What is Operational Excellence?

Operational Excellence is about creating a culture where people are empowered, systems are optimized, and services evolve to meet the needs of our campus community. It means:

• Engaging employees in shaping how we work
• Delivering excellent, responsive service
• Using our resources wisely and sustainably
• Aligning operations with McMaster’s academic and research goals

The Operational Excellence Program

The Forum was part of a new initiative – the Operational Excellence Program – that aims to support the identification, prioritization, measurement, execution, and oversight of operational excellence initiatives across the institution, emphasizing broad collaboration and inclusiveness to drive cost savings and efficiencies.

The purpose of this program is to bring transparency to these projects and encourage cross-portfolio projects to drive change.

“Operational Excellence is our pathway to delivering smarter services that empower people and advance McMaster’s mission sustainably.” — VP, Saher Fazilat. “Through a culture of continuous improvement, staff across departments are piloting tools and workflows—from AI-enabled HR and financial automation to streamlined research support—leading to measurable gains in productivity and engagement.”