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Where process improvements go wrong:
Avoid common pitfalls of process
improvement initiatives
Danie du Toit
Business Improvement Specialist
Telkom SA LTD
Agenda
2
Why understand process
improvement pitfalls
Continuous improvement drivers
Characteristics of pitfalls
Impact of pitfalls
Recommendations to mitigate
pitfalls
The truth or not?
3
What do weight-loss plans and process improvement programs have in common?
Process improvement programs typically show early progress, and then things return to the
way they were
They typically start off well, generating excitement and great progress, but all too
often fail to have a lasting impact as participants gradually lose motivation and
fall back into old habits
Questions to ask yourself
4
1. Has your organisation achieved lasting gains from process improvement
programs?
2. Do you pay much attention to these programs once they move past the initial
stage?
3. Are you involved enough in them to judge for yourself whether they are worth
continuing?
4. Have you tied employee performance appraisals to process improvements?
5. Do you plan on keeping an improvement expert on your staff long term?
If you answer “no” to any of these questions, you should understand how and why so many
process improvement programs fail.
Source: Wall Street Journal 25 January 2010 “Satya S. Chakravorty”
A Definition
5
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
1. An unapparent sources of trouble or danger; a hidden hazard:
“potential pitfalls stemming from their optimistic inflation assumptions”
New York Times
2. A concealed hole in the ground that serves as a trap
pit·fall noun \pit-fol\
Why understand Process improvement Pitfalls?
6
• Abundance of information on the ideal state for an organization, but minimal
information of what not to do in getting there
• Process improvements have high rewards, but also high risks when
implementing
• Not everyone knows what you know about process improvements
• Process improvements is commonly viewed as a Technical and not a
Management topic
• You want to be successful in delivering process improvement and value
added change
• Recent studies suggest that nearly 60 % of all corporate process
improvement initiatives fail to yield the desired results (Wall street Journal 25
January 2010)
Process improvement intiatives drivers
7
• Now onto the Pitfalls…. In no specific order of importance or grading
• Why
• When
• Who
• Where
• What
• How
Purpose
People
Process
Pitfalls within driver 1
8
Purpose
Lack of interest or drive by Top Management
Key stakeholders are not actively involved
Failure to link process improvement objectives to strategic goals
Process improvement teams have dual functions
Weak process improvement Leadership and or Sponsorship
Common characteristics of pitfalls
9
Pu
rpo
se
Characteristics
Impose unrealistic expectations
Hidden agendas
Looking for short cuts – Just do something
Lack of performance measures
Process improvement goals not aligned to company
strategy
Looking for silver bullets
Lack of end-to-end representation
Impact
How to
mitigate
Impact of pitfalls
10
Pu
rpo
se
Characteristics
Impact
How to
mitigate
Process improvement deliverables not impacting on
strategic goals
Resources tied up in never ending projects
Process improvement models / methodologies and
project teams blamed for failures
Employees become despondent towards process
improvement initiatives
“Silocitis” as an organisational disease prevails
Low return on investment on process improvement
initiatives
How to mitigate these pitfalls
11
Pu
rpo
se
Characteristics
Impact
How to
mitigate
Clarify Roles and Responsibilities
Talk the language of management “Money, Bottom Line”
Encourage Top Management to become trained and run projects
Map stakeholders and do effective stakeholder management
Involve stakeholders in decision making
Educate Top Management by scheduling orientation sessions on
proper process improvements
Ensure complete scoping of improvement initiatives
Include process improvements deliverables key performance
areas
Ensure project goals and objectives are aligned with
strategic/corporate goals
If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself. “Henry Ford”
Pitfalls within driver 2
12
Process
Failure to stabilise the process prior to embarking on process
improvements
Staff process improvement teams with wrong people
Not walking the process and involving employees upfront
Common characteristics of pitfalls
13
Pro
ce
ss
Characteristics
Huge amount of variation in process
Process outputs are unpredictable
Project teams suffer from “Analysis Paralysis”
