What Produces Your Results?
Processes produce results; and people work in processes.
If we want improved results, we are best served to improve the processes producing the results.
In doing so, every time the process runs, we gain the benefit of the improvement. Hence results accumulate over time, each time, we use the improved process.
Whereas if we simply improve an activity or project, we get a one-time improvement.
Whether we think of it this way or not, all work is carried out through processes. And those processes generate the results we see. Including those that impact our customers, who are the ultimate gauge of our effectiveness.
We can learn to listen to “the voice of process” by plotting the process results over time. Each dot on the graph represents a period of time (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly).
Through this we can determine what the current process is capable of. The central line (e.g., average) tells us what process performance will do into the future if we do not change the process. The upper and lower natural process limits tell us the range of expected performance. Again, left unchanged, this range of variability is predictable into the future, unless improvement is enacted.
As Paul Batalden, MD said “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.”
If we want a different result, either in a higher level of performance or less variability, we need to improve the process producing the result.
Sometimes improvement means reducing the range of variability. Very wide variability is often a sign that the process is very loosely defined, perhaps informal, often with wide latitude for those working within the process. Occasionally it signals that there is not one work process being used but dozens of different ones.
Improvement efforts in this case, typically seek to uncover pockets of excellence through segmentation of the process performance data. From studying these pockets of excellence, we can identify the underlying process steps that are unique and seek to create an improved and common approach built around these key elements.
The key to establishing a new common process is that those who work in the process have an opportunity to work together to enact future improvements to the common process. Improvement is cyclical and those closest to the work are vital to making meaningful and lasting improvements.
“But what if it’s the people?”
Dr. Deming and others have espoused that 90-95% of problems and opportunities lie in the system. Great people who work in poor systems are hampered. The greatest lever comes from improving the system and not blaming the people who work in the system.
And I take that one step further when someone says “But so and so is not performing well.”
I ask:
- What process put the person in that role?
- What process led to that person being promoted?
- How effective is your performance coaching process?
All work is a process.
Processes produce the results we seek.
If we want better results, we have to improve the contributing processes.
When this mindset and understanding clicks among leaders in organizations, remarkable things unfold.
None of these ideas above are my own unique thoughts. But I have had the great privilege of deeply studying and learning from those who came before me in the quality and improvement movement. Their wisdom is engrained in the organizational excellence framework and improvement methods that significantly influence my work.
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Kathy Letendre, President and Founder of Letendre & Associates, advises organizations and leaders to create their excellence advantage.
Contact Kathy by phone or text at 802-779-4315 or via email.