About Us

Constructive tension isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the vibrant, positive energy that sparks when teams engage deeply, tackling the intricate challenges of aligning people, processes, and innovative practices to achieve world-class performance.

At Constructive Tension, we empower teams by enhancing their collaborative skills. We delve into the nuances of their problem-solving approaches, filling gaps in language, capabilities, and disciplines to forge stronger, more effective units.

Our approach involves straightforward, yet powerful techniques designed to smooth over the inevitable conflicts that arise as organisations evolve and adapt to new dynamics. We help teams navigate these changes with ease and confidence.

Moreover, at Constructive Tension, we are committed to cultivating leadership qualities across all levels. We equip leaders, managers, and team members with the skills necessary to engage confidently and respectfully in crucial conversations, fostering an environment of growth and mutual respect.

Capabilities

In every organisation—be it governmental, private, or non-profit—tension is inevitable. However, not all tensions are harmful. Constructive tension is crucial; it sparks transformation and ensures the delivery of maximum value and precise outcomes.

Navigating this landscape requires more than a standard textbook approach; it demands a bespoke strategy that no single set of tools can provide. Your journey will be uniquely yours. At Constructive Tension, we guide organisations and teams through this journey, beginning with a solid grounding in Lean principles tailored to their specific environments. From this foundation, we enhance their capabilities, focusing on complex adaptive problem-solving that improves processes, refines management systems, and sharpens strategic execution.

Lean in manufacturing and mining

We are experts in applying Lean principles across manufacturing, process industries, and mining, we specialise in optimising production processes, reducing waste, and enhancing operational efficiency to boost productivity and sustainability in high-demand industrial environments.

Lean in supply chain and retail

With deep expertise in Lean methodologies, we transform supply chain and retail operations. We adeptly tackle warehousing logistics and seasonal fluctuations in the fashion industry, ensuring streamlined operations, reduced overheads, and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Lean in the office and functions

With extensive experience applying Lean principles in office environments and functional areas such as HR, engineering, project management, and portfolio management. We excel in streamlining support operations, improving decision-making processes, and driving significant efficiency gains in bureaucratic structures.

Lean in service industries

We are proficient in integrating Lean practices in hospitality and technology sectors, and other complex Agile and dynamic environments. We specialise in enhancing service delivery, optimising operational workflows, and elevating customer experiences through continuous improvement and waste elimination.

Complex Problem Solving

Complex problem solving not only requires the use of best practice problem solving methodologies and tools, but also requires a deep understanding of their logic and their application in the natural hierarch of problems as we distil very large problems down to absolute condition control.

Process Excellence

We apply best practice process, method and standard work design techniques to ensure a standard is used as a base line for training, problem solving and continuous improvement. We find these techniques help engineering, and technology teams accelerate simplification and automation.

Management Systems

We use tools and techniques recommended by the American Society for Quality to design, build and improve the management systems required to resolve conflicting objectives or misalignment. We simple demonstrate that a management system is much more than information collection and transfer.

Transformative Leadership

Ultimately, we build the capability of leaders to demonstrate the required behaviours to be recognised as transformative leaders. Their reputation and our reputation are built on enable teams to successfully deliver the innovations and strategies required to be successful in an ever increasing complex and dynamic market.

Our Service

At Constructive Tension, we believe in laying a solid foundation for success. Our approach begins with a thorough assessment of your current operational state, pinpointing areas for improvement and charting your progress towards achieving operational and strategic excellence. This initial evaluation ensures that every strategy we implement is perfectly aligned with your unique objectives and challenges, setting the stage for transformative changes that lead to sustained success.

Building on this foundation, we design and implement bespoke operating systems inspired by proven methodologies like the Toyota Production System. Tailoring these principles to fit your specific needs, we not only streamline your operations but also embed continuous improvement into the fabric of your organisation. Our commitment extends beyond system design; we provide comprehensive education and coaching to empower your team. This approach equips individuals with the skills and mindset needed to drive and sustain the transformation, fostering a culture of excellence and innovation that keeps pace with the evolving marketplace.

Assessment

At Constructive Tension, we empower your teams with bespoke self-assessment tools and capabilities, enabling them to independently observe, understand, and evaluate relationships and patterns. This self-driven approach allows teams to define their progress and continuously evolve towards a bespoke vision of excellence.

Operating System Development

Developing robust operating systems like Toyota’s, which evolved over 25 years post-World War II, once seemed a daunting task. At Constructive Tension, we leverage contemporary methodologies and insights to significantly accelerate this process, enabling your organisation to swiftly establish and implement an effective operating system.

Education and Coaching

At Constructive Tension, we deliver a tailored mix of education, facilitation, coaching, and mentoring. This blend nurtures your team’s creativity and problem-solving abilities, equipping them with the skills to innovate and excel in dynamic environments, ensuring they are prepared to tackle challenges with confidence and ingenuity.

Strategic Planning

At Constructive Tension, we challenge biases and anchor strategic planning against first principles, enabling teams to identify and cultivate new competencies essential for successful innovation and transformation. Our approach ensures that your organization is equipped to navigate and thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Daryl Kelly

Daryl has systematic and methodical approach to solving very complex problems and enjoys developing individuals and teams to build their confidence and capabilities to do the same.

Daryl Kelly
At a relatively young age in the manufacturing management field, Daryl was asked to step up and transform the manufacturing operations at Philmac ensuring they would remain internationally completive. This was successfully achieved through building a culture of continuous improvement, developing high levels of process control, and introducing state of the art automation.
With Others
Since then, he has helped many other organisations across a large range of industries including manufacturing, mining, fashion retail and services. With experience helping organisations abroad, Daryl has the depth of knowledge and capability to support many organisations in almost any situation.
Supporting
If you ask Daryl about why he does what he does he will tell you that loves the complexity and that he has had a very privileged career with the support of some outstanding mentors that enabled him to gain the necessary experience.
Lightbulb moments
Daryl is a big believer in giving back what he has received, and you will often hear him say “Every insight we enable, leads an individual to become further enlightened to the possibilities. And when we have a team of enlightened individuals, we evolve, rapidly and that is exciting!”

Get in touch

WE ARE ACCEPTING NEW PROJECTS.

We are currently accepting new clients. Contact us to better understand our capabilities and service offering to confirm that we are the right fit for your organisation.



Connecting

Summertown, South Australia.
+61 478 738 977
connect@constructivetension.com