How a cultural shift to Business Improvement saved 5000 hours of non-value added work and streamlined processes.

Why did we deliver this training?

With fresh eyes in a new role it did not take Finance Director, Mark Lay, long to identify that Abingdon & Witney College was operating with stand-alone systems that did not talk to one another, and business support teams that worked in silos.

Mark could see potential for business improvement, but the staff and teams had little to no experience in improving processes and reducing waste.

Mark needed a shift change across the business for the potential he saw to be realised.  One that would educate, motivate and inform on how to improve processes and reduce waste, as well as bring departments together to explore the option of joining processes up between departments.

How did we meet the customer’s needs?

Our Lean expert, Howard, worked with Mark’s team of business administrators to identify their own wasteful processes.  This provided the momentum for change and thus the start in the shift change Mark needed.  This momentum was further enhanced by the cross section of business administrators being trained, breaking down the ‘silo’ culture.  It was soon apparent that the business support teams were facing similar issues.

To complete the learning, the business administrators were trained in a Level 2 NVQ qualification in Business Improvement Techniques.

What were the results?

The ground work carried out by Howard and the team of business administrators – process mapping of the paper based processes – allowed for significant improvements to be identified.  With the support of their IT department an electronic workflow software system was identified that could deliver these business improvements.

Over the past two years this has to date resulted in over 5000 hours of time saved by making working practices more effective and efficient.  And this figure will only keep growing because of the cultural shift within the business that has resulted.

This cultural shift has been embedded through a business structure change.  Abingdon & Witney College recruited internally someone who excelled through the Jewel NVQ programme to be their Business Improvement Analyst.  They have also implemented a Business Improvement Committee and these work together to review processes, identify improvements and consult departments.  Staff are now engaged and empowered, having responsibility for their own working processes.

This is an example of how we work with our partners to deliver the successful change in culture that Mark sought and achieved for his teams.

Contact us if you would like to know more about creating a cultural shift to business improvement.