MISSION STATEMENT:
ImproveMT Consulting assists clients in identifying and working through business process improvement opportunities by looking for ways to reduce waste and variation, thus allowing clients to maximize their operational and financial success.
Gordon Streiff
gstreiffimprovemt@gmail.com
(406) 672-7077
Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
Certified Public Accountant
Gordon has over 30 years of experience as a process improvement consultant and as a finance leader. He has extensive experience as a Deployment Leader and Director for a large organization’s (> $1.5 billion in assets) process improvement program as well as the Finance Controller/Executive Director for the same organization. He has experience as an audit manager with one of the 4 largest CPA firms in the world.
Gordon is a very experienced and successful teacher of the Lean Six Sigma Methodology and tools. He excels in being able to analyze financial information in order to make sound business decisions. He loves teaching others to do the same as well. He helps business leaders identify and work through process improvement opportunities that result in improved financial results, enhanced quality outcomes as well as greater staff and client satisfaction.
Gordon has been married to his amazing wife Suzanne for 32 years and together they have 4 wonderful children and 2 grandchildren with more on the way.
Gordon loves to spend time with his family and also loves to hunt and fish and spend time outdoors. He and his wife love sports and spend a lot of time either watching their kids play or their favorite teams.
Team Gordon and Julie
Gordon and Julie have worked together for 25 years at a large organization. They helped 100’s of teams learn to use the Lean Six Sigma methodology to solve problems, eliminate waste, and reduce variation.
During the last 14 years as process improvement consultants, Julie, Gordon and their colleagues helped save the organization $90 million dollars to the bottom line. They also taught, trained, and certified over 1,500 employees as Lean Six Sigma yellow belts.
Gordon and Julie have a passion and a drive to help businesses use the tools and techniques to eliminate waste and variation. They make a great team and want to make your team great too!
Julie Schaaf
jschaafimprovemt@gmail.com
(406) 671-1151
Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
Certified Public Accountant
Certified Outcomes Improvement Leader
Julie has 28 years of experience in accounting and process improvement consulting. She has spent the last 14 years as a process improvement consultant at a large organization in Montana.
Julie excels in using the Lean Six Sigma tools and methodology to facilitate teams within organizations to solve their pain points. She helps analyze financial information and data while also teaching organizations how to eliminate waste and variation in their processes.
Julie’s personality helps to bring teams together to work towards a common goal. She enjoys using icebreakers and fun questions to generate camaraderie among the team members.
Julie has lived in Montana for 28 years. She grew up in North Dakota. She attended the University of North Dakota, married a Montanan, and moved to Billings, where they have resided ever since.
Julie and her husband have 3 boys who are all young adults. They are all avid sports fans and can be seen watching sports all around Billings or at home rooting for their favorite teams.
What is Lean Six Sigma?
Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement approach that is data-driven and utilizes a collaborative team approach to improve performance by systematically removing operational waste and reducing process variation. It drives customer satisfaction and bottom-line results while promoting the use of work standardization and flow which ultimately create a competitive advantage for organizations using it.
Services Provided by
ImproveMT Consulting:
Initial Assessment:
(No charge)
Meet with potential clients to discuss opportunities for process improvement projects at their business
Project Identification Session:
Meet with client and selected team to brainstorm, then rank & prioritize process improvement projects to meet client’s goals
Facilitation of Process Improvement Projects using Kaizen Events:
Use the Kaizen method (effective, short term, focused sessions) to work on process improvement projects selected by you. Gordon and/or Julie will facilitate your team to improve a measurable outcome by using the Lean Six Sigma tools.
Team Training on the Basic Lean Six Sigma Tools:
Train your team how to use the most common process improvement tools which will allow your team to complete 95% of the projects on your own
Other Services:
Other services as requested by the client
Empowering operational and financial success for your business!
We would love to help you~
Contact Julie or Gordon today to set up a free consultation to discuss how process improvement can help your business.
Contact Us
TESTIMONIALS
“Gordon Streiff and Julie Schaaf have been working together for 25 years. They worked in Finance together for nearly 10 years and then in Operational Excellence for 15 years. They have led many process improvement teams both individually and together through the Lean Six Sigma methodology achieving over $90 million in hard savings while also minimizing non-value-added activities attaining significant soft savings.
Gordon and Julie work extremely well together, exhibit strong leadership and know how to engage teams in process improvement. Gordon is an excellent mentor. He demonstrates appreciation, provides good direction, and welcomes new ideas and feedback. Julie is energetic, motivating, and creative. She has great decision-making skills and finds the strengths of every team member.
Together, they take pride in helping teams reduce waste and inefficiencies, save costs, increase productivity, streamline processes, improve overall customer service, and increase staff satisfaction.”
-Director who worked with Julie and Gordon for 25 years
“Process improvement is the key to quality, service, and safety. It is instrumental in helping us achieve our mission. The business world is always changing, and process improvement allows you to adapt to those changes, challenges and new demands.
Julie made process improvement fun! She is an excellent teacher and coach. Her ability to help us define our problem, measure, and analyze the data is outstanding. Her skills are top notch in helping achieve the desired outcomes.”
