1. Prioritize problems.  Use the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) to separate the trivial many from the vital few.  Sure 100 things are going wrong, but if you can concentrate on the most important problems first, some of the rest will just go away in the process.
2. Focus on problems you have control over.  Sort your issues based on how much control you have, for example: full control, partial control or no control.  Focus first on those problems you have full control over and ignore those you have no control over.  You have to fix your department problems first. Don’t try to solve problems in other areas before you have made sure your area is totally under control.
3. Utilize Root Cause Analysis.  Using a structure problem solving methodology like root cause analysis (RCA) ensures you are solving the right problem right.
4. Make decisions with Facts.  Opinions can lead you astray.  Be sure to collect data and make decision by hard facts.
5. Break the problem down.  Big problems are harder to solve.  Break the problem into manageable parts that can more easily be solved.
6. Use your team.  You are smarter as a group than as any one individual so empower your employees to involve your whole team to solve problems.
7. Break out of your paradigm.  Any problem can be solved using the right paradigm.  If you are up against an impossible problem then change your paradigm to find the solution.
8. Obtain objective input.  Sometimes a fresh new look at the problem from someone outside of your area can provide the insight missing to solve your problem.
9. Consider all possibilities.  Solutions that may not have worked in the past may work today.  Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking – if it was tried before it can’t work.  It might just work this time.
10. Hire a consultant. If all else fails, then maybe its time to hire a consultant.  Consultants bring an objective viewpoint free of your internal politics.  Consultants have a wider range of tools to use like value stream mapping.  And consultants have experience solving problems encountered at other companies.

Top 10 Ways Management Solves Problems

Value Stream Mapping

1. Prioritize problems.
2. Focus on problems you have control over.
3. Utilize Root Cause Analysis.
4. Make decisions with Facts.
5. Break the problem down.
6. Use your team.
7. Break out of your paradigm.
8. Obtain objective input.
9. Consider all possibilities.
10. Hire a consultant.

If you are having trouble improving your processes, certifying to ISO standards, or implementing lean, then contact Bizmanualz.  We will be happy to bring an objective viewpoint, improvement tools and experience gained from solving problems encountered at other companies.

We regularly send out e-mails, to continually keep our name in front of potential (and existing) customers. Some of us even have LinkedIn^TM and Facebook^TM pages (Figures 2, 3) where we invite not just commentary, but participation and engagement.

We have a plan for strategically managing our web presence. In that plan, we:

1. Establish SMART objectives;
2. Develop and implement the various aspects of our web presence (web pages, newsletters, social media, etc.);
3. Monitor, measure, and analyze to see if we’re meeting planned objectives;
4. Make changes to the plan, as needed, and implement them; and
5. Continue to monitor, analyze, change, ad infinitum.

Why does that 5-step plan look familiar? It’s the “Plan-Do-Check-Act” (PDCA) cycle! It’s how companies ensure product quality, continual improvement, and customers who are more than satisfied — they’re actually advocates!

Figure 1

Ask yourself, “Are we doing that?” Do we have a plan, or did we just throw something out there so we could say, “We have a web presence”?

Figure 2

Without a clear, comprehensive plan, your web presence can do you more harm than good. If you’re lucky, prospects and customers contact you about broken links, inconsistencies, and the occasional link to a product you discontinued months or years ago. In reality, most of your target market just “walks away” and never comes back.

Figure 3

The best advice I can give you is to establish a process of developing, implementing, and maintaining your company’s web presence before you build a single page online or send out a single e-mail. To do that, you need to understand:

• What your company stands for (its vision and mission);
• What you want to accomplish in the short and long term (i.e., what objectives you have for your web presence, specifically, and how – and if – those objectives tie into your company’s overall objectives);
• How extensive your web presence could (or should) be; and
• Why it’s important to establish a system of internal controls early and not let your efforts, accidentally or otherwise, go off target.

If you haven’t had a program for managing your web presence up to now — not a problem! There’s no reason to believe that because you’ve been working without one, you can’t implement one at any time. It may seem difficult at first, but the reward is unquestionably well worth the effort.

Take a few steps back and reevaluate your situation from a user’s perspective. If you have a particularly trustworthy customer, one you can count on to give you an unvarnished (but not a brutal) opinion, ask for their input. Find out whether they’re getting what they want from your web page and your social media. Find out if their objectives align with yours, and vice versa.

