Frank Devine

Founder, Accelerated Improvement

Frank specialises in creating a High Performance (NB: not "Happiness") continuous improvement culture from the bottom-up. This deepens and accelerates employee engagement, removes barriers to enablement, systematically develops continuous improvement capability at all levels and rapidly overcomes resistance to change. In this process employees create and own their own High Performance culture; they are not “persuaded” to adopt a prescribed culture.

He has also developed a comprehensive system of leadership development, The Cathedral/Higher Purpose Model, to equip leaders to create and sustain such high levels of engagement and enablement.

Does it work? An indication is that 25% of all Shingo Prizes awarded 2010-2017 used this approach and that 3 academic MSc dissertations concluded that it did!

Frank has trained senior leaders and internal change champions in organisations such as Depuy, Johnson & Johnson (Shingo Prize 2014), Rolls Royce, Coca Cola, Boston Scientific, GKN, CarnaudMetalbox, Lake Region (Shingo Bronze 2012 and 2015),  Vale (Shingo Silver 2014), GE (their high potentials), Delphi and Bacardi. 

As a visiting lecturer, Frank contributed to the “getting buy-in”, employee engagement, leadership and coaching aspects of the Lean Enterprise MSc at both Buckingham and Cardiff and to Warwick University’s WMG.   He also provides executive coaching to a number of clients including Rolls Royce, Coca Cola, Johnson & Johnson and Bechtel.

Typical results include:

• “The best example we have seen of an organisation that truly embraces the cultural aspects of The Toyota Way to deliver sustainable results” Toyota audit

• 25% of all Shingo Awards in Europe 2010-17 used his Rapid, Mass Engagement process and/or the leadership system designed to create and sustain a high performance culture

• “Greatest transformation in employee engagement ever witnessed” Investors in People re Coca Cola

• 600% increase in investment in 5 years

• 5 successive top ten positions in the Sunday Times’ “Best Companies to Work For” engagement benchmark despite employees working in an environment with technology usually associated with low levels of engagement.

• Shingo Prize 2014 with the highest levels of engagement ever recorded

Frank founded Accelerated Improvement in 1996 after a corporate career to Director level in Shell, Unilever, Alvis, ABB, Fiat and CarnaudMetalbox.