Process improvement has traditionally been associated with manufacturing. Yet, most if not all businesses can benefit from looking at how they operate and finding new ways to increase productivity.

All industries can learn from manufacturers. Proven implementation methods and process improvement tools can be applied to any organization, in any industry or with operational and process functions.

Organizations in All Industries Can Learn from Manufacturers about Process Improvement.

If you have costs pressures while your revenue is going down, working on operational efficiency is a must. Global economic realities forced manufacturing to lead the way towards achieving operational improvement. To remain profitable, the majority of manufacturers have simplified, standardized and automated their operations. Now, other industries are employing lean principles, especially health care organizations.

As the national health care debate continues, health care organizations must streamline themselves to take costs out of the system. This is illustrated in a recent USA Today article, which discusses why hospitals must cut costs by improving efficiency and reducing waste by leveraging proven lean principles.

Additionally, technological advancements have caused several industries to begin working on their operational efficiencies. They are being impacted by innovation, creating another opportunity to evaluate processes and identify potential opportunities.

Even nonprofits can benefit from process improvement. With the current economic challenges, their revenue is going down while their costs are going up, and the number of constituents they are serving is increasing. By streamlining their processes, they can trim waste and operate more efficiently with fewer resources.

Involving Employees Drive Improvement Results.

All industries are realizing that getting their people involved is key to understanding process challenges on a daily bases. This perspective is key to understanding what is holding them back from being able to implement improvements. It does not matter whether you are in manufacturing or another industry, having your people involved is the key to driving and creating sustainable improvements.

Process Improvement Techniques in Service Industries.

Any activity involving the customer‘s experience must be evaluated. Think about what your customer wants – whether it is a manufacturing company looking to reduce product delivery time, a medical practice eliminating the time patients are kept in the waiting room or a nonprofit anticipating more service demand. If you start with the customer, you are going to be focusing on the right things.

A proven technique is our ‘run, improve, grow’ model. It is a way of understanding how your employees are looking at what they do on a daily basis. Are they working on making improvements in the business, and are they looking at ways to grow the organization? As you work on making improvements that can help you with the way that you are running, you start to remove waste in the process. This gives you more time to focus on improvements and organizational growth.

Determining When to Undertake a Process Improvement Initiative.

The challenge is that you always can find a reason not to begin an improvement initiative – you are facing new competition, market demand is changing, new products are being introduced or something else. With that said, the best time to initiate change is before you are forced to by market conditions. Being proactive in improvements is always better than a reactive response.

Take an example of merging nonprofits. They leveraged that opportunity to spend time improving their processes. It would have been very easy to say, ‘We should not do that now because we are merging and we are too busy.’ Instead, they looked at it the other way and said, ‘Now is as good a time as any. We are going to be making changes anyway, so let’s take this as an opportunity to look at our process, eliminate some of the waste in there and take the best of both worlds and bring them together.’

Do not wait until there are problems or only focus on the top of your organization. You really need to take every opportunity to involve your most valuable employees who are on the front lines to take your processes to the next level.

The Benefits of a Process Improvement Effort.

The number one key deliverable is that it needs to make financial sense. No matter what industry you are in, there is always an opportunity to address the bottom line. Focus on increasing productivity, cutting defects and/or reducing operational costs.

What often can be even more important and impactful, however, is creating that culture where you can continually drive and sustain process improvements. It is not just when you are working on a project; you need to create a culture where motivating employees allows you to continue to drive improvements throughout the organization. Success in measured on never being complacent to achieve better results.

In the end, it allows you to be more competitive so that you are not just reacting to the economy or the competition, but you are being proactive with the continuous improvement culture that you created to drive operational excellence.

