Process improvement and compassion. They're not as different as you'd think.
- Becky Travis-Booker
- May 19
- 2 min read
I was at a CIPD event recently, and something said in the room has been rattling around in my head ever since.
The conversation was about disciplinary policy. About how processes that are well-intentioned and technically sound can still end up harder to navigate than they need to be. For the person being investigated, for the manager, for the HR team. Resulting in lengthy investigations, significant cost, and a real hit to morale, not just for the person going through it, but for everyone in the background covering their role too.
That's the bit that stuck with me, because I wonder if that sounds familiar to you too.
When did you last look at one of your key processes through the eyes of the person going through it? Not the person delivering it, but the person on the receiving end.
I finished a piece of work recently with an NHS Trust whose L&D team ran a widening participation programme they were genuinely proud of, and rightly so. They'd built something meaningful under real pressure, kept it going, and cared deeply about the young people it was designed to serve.
What they needed was the space to look at it properly. From the outside, with fresh eyes and a structured approach.
So that's what we did together. We worked through it end to end using a Lean Six Sigma methodology. Not to find fault, because there was none to find, but to see it as a student would. A 16-year-old trying to get their first foot in the door of healthcare.
The operational outcomes were significant. The team moved from 48 manual steps and zero automation to a streamlined process with 14 fully automated steps, all built within tools they already had. Simpler, faster, more resilient. Lengthy guidance documents were transformed into short videos and brief checklists, available when people actually needed them, not just at the start when they were already navigating an application form and an unfamiliar system.
But the changes that felt most significant weren't the operational ones. They were the ones that made the process feel kinder. Clearer language and fewer unnecessary barriers. A journey that actually reflected how students and families experience things, rather than how a system had assumed they would. Treating people the way they actually want to be treated, not the way the process found it easiest to treat them.
That's what the CIPD conversation crystallised for me. Improvement methodology and compassion aren't separate disciplines. The best process work starts with a simple question: what is it actually like to be on the receiving end of this?
If you're sitting with a process, whether that's a disciplinary route, an onboarding journey, or a recruitment flow, that you haven't had time to look at properly, it might be worth making the space for it.
I'm Becky, founder of Leading Beyond. I help HR and L&D leaders improve processes that put people first. If any of this resonates, I'd love to have a conversation with you. 👇
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