Category Archives: Project Management

Problem Solving, Process Improvement, Project Management

Tools for Solving Problems

puzzle

Persistent problems cannot be solved by repeatedly using the same knowledge and insights. Or, as Albert Einstein phrased it, we can’t solve the problems at the same level of thinking with which we created them!

Few decisions have a greater impact on the likelihood of success of an improvement project than the definition of the problem.

Stephen Covey says that the way we see the problem is the
problem.

Dr. Don Wetmore of the Productivity Institute says that a problem well defined is at least 50% solved!

However you choose to look at it, the way we define and communicate the problem the team is expected to solve will greatly influence the speed and efficiency with which a team will complete its work, the
degree of satisfaction between the team and the project sponsor, and the efficacy with which an organization prioritizes and sequences the problems to devote resources to.

So the first key step to problem solving is to define the problem. Four key best practices for doing so are:

  1. Write it down and share it
  2. Quantify the waste it is causing
  3. Be specific about the metric you are using to size the problem
  4. Avoid judgments or opinions about root causes

Once a problem is well defined, it is often best to use classic problem-solving tools to examine current reality from a variety of different angles. This will most often require the use of multiple tools to reveal more advanced insights and solutions, as in many cases no one tool will provide all the answers. These tools can include:

  • Pareto Charts to explore ideas about possible causes
  • Process Mapping to spot and quantify the waste and trace it to the primary cause
  • Cause and Effect Diagramming to stretch beyond initial ideas about possible root causes
  • Histograms to provide new insights into the dynamics of process performance
  • Run Charts to understand current process performance and distinguish between random variation and special causes
  • Scatter Diagrams to clarify the importance of possible causal factors on results measurements
  • Affinity Diagrams to find breakthrough ideas and natural relationships among the data
  • Priority Matrices to consider alternatives and identify the right things to work on
  • Interrelationship Digraphs to visually demonstrate the relationship among factors—causal factors (drivers) vs. symptoms
Continuous Improvement, Culture building, Execution, Leadership, Process Improvement, Project Management

Staying & Steering the Course

ship's wheel

Statistically, most Continuous Improvements (CI) initiatives fail. Many never truly get started, and many more are abandoned mid-term.

However, with proper guidance you can emerge as a true leader in your marketplace and reap the ongoing and significant benefits associated with a culture of continuous improvement.

To accomplish this, the most successful organizations establish an infrastructure to maintain focus once projects are launched; to monitor progress and maintain momentum until continuous improvement goes beyond “just projects” and becomes a way of life.

When organizations start anything which will affect almost everyone, strong leadership is key. It helps to have a Steering Committee of senior leaders to provide energy and leadership, keep focus and monitor progress. So it is with Continuous Improvement.

But infrastructure does not mean bureaucracy! The key is to provide the structure for focus and organizational visibility, but to be nimble and lean to respond quickly to organizational needs.

We help you decide on the right structure for your organization, including roles & responsibilities, resources needed and how best to operate.

We have found that these components are essential for long term success:

Corporate Level:
  • C I Steering Committee (made up of senior leaders)
  • A corporate CI Champion
 Regional or Facility Level:
  • CI Steering Committee at each region or location
  • A CI Coordinator at each region or location
  • Facilitators available at each region or location
Continuous Improvement, Project Management

Keeping Your New Year Plan On Track

strategic plan

Continuing with our previous post’s them of implementing strategic or New Year plans, many people struggle to keep those plans on track.

If your organization has experienced this challenge, take heart, because it is much more common than one might think!

In fact, we have also noticed that regardless of the specific methods used for making improvements, strategic plans or longer-term initiatives aimed at gaining greater efficiency, quality, speed, and/or customer delight have two important things in common:

  • They generally produce some improvements
  • Then they peter out

Based on our research and experience, there are some common reasons why these improvement efforts lose steam.

The most common pitfall is unclear or delegated leadership.

improvement projects or plans must be fully embraced by every line manager. Delegating the effort to a Quality Manager, HR leader, strategic planning manager, or other staff person, is very likely to lead the effort to fizzle.

John Kotter, a recognized pioneer in the field of leading change, uses the term ‘guiding coalition’ to describe a powerful and strategic group that works together to bring about the desired changes within an organization. The team must be committed to the achievement of a continuously improving culture. It should include a majority of the most powerful people in the organization and may also include some people who may not be a part of senior management.