We seem to live in a world that is filled with taking the easy way out when things are not going as we expect. Placing blame for inefficiency in organizations is really no different. Employees are quick to point out how most of the issues they fight come from management, and, in turn, management is quick to point out that the employees are to blame. It is a vicious circle of excuses; the unfortunate part is that these inefficiencies hurt all involved in the process, including the most important part of the equation: the customer. Blame can certainly be put on both parties, and, truthfully, it boils down to being accountable to putting forth your best effort in every part of your job, regardless of whether you are a leader or follower.

Over the years of discovering where inefficiencies are in organizations and, more importantly, figuring out ways to make improvements that can eliminate these sins, I have discovered that there are three common causes for organizational inefficiencies:

· Leaders feel compelled to solve everyone’s problems

· Leaders are frightened to lose control in the organization

· Leaders do not understand the power of cultural transformations

These three findings are not the end all or, for that matter, the cure for removing all inefficiencies and waste in an organization. However, overcoming these issues can strongly impact improvement efforts.

Leaders Feel Compelled to Solve Everyone’s Problems

Think back to the way you were raised as a child. I am sure everyone has heard his or her parents say, “If I want something done right, then I have to do it myself.” Apply this thought to the organization where you work. I am willing to bet that this same phrase has been repeated more times than you or I care to count. Managers in organizations often have a belief that they were hired to solve problems and get results. Maybe this can be blamed on our parents; however, my experience tells me that people get their sense of value from the positions they hold. People truly believe that if they are the one that solves problems, then they add value and are doing a great job. As the saying goes, “My best firefighter is my chief arsonist.”

Leaders need to understand that by giving employees the ability to solve problems, improvements can multiply at an exponential rate. I know from my own personal experience that this is not an easy task to do, but I have also witnessed how much stronger an organization can be when everyone becomes a decision maker. My recommendation is that you start small, because trust will be an issue as you begin to change your ways and people will not be sure of your intentions.

Leaders are Frightened to “Lose Control” in Their Organization

This almost seems like a paradox, because the purpose of our jobs is often to gain control of situations. Most managers are hired because they have an innate ability in their chosen field to “take charge and run the show.” Here in lies the paradox: gaining control comes through giving up control. This does not mean we do not lead our areas, but rather it means we must be able to train those we lead to become leaders. True leadership is the ability to get results through others and then train them to do the same thing. Most inefficiency issues that are prevalent today can be tied back to the fear of losing control, because many managers are concerned that allowing others to take ownership will discount their duties.

There is one common thread seen in any organization that excels at integrating employees into continuous improvements: everyone is expected to perform. By this, I mean actively participate and share both the good and bad ideas for success. When the leaders nourish and encourage this type of activity, it becomes hard to stop the snowball effect that occurs. People that understand the value of teaching and coaching employees generally lead organizations that follow this process.

Leaders Do Not Understand How Powerful Cultural Transformations Can Be

In order to ensure that inefficiencies can be curtailed, managers must realize that which can be difficult to grasp. There is often a self-fulfilling prophecy that exists within organizations: managers that struggle to see the value in having employees actively participate have never lived through the results that can be achieved when they empower employees. When your whole focus has been trying to protect your turf or knowing all the answers to everyone’s issues, you become blind to understanding the impact your employees can make in the organization.

Generally, the toughest part of overcoming this problem is effective communication between managers and employees. The easiest way to solve this is to pick an area where effective results can be made quickly and to find a leader that is open to getting employees involved. Senior leadership should then openly communicate their vision, which should center around a culture of continuous, employee driven improvement. In order to implement this, they must commit the resources and openly support and encourage this behavior.

Final Thoughts

Business conditions today mandate the need for a change in how we operate. The importance of this task is now greater than it has ever been. Breaking the engrained culture most organizations have around employee involvement is no easy task, but success can only happen when we try something. Good leaders recognize that overcoming inefficiencies that are prevalent in most organizations takes commitment and dedication from all levels in the organization. It becomes easier to see that a team with all members pulling their weight and contributing will have a better chance of survival than organizations that continue to operate in the old ways. Managers that truly become leaders will quickly ask themselves, “Why did I wait so long to engage my employees?”