Refresh – reinvigorate – your web presence a little bit at a time. You don’t need to get everything done in a day or even a month or two. Work on the “low-hanging fruit” first, then move on to areas where your weaknesses aren’t so problematic.

And remember — stick with the plan! Keep reminding yourself — you only get one chance to make a first impression!

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If you see an inconsistency or error on another company’s web site, do you say anything or do you let it go? Does it make a difference if they’re a vendor/customer of yours or not?

Social Systems

Questions in the information age have been surfacing, causing rifts in the social system of the organization. Changes in thought are occurring as part of the cultural transformation. Work groups are forming as workers move away from linear processing (assembly lines) and toward other models and dynamics, yet we are glued to the computer more. Social interaction as our parents and grandparents knew it is on the decline. Organizations will be forced to adopt changes in order to survive in the fast-paced information age.

The mechanistic view of the universe is a relic of the scientific age. It represents society as it was, 100 and more years ago. Now, the thoughts, perceptions, and values that form that vision of reality are changing. The information age has begun and with it, a paradigm shift is under way. This represents a time of great opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop the new views.

History shows us that, as business becomes more expensive to operate the old way, new technologies are incorporated. Our friend John Diebold pointed out that information technology is an instrument of human change that has three stages:

• First, computers do the same job in a different way;
• Second, the job changes; and
• Third, a change in society occurs.

The third change can be seen happening today when hackers break into computers causing alarm over computer security. These types of changes are evident in the news and will continue to highlight the role — and the value — of information in society.

A second shift can be seen in the formation of networks and partnerships at the expense of hierarchical and bureaucratic forms of management. Businesses and their supply chains are having to work in unison to maintain a competitive advantage. The assembly line is on the decline and the rise of the work group is the new reality.

The original workforce was a gang — a semi-autonomous group under a gang leader who took responsibility for a piece of work. The advent of machines reshaped the gang around the assembly line of the new machines. Information technology has given workers the tools to form back into groups similar to the original workforce. But, as technology advances and is made available to the individual, these work groups will begin to dwindle to a single person or none at all.

The effect of the work group shrinking to fewer people will be that individuals will become more autonomous at the expense of social interaction and corporate loyalty. Smaller work groups will have a greater amount of technology about them and thus be able to work remotely. This could mean at home, in a car, plane, or boat. As people work away from the office, they risk losing touch with the people back at the office.

They are unable to socialize as well with the others and, as a result, their loyalty to the organization may decline. In addition, promotions are often based on social interaction; without it, people are at risk of being passed over for promotion. But, with the increase in worker independence comes an increase in job mobility. People will contract out, or outsource, more services. The result is a continued rise in the entrepreneurial workforce, where the individual develops a self-identity outside of the traditional workplace.

Skills Displacement

There is a dramatic social implication that has thus far only been alluded to. As technology changes the organization, automating more tasks, fewer people are required to get the job done. Not only has information technology increased productivity: it has eliminated jobs, as well. If work groups dwindle to one person or none at all, where will the rest of the group go?

There are two answers to this question — job retraining and redefinition. The lower skilled worker’s job is being eliminated by technology, so they will require training in a new job. High-tech professionals will find their field passing them by, so they’ll require retraining in their field. On the other hand, there may not be enough jobs for everyone as more and more robots and technology perform more of the work. This will require people to work less hours, share jobs, retire early, or (in some way) get by with less.

More time will need to be spent on education, not only to keep the workforce educated on the new technology, but also to keep more people busy. Lower skilled and unskilled workers will find their jobs being eliminated and so they will go back to school in order to learn newer skills. New theories and discoveries will continue at a rapid pace which will put pressure on people to keep up with the advances.

Graduate degrees will become the rule rather than the exception. Businesses will put people through school to keep the individual from becoming obsolete and to give them something to do. There will be fewer jobs and the jobs that exist will require more skills than before. Management will need to develop fewer, highly skilled, individuals with workplace training programs and then keep them. This again is a greater people orientation then before.

