As we continue into this new era of hiring, turning to digital, and a boom in competition; companies are looking to create different ways to improve. Either improving their products, services, team dynamics, business practices, and structures, or company culture. With all these areas to cover, there is a need for a relatively new role to take front and center stage. Introducing the VPs, Directors, and Managers of Process Improvement.

Questions To Ask

The main job of this role is to examine the company and process as a whole system. How does the company set up its employees to succeed? How do we utilize the talent and skills our team members possess? What processes currently exist? Why do they exist? Are they working? What are the pain points of the key players in these systems? These are all different questions someone in this position should be thinking about. Integrating a new employee is always a challenge. When integrating a new hire whose main job is to improve aspects of the business is a completely different beast.

Why It’s Important  – In Realtime

By creating a role for just process improvement they have the ability to take a step back from the mayhem of the ins and outs of the process to truly look at the process as a whole and how they work together to better serve the company and its staff. Having an individual dedicated to this practice can shed light on practices employees just navigate through. Sure every employee struggles with something, but as John Dyer, president of JD&A – Process Innovation Co., quotes Dr. W. Edwards Deming “A bad system will beat a good person every time.” A true skill of anyone dealing with process improvement is to blame the system, not the people.

A real-world example comes in light of Performance Plus hiring a new VP of Process Improvement. Mark Dunn is the new VP of Process Improvement. He was hired during a crucial time for Performance Plus to sustain growth. Having a diverse background in operations and sales helps him have a better grasp of the way each employee plays a key role in the company and the challenges they face. This is a crucial part of managing process improvement. Having a good understanding of every day can only benefit everyone. I imagine we will start to see more and more companies hire in people to handle process improvement in the future.

Sources:

https://www.industryweek.com/operations/continuous-improvement/article/21247413/want-to-achieve-real-improvement-stop-blaming-the-people

https://www.cleanlink.com/news/article/Performance-Plus-Hires-VP-of-Process-Improvement–28707