Social Sciences staff look to enhance operational excellence

From student advising and IT support, to onboarding and HR processing, staff in Social Sciences have been taking a critical look at day-to-day processes to enhance operational excellence and reduce wasted time and effort across our departments.

On March 30th, 15 staff in the Faculty of Social Sciences were awarded Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Green Belt certification through McMaster Continuing Education.

The initiative to train staff members in Lean Six Sigma methodology was led by Juliette Prouse, director of finance and administration, as a strategic tactic aimed at enhancing operational excellence – a pillar of the Faculty of Social Sciences’ Strategic Plan.

The journey towards certification began in October 2022. Staff were excused from their regular responsibilities to participate in the seven-day LSS training course with coach and Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Anil Gupta. As a requirement of their certification, staff completed group projects to streamline problematic processes in their areas of operation to eliminate waste (or muda) and improve efficiency.

The projects undertaken by our colleagues addressed several familiar issues:

• Reducing the TeleMUDAcation Expenses in Department Operating Budgets (Leahann Hendrickse & Madeline Van Impe)
• A Revamp of the Timesheet Submission Process for Temp/Casual Employees (Lihua Qian & Chrissy Doolittle)
• Human Resource Processing Efficiencies (Juliette Prouse & Heather Carr)
• Refreshing Anthropology Graduate Recruitment (Delia Hutchinson, John Silva & Marcia Furtado)
• SEAL New User Induction (Victor Barboza Brito & Lily Wang)
• The Issue with JIRA: Student Advising Ticketing Process (Mark Busser & Lynn Giordano)
• Taking Back Time from IT Muda (Danny Johnston & Erin Baxter-Melo)

“A key goal in LSS is continuous improvement,” explained LSS participant Erin Baxter-Melo. “We all undertook small-scale projects to eliminate waste, but we know we’ve just scratched the surface. The beauty of this training is that it has provided us with practical tools and frameworks for identifying waste and implementing small procedural changes that can add up to significant improvements in any department or unit over time.”

Staff and faculty can watch for future professional development opportunities provided by the Faculty of Social Sciences to support operational excellence across our units.