A redefinition of the workplace and the jobs people perform will be required. Today’s factories will go the way of yesterday’s agriculture. As farms were automated and more could be done with fewer people, many left for the city or idled their land. In the last 100-plus years, agrarian jobs fell from 41% of the labor force to under 1%, yet they seem to have been absorbed into the labor force.

Handy proposed one way in which automobile factory work might shift. If fewer cars were made and they were being made by robots then manufacturing jobs would decline. People would need to keep their cars longer and the maintenance activity, which is labor intensive, would increase. This could be picked up by small garages or self-employed mechanics. This would mean that society would need to move to a high quality maintenance concept rather then a lower quality disposable one.

What Handy illustrates is that the solution to the problem of job elimination is based upon the redefinition of business by society. Another concept popularized by many is one where everybody works less, which is already happening in Europe. Shorter work weeks, early retirement, longer vacations, and more time off for schooling. The implication here is that more people are staying employed, but at the expense of a smaller paycheck with more leisure time.

In an age where leisure time is becoming increasingly important, this notion has caught on at a number of businesses. The problem of child care could decrease if more time were spent at home. More time could be spent on personal, self-actualizing events. This also points to an increased interest in the “third age of life”, that part of life that is beyond growing up and working.

There are many possibilities that exist with the flexibility that is offered by the jobs of the future. The key question is how society will react to the changes that are occurring in the workplace and what people are willing to allow to take place. One thing is for sure and that is that the changes are inevitable.

There is a cartoon by Charles Adams (from a 1955 issue of “The New Yorker” magazine) that shows two caterpillars and above them, a butterfly emerging from its cocoon and opening its wings. One caterpillar says to the other, “You’ll never get me up in one of those things.” This social commentary still resonates in the 21st century: Change is inevitable.

Dynamics of Information Technology

The rapidly occurring changes force management to discard old, mechanistic views. The key to management in the future will be in understanding the dynamics of information technology, adopting a greater people orientation, and adapting appropriately to the changes. Survival in the future will be based on the effective use of both information and people as resources in order to keep the organization progressing, competitive, and alive.

* * * * * * *

So, is information technology changing your business? If so, how? What are the benefits and costs to your business?

Has Your Workplace Changed?

The workplace has changed significantly over the last half-century due to information technologies, mainly due to automation of existing processes. Accounting systems are a necessity, while lean and six sigma are driving improvement. What will be the cost of such change and what can be done to prepare for it? Nobody can predict the future, but there is one major trend developing that will significantly affect the day-to-day operation of your business tomorrow: the shift from a mechanistic view to an information orientation. This change permeates any organization, changing the responsibilities of management, the social system the organization is used to, and the skills you need.

Flying and space travel were science fiction a little more than a century ago, foretold by the likes of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells; today, these are commonplace. But ideas like these belong to the scientific age, an age which is coming to an end. A new age — the information age — is in process. In the information age, systems are being devised to increase the productivity of the professional at the expense of unskilled workers. These workers will find their jobs eliminated or transformed into something else altogether.

Information technology is no longer in its infancy, but represents a greater transition phase. In his analysis of social and cultural dynamics, Pitirim Sorokin suggests that this transition phase is a cultural transformation similar to the invention of agriculture or the transition from the middle ages to the scientific age, though even more dramatic, due to the faster rate of change.

This accelerated rate of change was discussed by William Conboy in the 1960′s. Conboy estimated that the amount of knowledge in existence doubled between 1 AD and 1750. Knowledge doubled again by 1900, 1950, 1960, and Conboy projected it to double again by 1963.   This doubling has created what is called accelerating returns.

It would be difficult to estimate the amount of knowledge in existence today. It must be staggering to think about and yet it continues at an incredible pace. What this curve represents, in line with what Sorokin suggests as a cultural transformation, is that new paradigms, thoughts and adjustments to change will need to be developed in order to survive in the age of information.

Businesses, like their workers, will find their industries transformed or eliminated. Labor based industries are being displaced by skill based. Skill based industries are being replaced by knowledge based. The result will be to find manual labor industries moving to where the labor is cheap and economies shifting to service based knowledge industries.

There is too much happening too fast for us to rely on mechanistic theories of old. New, dynamic or relative theories are needed. The key to management in the future will be in understanding the dynamics of the information age and adapting appropriately.

