Continuous Improvement Leader

Western & Southern Financial Group•Cincinnati, OH

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Leads the scoping, prioritization, resourcing, facilitation, and execution of cross-enterprise value stream process improvements. Leads the development, deployment and maturity of the Western & Southern (W&S) Operational Excellence (OpEx) system across the enterprise. This position will collaborate with BU and SSU leaders, as well as the leaders of enterprise change disciplines and initiatives such as Organizational Change Management, Heart of Customer, Knowledge Management, and Project Streamline to ensure a holistic view of process improvement that utilizes the entire OpEx Model to deliver value efficiently. This role will work with enterprise leaders to identify improvement opportunities that have significant impact to the enterprise's financial position. Coaches and develops OpEx leads to drive the development and execution of standard operating practices supporting the business and shared service units financial and operational goals. It will link up the individual OpEx deployment areas to provide transparency and awareness of inefficiencies across value streams and work with leaders to prioritize and resource the improvement initiatives. It will then assume ownership of the initiative to ensure execution and implementation by acting not only as facilitator of the improvement event but also project manager of the resulting action plan.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree In Business Management/Administration or equivalent experience - Required
3-5 years of experience utilizing continuous improvement tools (Lean, Six Sigma) to improve process efficiency and deliver customer value including facilitation of Kaizen events - Required
Demonstrated experience maintaining a calm and professional demeanor when handling demanding situations - Required
Demonstrated influence with leaders and associates, including gaining the confidence and trust of others, sharing ideas in a compelling manner that gains commitment from others, and finding common ground and acceptable alternatives that satisfy the needs of multiple stakeholders. - Required
Outstanding communication skills, including listening, presenting, speaking and writing, adjusting communication content and style to meet the needs of diverse stakeholders. - Required
Strong critical thinking skills with the ability to conceptualize, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate data and information to draw accurate conclusions and make sound decisions. - Required
Organizational courage to hold peers and others accountable for results - Required
Willingness and eagerness to learn new concepts and break old paradigms - Required
Demonstrated strong customer focus and work ethic. - Required
Demonstrated leadership skills, including coaching, providing direction, influencing and guiding team members to a recommended course of action. - Required
Demonstrated history of executing with urgency, proficiency, and passion. - Required
Proficient in word processing and spreadsheet applications. - Required

Nice To Haves

Certified Project Management Professional (PMP)-PMI - Preferred
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt - Preferred

Responsibilities

Partner with enterprise unit and change leaders to identify value stream process improvement opportunities
Research current state of the value streams and collect data in order to fully understand scope, interdependencies, and potential benefit
Work with enterprise leaders to quantify expected benefits, prioritize initiatives and obtain approval and resources to move forward
Scope, plan and facilitate Kaizen events (or other process improvement activities) to achieve expected benefits. Ensure the most appropriate change disciplines (Continuous Improvement, Knowledge Management, Automation, Customer Experience, etc) are used in solutions.
Function as project manager, using standard PM tools, to ensure timely execution of action plans and realization of benefit
Prepare and deliver status updates and final report-outs to enterprise leaders highlighting process changes and benefits achieved
Ensure organizational change management best practices are considered throughout responsibilities
Proactively pursue self-development and improvement in skill sets on a continual basis
Provides excellent customer service and searches for ways to increase customer satisfaction
Coaches and trains leaders ,managers associates and OpEx leads on the importance (why) and use (how) of OpEx systems, processes and tools to develop a culture of operational excellence
Guides OpEx maturity in the business with a hands-on approach to development and sustainment of tools, processes and systems as well as development of OpEx Leads.
Performs other duties as assigned.
Complies with all policies and standards.