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Effectively Applying Rapid Improvement
Learn how we get you to your Future State quicker in this brief video
About Our Business
Creative Solutions
At Skills4Success UK Ltd, we understand that change is not always easy. Since 2012, we’ve been helping organisations of all sizes respond to industry transitions in order to stay competitive. Our 200+ years of collective implementation experience has taught us to always make your business success our priority.
Our team of experts is ready to help you develop strategies for not only surviving, but thriving in the future. Give us a call today to set up your first consultation.
Our Projects
Transformational Improvement
Skills4Success helps all businesses not only reach, but exceed their goals. Our experience helps us lay out a strategy that perfectly fits our clients. This collaboration is essential for the successful transition from strategy, to plan, to action. Learn about some of our past projects below, and get in touch to see what we can do for you.
Transformational Improvement Programme
University of Warwick
Designed, led and trained over 350 senior managers including the senior executive team at the University of Warwick to implement a myriad of operational changes that delivered in excess of £14 million annualised savings without redundancies and delivered a 7:1 ROI. The programme totally transformed the staff and student experience of key processes, leading to over 139 major experiential benefits.
Improving Staff and Student Experience
Top 10 Russell Group University
Applied a rapid improvement methodology to improve student satisfaction with the Enrolment and Arrivals processes from 68% to 96% and academic satisfaction by 50%. Furthermore, process re-design led to waiting time reductions of 47% in the number of process steps for Research Contracts and an 82% reduction in response times for the Student Applications process,
Estates and Maintenance
Major Russell Group University
Transformed Cleaning, Transport and Portering Operations and identified a 25% maintenance productivity improvement that delivered £8.5 million in annualised benefits versus 5 Year Plans.
Transport Review
Developing a Sustainable Transport Strategy
Assisted a major university to totally re-think their transport strategy and to reduce the number of campus operated vehicles by 24% to save over £2 million versus 5 Year Plans.
Improving Patient Flow
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Devised and implemented a trust wide improvement programme to improve patient flow that reduced elective length of stay by 13% and non-elective by 8% including the establishment of a Discharge Lounge which within 4 months has taken up to 16% of all hospital discharges, whilst generating year on year improvements of £1.1 million.
Equipping your teams to drive Transformation
University of York
We ran a Transformational Development Programme to equip senior staff with the skills required to oversee a myriad of operational improvements from Student Admissions to Research Contracts.
Automating Manual Processes
University of Birmingham
Supported the Stars+ Programme Team to re-envisage and design a Right to Study process to improve student and staff experience. The majority of changes were all undertaken and implemented remotely by teams using an Agile methodology during the Covid-19 pandemic. The changes delivered a 98% reduction in queue length and led to an increase in staff and student satisfaction with the new process.
Implementing One Piece Flow
Mobile Phone Antennae Manufacturer
Undertook a number of projects in France to improve throughput and reduce quality defects. Results included a reduction in product lead time from 3.8 to less than 1 day, a 74% improvement and a reduction in the number of quality defects produced by 33%. As a result of the changes line output increased by 33% with no staff increases.
Audio Description of Our Key Services
Our Clients
Who We’ve Worked With
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Check Out Our Testimonials
"I would have no hesitation in recommending Skills4Success as a trusted working partner that delivers significant operational and financial benefits in a way that both inspires and motivates staff to engage. I can truly say that the work has delivered a significant cultural change throughout the administrative and support areas".
Professor Ken Sloan
Vice-Chancellor & Chief Executive Officer Harper Adams University
Enrolment process re-engineered to improve student satisfaction from 68% to 96%, plus a 95% reduction in queue time."This is a success story that people should be credited for and it's so good to see it improving even further after the first year's dramatic improvement."
Claire O'Leary
Assistant Director, Head of Student Experience, University of Warwick
"With your assistance, empowered teams have re-designed the Student Admissions process leading to an 82% reduction in student response times and a 39% improvement in the number of applications processed, culminating in the accolade of winning a Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Award (THELMA)".
Darren Wallis
Executive Director, Education & Students, King's College London
"Lawrie at Skills4Success helped us to recreate our systems and processes, saving money and time for the business. His style is encouraging and practical and he really helped motivate the team to think outside the box and contribute to the best of their skills and expertise. A really worthwhile exercise".
Ann Horan
Chairman at Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA)
"Thank you for piloting us so ably through the potentially treacherous waters of the review. I thought the teams achieved some really good outcomes and also that the RIE will have a wider beneficial effect on team morale and dynamics".
Simon Willis
Director of Student Admissions, University of York
"You've been such a positive force in the institution" I was trained by Lawrie five years ago and I still remember, and use the principals that you taught. Your wealth of experience coupled with your
enthusiasm and energy create a memorable delivery”.
Esther Zaccarelli Head of HR Systems, University of Warwick
"The beginning is the most important part of the work"
Plato
Frequently Asked Questions
When should you use implementation consultants?