The Speed of Information

Business will no longer be thought of as operating as usual. A focus will be placed on both the speed at which information can be passed through the organization and the importance of that information. Systems will be developed to increase the rate at which information passes, while the importance of information will become the deciding factor in the marketplace. In order to remain competitive, organizations will need to incorporate more information technology while developing a greater understanding of the importance of information and how it relates to productivity.

In order for information to be used effectively, it must flow easily through the organization. Information quickly becomes useless or obsolete, so it’s important to act on information quickly and decisively to get its full value. Both computers and communication systems are used to increase the speed and efficiency at which information can be passed. Computers are being used increasingly to connect different departments together and thus automating the passage of the information that they rely upon to do business.

More and more management information systems, policy management software, and computer-aided manufacturing systems are being required to establish and maintain a competitive edge. New communication strategies are being designed around the individual, allowing workers and management to conduct business across many miles, electronically, without ever leaving the office.

The advent of email, teleconferencing, and now the paperless office makes this possible. The portability of electronic work at the touch of a button, across the internet, has led to decentralization of offices and the movement of work across country borders.

John Diebold recognized the importance of information to the organization when stating three of its unique properties:

1. The value of information increases as it is used;
2. Information is not depleted, but it may become obsolete; and
3. It is a basic factor of productive activity, comparable with labor, capitol, energy, and raw materials.

Diebold also stated that one of the problems with management is its belief that automating the office is done mainly as a clerical savings; he felt the emphasis should be on improving the productivity of managers and other professionals.

An example of this belief can be seen in automation dollars spent on office workers in 1977, which varied from $2,000- $6,000 per worker while at the same time the average spent on an industrial worker was $25,000. If businesses are to remain competitive, it is important for management to spend the money required to provide the tools to increase the productivity of all of its workers. This cannot be done, however, until management realizes the important relationship of information technology to worker productivity.

In order to understand information better, Diebold proposed the need for a better methodology relating productivity to automation or rather the concept of the “time value of information.” Accountants and economist have long understood the time value of money and this concept has been used by management to justify decision making. What has happened is that information tools are looked upon as more of an expense then a resource and this attitude needs to change to better utilize information and improve productivity.

Information technology is intended to facilitate communication throughout the organization yet, the principle barrier that remains will be the understanding of that information flow and the importance it has to the organization. If this understanding can be achieved then the flow will not be impeded. Systems will be used by all to improve the productivity of all and the company will remain competitive.

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Next, we continue with “Social Systems”.  In the meantime, we appreciate your comments.

Checking the procedure is a form of procedure verification.  You run a test before implementing the procedure to verify that the procedure works and meets all the design requirements.  But how do you know if the procedure will work outside of the design space ?  Will it work in the real world, with real users?  At this point, we are beyond procedure verification — we need to validate the procedure to ensure the process and procedure are working.

You are not done with your procedure until it has been validated.  After all, you wrote the procedure to close some gap in compliance, quality, or performance — how do you know your procedure is actually closing the gap?  Procedure validation consists of performing procedure training, process auditing, and completing a process procedure management review that will allow us to confirm that the gap is closed, the process is working, and the procedure works.

Process Procedures Implementaton and Training

Procedure validation starts with process implementation and procedures training.  Procedure training will be your first feedback from the actual users.  Gather the procedure users together and brief everyone on the main procedure tasks, changes, and process objectives.  Use your process maps to visually explain the process.  Highlight individual responsibilities for key performance metrics.  Ask questions and obtain feedback.  Remember: your procedure goal is “a working process”.

If you have a lot of users from multiple work cells or geographic locations, you need to prototype the new procedure — test it in one area before implementing it across the whole business.  Your procedure validation should occur before a widespread implementation.  In a small organization with limited scope, this is often not practical.  In that case, process auditing is critical to ensure that the procedure works.

Process Procedures Audit

Once employees are trained, how do you know if the procedure works or is being used correctly?  To find out, you need to audit the procedure at some point after procedure training. Process auditing is an internal audit of the process and procedure.  At some interval after training, you need to follow-up on your new procedure and see how it’s being used.  Is the procedure followed?  Is the procedure effective?  Is the process working?  Is the procedure working?  Is the procedure integrated into the process?  Simple questions, but they all must be asked.