Inexperienced employees assigned to process improvement
teams
Lack of commitment from team members
Team is heavily staffed with external consultants
No clear understanding on end-to-end process
No end-to-end representation on team
Impact
How to
mitigate
Impact of pitfalls
14
Pro
ce
ss
Characteristics
Impact
How to
mitigate
Extended timeline to implement improvements
Improvements implemented do not have an impact on
organisational goals
Employees resistant towards process improvement initiatives
“Silocitis” as an organisational disease prevails
Lost investment when external consultants leave
Pockets of excellence created in value stream
Process improvement effort does not deliver value
How to mitigate these pitfalls
15
Pro
ce
ss
Characteristics
Impact
How to
mitigate
Spend time early in the improvement process to
review the process performance
Standardise the process through implementation of Standard
Operating Procedures (SOP), best in class practices
Focus on making right things easy to do and wrong things hard to
do
Ensure people in the process improvement team are
knowledgeable on the processes in practice
Leverage external consultants to help launch and enable your
process improvement team
Ensure all functions affected by the envisaged process
improvement are represented on the team
Every project should start with a process walkthrough to
understand the process to be improved
Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch painter (1853-1890)
Pitfalls within driver 3
16
People
Inadequate training and development of teams and employees,
and communication to employees
Ignoring the people factor / Poor change management
No performance measures and awards to motivate employees
Common characteristics of pitfalls
17
Pe
op
le
Characteristics
Impact
How to
mitigate
Lowered productivity
Ineffective communication mediums used to communicate
Lack of Top Management visibility at the cold face where
improvements take place (Walk the Talk)
No communication and training plans available for project
Process improvement efforts not included in project team
members performance and appraisal system.
No organisational change management visible
Resistance to improvement adoption and change
Employees questioning the change are seen as rebels or
trouble makers
Impact of pitfalls
18
Pe
op
le
Characteristics
Impact
How to
mitigate
High emotional stress levels visible in staff
Conflict increases
Past patterns of behaviour become highly valued
Increased timelines to implement change
Employees become despondent
Lack of trust between workforce and management
Lost in productivity
Resistance to change
Organised labour rejection of improvement
initiatives
How to mitigate these pitfalls
19
Pe
op
le
Characteristics
Impact
How to
mitigate
A person’s life is an accumulation of time just one hour is equivalent to a persons life.
Employees provide their precious hours of life to the company so we have to use it
effectively otherwise we are wasting their life. “Eiji Toyoda”
Communicate, communicate, communicate
Understand forces of change within the process to be improved
Develop proper change management strategy upfront
Include organised labour as a stakeholder upfront
Allow employees to question changes and give detail answers
Assist employees through the change transition
Provide appropriate training in new skills and coaching in new
values and behaviours
Give more feedback than usual
Recognise and reward efforts
If you hit a pitfall, the situation can be recovered
Knowledge, anticipation and awareness are the best
defenses against pitfalls
Preventing pitfalls will dramatically increase the
chances of a successful process improvement effort
In summary
20
Slalom Consulting, “Avoiding Process Improvement Pitfalls”
Chakravorty, S – Wall Street Journal January 2010
Breyfogle, F.W., “C Suite: The need to rethink our Business System's
strategic planning, Scorecard Creation, and Process Improvement
Efforts”
Dr Danie Vermaak., “Sustaining initiatives from a management
perspective”
Henk Lourens., “Leading people through change”
Paula Riley, Riley Process Excellence
Jacques Snyders – Training Leadership Consulting
Paul Obiero – Kenya Airways
Telkom Business Improvement Office
Miranda Ferreira – Dimension Data
Acknowledgements
21
Inflexibility
Variability
Waste
B OI
In closing
22
Everyday you may make progress. Every
step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch
out before you an ever-lengthening,
ever-ascending, ever-improving path.
You know you will never get to the end
of the journey. “Winston Churchill”
New age thinking of working “smarter”
not “harder” is a myth