The next culprit is insufficient communication. Leadership must continue to communicate at every possible opportunity and every possible way why continuous improvement must become part of the organization’s DNA.

The vision must be clear and simple, and throughout the organization, people in leadership positions should constantly communicate the importance of the plan and the progress to date. Successes must be widely shared, learnings must be plowed back into the organization to accelerate results, and new opportunities to become better at improving should be identified and clearly communicated. New employees must hear the why, the how, the history, and the vision of what’s next.

Finally, neglecting alignment is a sure way to undermine a comprehensive improvement effort.

Every one of us has our own personal goals and objectives in addition to the goals and objectives of our organization as a whole and our job in particular. When these get out of alignment, progress will stop.

For example, a natural and intended outcome of most process improvement is the ability to do more with less — often with less people-time. Instantly, we have a conflict between the organization’s goals for cost saving and people’s need for income retention. And processes cannot be effectively improved or improvements effectively sustained without the support of the people doing the work. Not coincidentally, the company with the longest history of a continuously improving culture, Toyota Motors, promises employees a very high level of job security.

The leadership must think several moves ahead to both maintain alignment and to capture financial gains from productivity improvements. The choice of where to focus improvement efforts is probably the most critical.

Among the best areas on which to focus are:

  • Aim improvement methods to address the constraint to sales.
  • Improve productivity in the parts of the organization with too much work, in order to eliminate the need to hire.
  • Improve productivity in an area where people have the skills that, if freed up, could be transferred to departments with too much work or that have had attrition.
  • Improve non-people costs, such as energy, scrap, paper waste, and work with suppliers to identify ways to reduce costs.
Process Improvement, Project Management, Theory Blindness

what’s your plan for avoiding theory blindness?

plan

Our previous post described the pitfall of “theory blindness,” and explained how, with good intentions, people can fall prey to it.

A sure way to avoid this pitfall is to adhere to a defined improvement methodology — one that goes well beyond the common (most often ineffective) two-step approach of:

  1. Someone in a position of authority comes up with an improvement idea
  2. The idea is immediately implemented

Instead, a more elaborate improvement process or plan will incorporate a systematic search for new knowledge and understanding in order to arrive at a solution that addresses the root cause of whatever problem we are hoping to solve or whatever process we’re hoping to improve.

Take, for example, the first six steps of the 8-step methodology we apply:

  1. First, we identify and quantify what to work on. After gathering a lot of ideas and opinions about opportunities, we prioritize and then quantify. Quantification helps us in two ways: it helps us set aside our pet ideas for improvement (theories) that simply are not supported by the facts, and it helps us proceed with appropriate urgency on the highest impact opportunities.
  2. Next, we put together a team of people who can study the opportunity for improvement from a variety of perspectives. We include input from both customers and suppliers of the process (internal and, when possible, external) which helps us overcome theory-blindness, because people who can see the process from different perspectives can help us spot the flaws in our theory.
  3. Third, we gather facts and data about the current situation. This step can be difficult for those who entered the project with a preconceived solution – but when a sufficient number of relevant facts and data are surfaced, they most often serve as effective treatments for theory blindness.
  4. Fourth, we analyze root causes: thinking expansively and systematically about possible causes and then critically examining each possibility.
  5. The fifth step is to implement, but we’re not finished yet!
  6. Step six is to study the results. Because we started the process with a good baseline measurement, when we study the results, we will either confirm a successful improvement or not. We can then complete the final steps and move on to the next project!
Engagement, Process Improvement, Project Management

Why employee engagement matters more now

engagement around the work

A recent article shared by Gallup indicated that 36% of the U.S. workforce is engaged in their work. Surprisingly, this statistic is higher than it has been for many years, though the number itself is typically perceived as disappointing. However, Gallup also says that globally, only 20% of employees are engaged at work.

Equally important, their findings indicate the percentage of actively disengaged employees in the U.S., has risen to 15% through June 2021. Actively disengaged employees cost businesses a lot… higher turnover, more safety issues, more absenteeism, and so on; they generally “report miserable work experiences and are generally poorly managed. They also tend to bring-down their coworkers.