If the process or procedure is critical to quality, compliance, or performance, you should perform a process procedure audit sooner and more frequently (perhaps 7, 30, and 90 days apart).  You are still in procedure validation and you need feedback to determine if your procedure is working.  Once validation is complete, you may be able to back off the process audit (e.g., cut back from monthly to annually): it all depends on how well the process is working and how critical it is to your firm’s success.

Process Procedures Review and Change Management

Once audited, how will you know if the procedure is performing as expected?  To find out you will need to analyze the audit data and process performance and hold a process procedures management review.  If you started your process procedure journey with a project charter, you have your original quality, compliance, and performance objectives.

Compare your audit data with the project charter to determine if your procedures work, if the process is working as expected, if you’re ready to close out procedure validation, or you need to make changes to improve your process procedures effectiveness.  Change Management can be tricky here.  Process optimization comes later, after you close out the original design, the process is going for a while, and you’re ready to improve once again.  For now, focus on important procedure changes to achieve the original objectives, in order to prevent scope creep.

Conclusion

We started the process procedure journey with a procedure implementation plan.  Your process procedures project continued with a process map, documenting your process procedure design.  If a procedure was required, you had to write a procedure.

The process procedures journey ended with procedure validation, where you ensured the process was working and the written procedure worked.  Once validation is complete, you’re ready to start your next process procedures journey.

Your business process procedures journey is driven by your business needs: need to survive, need for effective process change management, need for process consistency, need for process compliance, and need for process control.  Your entire business model is in jeopardy if you fail to:

• Adapt to change;
• Build repeatable business processes;
• Adhere to process standards and guidelines;
• Observe regulations; and
• Manage your business processes — and process change — effectively.

You can achieve effective business process change management, process consistency, process compliance, and process control by focusing on your business process procedures journey (Figure 1), a six-step process comprised of the business process management topics we talk about on the Bizmanualz.com website.

Business Process Procedures Flowchart

Figure 1 – Business Process Procedures Journey Flowchart

Notice how we talk about processes and procedures together.  Your business model is a system of processes.  Business processes need to be identified, communicated, and reviewed for there to be an effective change management process, with effective opportunities for business growth in place.

In Figure 1, the procedure writing steps are colored in red, to signify their optional status.  Not all processes require procedure writing; there’s a lot of overhead tied to every business procedure you write so that the more business procedures you write, the more procedures you have to edit, implement, train people on, audit, and review.  Only company procedures required by standards, regulations, or company strategy must be developed.

Michael Gerber’s book, the E-Myth, explains how important it is for entrepreneurs to think about working “on” their business instead of “in” their business.  Working too closely inside of your business processes is sometimes referred to as “business myopia” — being too close to your processes can keep you from advancing on the business process procedures journey.

Once you start working on your business — not in it — you can identify key business processes, practice communicating critical business process metrics and information, and review those business process metrics against the changing marketplace.  Now you are in control of your business process improvement.

This month we’ll be showing you how to advance — how to implement — each of the six steps of the Business Process Procedures Journey:

1. Process Procedures Project Management
2. Process Mapping and Process Design
3. Required Procedures (optional steps)
   • Policies and Procedures Template Design
   • Policies and Procedures Writing
4. Process Procedures Implementation and Training
5. Process Procedures Audit
6. Process Procedures Review and Change Management

In our next article, we’ll explain how you can use the individual steps to focus your organization on adapting your core business processes to business process change, build repeatable business processes, adhere to process standards or regulations, and manage your business processes more effectively.

A Project is a temporary collection of related tasks to achieve a desired and usually unique result.

What do you think? Do you find yourself managing a collection of related tasks to achieve a desired result?  If so, you qualify as a project manager.  Businesses today are evolving, downsizing, and pushing more work down the organization chart.  You may be a project manager and not know it.  But what if you haven’t been trained as a Project Manager with the necessary skill and tool sets?

This month, we’re going to talk about the project management process and try to answer some questions that every project manager (or would-be project manager) should have the answer to:

• What is project management?
• What are the five phases of project management?
• What are some project management tools and methods?

What Is Project Management?

Projects are unique events and not processes, yet project management is definitely a process and not a unique event.

