Relentless Characteristics of the Improvement Process
A Model for Facilitating Collaborative Processes
In this series of posts, I am focusing on the four steps in my model for facilitating collaborative processes. I’ve included my model as a reference, and in this post we’ll focus on the fourth step, IMPROVE.
A Review of A Model for Facilitating Collaborative Processes:
Deliberate
• Thoughtful input (advance notice)
• Inquiry driven (ask & listen)
• What(s), why(s) & how(s)
Decide
• Choose/"Bless"
• Define Success
• Create Plan
Implement
• Ideas to Action
• Time for Deliberation is Over (for now)
• Team Players vs. Team Members
Improve
I have often referred to continuous process improvement as The Relentless Search for Better Ways. A key word in that phrase is “relentless”, as in never-ending or ongoing. This, the fourth step in our model for facilitating collaborative processes, reinforces the relentless characteristic of such efforts. Here are the three bullet points under this step:
- Finding better ways
- Processes & outcome
- Remember, apply, forget
Finding better ways
If perfect ways was a realistic option, then the search would end after finding them. Or it would end after finding processes that we believed were perfect. In fact, perfect ways don’t exist; neither do perfect processes. And what that means is that we must persist in our search, not for perfect but for better. At predetermined points along the way we must step back from our implementation efforts, evaluate the efficacy of the things we’re doing and identify alternatives to the ones that aren’t producing the results or the progress we’d expected.
“Improve” is more than just one step in our process improvement initiative; it is the central premise on which that initiative is based. It is what we look at, what we look for and what we do with what we find.
What we Look AT
So let’s start with what you look at when evaluating the new or modified processes you are implementing. You’ll look at two things: the activities you’ve performed in your implementation efforts (processes) and the results or progress (outcomes) those processes have produced.
The plans that you have been implementing include activities, people who are responsible for completing those activities and timeframes for beginning and completing them (who’ll do what by when). In this step you’ll step back and look at each of the activities, and for each of them you’ll determine how well they are working. The processes & outcomes are the things you’ll look at.
What we Look FOR
What you’ll look for are those processes (activities) that are working (producing positive results or moving you in the direction you want to go) and those that are not. Remember, no matter how much time and effort you invest in deliberation and planning, some components of your plans just won’t work the way you’d expected. There’s no dishonor in that, but there is plenty of risk in either not finding the parts that aren’t working, or doing nothing about the ones you do find.
What we DO with What we FIND
The processes that are working should be acknowledged and retained as part of your plan going forward. The processes that are not working (we’ll call them mistakes) should be replaced with alternatives that you believe will produce better results (we’ll call them lessons).
So in this step, “Improve”, you’ll step back from your implementation efforts and evaluate the plan for implementing new and better ways. As part of this evaluation you’ll look at the activities that are being performed to implement the new or modified process and the results that those activities are producing. You’ll look for activities that are working, and you’ll retain those as part of your plan going forward. You’ll also look for activities that aren’t working (mistakes). After finding the mistakes, you’ll shift your focus and begin looking for alternatives, for activities that you and other participants believe will work better (lessons).
Remember, apply & forget
Leaders understand that process improvement—to be effective—must be an ongoing, collaborative effort. One of the things that facilitators can do to obtain and sustain participants’ commitment to continuous process improvement is ensure them that the objective is progress, not punishment. The more aggressive people are in trying alternatives to the status quo, the more mistakes those people will make, and since you want people to “push the envelope” and try new things, you must assure them that there will be no retribution for mistakes made in good-faith efforts to find better ways.
Before leaving this step in my model, there’s a commitment I want you and all participants to make to each other. After identifying the parts of the plan that aren’t working (mistakes) and alternatives to try (lessons), I want you to make the following commitment:
From this point forward we will remember and apply the lessons
and forget the mistakes
Every mistake provides opportunities for learning; there are lessons to be found in the mistakes made. But to find them, you’ve got to look for them. As facilitators, your job is to ensure that you and others acknowledge the mistakes and then begin looking for better ways, for the lessons you can extract from the mistakes.
And after finding the lessons, there’s no reason to hang onto the mistakes. When the people you’ve invited to participate with you in this collaborative process realize that you are a lot more interested in finding lessons than in pointing out mistakes they will become far more engaged in the process I call The Relentless Search for Better Ways.
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