Why Now?
The reason workforce engagement has emerged as more important now is that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says employee turnover or “quit rates” are reaching record highs, and Gallup research has found “substantial differences in intentions to change employers as a function of the quality of the work environment.”

“Among actively disengaged workers in 2021, 74% are either actively looking for new employment or watching for openings. This compares with 55% of not engaged employees and 30% of engaged employees,” the article states.

With this fact in mind, and despite the recent rise in engagement levels, with only 36% of U.S. employees engaged in their work, there is much room for improvement.

The first step in this improvement process is to formalize an employee engagement plan, and to do so in the same fashion as one would implement a continuous process improvement initiative:

  • Get acceptance and buy-in from senior leaders. Little will be accomplished without this; the best results are achieved when leaders understand the benefits of engagement and take action.
  • Create a formalized implementation plan and establish performance measures so that progress can be tracked. Develop realistic, achievable, and measurable goals and objectives.
  • Work with the leaders so that they can model the right behaviors and cascade the concepts throughout the organization.
  • Create and equip project teams to identify and quantify opportunities for improvement.
  • Foster an atmosphere of collaboration, innovation, continuous improvement, and fun. Increases in productivity yield increases in engagement.
  • Make sure people have the knowledge and skills needed to succeed.
  • Implement an appropriate integrated communication plan, reinforcing the concept of improving both the “work and workplace.”
  • Reward and recognize people so that they feel supported in their efforts.
  • Measure results and ROI… and keep your foot on the gas!
Continuous Improvement, Project Management

Before Launching an Improvement Project…

preparation

As a final installment to this short series of posts about increasing the likelihood of an improvement project’s success, it’s important to recognize the importance of up-front work.

Effective planning, even before the launch, was emphasized as critical to success during a discussion with our Partners in Improvement. Some of the key components of this planning include defining the right problem statement, scope, timeframe, and team.

One of the Partners explained that, in his organization, all project charters are required to go through a rigorous review by corporate as well as visiting the location and team beforehand to get the specifics and facilitate good communication.

Another emphasized the importance of having a charter, no matter how simple the project, that sets out the timeline. The charter should clearly identify why we are here and what the target date for completion is. This is hard to predict at the outset when the team has much to investigate, but it is important to have a vision of an end point not too far in the future to keep the scope tight. Set near-term milestones.

Similarly, one organization has implemented the practice of having the team leaders circulate problem statements to other experienced leaders before they start and ask the others to take shots at it — identify where the gaps are, where it lacks specificity in a way that will make it more difficult to define a tight scope. Identifying these hazards up front is likely to make the project more expedient and successful.

Most importantly, and as all of our Partners agreed, managing scope is a must for speed and success.

Apply the Pareto mentality (backed up, of course, with Pareto data), to focus on the 20% of the problem that will provide the biggest bang for the buck. One of the most common causes of slow results is failure to decide on a tight scope that can be addressed within 8 to 12 weeks. Often one needs to gather and study some data in order to decide on a narrow scope, and this often should be done before launching an improvement project. Sometimes a small group may be convened to quickly gather and study the data so that an appropriate improvement team can be launched.

The Bottom Line Summary
To sum it up, in order to ensure on-going success an organization must make sure that its measurement systems, rewards, recognitions, and communications systems support CI.

But more than that, one must make sure that management behavior itself supports CI.

Continuous Improvement, Project Management

8 Ways to Increase the Success Rate of Improvement Projects

Continuous Improvement

Our previous post shared a number of reasons why so many improvement projects fail or fall short of expectations.

Fortunately, there are a number of solutions to prevent the
downward spiral that can so easily plague improvement efforts, which we discussed during a meeting with our improvement Partners. These principles include the following:

Success! The first principle for making a project successful is simple: nothing succeeds like success. So start out with carefully selected projects staffed with highly qualified people to ensure they are successful. Give the earlier projects careful guidance and support. One of our Partners described an initiation process which started with 10 carefully selected and well trained individuals. They put five on one project and five on the other. Once those projects were complete, they launched five more improvement projects with two of their 10 trained leaders per project. This plan was designed to ensure early successes.

Communication About Success. The second principle is “advertising.” If a team applies the CI methodology to great success but no one hears about it, the methodology as “the way we do things around here” will be slow to catch on. Newsletters, presentations, story boards and discussions at staff meeting and water coolers are all ways to communicate success and make sure that everyone learns from it and is ready to try for some more.

