Lean Tip #2536 – Don’t Try a Solution before
You Really Understand the Problem
You might start out believing you know where
the problem is in your processes. You might already have a solution in mind.
However, if you start out by changing processes without analyzing the problem,
you may find that the problem isn’t what you thought it was. You may even make
it worse.
Bring together people with different perspectives
on the problem in your process. Talk about what everyone thinks is going wrong
and listen to their ideas about solutions. It’s likely you’ll get insight you
didn’t anticipate so you can make better solutions.
Lean Tip #2537 – Mapping Can Be an Effective
Tool
Mapping your business processes is a formal way
to bring together everyone’s insight on the problem. It creates a consensus
view of what’s going on in your organization, and allows you to model the
impact of solutions on the entire process, not just the problematic step or
steps.
Lean Tip #2538 – Make Sure Technological
Solutions Actually Solve the Problem
Technology has solved so many problems it’s
easy to imagine that it can solve any problem. However, before you deploy any
technological solution, make sure that it will actually address the shortcoming
in your business process and not just give your team the tools to keep making
the same mistakes faster and more frequently.
Lean Tip #2539 – Make the Smallest Effective
Change
You want to make a change that will solve the
problem, but try to make business process changes as minimal as possible. The
more changes you make, the more time you will lose in retraining and
transitioning from the old process to the new process.
The more changes you introduce, the greater the
uncertainty about the effect of those changes. Making precise, targeted changes
to your process reduces the risk that unintended consequences can make you
worse off than you were before.
Lean Tip #2540 – Management Must Model the New
Rules
This should go without saying, but nothing will
undermine the effectiveness of but nothing will undermine a new business
process faster than management not following the new rules. The rules are
either there for everyone, or they’re there for no one.
Once management starts to “cheat” on the new
process, people take it as a sign that the process is no good, and everyone
will look for ways to cheat. Chaos will result as everyone is looking for
shortcuts and doing things the way they want them done (often the way that
sloughs the most work off their desk and onto someone else’s).
You have to stick to your new process long
enough for everyone to learn it thoroughly and follow it smoothly before you
can truly assess its impact.
Lean Tip #2541 – Don't Forget How Processes Interact
-- Think Global While Acting Local
While many processes stand alone, the chances
are good that every process is a part of a bigger whole. As your team begins to
consider the process at hand, don't lose sight of how that process integrates
with everything else. Plan for it. Make sure that you're not making something
else worse in an effort to solve a different problem. This may mean attacking
multiple processes at once in some cases. As you plan for improvements, step
back and from a high level, try to determine what will happen once proposed
changes are made.
Lean Tip #2542 – Look for Immediate Time Savings
In one project I led, in our very first
meeting, we did a quick, high-level process mapping to ensure that we have all
of the process stakeholders in the room. During that meeting, we discovered
that one of the process owners was spending about two days per month creating
reports for the next process owner in the chain and had been doing so for
years. The catch? The reports were never used. The person received them and
simply discarded them. Without a second thought, we nixed that step of the
process before we made any other changes. So there was an immediate, tangible
benefit resulting from the time we spent simply talking about the process.
You might not have to be too formal in your
efforts. Sometimes, just a bit of communication can yield huge time savings.
Lean Tip #2543 – Make Sure the Right People are
Involved
Make sure you include everyone who has a stake
in the process. If you don't, your efforts will fail. Those excluded will know
they've been excluded and will resist any proposed changes. Further, your
efforts won't be as complete as they otherwise could be.
Just because someone is involved doesn't mean
that that person will cooperate. I've been involved in process improvement
efforts with people who were less than cooperative, and it really affects the
possible outcomes. In every organization, I believe that people have a responsibility
for improving the workplace, which should be included in annual performance
reviews. If someone is truly combative just to resist the change, it should be
reflected there. That said, if people have valid points and you simply don't
agree, don't punish them! The goal here is inclusiveness, not divisiveness.
Lean Tip #2544 – Figure Out Your Measuring Stick
If you can't measure it, you can't fix it. You
must identify the metrics by which you will gauge process improvement project
success. The "pain" metric was probably determined when you figured
out which processes to attack first, but the success metric should also be
targeted. For example, are you trying to reduce customer on-hold time for
support to two minutes or less? Whatever your metric is, define it and measure
success against it.
Lean Tip #2545 – Don't Assume Automation
When people hear "business process
improvement," they often just assume that is code for "IT is going to
automate the process." That's certainly not always the case, although IT
systems will often play a large role in these efforts. It's just as likely that
non-IT-focused efforts will play as big a role as -- or a bigger role than --
IT-based systems.
Don't limit yourself. Think outside the system!
Lean Tip #2546 – Define the Change
Change is often not fully articulated at the
beginning of a change management process. Due to the iterative nature of
change, it may be necessary to not just define the change at the outset, but
redefine the change at various steps along the way. Updates should be provided
frequently to mitigate rumors, answer questions, and provide reassurance. The
faster change is happening, or if it begins to accelerate, the more frequent
updates should be.
Lean Tip #2547 – Celebrate the Old
All too often, old policies, programs,
strategies, and work are dismissed out of hand as a new direction unfolds. For
employees who worked hard on those items, this can be a major slap in the face,
erode morale, and lead to more concern. During a period of change, leaders
should recognize that such work happened, was important, and had meaning.
Underappreciated employees will have a harder time embracing new initiatives.
Lean Tip #2548 – Articulate Challenges
All changes come with risk of the unknown,
uncertainty, and other potential challenges. It is important that companies are
upfront about the challenges that may be faced. Even if those challenges have
not been fully identified and planned for, it is a good move to try and discuss
the potential challenges, the range of those challenges, and what the company
is doing or will do to address them.
Lean Tip #2549 – Find Key Influencers to Promote
Change
Every organization has key players who have
earned the respect of their coworkers, have longevity (and therefore
perspective), and are influential. Getting key players on board and letting
them act as a sounding board can help senior leaders better understand how
change is being perceived, refer recurring issues, and become advocates for the
change. Walking these influence-leaders through the change process and getting
them on board can help with communication and confidence during the change
period.
Lean Tip #2550 – Prepare for Roadblocks
No matter how thoroughly you prepare for
change, everything is not always going to go according to plan. You need to be
ready for a number of potential outcomes.
By doing your best to anticipate roadblocks,
you can take some of the mystery out of the equation. Empower your employees to
modify their behavior by removing the obstacles that prevent them from working
toward change. Once those hindrances are identified, even the most complex
problems can be addressed and corrected.