Do consider using implementation consultants when you need:
1. External challenge to bring about a paradigm shift within your organisation,
2.To create capacity to implement change.
3. Experienced change agents that can minimise the risk of failure.
4. To bring about rapid improvement.
When should you not use management consultants
Don't use consultants when:
1. You have the capacity and experienced capability in-house to address issues that your existing staff are aware of and very capable of effectively changing.
2. Don't use consultants to justify a decision you've already made. This would be a total waste of the organisations money and valuable resource.
How do I know that Skills4Success UK Ltd is the right consulting company for me?
1. We encourage new clients to check out our testimonials and to speak to our existing customers about their experiences and the results they've achieved by working with us.
2. We have many long-standing client relationships which is testament to our ability to deliver.
3. We're happy to provide free initial consultations with our consultants. This ensures that you can meet the consultant responsible for your project prior to project start.
4. All of our consultants have a minimum of 10+ years of senior management and implementation experience.
How do you customise your services to meet my organisations specific needs?
1. We understand that each organisation is different and have their own specific cultures which may vary significantly between divisions or departments. For this reason all of our approaches will be tailored to meet and address your own specific needs.
2. Given our many years of experience, we have a range of tools and techniques that we apply and adjust as appropriate to ensure that we maximise your teams unique creativity to maximum effect. Moreover, as we have a clear understanding of what does and doesn't work,we can achieve results more rapidly from the outset.
What is the typical ROI that can be achieved?
We have a tried and tested methodology that enables us to accurately scope and define an approach that is totally tailored to your specific needs. For this reason, we typically deliver a return on investment (ROI) that can range from 3:1 to 7:1. Typically our projects will deliver £'s millions in improvements whilst significantly improving customer and staff satisfaction.
Do you guarantee your work?
Our consultancy approach is one of partnership with our clients, that's why over 90% of our work comes from repeat business. We hold regular review meetings to ensure that all involved in the project can meet their deadlines. However, if you're not totally satisfied with our performance after one week, we will provide you with a full refund of all fees incurred, no questions asked. That's our Skills4Success guarantee,
Our Team
Where the Passion Begins
Lawrie Catt
Director
Lawrie has over 30 years experience of working with major international clients from manufacturing to the service sector and from health to Higher Education. His work delivers
significant transformational improvements providing a typical client return on investment (ROI) well in excess of 3:1, whilst significantly improving the customer, student and patient experience.
Geoff Kendall-Smith
Associate
Geoff has significant experience of Lean Transformation and IT system implementations worldwide for a multitude of clients, plus has held a variety of senior interim roles within the HE sector including Chief Information Officer at the University of Durham.
Jenny Briggs
Associate
Jenny has significant operational experience having been a Director of King's College London and a former Governor of Roedean School.
Richard Fumarola
Associate
Richard has over fifteen years international operational experience at Vice President/Director level, plus vast consultancy experience. He has significant experience within the HE sector, plus was responsible for transforming the manufacturing operation of a major US computer manufacturer.
John Fenton
Associate
John has a wealth of experience in driving transformational change across a diverse range of organisations to deliver a significant return on investment.
Miriam Peel
Head of Operations Southern Hemsiphere
Miriam has been very active in the HE sector having delivered the Skills4Success Transformation Development Programme at the University of Warwick and mentored a range of improvement teams. Prior to consultancy, Miriam held senior management roles within the NHS where she delivered a range of strategic and operational improvement programmes.
Natalie Snodgrass-Tan
Associate
Natalie has 17 years experience of the UK higher education sector, rising to the role of Senior Assistant Registrar. She has significant experience of strategic programme delivery, plus is also a development coach, accredited mediator and facilitator.
Sharon Seipel
Personal Assistant
Sharon has significant experience of organising the team. Prior to joining us, she worked with Directors and Board Members of organisations as diverse as the NEC, Birmingham Airport
and the Chamber of Commerce.
News
As a leader in running Rapid Improvement Events (RIEs) across a variety of sectors we're finding that our services are currently in high demand from clients needing to radically rethink and automate often complex processes. To that end and in response to Covid-19, we've developed a Virtual RIE approach. This means that we can now use our expertise to support organisations in a cost effective manner worldwide.
Coping with Covid-19 Work Pressures
Lack of standardised working practices, coupled with the added pressures of working from home, whether due to home schooling or a lack of sufficient IT skills prompted a Finance department to contact us to develop a plan to identify the level of failure demand and develop new ways of working to cope with increased workload volumes.
Focus on Wellbeing
Wellbeing staff in many organisations are currently under extreme pressure. Within the HE sector, this has been an issue that has been growing over a number of years. The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic has merely exacerbated the situation. To help organisations during this difficult time we've been working to simplify and automate processes to free up Wellbeing staff time to better focus on adding value to each and every student engagement. Increasing available staff capacity can only be of value at this time.
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