Process Improvement: it is not WHAT we do, it is HOW we do it

“A Corporation is a living organism; it has to continue to shed its skin. Methods have to change. Focus has to change. Values have to change. The sum total of those changes is transformation.”
- Andrew Grove, Intel Corporation

You know how it feels, being in the flow: completing tasks, checking items off the list, solving problems, producing our products and engaging in productive behaviors. Activities are moving fast and we believe, in this moment, there is no room and no reason for process improvements.

Except that nagging feeling –the one that emerges with stunning regularity. The inclination, that, completing these tasks again, checking this item off the list again, producing these products in the same tired ways and solving these same old problems again, may be a great waste of effort.

It is in this moment of dissonance, a great opportunity exists: to shift our focus from what we do, to how we do it. This pause, this small opening, gives rise to an occasion to ask bold, new questions:

• Are the activities we perform adding value to our product? Or, are employees performing unnecessary tasks because of inadequate training, tradition, or inefficient work cell layout?
• Is our throughput maximized and downtime minimized? Or, do our materials meet bottlenecks in processing that create limits on our ability to fulfill orders?
• Can we find ways to improve quality so we do not need to spend excess time looking for and fixing defects? Are processes understood and reproducible to minimize the occurrence of defects?
• Is our supply chain optimized to reduce costs? Is the movement of our product necessary or minimized to create the best cost to value received by the client?

While it may seem impossible to break out from the flow and find the time and courage to ask difficult questions, we need to ask difficult questions to develop competitive business processes and implement the correct changes to transform ourselves, our colleagues, and our businesses into 21st century success stories.