4 Steps of Continuous Improvement

In a previous article I introduced the topic of 4 Steps to Success After a Shared Service Start Up. In that article I discussed the first of the 4 steps: Managing the Day-To-Day. In this second of four articles we will discuss Continually Improving the Operation. Making a commitment to continue to improve your operation once you have it up and running is very important. It is not always an easy sell internally but you will see the payoff. There are 4 steps of Continuous Improvement: Opportunity Identification, Opportunity Evaluation, Solution Implementation, and Close Out. Opportunity Identification Every successful Continuous Improvement program has a process set up to solicit and capture opportunities. Solicit Opportunities: Set up a process of identifying new improvement ideas. Clearly communicate that process to the company. That process should include an active / reach out solicitation of those ideas. Gather Opportunity Information: It is also important to capture the details around those ideas in a more formal way. You may have a set form / format (Opportunities Definition Document) to collect the needed information about an idea. Maintain an ongoing list of ideas because their priority may change over time and you don’t want to loose track of any ideas. Compile the Opportunity Definition Documents: –Description Process Narrative Process Flow Volumes and Times Type: Business Operations, infrastructure, etc. Is this a part of a corporate initiative? –Problem Definition –Scope –Assumptions Opportunity Evaluation One of the hardest parts of evaluating the good ideas is that you have to prioritize. Evaluate First review the potential impact of the idea: What is the Return on Investment (ROI)? What is the Timing? What are the Potential Risks? What is the impact on the customer? What resources will be needed? Is there an internal political impact of this change? What is the technology impact? Then finish with the conclusions and recommendations. Pilot Next, will a pilot be required to prove the concept? You will want to talk to your company’s executives to see if you will need to do a pilot or if a business case will work. If a pilot is required, then here are some of the topics to consider: Communication to all interested parties Pilot Location Pre-visit data collection On-site data collection and documentation Running the pilot Measure and track results Analyze the results and write your report Revise your business case give the pilot results Once you have all of the results, review those findings with executives to get a sign-off to roll out the idea. That assumes that the pilot was a success. If not, then make appropriate adjustment to the program. The last step in this part of the project is to prioritize those ideas that have been given the Ok to rollout. Rollout Rolling out the new improvement is like keeping several balls in the air at once. However, if we break it down into its 3 key components of Schedule, Implement, and Track / Measure life becomes easier. Schedule Just as with any project implementation plan you must put together a comprehensive schedule to roll out a new process, idea, or improvement. There are several moving parts to the schedule: Communication to all stakeholders Process Introduction and Training Process cutover Consideration for work in process and whether to complete that work with the old process or immediately cut that work over as well. Implement Once the training has been completed and the process cutover takes place. The new process, idea, or improvement initially needs close monitoring to make sure that any issues are handled immediately. When everyone is satisfied with the results, the normal tracking / measuring and reporting tasks take over. Close Out The fourth component of Continuous Improvement is the Close Out, which consists of: –Team Debrief Record the Lessons Learned for future use. Record any suggestions for improvement when incorporating future improvements. –Measure Results Prepare the final Score Card on results Prepare the final Success Criteria Measurements Hand off tracking / measuring to the ongoing operation –Launch Next Phase Launch the next phase of this improvement if appropriate If not, then launch the next improvement idea for implementation Lessons Learned The last topic to cover is why continuous improvement programs fail, which should not surprise you, because you will have seen them in other types of initiatives / projects before. Executives are not bought into the program Insufficient or unqualified people resources Insufficient funding Cutting time line short Too many improvements are implemented at once You allow scope creep to impact you plan Trying to cram too much into one improvement implementation In summary, continuous improvement programs are a very valuable strategy to keep your organization fresh, competitive, and growing. It is not about forming teams, training people on the latest tool or method, creating complex databases, or analyzing forever. It is about RESULTS. [inlinead]

4 Steps of Continuous Improvement

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