About People
Centred Excellence
Lean and operational excellence courses and consulting
Training and consultancy specialists Graham Canning and Stuart Mitton founded People Centred Excellence in 2019 to help organisations and their people to learn, grow and improve.
Based in Market Drayton, Shropshire, we support, coach and train our clients across the UK and internationally to become ‘better every day’.
Who we are
Graham and Stuart met more than 20 years ago as trainers and consultants for the Manufacturing Advisory Service and have worked together ever since. They’ve helped companies to apply and sustain improvements in safety, quality, cost, delivery and people development in the UK, U.S, China, Brazil, Mexico and Europe. This work has given them valuable insight into the challenges faced by businesses across the world.
Graham and Stuart share an enthusiasm for lean and operational excellence. They recognise real change is only sustainable when all levels of an organisation’s people are educated and trained for the change.
Thanks to their desire to be different in a field crowded with ‘lean consultants’, they developed a range of engaging and practical learning programmes. These courses seek to help people understand why change is needed, and not just what they need to do to change.
This training is supported by Graham and Stuart’s first-hand knowledge and experience gleaned from a combined 60-year background as senior leaders, consultants and trainers.
Since 2019, the People Centred Excellence team has grown to welcome fellow lean specialists who share Graham and Stuart’s vision for delivering lasting results for our clients.
As well as our wide portfolio of training courses, we offer consultancy support to help organisations – and their people – to work better.
Graham and Stuart met more than 20 years ago as trainers and consultants for the Manufacturing Advisory Service and have worked together ever since. They’ve helped companies to apply and sustain improvements in safety, quality, cost, delivery and people development in the UK, U.S, China, Brazil, Mexico and Europe. This work has given them valuable insight into the challenges faced by businesses across the world.
Graham and Stuart share an enthusiasm for lean and operational excellence. They recognise real change is only sustainable when all levels of an organisation’s people are educated and trained for the change.
Thanks to their desire to be different in a field crowded with ‘lean consultants’, they developed a range of engaging and practical learning programmes. These courses seek to help people understand why change is needed, and not just what they need to do to change.
This training is supported by Graham and Stuart’s first-hand knowledge and experience gleaned from a combined 60-year background as senior leaders, consultants and trainers.
Since 2019, the People Centred Excellence team has grown to welcome fellow lean specialists who share Graham and Stuart’s vision for delivering lasting results for our clients.
As well as our wide portfolio of training courses, we offer consultancy support to help organisations – and their people – to work better.
What is lean?
Lean has its roots in the car manufacturing industry, particularly the Japanese company Toyota.
It’s a way of working – and thinking – that focuses on continuous improvement.
But lean isn’t only about improving your organisation’s processes through tools and principles. It’s also about understanding the importance of an empowered and engaged workforce.
Inspired by the Toyota Production System
The Toyota Production System (TPS) aims to eliminate waste and shorten lead times to deliver products to customers quickly, at a low cost, and with high quality.
At People Centred Excellence, much of our teaching, consulting and coaching is based on TPS. But the fact the TPS is a learning system appears to have been overlooked by many other training companies and consultancies. And that’s what sets us apart.
Our methods encourage an environment where mistakes and failure are seen as key parts of an individual or a team’s learning, because they provide a deeper understanding of processes.
We coach and train leaders in how to manage in these new environments. We show them their role isn’t about ‘having all the answers’, but about encouraging a ‘growth mindset’ in their teams and departments. Supervisors and managers become teachers and coaches themselves.
We believe employers have a social obligation to provide meaningful work for their people, and that technology should enhance human decision-making, not replace it.
