This recruitment is open until filled.  Applicant review begins on September 11, 2014. The hiring authority reserves the right to make a hiring decision at any time.

This position is a Washington Management Service (WMS) Band 3 employment opportunity.

The Office of Lean Transformation and Quality Improvement (OLT) Director reports to and is accountable to the Commissioner for fostering a culture of continuous quality improvement across the agency. The position is responsible for establishing leadership, direction and standardized coordination of all activities of OLT.

The OLT Director partners with the agency's Executive Leadership Team (ELT) to identify Lean projects that support the strategic objectives of the agency and achieve significant impacts on the agency's key performance indicators (KPIs). The OLT Director provides Lean leadership and change management consulting to the ELT, and facilitates the governance process for driving accountability in the agency's strategic action plan.

• Serves as the leading Lean subject matter expert for the agency.
• Advises the Commissioner on agency-wide Lean implementation and change management.
• Supports the implementation and sustainment of the State of Washington's Lean strategy.
• Promotes a culture of sustained continuous process improvement across the agency.
• Seeks and applies external best practices with regards to cultural transformation and continuous improvement.
• Coordinates the cross-agency Lean Community of Practice to maintain a standard Lean approach across the organization.
• Defines and deploys a Lean communication strategy across agency.
• Serves on the agency Executive Leadership Team.
• Sustains and improves the agency's Lean governance structure, including leading and facilitating the agency Lean Steering Committee and Lean Council sessions.
• Measures the effectiveness of Lean initiatives, and presents findings and improvement recommendations to leadership.
• Oversees the design and delivery of Lean training programs for agency leaders and staff on Lean principles, tools, practices, and philosophy.
• Recruits, teaches, coaches and mentors Lean project leaders.
• Advises and teaches leaders and managers techniques for managing large-scale, high-risk Lean projects.
• Facilitates tactical Lean process improvement events and manages projects across departments.
• Engages, motivates and empowers staff and leaders to continuously improve their processes daily through involvement and ownership.
• Develops and implements standard work, visual management, regular team huddles, and training to sustain continuous improvement activities.
• Manages external Lean consulting contract(s) to ensure executives, senior managers and supervisors are supported in sponsoring the Lean transformation strategy.

Required Education, Experience, and Competencies

Education:

• Bachelor degree required. Graduate degree in business administration, organization development or similar field preferred.
• Certification in Lean or Lean Six Sigma at a Black Belt or equivalent level of proficiency.

Experience:

• Demonstrated mastery experience applying Lean in a services environment, including facilitation of process improvement workshops. Solid understanding of and experience applying a varied set of Lean tools, including problem-solving A3s, value stream mapping, root cause analysis tools, and project prioritization techniques. 
• Demonstrated experience using change management skills and practices to address organizational change.
• Experience managing complex projects. Demonstrated ability to help teams visualize project phases and work breakdown structure, and project portfolio management methods.
• Progressive management experience supervising employees and front line supervisors.
• Demonstrated experience developing and delivering Lean training programs for different audiences.
• Demonstrated experience teaching and coaching senior leaders in Lean leadership principals and techniques.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring other Lean facilitators and coaches.
• Demonstrated experience leading change at an enterprise level. 
• Demonstrated experience applying Lean strategy deployment / Hoshin Kanri to facilitate organizational strategic planning.

Skills:

• Lean training and facilitation background.
• Organizational change management skills.
• Strong analytical problem solving and analysis skills.
• Strategic thinking.
• Strong relationship management and leadership skills.
• Knowledge of process improvement metrics and/or measures of success.
• Strong coaching skills to provide training and development.
• Tenacity and energy to lead change towards an effective and inclusive work environment.
• Customer-focused in defining quality and establishing priorities.

Competencies:

Leadership:

• Expert communicator. Interacts with subordinates, peers and leaders in a manner that inspires trust and confidence.
• Mastery of change management and organization development skills. Able to lead organizational cultural change from a whole systems perspective.
• Inspires and leads others towards high levels of performance. Coaches and mentors staff to address learning edges and develop strengths in order to succeed in their chosen career path.

Communication Skills:

• Expert in the field of interpersonal communication. Able to build relationships across divisional and programmatic lines. Actively listens and seeks to understand the concerns and positions of others.

Understanding of Business and Government Processes:

• Expert knowledge of state government processes and decision-making and accountability principles. Able to identify and address systemic issues that impede organizational effectiveness and progress.
• Politically astute: is able to read situations aptly and exhibit sound judgment.

Preferred/Desired Education, Experience, and Competencies

• Graduate degree in business administration, organization development or similar field.
• Formal training in project management and demonstrated ability to use MS Project to help teams visualize project phases and work breakdown structure, and project portfolio management methods.
• Demonstrated ability to use Toyota's Hoshin Khanri process and Nortan and Kaplan's "Strategy Maps" and "Balanced Scorecard" tools to identify statistical relationships between operational measures and strategic outcomes.
• Familiarity with organizational psychology and use of team building and change management tools, such as force field analysis, team effectiveness profiles, system theory, and Myers-Briggs or similar instruments.

You must attach the following documents to your on-line application (through the Add Attachment(s) field):
 

• Resume;
• Cover letter briefly describing how your experience fits with the duties of the position;
• Salary history; and
• Three references, including one peer and one subordinate.

Individuals with disabilities needing assistance in the application process or needing this job announcement in an alternate format should provide their contact information via e-mail or telephone.

Employment Security Department is an equal-opportunity employer and provider of employment and training services. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities. Washington Relay Service–711.