Work with Paula
How Paula helps
Paula works with leaders of service and knowledge-work operations who need the work to flow better: less backlog, steadier service, and growth without matching growth in headcount.
What she does
Three ways in
Lean and operational excellence
Programmes that take backlog and waste out of service operations, from underwriting to back-office centralisation, so teams absorb growth without adding headcount at the same rate.
Coaching and leadership development
Working with managers and team leads on how they run the work day to day, and mentoring internal Lean teams so the capability stays with the client.
Systems that support the work
Making sure the tools fit how the work actually flows, from ERP to CollabForce365, the workforce-management system she co-designed.
Situations
Where Paula helps most
- A backlog that keeps coming back however hard people work.
- Growth that is running ahead of resource budgets.
- Back-office work spread across sites that should be centralised.
- An internal improvement team that needs coaching to stand on its own.
Client work
Results with clients’ own teams
2003–07
Irish Life Retail and ILIM
Underwriting backlog cut from 8 days to same-day service, with 25% business growth absorbed without a comparable increase in resources.
8 months
Rabobank/ACCBank
Operating costs cut by 35% in a bank-wide Lean programme.
2012
Bank of Ireland
30% reduction in resource levels in the back-office centralisation of retail branch operations. Paula also mentored the bank’s internal Lean team.
2008–09
BOI Life/New Ireland
Underwriting service level cut from 5 days to 2, starting from a backlog, with capacity up by at least 15%.
2006–07
PermanentTSB
Growth managed without an equivalent rise in resource budget.
2009–10
Kforce Clinical Research, Tampa
End-to-end clinical trials process redesigned, reporting to the President and CEO.
Figures as recorded at the end of each programme. Client names as they were at the time.
The method
Structured Collaboration in practice
Paula’s programmes draw on Structured Collaboration and the Business Execution Canvas®, developed by Alex McDonnell, to set out how the work, the decisions and the people fit together before anything changes.
Explore Structured Collaboration ↗
Business Execution Canvas® is a registered trade mark of Alex McDonnell.
How an engagement starts
Three steps
Step 01
A first call
Thirty minutes on your operation and what is getting in the way.
Step 02
A look at the work
How the work actually flows, seen with your own team.
Step 03
A plan you can run
A focused programme, coached in so it lasts.
Next step