Role purpose
Within the Design & Agile Enablement Chapter Area, the Friction Hunting Program Lead is responsible for designing, launching and scaling a company-wide Friction Hunting movement that enables Proximus to systematically identify, prioritize and eliminate customer and employee friction.
The purpose of the role is not to solve individual frictions. Instead, the role designs and embeds the mechanisms, behaviours, governance, reporting and engagement model that make friction hunting a natural part of daily work across tribes, squads and enabling functions.
The role operates at the intersection of strategy, execution, experimentation and change, ensuring that improvements in flow, speed and automation are validated early, scaled deliberately, and embedded structurally.
The Friction Hunting Program Manager acts as the architect and steward of the Friction Hunting operating model. They create the conditions for every collaborator to become an active contributor to continuous improvement by making friction visible, actionable and measurable.
The role combines service design, change management, community building and program leadership to transform friction hunting from an isolated initiative into a recognized Proximus flagship capability that drives customer value, employee engagement and operational excellence.
The Program Manager operates as a system integrator role, not as a delivery or people management layer. For the duration of the program, they act as the single structural interface between the chapter area and sponsors for that improvement domain, ensuring clarity, continuity, and visible ownership independent of the individual filling the role.
Key responsibilities
Program framing using state-of-the-art design and scoping methodologies
- Builds a deep understanding of the current as‑is situation relevant to the program
- Identifies structural bottlenecks, delays, dependencies, inefficiencies and missed opportunities.
- Defines a clear program scope, ambition and boundaries, focused on outcomes rather than activities.
- Crafts a compelling program narrative:
- why change is needed now
- what will improve concretely
- what risks exist if the status quo remains
- Creates and maintains a shared sense of urgency grounded in business and delivery impact.
Program design, roadmap, PoCs and sponsorship alignment
- Defines the program roadmap with clear sequencing and logical milestones.
- Establishes:
- capacity and skill needs
- contributor landscape across chapters, tribes and enabling functions
- KPIs and success metrics
- governance and decision structure
- cross-role collaboration model and clear accountability boundaries across the end-to-end delivery flow
- Identifies where proof of concepts (PoCs) are needed to validate assumptions, test approaches or de‑risk decisions.
- Defines the scope, success criteria, duration and learning objectives of PoCs.
- Identifies program sponsors and key stakeholders.
- Validates scope, roadmap, capacity, contributors, KPIs and PoC approach with sponsors and stakeholders.
- Ensures explicit sponsorship, ownership and decision clarity before and during execution.
End‑to‑end change, PoC execution & delivery leadership
- Leads the program implementation with contributors across organisational boundaries.
- Leads the execution of PoCs with a clear learning‑before‑scaling mindset.
- Ensures PoCs:
- are limited in scope and time
- generate concrete insights and evidence
- inform go / no‑go / adapt decisions
- Drives change end‑to‑end using a structured ADKAR approach:
- awareness and alignment on the why
- engagement and ownership
- enablement and capability building
- practical application and support
- reinforcement and sustainability
- Takes ownership of communication, stakeholder engagement and alignment.
- Actively addresses resistance, fears and adoption challenges rather than bypassing them.
- Ensures that successful PoCs are deliberately transitioned into scaled solutions and sustainable practices.
- Ensures that insights, practices, and capabilities emerging from the program and its PoCs are structurally embedded into guild standards and chapter ways of working, in close collaboration with Guild Leads, Scalers and Chapter Owners
Progress steering, transparency and impediment removal
- Frequently reports program progress, PoC learnings, outcomes and KPIs to sponsors, stakeholders, and to the (extended) Chapter Area Staff.
- Makes progress, risks, trade‑offs and delays visible and discussable.
- Uses PoC outcomes to support fact‑based decision‑making.
- Identifies and mitigates program risks early.
- Removes impediments or escalates them when they exceed the program’s control.
- Aligns continuously on priorities and next steps as reality evolves.
Continuous adaptation and learning
- Continuously adapts program direction based on delivery reality, PoC results and stakeholder feedback.
- Uses PoCs and iterative delivery as learning instruments, not as proofs of pre‑decided solutions.
- Balances discipline with pragmatism, keeping focus on outcomes rather than plans.
- Ensures the program remains relevant and value‑driven over time.
OKR‑based steering and rolling‑wave planning
- Structures the program using clear OKRs aligned with strategic priorities.
- Applies iterative and incremental quarterly rolling‑wave planning.
- Uses OKRs as an active steering mechanism, not only as a reporting framework.
- Integrates PoC learnings into quarterly planning and reprioritisation.
- Maintains alignment between ambition, capacity and execution over time.
Transparency, documentation and system continuity
- Documents scope, roadmap, dependencies, decisions, PoCs and progress in TargetProcess.
- Ensures information remains current and accessible to support alignment and continuity.
- Uses documentation as a tool for clarity, coherence and collective ownership rather than bureaucracy.
- Designs governance, decision logic, metrics, and steering mechanisms so that program outcomes and capabilities persist without dependency on individual heroics.
Success looks like
Success is achieved when Friction Hunting is no longer perceived as an initiative, but as a natural and recognized way of working across Proximus.
Employees and leaders actively identify, report and discuss customer and employee frictions as part of their daily work. Friction Hunting becomes embedded within squads, tribes and supporting functions, creating a culture where exposing obstacles is seen as a contribution to improvement rather than criticism.
A Recognizable Proximus Flagship
- Friction Hunting is widely recognized across the organization as a flagship initiative.
- Tribes understand its purpose, how it works and how they can contribute.
- Collaborators are proud to participate and regularly share opportunities for improvement.
- Success stories are visible and celebrated across the company.
Embedded in the Day-to-Day
- Friction Hunting is integrated into standard squad and tribe practices.
- Teams proactively identify and discuss friction through existing ceremonies, governance processes and collaboration channels.
- The operating model is sustainable and does not depend on a central team driving every action.
- Teams understand both the why and the how behind the changes and can apply them autonomously.
An Active Friction Ecosystem
- Employees, frontline teams and customer-facing functions continuously contribute friction insights.
- Existing channels, tools and communities are leveraged effectively to capture signals and opportunities.
- Frictions are visible, traceable and managed transparently.
- Teams can easily understand the status, priority and outcomes of reported frictions.
Measurable Impact
- A growing number of customer and employee frictions are identified, analysed and prioritized.
- A meaningful percentage of prioritized frictions are addressed by the responsible teams.
- Friction Hunting contributes to measurable improvements in customer experience, employee experience and operational efficiency.
- A single source of truth exists for all reported frictions.
Long-Term Sustainability
- Stakeholders across tribes, chapters, and enabling functions actively co own outcomes rather than delegating responsibility.
- Executive stakeholders regularly use Friction Hunting insights to inform decision-making and prioritization.
- Friction Hunting is recognized as a strategic contributor to continuous improvement and customer-centricity.
