Kathy DeCocq, Process Guru
accountability with purpose
I was Born to Optimize!
Welcome to Savvy Maven. This company is a natural extension of what I love to do best: Improve processes for individual executives at companies in professional services industries. My approach is to learn what executives are struggling with; tune into their vision of what an efficient and dynamic company looks like; then, create customized solutions that work.
My first foray into the realm of efficiency began in childhood. I developed strategies that would help me minimize time spent doing chores and maximize what I loved best: play time. The satisfaction of heading to the park well before my sister ingrained in me my love for processes that make life easier and more efficient. That’s why it’s no surprise that I pursued a BS in Industrial Engineering and an MBA – both centered on efficiency.
In my professional life, I’ve spent more than two decades helping executives from large, global companies become more efficient with everything from manufacturing lines to services.
But the implementation of modern, state-of-the-art ideas wasn’t always easy for corporations accustomed to antiquated approaches and “the way we’ve always done things”. So I decided I wanted to take all my years of experience to those companies who truly needed the help and were defined by anything but the status quo.
What Clients are Saying about Savvy Maven
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The other experts had the technical knowledge, however; Kathy added a layer of understanding, innovation, and savvy business skills that made the difference.
/ Raoul Davis, CEO, Ascendant Group Branding firm /
Even as a kid, I had to be fast and first!
I remember when I was around 7 years old, my sister and I would get paid an allowance to help with chores. One of the chores we dreaded the most was picking weeds from the yard - it looked like a forest to us! We would each get a plastic grocery bag to fill, and we would earn one penny per weed that we picked. We had to pick hundreds of weeds to make it worth our effort. We used to love to play kickball, we were literally obsessed - every waking moment we were just waiting to play! It so happened that $3 would buy a new kickball at the local Smitty’s grocery store, so for the games to go on, we had to pick those weeds!
Here’s where my process mindset started to kick in, even at the tender age of 7! I wanted to be done picking weeds as fast as possible, so I could earn my $3 quickly, and get back to playing more kickball! I also might be slightly competitive and turned the chore into a contest with my sister, unbeknownst to her! While my sister traipsed through the yard picking random weeds, I found the most densely populated part of the yard and plopped down right in the middle of it. I picked as many weeds as I could (keeping count for the payday, of course!) while never moving from that one spot until it was bare. Needless to say, I always had my bag filled first and was back outside playing long before my sister joined me.
I wasn’t satisfied unless I was done fast and first, but I also wanted to have very high quality to avoid the dreaded rework. It was so embarrassing to be called back into the house because I had done a sloppy job of picking weeds. Trust me, that only happened once!
And the rest, as they say, is history! I am a process geek through and through, so it’s a natural fit for me to want to help others with my innate talents!