Speed to Results. But an organization will not have many successes to advertise, if it does not make speed to results a priority. Once you start an improvement project, make sure that the project manager and the team run like heck to finish it. The more demanding the environment and more rapidly new challenges arise, the more critical it is that every effort be on the fast track to completion — before something arises to change priorities.
To the extent possible, compress the cycle time to results. Use Kaizen events and focused teams to tackle manageable chunks in short time frames.

Data. Use data to really understand the current reality and to test theories about underlying causes. The data will help you minimize the red herrings and wrong turns. People will want to substitute opinions for data because that is the way they have always worked. But the facts and data will help the team zero in on the real cause and the best solution more quickly than trial and error based on opinion. One of our partners observed that people will often create a flow chart, but then fail to get the facts about the process. A flow chart is just one step and is not really complete until it has been validated and populated with real data.

Keep It Simple. Keep the data analysis as simple as possible. Complicated is not necessarily better and it is almost always slower! A great deal can be learned from Pareto charts looking at the data from different angles — to rule out or confirm theories about the underlying dynamics and relationships.

Management Support. Pay attention to the soft side, making sure that management meets with the teams and individuals regularly. One CEO meets one-on-one with his leaders once a month and the sole topic is how the improvement project is going and what can he do to speed progress. Lots of visibility and encouragement for people working on systematic improvement helps to maintain interest, enthusiasm, and momentum.

Team Enthusiasm. One CEO lets his team leaders pick the project — focusing on what really ‘frosts’ them. This gains the enthusiasm for the work and results in quick wins.

Team Training. Most Partners believe that nearly everyone in the company needs some basic training. But team leaders need to be very well trained, so that they can ensure that the team follows the methodology, asks the right questions, gathers the right data, stays on track, and keeps the interest and engagement of the rest of the team. Choose team leaders very carefully.

In addition to the above-listed solutions for running an effective improvement initiative, there are several things that an organization can do before launching a project that can increase the likelihood of success. These best practices will be the subject of our next post…

Continuous Improvement, Project Management

Why Improvement Initiatives Often Fail

brick wall

During a discussion with several of our improvement partners, it was noted that approximately 80% of the time Continuous Improvement efforts fail or are abandoned prior to achieving their potential.

We also discussed a set of barriers that could lead to failure, which included:

  • Low aim, poor advance planning or scoping
  • Lack of data during the planning stage
  • Lack of buy-in from management
  • Lack of buy-in from participants
  • Lack of management support, which is required to free up the resources to work on improvement
  • Lack of progress due to ineffective or inconsistent execution. The slower the effort moves, the more likely it becomes that priorities will change, new opportunities or problems arise that decrease available resources further.
  • Poor meeting management, causing slower progress.
  • Participants need for skill development

A number of solutions to the above-listed challenges were also discussed, which will be the subject of our next post.

Execution, Process Improvement, Project Management

Implementing a New Year Strategic Plan?

implementation

In a 2018 post we noted that an organization can have an excellent strategy but make little-or-no gains if they fail to execute effectively on that strategy.

It was also noted that this happens in a great many instances, as people at all levels frequently struggle to stay-the-course when it comes to achieving goals, keeping resolutions, or executing strategic plans. Instead, they fall prey to “working so hard on the urgent that they forget about what’s really important.”

Since we are about to begin a New Year, and since many organizations have, in fact, created a strategic plan for the upcoming year, it seems an ideal time to re-share and reaffirm the fact that “planning” does little good without execution. Fortunately, there are solutions!

The Four Disciplines of Execution, an insightful book written by Sean Covey, Chris McChesney, and Jim Huling, shares one of these solutions.

As you may know, the ‘Four Disciplines’ comprise a management system of making consistent and systematic progress on executing plans and achieving goals. An organization can have an excellent strategy but fail to execute effectively on that strategy. Almost always the reason is that everyone is BUSY, and that they experience a conflict between all of the demands to keep the business running on a day to day basis (the ‘whirlwind’) and the time required to move the organization forward to accomplish existing or new goals!

