From HR to process development, from starting
to changing a career

What makes us different from our competitors is how we deal with difficulties: We are looking for opportunities to improve, for the solutions for new challenges and we do not shy away from change. So, this is how we started the improvements based on lean management, covering a dozen of processes from setting the basics of the methodology of our project management to enhancing the efficiency of our meetings and optimizing our design software.

In the first part of our blog series, you have already learned what process management is exactly and you could get acquainted with the philosophy of lean, which sets the basics of our methodology. Our development projects are not only interesting from an organizational and methodological perspective, they also reflect the exciting experiences and challenges of our coworkers.

We collected these for you to show what goes on behind the scenes and to get an insider view of our colleagues’ stories. First meet Vera, who worked as the HR generalist of the company for years.

Little did she know that the vast amount of information and knowledge she had gained will be invaluable in her future position. She became the first process developer in the history of the company, and has worked on dozens of projects. The story of Vera becoming a manager closely corelates with IN-EX’s growth and the company’s transition to a new level. The results of the challenges she had to face, the discussions she had with the employees, and the results of the first major employee satisfaction survey during her HR job, all spurred her to change. It was then that she formulated the thought of using the knowledge she had gained previously in her new role.

“I felt we needed changes that would go beyond HR development to maintain the growth of the company, to operate efficiently and to retain the homely atmosphere at the same time. We need extensive organizational and process development. It was a challenge because it just happened in 2020. The uncertainty, which happened because of the pandemic, and which could be experienced around the world, had an enormous impact on us. We had to get used to working from home, and the future of many of our projects was in question, so there was a stronger need for organizational development, to enhance our efficiency and to unite our team.” With her usual determination, Vera was already studying at METU’s Lean Service Development training. A year later, armed with her fresh knowledge and the support of the company management, she became IN-EX’s process developer. Her tasks were to manage the lean projects, to coordinate the staff involved and to maintain the results. She also gets help from an external consultant. “

After a long search we found an external consultant with the right qualities, whose values match the company’s values. Toma supports me in managing the projects in a professional way. Soon we became a team, and launched our joint projects, in which the management and many employees participate.”

There was one exception to their collaboration, the Employer Branding project, which Vera managed on her own.

“I also started my first independent project because of my thesis for the Lean training, which was aimed at improving employer branding and recruitment. At the beginning of the quarantine the number of job seekers had significantly decreased. It became increasingly difficult to find highly qualified English-speaking employees, who are open to BIM design. Especially, when it comes to finding employees for mechanical engineering and structural engineering positions. To address this problem, I have set up our multidisciplinary Employer Branding team, which has been operating successfully since then. We have created a new website, articulated our employer values, we have become active on social media and we have introduced new recruitment software. I am delighted to see that the project has helped us to put our recruitment on a much more cost-effective footing and, of course, to noticeably increase the number of job applicants! It was a particular pleasure to have the opportunity to combine my HR skills with my role as a process developer.”

Over the past year and a half, nearly a quarter of our coworkers have participated in Vera’s projects. It is safe to say that process management has become an integral part of IN-EX’s everyday life. An increasing number of our coworkers gets acquainted with the development mindset, experiences its challenges, and shows a new side of themselves, that the others are not familiar with.