Head of Continuous Improvement & Change

Innovative Service Group
c£flexible – Business Unit Leadership level. £6-fig package.

This is an outstanding opportunity to join and become a key part of the future of one of the country’s most innovative business and consumer services groups.

They continue to lead their unique B2B/B2C market place, delivering an unparalleled and invaluable service whilst working with their clients on a path of continuous improvement.

Differentiating themselves by remaining totally independent and providing bespoke solutions through numerous highly qualified and focussed teams to provide swift solutions and resolutions, whilst creating maximum value for their client & consumer bases, underpinned by highly principled humility and passion for what they do.

They adopt a highly collaborative approach to both external and internal operations, constantly innovating and developing their product offering; a true environment of evolution from new initiatives & working practices right up to new business launches. 

Their desire for constant innovation has seen them devote considerable resource into various change, transformation, and continuous improvement programmes, all providing the bedrock for their innovative growth and development as well as a strategic beacon into the Groups ever brighter future. 

With a strong and empowering human-focus, they have created an upbeat, friendly, innovative, and fast-paced environment with, crucially, market-leading opportunity for advancement; this is a source of much of their continuous development, fuelling an environment where every voice is heard, every idea listened to.

This has created a highly energised culture, which every employee is invested in and works diligently to foster and continually improve, an opportunistic growth company that seeks to deliver long-term prosperity to all employees. Career opportunities are as unlimited as any employees’ aspirations and hunger.

Their innovative service has won them huge recognition and an enviable client list within highly regulated environments as well as huge respect amongst the consumer base but all with an underlying reputation for objectivity.  Two decades of achievements and award wins set this ground-breaking business apart from their competitors, and with continued demand for their services and increased capability in their product and service portfolio, their future is as impressive as their history.

A key element of that forward-focus, and a result of internal leadership movements, is the appointment of a senior leader into the Continuous Improvement function.

This appointee will take an influential role and for reasons demonstrated above, will be central to the development of the group. They will sit within the CI team, but work closely with all aspect of the business and leadership team, adopting a delivery-focused approach, helping to progress the business’s activities, ways of working and culture to enable achievement of the transformation & development strategies and ambitious growth plans.

They will lead strategic, transformational and operational improvement projects working with a cross functional team to enable process, operational, commercial, technology and organisational effectiveness. This individual will work collaboratively across the entire group. They will seek to identify transformational opportunities to drive growth, efficiency and productivity for the Company, as well as maximise opportunities and lead the creation, development and tactical execution of implementation plans. 

The appointee will have significant exposure to senior leaders within the business so must be able to demonstrate excellent stakeholder management skills for complex and specialist themes with ability to communicate and present across the group effectively, both verbally and written.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and enhance the Continuous Improvement function, providing a centre of excellence for CI project leadership by sharing knowledge and best practice, ensuring standard project management processes, documents and tools are embedded in ways of working across the business
• Support the implementation of Continuous Improvement strategy in order to optimise business value
• Help set the overall strategic direction for the group, including ensuring that change progresses its vision, mission, objectives and plans
• Be an advocate for CI/Lean Methodologies – Six Sigma or other lean-driven processes as a tool to engage the organisation to build transformational solutions. Coach, train, partner and provide leadership to the team members through corresponding knowledge base, concepts and tools
• Lead programmes and project teams, developing business case and ROI for growth & improvement. Devise plans to manage projects from inception to control including the development of audit KPIs to ensure process improvement is stable and sustainable
• Partner with teams across the group to design and support effective and efficient results by implementing operational improvements, process enhancements, organisational effectiveness, and technical solutions. Assist with the change management development, communication and execution plans
• Perform data analytics. Responsible for creating data plan, collecting, and consolidating data, establishing metrics, performing analysis, explaining results and articulating concise conclusions for the SLT. Able to perform data analysis for process mapping, budget development, operational effectiveness, and cost analysis to determine project feasibility. Ability to leverage metrics and analytic tools to design and communicate a concise and compelling message to the entire group
• Ability to effectively communicate current processes and future solution recommendations, working with business leads to create understanding of strategic priorities
• Lead a portfolio of projects by managing different teams, conflicting schedules and resources. Able to resolve conflicts and identify solutions to move projects to successful completion. Able to assess and perform current process mapping and design value-added future process environment. Able to develop transition plan to move the group from current process to future state
• Assist in the development, leadership and execution of the continuous improvement long range plan inclusive of project selection, resource management and technology innovation. Assist in assessment and prioritising projects, determining 3rd party requirements and soliciting innovative strategies for the company
• Provide leadership and mentoring for Programme/Project Managers across the business

Success will be measured by implementing and monitoring a set of KPI’s based around key deliverables for each programme and a CI strategy as a whole. Delivery of programmes to time & budget will be measured regularly as well indicators around staff and company performance

The Person

As with all appointments in this highly people-centric business, candidate profile and chemistry fit is critical, but never more so than for this for this collaboration-centred role. Working within a fast-paced, innovative, entrepreneurial environment, attitude is as important as experience. The person is everything. The Head of Change and Continuous Improvement will be a central role in driving change across the group; the gravity of success is all about having the right attitude, underpinned with demonstrable experience.