Project Management is a disciplined utilization of tools and methods for successfully describing, organizing, and controlling a project.

Project management is a structured process of disciplined actions that follows a common Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle found within the five phases of project management.

What Are the Five Phases of Project Management?

• 1. Project Initiation
• 2. Project Planning
• 3. Project Execution
• 4. Project Monitoring & Control
• 5. Project Review & Close

Figure 1 Project Management Document Map

All projects go through the same five project management phases that typically culminates in some type of project management phase review (see Figure 1, Document Map).  Each project management phase has a distinct purpose, importance, and set of outputs designed to ensure that the project manager is moving the project toward the desired result.

Following a disciplined project management process should help you to eliminate common project issues resulting from poor buy-in, projects consistently going wrong, failing to learn from past project mistakes, or difficulty in getting your projects approved.

Project management begins with the “Project Initiation” phase.  Next week, we’ll  describe this first phase — its purpose, inputs, and outputs — in some detail.  In the following weeks, we’ll explore the remaining phases of project management — planning, execution, monitoring & control, and close & review.

At the heart of your improvement plan should be a strategy.  Rendered maps can help you visually represent that strategy.  You need to paint an attractive picture — show a positive future, show the outcome that people will buy into.

We illustrated a strategy of faster turnaround for aircraft overhauls. It was simple. Workers could easily see how the changes being asked of them would result in good outcomes.

We helped an aircraft overhaul facility, or MRO, cut the time required for major service on aircraft overhauls.  Less time in the shop means operators get their planes back in service faster which, in turn, means they make money instead of spending it.  That helped the aircraft overhaul facility garner a competitive advantage.

We mapped process flows and activities throughout the company; for example, how materials were specified, requisitioned, and tracked.  With our process maps, the client saw how small changes would flow through the system and have a big impact.

Had you asked department managers at the time, they would have told you they were already aware of most of the improvement opportunities that we identified. Certainly, the inefficiencies had been there for years, managers would have said. And point solutions had been identified in some cases.

But the eventual impact of small changes was unclear or unknown, so it was hard for them to justify the time and resources needed to effect change.  So, improvement flagged.

Lighting a fire for change meant we had to change minds.  We illustrated an improvement story that showed certain small changes having a big impact.  Using rendered maps, we illustrated the strategy that was easy to buy into.  We also illustrated a number of systemic improvements that would help sustain the improvements.

Show the Positive Future and Give People a Reason to Change

For example, we selected and illustrated how highly skilled mechanics were spending time and many footsteps getting parts.  Everyone understood that if a wrench doesn’t turn, the plane doesn’t move, and turnaround suffers.

This rendered process map shows mechanics' walk and wait times in the current state. Inefficiency and waste are readily apparent.

In the future state, we instead showed parts being delivered to the mechanics:

In contrast to the current state, the future state is much simpler and, therefore, a marked improvement. As a communications device, it leads workers to ask what is required to achieve and sustain the improvement.

It sounds simple, right?  It was simple, and it tied in with the overall strategy of reducing turnaround.  It made it a great story.  Ultimately, it was the story that had been lacking in the past.

The story, told in rendered maps, helped us get the buy-in that was essential to support the many process changes required to sustain change.  How would the runner know what part to deliver to the mechanic?  When would the  part be delivered?  How would chain of custody be maintained?  Many questions arose that, before, simply froze out improvement, but by telling a story for positive change, the hard work of change became tenable.

By virtue of our illustrating specific improvements, people could see exactly how that lofty strategy translated into their daily work lives.  Our story consisted of sufficient current-state and future-state improvement “concrete steps” and examples to show that improvement was, in fact, possible and exactly how the “positive future” of reduced turnaround time could be achieved.

Telling the Improvement Story Is Part of Your Job

Had we stopped at producing the descriptive maps and left it up to the department heads to structure an improvement program, they surely would have made some incremental improvements in their system.  However, their efforts would have lacked urgency and sustainability.  Change would not have happened fast enough to outpace the industry.  Hungry competitors would not have been overtaken, and no sustainable competitive advantage would have been achieved.

But it was achieved.  As we learned, it’s part of our job as leaders to tell the improvement story. Rendered maps are a tool for telling stories of positive change. Fact-based, tangible, visual stories can illustrate a positive future, and should be in your process mapping toolkit. So, tell the story. Complete the improvement journey. Use a map.

