So who works for you? Do you have a team of hard-working, eager, experienced, and energetic CPI Practitioners out there making amazing things happen at record pace? Do they report directly to you, with no distractions to slow project completion? You know… those people who make your job so easy that your Process Improvement Program virtually runs itself?
If your experience is more like mine, this is not usually the case. Some of you may have a great team that makes it easy; others may feel like you are all alone on an uncharted island, begging for help from the native inhabitants when you feel like the only one who can plainly see their problems. Most likely you fall somewhere in between. So how do you counter the challenges you face? You have to find team members to perform project functions and it is usually the case that the people getting a paycheck in your company already have a job to do.
- One solution is a multidisciplinary team with members performing discrete functions spread over time. This can sometimes be easier to implement because it creates a relatively minor disruption to their departments. It is easier for managers to lose one person for a few hours a week than it is to lose multiple people for even a short time. Challenges do occur with this method, including (among others) ensuring adequate communication, adhering to time constraints, and keeping team sizes manageable. This is a common approach in the DMAIC framework.
- Another solution is the Rapid Improvement Event (or Kaizen). The narrow focus of these improvement efforts can lend themselves to a deeper commitment from a single process flow’s owners/contributors, and when planned carefully (as they always should be) they can have minimal impact on other processes. And yes, these projects can also involve a multidisciplinary team… It is all up to the process being improved and the planning that happens ahead of time.
- Most important is this: you can’t do it alone. It is absolutely essential to involve those who do the job in the act of improving the job. Without obtaining the buy-in from the process owners, your changes will likely never take root. Besides… No matter how smart you are, those people who run the process every day know things you don’t. Set your ego aside and understand that you don’t know everything (and you can’t do it without them).
Key takeaways include:
- You can’t (and shouldn’t even try) to do it all yourself.
- You have to lead your teams to success using the workforce available.
- You will have to guide improvement efforts to meet the unique challenges your organization presents.
Is there a number 4 you’d like to add to the list? Maybe a new number 1 to take a lead spot? Drop a comment below and share your experiences!