The book identifies four key elements of execution that can help any organization achieve steady progress on the strategic objectives:

The first discipline is to focus on the “wildly important” (WIG—Wildly Important Goals). It is suggested that we’re better off executing a small number of goals right instead of spreading ourselves too thin. It is also important to not only identify, but also communicate exactly what these wildly-important goals are so that everyone is working on what matters. Equally as important, each of these goals must be associated with a targeted completion date – in other words, they must be time-based.

The 2nd discipline is to set (and act upon) lead measures. While lag measures tell you whether or not you have achieved your wildly-important goals, in most cases, by the time the results are in, it’s too late to do anything about them. Lead measures are predictive; they tell you how the lag measures will move, and they are “influenceable” (you can do something about them).

For example, a person might set an important goal of losing weight. The lag measure will be to take periodic measurements of weight. But to influence the weight goal the person must act on the lead measures: exercise (calories burned) and calories consumed.

The 3rd discipline is to keep a compelling scorecard. The scoreboard shows the lead measures and lag measures defined in the first two disciplines. This scoreboard must be ‘a players’ scoreboard’ not a ‘coach’s scoreboard’. It must support, guide, and motivate the players to act effectively on the lead measures and influence the lag measures.

People play the game differently when they are keeping score, and they play differently if they are keeping the score themselves! In fact, the action of recording their own results has proved to have a strong effect on people ― fostering ownership, engagement, and a deeper appreciation of the impact of their effort.

In addition, there are four important requirements to creating an effective scorecard that will truly promote execution and engagement:

  • The scorecard must be visible. If it is out of sight, on your computer or on the back of the door, it is less effective at aligning the team to focus on moving those measurements.
  • It must be simple, showing only the data required to ‘play the game’ ― to let the players know how they are doing day to day.
  • It must show both lead and lag measures.
  • It must show “at a glance” how the team or players are doing.

The 4th discipline is to develop a “rhythm of accountability.” This is the discipline that enables you to win… without a rhythm or cadence of accountability, teams will have a much more difficult time and will tend to become less engaged. The threat, of course, is that the whirlwind of running the day-to-day business that will consume all the available time.

By setting a rhythm or cadence the authors mean an inviolable regular schedule to which everyone is committed. For example, teams should meet every week or every two weeks as opposed to “whenever something comes up.” It’s also best to schedule the meetings at the same day and time each week or every-other week. These meetings should never be canceled ― they must be viewed as important and productive, thus promoting strong feelings of belonging, commitment, productivity, and accomplishment, which are all drivers of engagement.

As noted in the book, “without accountability, the whirlwind will win!”

Like many things in life, these elements are simple but not necessarily easy… but they do enable an organization to more easily achieve important goals in the face of the whirlwind.

Continuous Improvement, Project Management

Improvement Project Success Predictor

improvement tools

Our previous post focused on defining and scoping an improvement project prior to launch. Another useful pre-launch tool, which was created by our consulting team, is a “success predictor.”

The “success predictor” distills a century or two of collective experience with what characteristics are most necessary for an improvement project’s success – in other words, it can help to prioritize options and increase the likelihood of working on the right things.

The following eleven factors can predict with a fair degree of accuracy how likely a project is to succeed:

  1. The potential benefit of the project to the organization is clear, substantial and quantifiable. (10 = very clear, quantifiable, substantial)
  2. The problem to be solved is clearly defined and quantifiable, and the project scope is focused and well-defined. (10 = very clear, focused, and well-defined)
  3. The project has top management’s commitment and support (resources, sponsorship and follow-up); no influential person is actively opposed to the project. (10 = very strong support)
  4. The sponsor and team leader are clear about each one’s role and partner effectively to ensure the success of the project. (10 = very clear)
  5. The team leader and key resources are devoting enough of their time to the project to complete it very quickly. (10= full time)
  6. The team is staffed and led by the right people for the job, and they are determined and capable to quickly achieve results. (10 = very determined and capable)
  7. Meaningful and accurate facts and data about the process are available. (10 = very available)
  8. The process to be improved is repeated frequently enough to efficiently study variation in the current process and to and test and measure improvements. Hourly? Monthly? Annually? (10 = very frequently).
  9. The processes to be improved are within the team’s span of control. (10 = under control).
  10. The expected timeframe for completion of the project or for achieving concrete and measurable milestones. (10 = 4-8 weeks to completion or measurable milestone)
  11. The processes are stable, that is not undergoing very recent or imminent major change (10 = very stable).