Two ways – budget and a show!  That’s right you need to fuel innovation for change and improvement and budgets are what top management understand.  Company leaders demonstrate their commitment to change and improvement by making budget available for it to happen.  But spending money on change and improvement that nobody knows about does not deliver much actual change does it?  You need to get the word out and that takes some kind of show.

Do You Schedule Change and Improvement?

First, let’s look at budgets.  Nothing happens without a budget and only top management makes the budget.  And by budget I am talking about more than just money, it also takes time to spend the budget.  Time is money right?  Not exactly.  In business, time is as precious a resource as money.  Top management can allocate a budget for change but, with backorders, development delays, rush orders, and other customer demands, can you really afford to trade valuable production time for improvement?

You may have a budget for such things as training, communication, audits, corrective and preventive actions, and management review.  But do you have the time to spend the budget?

Production time is seen as valuable.  And what do you do with a valuable resource like production time?  You probably use a production schedule to make sure that that time is accounted for and allocated.  Do you have a schedule for improvement?  You may schedule training, audits and management review but do you also schedule corrective and preventive action?  It’s like preventive maintenance, change and improvement must be scheduled.  The more change you schedule, the more improvement you get.

Do You Communicate Change and Improvement?

Second, do you have a communications calendar?  And how do you coordinate all this change and improvement?  Changes and improvements are news to your organization.  You have to get the word out and communicate the news so others can profit from the changes and improvements.  I like to think of it as a news show.

All of this activity must be coordinated.  You need a news staff to write, produce, and distribute your news program.  Your news show should have a regular time slot, format, and an editor or anchor for your program.  Perhaps featured stories regarding training events, Kaizen of the month, and progress on major changes or improvement objectives.  Be creative.  Produce videos, a newsletter, a change wall, or skits for the changes.

How much do you budget for your news program?  Major software changes get money for new software and software customization.  Typically less time and money is spent on communicating the changes.  This may be due to the lack of any formal communications program.  Start a news show.

Showing Commitment to Change and Improvement

So the next time you are making your budget for the year, think of a time budget to go with your financial budget.  Make a change and improvement schedule to go with your production schedule.  Then identify a news staff to make the communications that get the word out.  Delivering change and improvement is like producing a big show.  You have to budget for the production of the show (the change and improvement development activities) and you then have to have the show, on a regular basis, just like the news.

Your management commitment to change and improvement will be demonstrated by the time and money you budget as well the quality of the change and improvement show you produce.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

That is the role of corrective action in continual improvement of an organization.  In a reactive organization, we constantly react to problems in a corrective mode.  We make the short term fixes – over and over and over again.  The goal of implementing corrective action is to identify and to address the root cause of problems so they don’t reoccur.  Therefore, root cause analysis is at the heart of an effective corrective action program.

Root cause seems to be an appropriate term for several reasons.  First of all, it focuses on the source of the problem.  Next, it implies that the source or true cause of the problem is hidden and out of view, which is why an analysis is needed.

Correction Can be the First Step

Simply addressing the symptoms without addressing root cause sometimes creates more problems in the long run.  A classic example is expedited orders.  A customer calls because an order is late.  So, to expedite it, someone takes time and effort to move the order more quickly through the process.  Of course, in giving this order priority and moving it ahead of other orders in the pipeline, more orders are going to be late.  Now more customers will be calling, more orders will be expedited, etc.  So we can see how the process of expediting this order, in effect, causes a chain reaction and negative spiral.

Does that mean that when a customer calls because an order is late that we shouldn’t expedite it?  Of course not.  The point is that expediting the order shouldn’t be all we do.  We should investigate why the order was late and collect some basic information.  How often do orders ship late?  How often do customers call and complain about order being late?  What is the apparent reason this order was late?

Not All Problems Call for Corrective Action

At this point, we are just trying to collect some initial data to determine if this calls for corrective action.  As we discussed in a previous article, not every problem or nonconformance requires corrective action.  How to determine if a corrective action is needed varies by organization.  It may be left up to individual employees or process owners, some might have a CAPA (Corrective Action Preventive Action) committee, and others may leave it to management.  The need for corrective action should be evaluated along several dimensions. How often does it happen? How important or critical is the issue? How are customers impacted?  The answers determine if there is need for corrective action.

