Isolated improvement Activity
When creating an improvement team it is essential that there is a clear view of how change activity consolidates to deliver a vision or”future state”. Without it the sum of the improvement activities does not add to a better organisation.
Sadly, this is a lesson I too had to learn in my past. We were working hard to make change and improve parts of the business but the leadership were never truly aligned and engaged. The leadership felt they had addressed the need for improvement by setting up the team and talked regularly about how important improvement is. They expected the team to get on with it and deliver the changes required to reduce costs, improve delivery times or quality, reduce overburden and so on.
They had ticked the improvement box by having the resource but they hadn’t engaged in setting a combined vision and helping the team to see where the business needed to go. As a result we went out and did what we could, making improvements and hoping our isolated results would convince the leadership to listen more so we could get to the conversation about needing a vision one day. It did not work. We had a few successes in isolation but that was as much about falling lucky on the right problem than anything else.
Using a Structure
Using a simple structure can really help to provide the approach that the business needs. The Castlefirth SAVE model has shown organisations that with structure and method you can achieve double-digit improvement.
- Size the opportunity to understand where to focus your effort
- Align the organisation to lead the change with a vision
- Value the plan so that it can be prioritised and structured to maximise the effect
- Execute the plan until the vision is complete and you can progress to the next opportunity
What is clear is that with the introduction to a system and some coaching on the technique for using it then real traction can be made. Every change made is part of a structured plan to bring the organisation to its next vision and people can see the effect they are having in contributing to that.