Consulting

For someone to add value as a consultant, they need real world experience. Ideally, they have influenced strategy and execution in specific business areas. My focus as a consultant in based on my 25+ years of delivering value in finance, manufacturing and leadership development.

Delivering Breakthrough Value through Process Improvement.

You want more productivity, you want people to collaborate better to deliver business outcomes, you want to streamline and simplify your business processes, and you want to eliminate waste. Ultimately, you want to satisfy your customer and grow your bottom line.

Sample Dialogue with a Site Controller: (Productivity Opportunity)

“We set site financial productivity goals annually. We approve capital spending for business projects and we develop business cases. We continually struggle to see the anticipated benefits in our financial books from projects we approve. How can we improve the process so that we use the right financial information when we evaluate business decisions and we execute in a way to deliver financial outcomes?”

Here’s what I do:

• Analyze your company’s finances and business processes and identify areas for improvement.
• Follow a simple process improvement model to understand your current situation, identify gaps and opportunities, evaluate solutions and help you implement agreed upon solutions and deliver value.

Here is a sample of business processes in finance and manufacturing for consideration:

• Leadership Governance
• Planning, Forecasting and Reporting and key metrics
• Financial & Cost Accounting
• Capital Approval and Business Case Development
• Inventory Management
• Maximizing the Use of Working Capital
• Master Scheduling

The best way to get started working with me is to schedule an initial meeting. We’ll discuss business gaps, opportunities and strategies to deliver business outcomes. I will then develop consulting options customized to your business for your consideration.

Financial Literacy for Your Manufacturing Site

Manufacturing Leaders are culturally grounded in the need for continuous improvement. As a financial professional, I know that financial information can help provide the right focus for “doing things better”. Business activities need to be translated into “easy to understand” financial terms. Leaders, managers and engineers need to have the skills to leverage financial information in managing their business areas and making informed business decisions.

Dialogue with a Site Head: (Financial Skill Development Opportunity)

“As a Contract Manufacturing Organization, the customer experience is critical. We need to create a competitive advantage on Quality, Speed, and Cost. My leaders and managers are highly motivated and capable. However, they don’t have enough financial knowledge and skills to understand the business trade-offs, make informed business decisions and communicate key financial information with their staff. How can I close the gap?”

Here’s what I do:

• Work with the manufacturing site head and controller to set goals for a financial literacy initiative.
• Analyze site financial information to get a high level understanding of the site finances.
• Conduct interviews with relevant staff to get an understanding of the primary business drivers, stress points and opportunities.
• Go out on the production floor and learn about the process, look for evidence of waste and understand the cost of producing a quality product.
• Build and deliver a customized financial literacy program based on the fundamentals of finance and translating the site finances into key financial triggers. Run exercises to re-enforce skill development.

The best way to get started working with me is to schedule an initial meeting. We’ll discuss business gaps, opportunities and strategies to deliver business outcomes. I will then develop consulting options customized to your business for your consideration.

Developing Your Manufacturing & Financial Leaders

Leadership is about influencing “others to move to action”. Having a vision, articulating the vision and bringing people with you. It is less about the leader and more about how the leader serves others to understand their needs, leverage their strengths, develop talent, align around business goals, and execute against those goals.

A key business challenge is positioning leaders for success. How can leaders be prepared to orchestrate their organizations around execution, and deliver exceptional value to the customer and the business. This may require increasing skills a multitude of areas:

• Understanding and Leveraging Finance Information to make Informed Business Decisions
• Converting Strategy to Execution
• Leveraging the Power of Prioritization
• Empowering and enabling others through Communication and Coaching
• Removing Obstacles through Crucial Conversations

Dialogue with a Site Head: (Leadership Development Opportunity)

“I have a relatively young team of leaders, managers and supervisors. They would benefit from a program to create a bridge between their business and technical capabilities and the leadership skills required to lead their teams in support of our vision for the company.”

Here’s what I do:

• Assess the current development of your leadership team, at different levels in the organization.
• Identify key focus areas for development or discuss specific areas that you feel need to be a “point of focus”.
• Clearly understand the business and the context for any leadership development initiative
• Build and delivery leadership solutions (content and skill development) into any leadership development initiative.
• Help people connect the dots between leadership development and execution on the job. Any initiative will embrace the need for execution and accountability, not just learning.
• Provide executive coaching for individual leaders, as needed, so that each can become more effective within their individual business areas and collaborate effectively as a member of a larger leadership team.

The best way to get started working with me is to schedule an initial meeting. We’ll discuss business gaps, opportunities and strategies to deliver business outcomes. I’ll will then develop consulting options customized to your business for your consideration.