In our example, if this was a rare event due to a special case with minimal customer impact, then perhaps we perform the correction (expedite the order) and do nothing more.  If orders are regularly late, or if the customer was severely impacted, then it is a candidate for corrective action and root cause analysis.

Root Cause Analysis Tools Identify the Cause of Problems

Once you decide that corrective action is appropriate, there are a multitude of root cause analysis tools to employ.  The tool you select should depend on the skill and training of those employing root cause analysis, and on the complexity of the issue you are trying to solve.

Figure 1: A Fishbone Diagram

While the complexity of corrective action tools range widely from fairly straightforward (i.e. Five Whys) to fairly complex (Current Reality Tree), most are found to be fairly effective at reaching potential root causes if properly carried out.  Perhaps the most popular tool, and in the middle in terms of complexity, is the Fishbone Diagram (also called the Cause and Effect Diagram or Taguchi Diagram) as shown in Figure 1.  More experienced and skilled teams seem to be more effective at using complex tools.

The Team Is More Important than the Tool

However, the largest factor determining the effectiveness of root cause seems to be, according to the research, how effective the corrective action team works together.  Critical areas seem to be a knowledgeable facilitator, how comfortable the team is challenging assumptions and critically evaluating the direction of the analysis.  Another important factor is including corrective team members from outside the area of focus.  Someone not locked into a certain way of thinking can bring a fresh perspective to the root cause analysis, which in turns leads to thinking outside of established patterns.

Besides the experience of the team, the type of problem or nonconformance should also play a role in selecting a tool for corrective action.  For example, using a simple tool like Five Whys might seem appropriate for determining why a customer’s order was shipped late, but where issues of health, safety or other high risks are involved, a more comprehensive tool like Current Reality Tree, Cause and Effect Diagram, or Interrelationship Diagram would be more appropriate

Common Factors for Root Cause Analysis

There are at least 10 root cause analysis tools, and they all seem to have their supporters and detractors.  You should choose which ever tool fits your organizational needs the best, or even mix and blend methods if you feel it is effective for your purposes.  Then training should communicate established root cause analysis practices throughout the organization.  Which ever method you choose to use in your organization, there are some common areas of importance:

1. Clearly define the problem or non conformance.
2. Gather all the information you can related to the problem.
3. Brainstorm to identify inputs, suppliers, and activities related to the problem, and note any that might have a potential causal relationship with the problem.
4. Use research, investigation, and experiments (hard data) to eliminate potential causes not associated with the problem.  For those remaining, identify which causes if removed or changed will prevent recurrence.  Remember, there may be more than one potential cause, but the goal is to identify as few potential root causes as possible.
5. Identify ways to eliminate the causes and prevent recurrence, focusing on activities that are within your control and do not cause other problems.
6. Implement the changes.
7. Verify after an appropriate period of time that there is no reoccurrence.  (Some organizations require that verification be performed by someone not involved in the root cause analysis.)
8. If there is reoccurrence of the problem (not all root cause analysis will be effective the first time) then use what was previously learned to identify and eliminate other possible causes.
9. Periodically verify the effectiveness of the corrective action program and the associated root cause analysis.  If corrective actions are not, in a large view, successful at identifying root causes and preventing reoccurrence, then new methods, a new process, or additional training may be needed.

While the many tools available for conducting root cause analysis may all be effective, their effectiveness is very dependent on how they are implemented:  data collection, involvement and training of team members, a communicative and qualified facilitator, how questions are asked and answered, and follow-up verification.  They are all critical to the success of the root cause analysis process, upon which corrective action relies.

Another important factor to consider is when to stop searching for root causes, and instead select action items to address identified root causes.  If you keep searching, you can always find more and more potential root causes.  Use experience, knowledge, and intuition to know when you have dug deep enough looking for causes, and now it time to take action.

But like anything else, the way to improve and be successful at corrective action and root cause analysis is to practice it.  While literature and training are great ways to get started, it is through executing the root cause analysis process that you will learn and improve.  And successful corrective action and root cause analysis are critical to achieving continual improvement in your organization.