Section 4.13. Summary

4.13. Summary

Sustaining process improvement requires more than setting a process program in place. It requires attention to the program from multiple directions. To help sustain process improvement in your organization, consider employing some of the following techniques:

• Remember what you do. Understand your products and your customers so that your process program can continually reflect the needs of both.

• Weld business success to program success. Engage upper management in program commitment and use by tying business performance and process performance together.

• Participate. Visibly participate in the program's organizational use. This demonstrates that all levels of the company find value in the program and are committed to its success.

• Train. Remember to provide adequate training to the organization so that various work groups can use the program in an informed and appropriate manner.

• Support compliance. Provide resources to monitor process program compliance and provide guidance and support when teams need to better adhere to process guidelines.

• Seek active feedback. Seek open and regular feedback on ways to improve the program.

• Provide performance incentives. Give your people formal and informal awards to encourage their use of the program across daily business activities.

• Measure, measure. Collect and analyze measures that help you understand, from a data viewpoint, how the program is working for you and the different business teams.

• Implement periodic reassessment. Periodically reassess your program, seeking opportunities for refinement and improvement.

• Appreciate the journey. Understand that process improvement is not a goal; it has no end point, no finish line. It's a cultural atmosphere that seeks to continually make business more efficient and more effective.