Suitable candidates will already be high achieving Continuous Improvement leaders. They will likely have held a number of CI/project management/leadership roles, as well having close exposure to the project/change function of complex organisations. They will already possess a track record of personal success. 

The appointee will possess a strong ethos in delivery through engagement, collaboration, strategic planning, an innovative approach, ideation and a ‘do’ not ‘think’ mindset.

They will be people, results and delivery oriented; hands-on and possess the ability to create a sense of mission and attentiveness to current and future requirements and challenges.

They should embrace, and be able to demonstrate the organisation’s Core Values:

• Courage
• Balance
• Empathy
• Openness

Requirements 

• A naturally inclusive style and approach and will work collaboratively with and through others to get results
• Delivery focused, strategic and forward looking with ability to identify and lead operational delivery risks
• Substantial knowledge of Continuous Improvement, supporting all teams to deliver change with the ability to build a good network of relationships across the group
• Ability to manage multiple senior stakeholders to deliver defined programmes of work
• Able to communicate with and bridge the gap between technical, operational and business teams

Skills Required:

• Continuous Improvement and Change experience with evidence of end-to-end delivery 

• Relevant qualifications would be an advantage (Six Sigma, Prince 2, MSP, etc)
• Proven stakeholder management skills to influence and impact, at both programme and individual project level
• Hands-on people management, establishing new teams in a changing environment
• Strong leadership skills to create and foster a positive team environment, set team and individual objectives, and provide day-to-day guidance to all members of the team
• Influencing / networking – developing internal and external business relationships and using own knowledge, skills and experience to influence others opinions and actions 

• Ability to quickly switch between different issues or projects with conflicting priorities
• Able to convert requirements or process challenges into solutions (enhancements, simplification, customisations, process redesigns, etc.), deep diving into issues whilst keeping an eye on the big picture
• Flexibility and the ability to work autonomously to achieve in a complex environment
• Proven excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to interact professionally within a diverse group of executives, managers, and subject matter experts
• Robust experience of implementing and embedding project management principles and approach in a changing environment
• Knowledge of MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and an agile approach to Change and Project Management

This is a culture where the ‘person’ is the key aspect during selection and appointment, the role will, within reason, be moulded around the skills and specific experience of the appointee. It will however be essential that you have demonstrable experience of Continuous Improvement leadership and a strong understanding of organisational change theories and techniques alongside expertise in project/programme management systems.

You will:

• have previous hands-on working experience of establishing and managing robust governance arrangements and a proven track record of implementation of key strategic initiatives and operational delivery planning, centered around analytics, communication, execution and collaboration
• have demonstrable experience of managing a diverse portfolio of stakeholders and of managing budgets and strategic planning
• be a credible influencer, able to build relationships with stakeholders and understand organisational sensitivities
• be a proven business leader with the desire and experience to drive strategic change and operational execution 
• be an innovative operations leader with a track record of revamping organisations, leveraging opportunity to gain competitive advantage to drive growth 
• be able to build trust through relationships with people throughout all levels of Company

Competencies and Behaviours  

• Leadership Success Factors (Strategic thinking, learning agility, aspiration, resilience, EQ)
• Translates Strategic Direction into impactful realistic operating plans and models – Develop deep and broad understanding of business and market and leverages to define compelling plans for future
• Builds Organisational Alignment – aligns and mobilises resources to deliver results
• Be organisationally savvy and leverages enterprise relationships and capabilities to deliver on transformation
• Influences with Impact
• Manages operational initiatives and delivers error free quality processes
• Manage through change and demonstrates sound judgment with speed
• Optimises the Balance between Risk and Reward – Explicitly and visibly manages risk and reward tradeoffs.  Delivers on best outcomes for consumers and businesses, clients and stakeholders protecting business reputation 
• Applies Critical Thinking
• Applies Operational and Planning Expertise
• Contracts with Leaders/Business Partners and builds partnerships to achieve swift adoption
• Models and Reinforces Company Values

The appointee will constantly strive for excellence and demonstrate personal drive and resilience, with a mature and experienced approach to both growth, and set-backs. They will be obviously self-motivated and able to work on their own initiative whilst putting team and company needs before their own and possess the ability to think flexibly and laterally.

They will be a model team player, as both leader and member, working with, and where necessary, challenging the others for the common good and future performance of the group. Crucially, they will have flexibility and a capacity to adapt to the changing demands of the job.

The successful candidate will have entrepreneurial ability and desire and be hugely excited by a very high paced environment, thick with USPs – their operational leadership strength will be underpinned by a real “Just Do It” attitude, and a sense of humour.

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