– Manager who worked with Julie for 10 years
“I recently completed a course on the principles of Lean Six Sigma led by Gordon Streiff, and it was an incredibly valuable experience. Mr. Streiff’s expertise and engaging teaching style made complex concepts easy to grasp, and his practical approach helped us understand how to apply Lean Six Sigma principles effectively. I highly recommend this course to anyone looking to gain a comprehensive understanding of quality management and process improvement.”
– Client Business Owner
“I have worked with Gordon for many years and know of the expertise he brings to the table. He is thorough and thoughtful in his recommendations to maximize efficiency. He is able to merge the financial aspect to operations in a way that works well for all involved!”
- Director who worked with Gordon
“I have known and worked with Julie and Gordon for over 20 years. Not only do they both have an incredible work ethic and skill set, but they are wonderful human beings! They are engaging, personable, accountable, and have the utmost integrity. I would trust them for any project, big or small.
From start to finish you will have expertise, team synergy, follow through, and commitment to a job well done. Their ability to lead and develop teams in lean six sigma methodology, process improvement, and projects is second to none!
My teams have loved working with Julie and Gordon, and have realized significant workflow efficiencies, enhanced patient experiences, enhanced revenue capture, decreased expenditures, and other numerous measurable outcomes. You will love working with Julie and Gordon!”
-Director who worked with Julie & Gordon for 20+ years
“Healthcare is extremely complex. Gordon and his team continually helped us create countless successes and operational implementations for the benefit of my department and the organization. He has a marvelous instruction style that blends interesting real-life stories with the tough concepts of Lean Six Sigma. Gordon sets and keeps pace with the class, encourages dialog, and provides exercises to reinforce the instruction.
Gordon created and left a much more enduring organization and invested heavily in the training and mentorship of the Management Team. His commitment and dedication achieved and resulted in ongoing positive outcomes and synergistic improvement.”
-Director of 20 years who worked with Gordon
“Julie has an ability to understand the project before it starts, engage the team and analyze. She helps set goals, analyze and reprioritize. She engages all team members as part of the solution. Working with Julie for 15 years has given me insight to ways to improve processes big and small and I gained a good friend along the way.”
– Manager who worked with Julie for 15 years
“Gordon Streiff was fantastic. We invited him in to help us develop practical problem-solving skills as we targeted areas of improvement across our company. He tailored his training to my leadership team’s needs, making complex concepts easily applicable to the unique work that we do.
I was most impressed with how he could adeptly handle my passionate and territorial team dynamics. He created an inclusive environment where everyone felt valued, fostering stronger team cohesion while being taught valuable skills.
Thanks to Gordon, our team has undergone a positive transformation within that we can now apply to other areas of our company.
We look forward to continuing our own growth with Gordon as a mentor.”
– Client CEO
“As a leader of a large inpatient pharmacy department, I had the opportunity to work with Gordon Streiff on multiple process improvement opportunities. Gordon is truly an expert in this area. He has an amazing way of looking at a process and asking impactful questions from his outside perspective that you yourself may not consider. He is also an incredible coach through the process, ensuring that you as a leader trust and let your team members identify the problems and subsequent solutions within the guardrails of the project.
Through his processes, he helped me learn and understand that the loudest of my employees were rarely on the same page as the majority and this remains one of the most valuable lessons of my leadership career.
With his help, our department was able to identify millions of dollars in savings and/or additional income.
However, our most memorable project together created new efficiencies through our staffing model and greatly improved staff satisfaction at the same time. The input from frontline members of the team was invaluable to this work and provided some much-needed fulfillment to us all. I sincerely hope to work with Gordon again someday!”
-Director who worked with Gordon for 10 years
“I have been a nurse at the same large healthcare organization for 25 years, and in that time, one of the greatest implementations I have seen is that of the Recycle Store.
Led by Julie Schaaf from our Process Improvement department, a dedicated area was transformed into a space where employees can bring office supplies that are no longer being used in their area – anything from office chairs to staplers, bookshelves to binders, and so much more. Any employee can stop by the Recycle Store to see what is available and take what they need.
This has been a great cost savings to the organization! Rather than ordering supplies when needed, we can first stop by the Recycle Store to see if needed items are available. It’s so great to see items that are no longer in use get redistributed to other areas, rather than ending up in the trash!”
“Gordon Streiff helped my department improve efficiency. I am a clinical person and provide high quality care to patients every day. Being a clinical person, I do not have the time, or the expertise, that Gordon specializes his work around every day. He met with our team and took the time to completely understand how our department functions. He provided us with data tracking methods, and we collaborated on improvement ideas.
From the data he provided flow sheets, graphs, and tools to provide a detailed overview. He helped us look at things from a different perspective and was able to work with our team and get their feedback on how to make things better.
Gordon is very professional and very easy to work alongside. I always looked forward to our meetings. He has taught me a more thorough approach when facing processes that are causing issues. This has been very valuable to me and our team.”
– Clinic Supervisor who worked with Gordon