About Us

Our Mission

To Improve Business Performance Through Quality, Leadership and Team Member Engagement

 

Company History

The year 2021 marks the 25th year anniversary for Goal Advantage, LLC. It also marks the proud milestone of the second generation of family joining the business. Our business has been founded on the following values:

  • Life is not about work. Work is only a tool to enjoy life.
  • To treat people with honesty, kindness, and respect
  • Business is about relationships. Always seek to make them win win.
  • Treat perceived failures as opportunities.
  • “Sharpen the Saw”. Learning is the key to growing.

Goal Advantage started serving clients in the machine tool and construction industries. Over the years the client mix has expanded into professional services (Accounting, Insurance, mortgage, real estate, etc.), automotive retail, automotive parts, defense/aerospace, non-profits, and energy sectors. While the business started in the metropolitan Detroit area, it now has clientele across the country (Indiana, Ohio, Florida, California, and Alabama) and in Canada.

Entrance into clients began challenges regarding ISO management systems. We worked with client team members to define their processes, help them implement, audit their compliance and effectiveness, then carry out improvements. This expanded into process modeling, analysis, and early efforts to eliminate waste and improve workflow. Client results lead to word-of-mouth referrals to new prospects.

In 2005, new challenges with strategy, culture change, development of leaders were expressed by clients. Goal Advantage expanded its service offerings to clients through and association with Trusted Advisors Network (Reading, PA). Assessments, facilitations, development materials were customized and delivered to meet these client challenges for the past 15 years.

We have been proud to serve over 100 clients with consulting, auditing, development challenges over these past 25 years. We are optimistic about the future and looking forward to serving many other in the future.  

 

Meet The Team

Jeff Johnston

President – Lead Facilitator - Certified Business Coach

Jeff believes that every successful business venture starts with a clear strategy. Leaders create a compelling vision and values, then work on creating a positive, goal driven and engaging work environment. Employees, challenged by goals and coached through applied leadership, process improvement and customer skills, become the sustainable driving force behind business success.

Jeff is an entrepreneur and small business operator. He has successfully run and grown Goal Advantage, LLC for 25 years. By listening to client needs and adapting with them, many client relationships have lasted for over two decades. Jeff strives to be a trusted partner that serves clients and other strategic partners. He has worked with clients as a strategic plan and organizational alignment facilitator, a leadership development coach, a management system consultant, and process excellence team facilitator.

Jeff is an expert ISO management system consultant and auditor, having worked with over one hundred service and manufacturing organizations to implement and maintain their ISO systems. He has also logged over 7500 hours conducting internal and third party audits.

Before establishing Goal Advantage, Jeff spent his corporate career in the defense and automotive industries at Lockheed Martin and Ford Motor Company. He successfully advanced from engineering, to process control engineering, to project management and supervision. Through each advancement, the necessity for strong leadership, clear processes, engaged team members became more and more important.

Education and Certifications:

B.S, Aeronautical Engineering & Mechanics from University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Masters of Business Administration from Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA.

Certified Business Coach (Trusted Advisors Network), Reading, PA.

Certified Process Excellence Facilitator, (Trusted Advisors Network), Reading, PA

ISO Management Systems (ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, ISO 17025:2017, ISO 45001:2018)

Brian Johnston

Management System Specialist

Brian is a Management System Specialist at Goal Advantage who works with business owners and their teams to clearly define processes, then optimize them for effectiveness and efficiency. He brings his unique background to customer facing processes (sales, estimating, project management) as well as operational processes. He coaches team members to not only implement the process but to create an experience that is appreciated and remembered by the customer. He has successfully worked to help implement ISO Quality Management Systems at service and manufacturing organizations and is a certified auditor for ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and ISO 45001 Management System Standards.

Brian’s experience comes from working with leading companies in customer loyalty and employee engagement. He is passionate about helping companies to grow sustainably and continuously improve their process performance. He is also a graduate of Grand Valley State University with a B.A in Finance and Marketing.

Mike Pircer

Lean Facilitator / Coach

Mike has often wondered why so many companies abandon their continuous improvement initiatives when the going gets tough.  Understanding that companies will have challenges at any given period of time, CI within an organization should not cease.  Continuous improvement activity builds morale by engaging employees at all levels to help pull companies through rough waters.

Prior to joining Goal Advantage, Mike has spent his career in multiple roles including engineering, project management, quality and operations.  His background is in Lean and Quality System methodologies and has earned his certifications as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Project Management Professional.  He has successfully advanced throughout his years and has spent the last few years in an executive management position.

Education and Certifications

B.S. Mechanical Engineering from Oakland University, Rochester, MI

M.S. Management from Walsh College, Troy, MI

Project Management Professional (PMP)

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from Villanova University

Contact us to find out how we can work side-by-side with your business to clearly understand your objectives and capabilities to define a clear and pragmatic strategy. Together we can help you to reach new heights!