David talks about his work:
"I have had a variety of experiences working in organizations to make them perform better as both business systems and human systems. In the past twenty-five years I've helped departments, programs, projects, groups, individuals and whole companies clarify, plan for, and even change their expected results and improve their systems and practices for achieving them. In some situations I was the manager or leader but most often my role has been to support a group or leader who is trying to initiate processes to make things different and hopefully better for the organization and all involved. For thirteen years I worked for Toyota in its North American manufacturing operations. During that time I had the opportunity to work with, study (both here and Japan), manage in and teach in what I believe is one of the most effective business systems in the world. By "business system" I mean the company as a whole and not just the Toyota Production System (TPS). As a result I learned a great deal not only about TPS but the basic business processes (strategy deployment, decision making, planning, horizontal and vertical alignment, process management, problem solving and reflection) that make lean manufacturing work as a business approach for Toyota. I think the work I have done since leaving Toyota at the beginning of 2000 is best described as "Process Consultation" to help companies and not-for-profit organizations improve business performance, restructure and refocus their organizations, transform to leaner operations, and/or initiate strategic change. My role is generally to call attention to the processes and practices that are necessary for sustainable change and to facilitate thinking about the most effective ways to gain support, resolve problems and stay on course with implementation. The approach I prefer in providing process consultation is a coaching relationship. I believe I am most effective when I partner with an executive or manager who is trying to improve performance or bring about change in his or her organization. I often help clients design and facilitate their change activities but I feel I contribute the most when I can coach the leader or group through planning and implementing their improvement processes themselves. My concern is not just that we achieve the expected results but that my client and others learn through the experience. If the client and the organization are better able to carry out and even improve on the processes on their own next time then I have left something of value behind."
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