Your people may not be the problem. Your process might be.
I find where cross-functional processes break, redesign the failure points, and equip your people to run them — then hand it back.
20+ years tracing process breakdowns across engineering, supply chain, ERP and operations.
The symptoms
Does this sound familiar?
If you're nodding, the issue probably isn't one person. It's the system around them.
Before you call someone the bottleneck, find out whether the process set them up to succeed.
Most process failures are cross-functional. Each person or department may be doing their assigned work while the end-to-end process still fails — because of unclear ownership, missing inputs, poor handoffs, system limits, conflicting expectations, or people held responsible without the information, tools, authority or clarity to succeed.
The through-line
How I help
Find the break.
Fix the process.
Equip the people.
Hand it back.
I'm not a fractional COO or a project manager you keep on retainer. I diagnose why a specific process isn't producing the outcome, redesign the points where it breaks, and make sure the people running it have what they need — then I leave you with something your team can operate without me.
The method
Seven steps from symptom to a process you can run
DEFINE
What should be happening vs. what actually is.
INVESTIGATE
Gather evidence from people, systems, data, metrics, artifacts.
MAP
Make the real end-to-end process visible, handoffs and dependencies included.
DIAGNOSE
Find where performance diverges from intent, and why.
REDESIGN
Define what needs to happen instead.
ENABLE
Give the responsible people the clarity, inputs, tools, knowledge and authority to succeed.
HAND OFF
Leave you a process you can run without ongoing dependence on me.
The lens
What I look at
A delay in one place is rarely caused in that place. I look across all five before naming a cause.
Set up to succeed?
Do the right people have clarity, authority and enablement — or are they being held responsible without them?
Real, or workarounds?
Is there a real, followed end-to-end process — or a patchwork of undocumented workarounds?
Helping or forcing it?
Are the tools helping — or are they forcing the breakdown?
Right input, right step?
Do the right inputs reach the right step at the right time?
Anyone watching?
Is anyone actually measuring where it fails?
The engagements
Two ways in.
You don't have to pick. The Fit Call decides which one fits your problem.
Process Diagnostic Sprint
Best when the problem is contained and you mainly need clarity and direction.
It answers
- What's actually happening?
- Where is it breaking? Why?
- What should happen instead?
You receive
- A diagnosis of the breakdown
- Likely root causes backed by evidence
- A recommended future state
- Priorities and clear next actions
This is diagnosis with direction — not an audit that just tells you what's wrong.
Process Transformation Sprint
Best for complex, cross-functional processes with multiple stakeholders, systems and handoffs.
Deliverables may include
- Current- and future-state process maps
- Roles & ownership, RACI
- Handoff requirements
- Decision points & business rules
- SOPs / job aids, success measures
- Training & enablement, implementation priorities
Goal: A redesigned process your people are equipped to operate.
Where it applies
Where this work fits
My expertise is diagnosing and redesigning the system around the problem — not executing every functional specialty. I bring in the right specialists where the work needs them.
Clear boundaries
What this is not.
- An ongoing fractional COO
- A project manager on retainer
- Generic implementation support
- A tool you install
- An audit that hands you a list of problems and walks away
- A focused engagement to find why a specific process fails
- Redesign of the break points
- Equipping your people to run it
- Handing you a process you can run yourself
About
Leann Houston
Leann Houston is a process improvement professional with deep experience across complex, cross-functional manufacturing and supply-chain environments — engineering, supply chain, operations, master data, ERP, PLM, product change and production readiness.
She sees across functional silos, traces problems end to end, facilitates process mapping, identifies where things break, redesigns the workflows, and translates findings into processes teams can actually operate. Manufacturing built the credibility — the work applies across industries.
"She found the handoff that was costing us two weeks on every order — something three prior reviews missed. Six weeks later our team was running the redesigned process without her."
David R., Operations Director, mid-market industrial distributor
Have a process that isn't working the way it should? Let's figure out where it's breaking.
A free 30-minute Process Fit Call to understand what's not working, its business impact, and whether a Diagnostic or Transformation Sprint is the right next step. It's a fit check — not a sales session.
Book a 30-Minute Process Fit CallLimited fit calls each month, so we can give each one real attention.