Category: Process Improvement

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Process Improvement

Making Process Improvements Stick

Starting with Frederick Taylor and W. Edwards Deming, managers have long been obsessed with ways to improve business processes. And in the past 20 years a host of improvement initiatives, including lean production, Six Sigma, and agile, have swept through a range of industries. Studies show that companies embracing such techniques may enjoy significant improvements in efficiency and costs. But when the University of North Carolina’s Brad Staats and the University of Oxford’s Matthias Holweg and David Upton looked at the benefits, they noticed a gap. “These things always work well initially, but often the gains fade very quickly,” Holweg says. “It’s always felt like researchers were telling only half the story. It’s not just about putting the programs in place—it’s also about making them stick.”

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Process Improvement Systems Thinking

Uniting Process Improvement “Religions”

When they set out to turn around processes that have become woefully inefficient or ineffective, most companies choose one of four process improvement “religions”: Lean, Six Sigma, Business Reengineering or Business Process Management (BPM). After hearing about its success at another organization, many companies choose just one. For example, several companies embarked on Six Sigma programs after their CEO heard about GE’s success with the approach, and many other companies have adopted Lean because of Toyota’s success. It’s like adopting a diet or exercise program that a friend has used and lost 50 pounds.

But some companies realize they need to go beyond making episodic improvements. They try to institutionalize process improvement — that is, put in place the right mechanisms in their management systems so that their business processes don’t become grossly unproductive in the future. That is, they try to build continuous improvement into their DNA. It’s like the difference between going on crash diets every two years and fundamentally changing one’s eating and exercise habits.

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Change Management Organizational Improvement Process Improvement

Think local to stay ahead of the competition

As we move into the new decade, Forrester is identifying forces that will require organizations to rethink the one-size-fits-all model and move to an approach that shifts the balance to more local-specific services and delivery.

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Organizational Improvement Process Improvement Systems Thinking

Are You Doing SWOT Analysis Backwards?

SWOT analysis is a recognized tool to identify an organization, product, or service’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Yet, despite the tool’s wide use, it’s often conducted ineffectively, making the analysis less than insightful with no clear path to action. Part of the problem lies in focusing on internal factors — strengths and weaknesses — first. But by turning it on its head, you can conduct a better analysis that can result in more actionable strategic recommendations. First, gather an inventory of relevant environmental conditions — the threats and opportunities. Next, explore internal strengths and weaknesses. Finally, generate recommendations using this simple sentence: “Given the condition of [external factor], our ability to [internal factor] leads to our recommendation that we [recommendation].” By looking at the external conditions first and internal internal attributes second, you will generate a better set of clear-cut and supported ideas for moving forward.

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Organizational Improvement Personal Improvement Process Improvement

Quarterly Think Day – Reenergize, Plan, and Set Priorities

It is very, very easy to get lost in the day-to-day. There’s always some fire to put out, or some recurring task that needs doing, which makes it hard to focus on big-picture stuff.

This is what a Quarterly Think Day is all about. The idea is to take time and space to reflect, learn, and prioritize for the next three to six months. I learned about this concept from Jessie Link, VP of Engineering at Twitter, at a LeadDev Together conference session on personal development.

I decided to try it out. I found it a good way to prioritize, think strategically, and re-energize. I’m going to talk about what I learned, but first, let’s talk about how to plan your own Quarterly Think Day.

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Agile Transformation Change Management Process Improvement

Best Practices for Instant Messaging @ Work

The benefits of instant messaging tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom have become quickly obvious. There’s just one problem: We’re still figuring out how to properly, and professionally, communicate via IM. Organizations should begin to adopt best practices, such as carefully choosing which systems to use, ideally ones already favored by employees; setting ground rules around personal messages; respecting work-life balance by creating norms around appropriate response times; and encouraging face-to-face communication as well.

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Change Management Organizational Improvement Personal Improvement Process Improvement Systems Thinking

Three Lessons Every Business Can Learn From SpaceX

Even if you’re not launching humans into space, here’s three lessons every business can learn from SpaceX. 

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