Improvement Partner

Change and Improvement Partner

You’ll provide expertise and business partner support to leaders in change and improvement, promoting a culture of excellence in service design and delivery.

• Delivering a professional business partnering service in line with the organisation’s improvement methodology to facilitate change and improvement
• Acting as a critical friend to provide an independent view of the effectiveness of current and established practices and processes to the leadership team
• Working in partnership with leaders and teams as an improvement expert to coach, facilitate and support a range of improvement activity, including large‑scale organisational and service reviews and continuous improvement activity including business process improvement reviews and problem solving initiatives
• Leading improvement groups using relevant tools and techniques to facilitate effective discovery and scoping activity to diagnose problems, carry out detailed data collection and analysis including observations and root cause analysis and use insight and learning to inform and prioritise areas for improvement
• To work with leaders, service managers, project managers and improvement groups to facilitate service and process redesign, including test and learn activity to co‑design practical, evidence‑based changes and solutions
• To understand change impact and coach managers and leaders to facilitate change readiness and robust implementation planning to ensure business areas are ready to adopt new systems and processes, mobilise new ways of working and realise the benefits of investment
• Working with leaders and managers to map and manage benefits and ensure changes are fully embedded and sustained through mechanisms to evaluate the effectiveness of change and benefits realisation
• Working with team members across the wider People and Culture Directorate to support colleagues and teams cross‑business undergoing changes to ensure they receive appropriate training and support to set them up to succeed
• Promoting a culture of continuous improvement and learning, providing advice, training and coaching on improvement mindset, tools and techniques and change management to colleagues across the business
• Providing facilitation, coaching and support to Service Excellence Groups, working with the lead Head of Service/Senior Management Team to deliver continuous improvement activity and enact effective business process management
• To document and present findings, learning and insight in reports and presentations which are impactful and produced to high quality standards
• Maintain a value‑adding external network, keeping up to date with new thinking in the discipline and promoting a culture of innovation within the organisation

• Experience of leading improvement reviews/initiatives using a methodology, e.g. Lean Six Sigma, Systems Thinking, to improve service delivery, business performance and solve complex business problems – with demonstrable results including benefits realised
• An expert understanding of continuous improvement methodologies and practical experience of implementing these within an organisation
• A recognised qualification in improvement methodologies, such as Lean Six Sigma, TQM, Systems Thinking etc. (desirable)
• Expert facilitation skills, assertiveness, inquisitiveness and the ability to challenge individual and group thinking in an engaging and productive manner
• Expert influencing and stakeholder management skills at all levels, with the ability to drive culture change in the pursuit of business excellence
• Experience of designing and delivering training, coaching and supporting teams through change, ensuring the business is able to realise the benefits of investment in new processes, ways of working and products
• Experience of working with technical teams, e.g. in Tech Services and the ability to communicate and work effectively across team boundaries
• Sound analytical skills and the ability to interpret and present data in a meaningful way
• Experience of process re‑engineering and practical experience of implementing this within an organisation and best practice knowledge
• The ability to think…