Improving A Process

We have undertaken many process improvement projects with a variety of clients and believe that they share some common characteristics. We have always found that staff buy-in to the changes is greatly enhanced by their involvement in all stages of the improvement exercise.

We have seen how effective part-time teams, even those who only work 2 hours a week, can be in identifying the problems in a process and coming up with the ideas for improvements. We can add value by acting as facilitators and trainers for such teams.

We have found it is important to identify which of the two main ways to improve a process will be used:

• Redesign (or reengineer) the entire process

• Improve the current process

It is important to distinguish between the two because it will not only impact on the approach that is to be taken, but also on the composition of the client team assembled to do the job.

In essence, process redesign requires fundamental changes to the process along its whole length, incorporating the benefits of new technology available through modern information systems and automation.

Process improvement can take a number of forms, but is essentially the analysis, and improvement, of the process in its current form. This can include radical changes to parts of the process, but the team will be given imposed limits on what cannot be changed, e.g. the computer system.

The boundary between large scale improvement projects and redesign can become blurred, as one evolves into the other. However, if senior management do not have a clear idea of the focus of the project, the overall approach taken may be inappropriate. For instance the team:

• Believes its remit is wider than it really is

• Restricts itself to small improvements when a fundamental rethink is required

• Members are drawn from the wrong level in the organisation

• Has a lack of clarity about goals and so team morale and effectiveness suffers

• Does not have the requisite skills to achieve the objectives set for them