WHAT DOES A CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT LEAD DO?
Updated: Jan 01, 2025 - The Continuous Improvement Lead drives the development and implementation of the Shire’s Corporate Planning and Reporting Framework, ensuring alignment with legislative and regulatory requirements. Facilitates the creation of a Corporate Strategy and fosters a collaborative approach to develop integrated business plans and performance reporting across the organization. Oversees organizational performance reporting, ensuring compliance with governance obligations and supporting business improvement initiatives.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Continuous Improvement Team Leader
1. Continuous Improvement Lead Duties
- Continuous Improvement: Driving continuous improvement based on data & evidence.
- Problem Solving: Identifying and removing impediments to ensure smooth and sustainable flow of work.
- Data Analysis: Ensuring key metrics are available & effective.
- Quality Assurance: Ensuring that teams meet standards and achieve Guided Continuous Improvement.
- Agile Collaboration: Collaborating with Agile coaches to ensure teams embrace Disciplined Agile (DA) Principles, implement practices, and identify & establish DA lifecycle & continually improve Way of Working.
- Planning & Estimation: Ensuring that team planning & estimating is effective.
- Goal Achievement: Focusing team/s on how to deliver work to achieve commitments & agreed iteration goal.
- Product Support: Supporting the Product Owner who manages the backlog and guides the team.
2. Continuous Improvement Lead Details
- Process Improvement: Lead and coach internal/external teams in the application of recognized process improvement techniques (LEAN, Six Sigma) to create ‘best in class’ fulfillment processes that align with strategy.
- Governance & Program Management: Expert governance and program management of all improvement activities, ensuring timely and effective communication to all key stakeholders of results delivery versus plan.
- Continuous Improvement: Drive a culture of continuous improvement within the Customer Fulfillment function.
- Training: Train the team in the use and application of recognized process improvement methodologies (e.g., LEAN, Six Sigma).
- Change Management: Apply advanced change management practices to successfully embed change within impacted teams.
- Data Analytics: Provide superior data analytics to support key strategic projects, Customer Fulfillment S&OP process, Customer Fulfillment Delivery Performance dashboards, and ad hoc requests.
- Insight Generation: Provide data-driven insights that highlight key focus areas for improvement.
- Complex Data Analysis: Undertake complex data analysis using both internal and external data to help create actionable insight.
3. Continuous Improvement Team Leader Responsibilities
- Lean Systems: Focus initially on Lean Cell Production Systems, roll out and audit Process Improvement Management.
- Project Scoping: Assist in the definition of project scoping and objectives, involving all relevant stakeholders, ensuring technical feasibility of Continuous Improvement Projects.
- Resource Management: Assist in the identification and organization of resources required to achieve successful initiative/project implementation.
- Coaching: Coach individual project teams to enable them to succeed in continuous improvement deployment.
- Progress Monitoring: Review detailed project plans to monitor and track progress.
- Product Development: Support new product development and new product introduction.
- Training Development: Develop, maintain, and review continuous improvement training materials to raise the level of awareness and competence around lean methodologies.
- Change Management: Act as a ‘Change Agent’ in the introduction of lean tools & principles in manufacturing and drive/sustain improvements by directly supporting and mentoring Operations and Engineering at all levels.
- Skill Development: Develop skill levels of site personnel to implement and sustain Continuous Improvement.
- Value Stream Mapping: Continuously review and update Value Stream Maps.
- Process Improvement: Responsible for identifying and highlighting further opportunities in delivering improvements in process performance along with identifying opportunities in methodologies that sustain gains.
4. Continuous Improvement Team Leader Accountabilities
- Lean Training: Train and teach management team and operators on lean principles to create competence wide and deep that drives a culture of continuous improvement.
- Lean Implementation: Identify, justify, plan, lead, and execute Lean Production System transformational improvement initiatives, including improved process methods and practices, leading to improved operating performance.
- Problem Solving: Drive continuous improvement in problem-solving skills across the organization, using known methodologies such as 5 Why, Fish Bone, A3, etc.
- Cultural Development: Develop and support an operating culture that promotes involvement, collaboration, communication, mutual trust & respect, passion, and accountability for excellence.
- Operational Excellence: Own and role model Operational Excellence values and behaviors to develop and transform the Company culture.
- Values Integration: Ensure that these values and behaviors are a part of everyday life at CSI.
- Data-Driven Projects: Implement data-driven projects that reduce manufacturing costs, improve product quality, increase efficiencies, and support overall plant objectives.
- Sustained Improvement: Take ownership for sustained results post-Kaizen or other Continuous Improvement actions in coordination and collaboration with local management and other stakeholders.
- Project Facilitation: Originate, form, and facilitate project team meetings to ensure team member accountability and project deadlines are met.
5. Continuous Improvement Project Lead Overview
- Corporate Planning: Lead the development and implementation of the Shire’s Corporate Planning and Reporting Framework and systems that meet legislative, regulatory requirements, and Council needs.
- Strategy Facilitation: Facilitate the creation of and embed a Corporate Strategy for the organization.
- Collaboration: Facilitate a collaborative approach across the organization, providing advice to teams to ensure the development of integrated organizational business plans and performance reporting.
- Performance Management: Manage organizational performance reporting requirements in accordance with internal reporting frameworks.
- Governance Compliance: Ensure compliance with corporate governance and regulatory obligations by analyzing and reporting on operational performance.
- Reporting: Provide recommendations for improvement and coordinate the preparation of executive, Council, and Audit reporting.
- Customer Experience: Support the development and implementation of a Customer Experience Strategy for the organization.
- Business Improvement: Provide input into Council’s business improvement program, including service reviews, systems implementations, and customer experience.