you happy.

Cons:

Quality can vary widely.
Support systems can be limited, eating into available consulting time.
Schedules can be tight for consultants who are in demand.
Limited backup options if consultant has personal emergency or travel problems
May have limited range of training materials
Working alone can limit ‘bag of tricks’.
May be biased by wanting to keep business over doing what is best for your Lean journey.

Tips:

Look for a consultant based on referrals.
Be careful about marketing gimmicks.
Be willing to take a risk on new consultants in limited roles. You can get a bargain and find a gem early on in their career.

Consultancy Groups

Overview:

There are two basic flavors of consultancy groups. The first is a group that is focused nearly entirely on continuous improvement. In the second version, the group is a part of a larger organization that may have a wide variety of expertise.

While the consultants you get from some of these groups may be partners with an ownership stake in the organization, you are more likely to be working with an employee of that company.

Pros:

Resources are available to create to create materials.
Administrative staff can handle many details freeing up the consultants to work on actual problems.
With numerous consultants, there can be a great deal of information sharing.

Cons:

You may be working with a junior consultant who has limited experience or aspirations to delve out on his or her own.
Consultants may be limited on what they can do without approval.
Prices can be expensive.

Tips:

Try to work with one of the owners if it within your price range.
Find out if there is a way to acquire their training material down the road. You want to avoid having to change your training program as you outgrow the need for consultants.

The rest of this section is only available in our premium product.

Program Leader Notes

This information is only available in our premium product.

Be careful about thinking in the short term. You may be able to find free content that matches your immediate needs. As your training requirements expand, though, you’ll quickly outgrow those basic options. You’ll have to either create a patchwork program from multiple free sources, or you’ll have to change your program down the road.
Make sure the training you have is flexible. You’ll find very quickly that you’ll (1) want to customize the material for specific things about your company, or (2) want to expand the material or change things that you disagree with. If the format is restrictive, you’ll be stuck.

Additional words of warning are included in the premium version of this product.

There is a glut of material available to you. Much of it is solid, but some of it can be very poor. Neither of those matter to you, though. You want the materials that fall into the “great” end of the bell curve. Make your choice with good information.
Begin with the end in mind. Think a few years down the road, and decide if the training materials you are getting today fit into the picture.

Mastery

Few people are able to master this section, as they do not try out all of the different options. They tend to make decisions based on second or third party information rather than from first-hand knowledge.

While it would be a challenge to test all these options early in a company’s journey, the situation changes as an organization becomes more experienced. A company that is far along the path should consider trying out alternative providers, or get materials to train a team on its own.

The bottom line is that without first-hand experience, there is never really mastery.

We offer a decision matrix template at https://www.velaction.com/decision-matrix-template/ that can help you select a good program for you. Some possible criteria are listed below. Note that some involve tradeoffs, hence the need for the decision matrix. For example, polish tends to reduce flexibility. Also note that some providers will have materials that cover the spectrum within a category (i.e. online videos and downloadable PowerPoint for ‘Access to Materials’)

Comprehensiveness: How well do the topics cover your present and future needs?
Price: How expensive are the materials? Consider both up-front and ongoing expenses.
Flexibility: How easy is it to change the materials to suit your needs? Do you have the materials in the native format that you can edit?
Versatility: How well can you configure the types of materials to customize your program to meet your goals?
Access to Materials: Are you in control of the content or is it stored on the developer’s server? This is most common with…